Social Media Week Sweeps Chicago Sept 24-28

Calling all Twitterholics and Facebook groupies: Social Media Week hits key cities worldwide this week, including yours truly. The biannual event alternates sites to increase exposure and bring more cities into the conversation—each metropolis plays host annually in either Feb or Sept, which yields a pool of twenty plus locales. Launched in 2009 by Crowdcentric CEO Toby Daniels, Social Media Week looks to build collaboration and expand upon global networks, capitalizing on emerging and evolving social technology trends and their increasing prominence.

This year’s Chicago Social Media Week conference takes place this week in 40 venues across the city, with the host support of social media marketing agency Zocalo Group and the Chicago Tribune. Monday kicked off Social Media Week with a session on optimizing marketing through Google Plus, followed by talks on promoting your own news, building a killer social media campaign for- and non-profit, using Facebook ads optimally, activating social contests across mediums, and other topics; the night was topped off with an opening night networking meet-up.

Each day of Social Media Week consists of 14-25 overlapping sessions, with 90 of them being free of cost. The week claims multiple prominent keynote speakers, featuring the likes of “Socialnomics” author Erik Qualman, Groupon and Lightbank co-founder Brad Keywell, Pitchfork Media President Chris Kaskie, and Chicago CTO John Tolva. The upcoming events in the Social Media Week conference will cover a spectrum of trending topics and new developments, from the successful creation of viral websites, value of personal branding and smart usage of SEO strategies to the Pinterest angle for businesses, influence of mobile platforms on marketing strategies and impact of social media on city transit.

For those who missed registering early or don’t get off the waitlist, Social Media Week is offering live feed coverage of the more popular events. Those interested in getting in on the remaining chatter (spots are limited!) should reserve their place the night before an event to guarantee entry: http://socialmediaweek.org/chicago.

Tags: Chicago, Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, social, social media, Social Media Week, Twitter