Your Annual Social Media Conferences Guide: 20+ Top Conferences to Attend in 2018
Product Marketing @ Buffer
Social media conferences are one of the best ways to learn from top practitioners in the field, connect with fellow social media marketers, and be inspired to do more great things on social media.
But how do you know which one to attend?
We hope to make things easier for you with this go-to guide for social media conferences in 2018. This guide includes more than 20 top and biggest social media conferences throughout the year and their key details, such as date, location, and ticket price.
20+ social media conferences to attend in 2018
Here’s a table of the top social media conferences, arranged chronologically, for the rest of 2018, including the dates, locations, and ticket prices. (If you prefer to view the full spreadsheet, check it out here.)
Feel free to use these links to jump to the summary of the respective conference:
- Social Media Online Summit (Jan 27 – Feb 4, online)
- The DigiComm Summit (Feb 22-23. Huntington Beach)
- Traffic & Conversion Summit (Feb 26-28, San Diego)
- Social Media Week conferences (Feb 26 – Mar 2, Multiple locations)
- Digital Marketing Innovation Summit (Feb 27-28, New York)
- Social Media Marketing World (Feb 28 – Mar 2, San Diego)
- Social Media Conference for PR, Marketing and Corporate Communications (Mar 14-16, Orlando)
- Digital Marketing World Forum Expo Global (Apr 16-17, London)
- Social Media Strategies Summit (Apr 24-26, Chicago)
- Social Media Camp (May 2-3, Victoria, BC)
- Content Marketing Conference (May 2-4, Boston)
- The Social Shake-Up (May 7-9, Atlanta)
- Engage (May 16-18, Prague)
- Brand Marketing Summit (May 30-31, San Francisco)
- Social Media Summit (May, Dublin)
- Social Day (May 30 – Jun 1, London)
- VidCon (Jun 20-23, Anaheim)
- INBOUND (Sep 4-7, Boston)
- Content Marketing World (Sep 4-7, Cleveland)
- CMX Summit (Oct 1-3, Portland)
- Spredfast’s Smart Social Summit (Nov 5-7, Austin)
- Social Fresh Conference (Dec 5-7, Winter Park, Florida)
1. Social Media Online Summit
January 27 – February 4, online
(As this video couldn’t be embedded, I’ve linked the image above to the video.)
Date: January 27 – February 4, 2018
Location: Online
Price: Free
Social Media Online Summit 2018 is a free online conference bringing together more than 40 social media experts, influencers, and entrepreneurs to share their strategies for growing a business. The conference is broken into eight main sections: General social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
P.S. Our very talented digital marketing strategist, Brian Peters, will be sharing about social media trends in 2018 at this conference.
2. The DigiComm Summit
February 22-23, Huntington Beach
Date: February 22-23, 2018
Location: Huntington Beach, California
Price: $2,090 to $2,190
The DigiComm Summit is a two-day conference by the PR News Group. You’ll hear real-world, tactical case studies on how to use social media for storytelling, communications, and PR by senior executives from companies like BuzzFeed, Disney, and The Onion.
3. Traffic & Conversion Summit
February 26-28, San Diego
Date: February 26-28, 2018
Location: San Diego, California
Price: $1,995
Traffic & Conversion Summit will help you grow your business by teaching you how to get more, yes, traffic and conversions. While this conference isn’t just about social media, there are many social media sessions such as Selling Physical Products? Steal These 3 Proven Facebook Ad Campaigns, 31 Facebook Funnel Sequences You Can Build Right Now, and 5 Ways to Use Facebook Messenger Marketing to Grow Your Business.
4. Social Media Week conferences
February 26 – March 2, multiple locations
Date: February 26 – March 2, 2018
Location: Austin, Bristol, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Lagos (and more)
Price: Varies depending on the location
Social Media Week and its partners organize more than 20 Social Media Week conferences all around the world throughout the year. The ones that are happening next in February and March are in Austin, Bristol, Copenhagen, Hamburg, and Lagos. Their flagship conference will be happening in April in New York. Check out the rest of the conference here. There might be one near you!
5. Digital Marketing Innovation Summit
February 27-28, New York
(As this video couldn’t be embedded, I’ve linked the image above to the video.)
Date: February 27-28, 2018
Location: New York
Price: $600 to $2,495
Digital Marketing Innovation Summit brings together senior digital and social marketers to share how to build a meaningful digital marketing strategy. A few of the key discussion points for the conference are social media, personalization, tracking & attribution, and audience engagement.
6. Social Media Marketing World
February 28 – March 2, San Diego
Date: February 28 – March 2, 2018
Location: San Diego, California
Price: $297 to $1,597 (Virtual tickets are $697 each.)
Social Media Marketing World is one of the most anticipated social media conferences by one of the most knowledgeable teams in the social media space, Social Media Examiner. This year, up to 5,000 social media marketing professionals will hear from top names such as Guy Kawasaki, Mari Smith, and Jay Baer during the 120+ sessions. Check out some of the testimonials from the conference last year.
7. Social Media Conference for PR, Marketing, and Corporate Communications
March 14-16, Orlando
(This is a video they made for their 2016 conference.)
Date: March 14-16, 2018
Location: Orlando
Price: $1,495 to $1,995 (Live video webcast tickets are $1295)
Social Media Conference for PR, Marketing, and Corporate Communications is exactly as its name suggests. Speakers from companies such as Amazon Web Services, Disney Parks, and Salesforce will be talking about best practices to boost buzz, build brand recognition, and engage employees. (This conference will be held at the Walt Disney World Resort!)
8. Digital Marketing World Forum Expo Global
April 16-17, London
Date: April 16-17, 2018
Location: London
Price: £89 to £999
Digital Marketing World Forum Expo Global (or #DMWF), attended by mostly managers, directors, and VP, seeks to explore the future of digital marketing and social media. There are two conference tracks: 1) Content and social media marketing and 2) Data, disruptive tech, and UX. #DMWF also has conferences in Amsterdam (September) and New York (November).
9. Social Media Strategies Summit
April 24-26, Chicago
Date: April 24-26, 2018
Location: Chicago
Prices: $1,999 to $2,989
Social Media Strategies Summit, which takes place three times a year in San Francisco (February), Chicago (April), and New York (October), is a social media conference for senior-level corporate professionals who are working on social media marketing. The speakers for Social Media Strategies Summit (Chicago) include senior marketers of companies such as McDonald’s, Microsoft, and Kickstarter.
(We are proud to be a media partner for the Social Media Strategies Summit.)
10. Social Media Camp
May 2-3, Victoria, British Columbia
Date: May 2-3, 2018
Location: Victoria, British Columbia
Price: $499
Social Media Camp is the largest social media conference in Canada. In 2018, they will be organizing their ninth Social Media Camp, which will bring together people from different sectors of the economy (small business, large business, government, education, and non-profit). They will go beyond marketing and discuss social media’s impact on politics, security, and safety.
11. Content Marketing Conference
May 2-4, Boston
Date: May 2-4, 2018
Location: Boston
Price: $749 to $1,649
Content Marketing Conference will help you level up on the key areas of content marketing, from planning and creation to optimization and distribution. There’s a day allocated for comedy marketing, where you’ll learn to use humor to drive engagement, loyalty, and marketing performance.
12. The Social Shake-Up
May 7-9, Atlanta
Date: May 7-9, 2018
Location: Atlanta
Price: $1,195 to $2,390
The Social Shake-Up is a three-day social media conference by PR News and Social Media Today to help you discover new ways to integrate social media into your overall business strategy. The speakers come from brands like Twitter, Google, Microsoft, The Coca-Cola Company, and more.
13. Engage
May 16-18, Prague
Date: May 16-18, 2018
Location: Prague
Price: €449 to €1,199
Engage is a social media marketing conference by SocialBakers, a company which provides an AI-powered social media marketing suite. If Prague is a little far for you, Socialbakers is also organizing a social media summit in Bali in March.
14. Brand Marketing Summit
May 30-31, San Francisco
Date: May 30-31, 2018
Location: San Francisco
Price: $1,645 to $3,095
Brand Marketing Summit is the marketing conference to go to if you want to hear from top marketing leaders from some of the biggest companies on how they run social and marketing. For example, you’ll get to hear from amazing people such as Jennifer Sey (CMO at Levi Strauss & Co), Jill Cress (CMO at National Geographic), and Niloy Sanyal (CMO at GE Digital).
15. Social Media Summit
May, Dublin
Date: May (To be confirmed)
Location: Dublin
Price: To be confirmed
Based on its agenda last year, Social Media Summit seems like one not to be missed. There was a variety of speakers, from marketers from big companies like Airbnb, HubSpot, and Intercom to founders of boutiques and marketing agencies. Keep an eye out for more information when the conference is launched!
16. Social Day
May 30 – June 1, London
Date: May 30 – June 1, 2018
Location: London
Price: £312 to £560
Social Day used to be a one-day event, and it has been lengthened to three days this year because past attendees wanted it to be longer. Representatives from Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin will be speaking at this year’s Social Day so you might get insights there that you’ll never get elsewhere.
17. VidCon
June 20-23, Anaheim
Date: June 20-23, 2018
Location: Anaheim, California
Price: $125 to $850
VidCon is a conference for people who love and make videos online. It has three tracks for attendees to choose from 1) Community, 2) Creator, and 3) Industry (which seems best for marketers and business owners).
Some of the talks sound really exciting, such as Features and Franchises: How BuzzFeed Takes ‘Viral’ and Creates A Brand, How to Produce TV Quality Programming on an Internet Video Budget, and Hacking the Facebook Algorithm – Inside Facebook’s Secret Promotional Code.
18. INBOUND
September 4-7, Boston
Date: September 4-7, 2018
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Price: $599 to $2,199
INBOUND by HubSpot is probably the biggest marketing conference all year. In 2017, more than 20,000 marketers and salespeople attended INBOUND to learn the top marketing and sales practices and be inspired by keynote speakers such as Michelle Obama, Aziz Ansari, Seth Godin, Brené Brown, and Martha Stewart.
19. Content Marketing World
September 4-7, Cleveland
Date: September 4-7, 2018
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Price: $999 to $2,499
With 225 speakers and more than 4,000 expected attendees, Content Marketing World is likely going to be the largest content marketing conference of the year. Last year, their featured speakers included Linda Boff, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Casey Neistat. Wow!
20. CMX Summit
October 1-3, Portland
Date: October 1-3, 2018
Location: Portland, Oregon
Price: $849
As social media becomes more of an engagement channel, it has become ever more important to build your community and engage your fans. CMX Summit will show you practical ways to build your communities for business success.
21. Spredfast’s Smart Social Summit
November 5-7, Austin
Date: November 5-7, 2018
Location: Austin
Price: $1,395
Smart Social Summit is an annual social media conference by Spredfast, a company which provides enterprise social media management software. Last year, their speakers included top executives of companies like GE, charity: water, Facebook, and more. Oh, and former First Lady, Michelle Obama! Spredfast has two more Smart Social events happening this year in New York City (April) and in London (June).
22. Social Fresh Conference
December 5-7, Winter Park, Florida
Date: December 5-7, 2018
Location: Winter Park, Florida
Price: $747 to $1,197
Social Fresh Conference just wrapped up their 20th social media conference in 2017 and has announced their presale for 2018. This year’s conference will focus on increasing engagement, growing revenue, and what the future holds for social marketing. They will also be including Industry Training tracks for finance, higher education, hospitality, and nonprofits. Speakers will be announced starting in March.
What’s your favorite social media conference?
These are just some of the most well-known, long-running social media conferences around. And there are likely many less well-known but awesome conferences that I have not included in this blog post. If you know of any, especially those happening in Asia, I would love for you to share them in the comments section below.
Also, if you have been to any of these conferences before, would you be up for sharing your experiences below? It’ll be very helpful to fellow readers who are considering to attend social media conferences this year.
Happy conferencing!
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The awesome images in this blog post were from Unsplash and PR News Facebook Page.
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