25 Takeaways from Social Media Marketing World #SMMW15

Social Media Marketing World took place last week in beautiful San Diego, CA. The third annual event covered a variety of topics related to social media and digital marketing trends.

People converged from all over the world for two full days of action-packed sessions. In many instances, there were 10 sessions running concurrently.

Naturally, the audience was extremely active on social, resulting in the #SMMW15 hashtag trending and some remarkable social reach.

Here are a few stats from the first day, Thursday, around 5pm when sessions concluded:

Additionally, not only was the hashtag performing well in San Diego, and, more broadly, the US, but the reach was international. It’s also interesting to note the array of hashtags used along with the variety of devices from which people were engaging online.

I attended an assortment of sessions on topics like global content marketing, employee social advocacy, how to measure social ROI, social media tools, and content marketing, among others.

Here were a few of my own key takeaways from the sessions I attended:

Strategy gives you direction but tools help get you there quicker. Have a strategy in place, then move to tools. – @IanCleary #SMMW15

— Debbie Miller (@TheBigDebowski) March 27, 2015

Great content is not the finish line. Great content is the starting line. – @markwschaefer #SMMW15 — Debbie Miller (@TheBigDebowski) March 27, 2015

Top tips for calculating Social ROI: 1. Track your links 2. Integrate Data 3. Store everything – @Nichole_Kelly #SMMW15 — Debbie Miller (@TheBigDebowski) March 27, 2015

When encouraging employee advocacy, there shouldn’t be internal competition. Reward team; make it collaborative. – @martinjonesaz #SMMW15

— Debbie Miller (@TheBigDebowski) March 26, 2015

.@bevjack recommends changing your social media passwords at least once a quarter, and always when someone leaves your co. #SMMW15 — Debbie Miller (@TheBigDebowski) March 26, 2015

.@nealschaffer recommends creating a tactical social media workflow. #SMMW15 pic.twitter.com/P1FuEUpACr

— Debbie Miller (@TheBigDebowski) March 26, 2015

90% of Fortune 500 companies are doing Facebook ads wrong. They’re not using conversion pixels. – @MariSmith #SMMW15 — Debbie Miller (@TheBigDebowski) March 26, 2015

It would be difficult to fully dissect two full days of learning, but here is just a small sampling of a few key takeaways from the social media conference, shared via Twitter:

“The future of social media is not in demand creation it’s in organizing content” @ducttape #SMMW15 pic.twitter.com/WpL6NubiaN

— Norma Ibarra (@LaPir0) March 26, 2015

On average, it takes 15-17 months to monetize your #content – but it will only happen if you’re consistent! @JoePulizzi #SMMW15 — Jen (Picard) Dewar (@jenpicard) March 26, 2015

64% of people trust individual voices over brand voices on Twitter ~@PamMktgNut #SMMW15

— Holly Chessman (@HollyChessman) March 26, 2015

How to measure results of influencers: create a hashtag, use advocacy software, & use affiliate tools shares @douglaskarr #smmw15 — Hootsuite Enterprise (@HootBusiness) March 26, 2015

People lose their way when they lose their why. @MichaelHyatt #smmw15 Great advice!

— Chris Karasiewicz (@ckroks) March 26, 2015

“You have a voice. You can publish. You can be heard.” – @markwschaefer #SMMW15 — Amanda (@roxydigital) March 26, 2015

RT @SarahMatista: @MattGentile‘s response, should every biz be on Facebook now?pic.twitter.com/1YvpWYbwq8 #SMMW15

— AndreaVahl (@AndreaVahl) March 26, 2015

Dominate your niche. #smmw15 @Mike_Stelzner @markwschaefer pic.twitter.com/n9YOmnt080 — Anne McColl (@annemccoll) March 26, 2015

The average lifespan of a tweet is one hour! @Ekaterina #SMMW15 pic.twitter.com/VvrmfX43Ab

— Kim Garst ツ (@kimgarst) March 26, 2015

.@iSocialFanz on Meerkat: What’s the Value of Live Streaming Twitter Video? 3 minute podcast – order #SMMW15 — Mark Traphagen (@marktraphagen) March 26, 2015

Awesome visual notes! #SMMW15 RT @annemccoll: Launching on Facebook @AndreaVahl pic.twitter.com/pbNd0ZqSS7

— AndreaVahl (@AndreaVahl) March 27, 2015

RT @jasonburrows: 7 Smart Business Strategies to Get Noticed on #SocialMedia March 30, 2015

A smile should be part of an employee’s uniform – even online. @JohnDiJulius #SMMW15 #custexp

— Dan Gingiss (@dgingiss) March 27, 2015

“The vast majority of social customer complaints are on Facebook.” (71%) @jaybaer #SMMW15 pic.twitter.com/aPGPzlofAp — Mari Smith (@MariSmith) March 27, 2015

Tool 11: Tailwind to schedule pins, monitor, engage in community & measure http://t.co/QIieZSqVzp @IanCleary #SMMW15 pic.twitter.com/xGnWAV8rgn

— Tyler Murray (@TylerWMurray) March 27, 2015

“If you can’t describe what you’re doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.” Edwards Deming @NealSchaffer #SMMW15 — Heather Gjerde (@LilMsSociable) March 26, 2015