Agenda at a Glance — Day One
Thursday, February 25, 2021
8:45 am–9:30 am PT
This Keynote will unpack 2021 social media trends, sharing the most significant changes in consumer behavior and technology that’ll impact how your companies engage in today’s ever-evolving social media landscape. Attendees will leave with a deeper perspective on what your 2021 social media plan should consider and include.
9:30 am–9:45 am PT
Break
9:45 am–10:30 am PT
Most brands have a roadmap, or at least a POV, on up-and-coming social media platforms and when to establish a presence. But what if something happened overnight that forced you to fast-track that plan into reality? Learn how Ocean Spray did just this and handled the transformation of a 90-year-old brand into the latest TikTok trend, learning valuable lessons along the way!
Takeaways include:
- How to build a brand, and a following, on a new social platform
- Navigating the world of TikTok and messaging to a Gen-Z audience
- How to eschew control and leverage UGC and influencers for content generation
10:30 am–11:15 am PT
With sports teams, most people look at their arena attendees and home markets to identify their fan base. But when you take any brand online, massive potential to expand its fan base emerges. The Golden State Warriors certainly are The Bay’s team, but online, the team has nearly 50 million followers — the majority of which live outside of the United States. Over the past two years, Karen Ramming has expanded that social media following by 40% through identifying platform opportunities, analyzing audience data, and optimizing content. She is excited to share her learnings and key takeaways to help brands identify and grow their audiences.
Key takeaways:
- Analyze audience demographics and engagement behaviors
- Optimizing content for the platform and audience
- Identifying trends that fit your brand voice
11:15 am–11:45 am PT
Break
11:45am - 12:30pm PT
6 Tips for Creating a Bulletproof Content Strategy With Social Listening
(READ MORE)
Been there, done that, messed around... with failed content strategies.
Now the question is, are you listening? Social listening allows you to find out what people think about you as a brand. Brand insights can be key when drafting a successful content strategy. Why? Because you’re catering to your specific audience.
In this session, we’re going to discuss social listening experiments both the newbie and pro can try. Using the examples of various players in the market, in this session, you will learn:
- The importance of social listening and competitor benchmark
- How to draft a successful listening strategy
- How to turn listening data into an actionable content strategy
- Using social listening for content inspiration
12:30 pm–1:15 pm PT
Audience engagement is the Holy Grail for content marketers. Yet too much content fails to get even a cursory look from the very people it’s meant to attract. Consider approaching content the way a journalist approaches a story — evaluating, organizing, and finessing information to create a relevant and targeted “hook” that brings a reader in AND, ultimately, moves them to take action. Bob Musinski and his team are doing just that for global companies and brands with a strategic approach to content marketing that uses the buyer’s journey as a starting point, then, by thinking like a journalist, creates engaging content that drives traffic to support sales and business goals.
You’ll learn about:
- Using a buyer’s journey map in content strategy and development
- Identifying “what matters most” to your target audience at every journey stage
- How journalists evaluate and finesse information to create the best “hook” for a story, and applying that to business content development
- How this approach has worked for 3 very different companies: a national appliance manufacturer, a university system, and a global food brand
1:15pm - 2:00pm PT
Panel
Growing Brand Loyalty Through Social Media Communities
(READ MORE)
Topics covered in this panel include:
- How to find out exactly where you should be building your communities based on your audience (both on social media platforms and outside of them)
- What value you should be able to provide your community to keep them engaged and loyal to your brand - how can you reward top fans?
- Making your brand accessible to allow for one-to-one connections with your community
- What kinds of content drives customers and followers to want to be a part of a brand's community
Danisha Lomax
Vice President, Group Director--National Paid Social Lead
Digitas North America

2:00 pm - 3:00pm PT
Networking Hour in the Lounge
Agenda at a Glance — Day Two
Friday, February 26, 2021
8:45 am–9:30 am PT
Tapping into the Value of Making Customers Feel Seen & Connected
(READ MORE)
While embracing a new normal presents its own challenges, social media is ripe with insights that demonstrate how to infuse the adjusted customer mindset, priorities, and social climate to maximize campaign success.
In this session, you will hear strategies implemented by the Starbucks social team ranging from an effective COVID-19 Response Plan to the launch of Fall/PSL and relatable text-only moments that shine a light on our customers and their desire for connectedness, virtual relief, and a sense of normalcy. Lauren will share her perspective on identifying the right insights to sharpen an overall content approach leaning into untapped opportunities to relate to the customer in more impactful ways.
9:30 am–9:45 am PT
Break
9:45am - 10:30am PT
Using Data, Metrics, and Tools to Drive ROI – and Best Ways to Report to Leadership
(READ MORE)
Social advertising the most modern and advanced form of advertising today. The various tools, tactics, and skills required can often be overwhelming. The best and most effective advertisements combine the art of creativity, the psychology of audience understanding, and the rigor of data science and scientific method. When you combine these disciplines and get these factors to compound with the right people - it can result in extraordinary outcomes.
Takeaways include:
- How to set up experiments that fit your scale from a small business to a major enterprise
- Tradeoffs between targeting and creative
- What’s important to measure and what’s not
10:30 am–11:15 am PT
Ad Rescue: Saving Marketers from Creating Bad Social Media Ads
(READ MORE)
Let's face it, there are a plethora of bad social media ads being published every day by brands both large and small.
In this highly engaging and immersive session, James will dissect and critique real ads from brands being run on Facebook and Instagram today.
In doing so, he'll reveal the dos and don'ts of social media advertising and provide practical, real-world tips on how you can instantly create more successful ads that will grow your business.
After this session, you'll learn:
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Expert copywriting tips, tricks, formulas, and "hacks" to incorporate into your ads that will spark action among your target audiences and drive more conversions
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Creative design tactics to make your ads stand out in cluttered social feeds and garner customer attention
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How to incorporate consumer psychology practices and unique messaging techniques to drive more engagements and revenue
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Proper targeting tactics to ensure your ads are reaching the customers most likely to use your product or service
11:15 am–11:45 am PT
Break
11:45 am–12:30 pm PT
What Marketers Can Learn From the VERZUZ Movement
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12:30 pm–1:15 pm PT
Surviving Instagram Algorithm Changes to Boost Performance
(READ MORE)
Staying up on the latest Instagram changes is hard. In this session, we'll cover leveraging the newest Instagram features, including:
- Instagram's Creator Studio for scheduling Feed Posts and IGTV.
- Reels - Instagram's answer to TikTok
- The newest stickers (Countdown sticker, Quiz sticker, Chat sticker, Polls, plus how to get the Music Sticker if you don't have it!)
- How to Grow Your Following by Collaborating and Going Live
- How to stay up on the latest features of Instagram easily.
1:15 pm - 2:15pm PT
NETWORKING HOUR IN THE LOUNGE
Agenda at a Glance — On-Demand
You have unlimited access to these talks — watch when and where you want!
Consumer Insight Always Wins
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Understanding consumer behavior is the key to creating & scaling successful campaigns. This session will dive into topics with highlighted case study examples, including:
- Understanding the success factor of indie brands: Make-up brands such as NYX, Urban Decay, Huda beauty all have something in common. They managed to tap into a consumer insight that big companies didn’t notice. They were successful enough to receive the attention of big companies.
- How consumer insight can create the best campaigns with minimal spend: A case study of how a consumer comment created a global best practice.
- Utilizing consumer insight to scale your brand: How OGX utilized a consumer insight to advertise premium haircare during a pandemic which became a Facebook best practice campaign.
The Seeds of Success: Steps to Grow Your Business Through Search and Social
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Not everything in life is free—especially when it comes to growing your business. From big brands to mom and pop stores, more businesses are looking to leverage paid advertising to grow their customer base and increase brand awareness. This session will draw from Hawke Media’s experience working with plant delivery service The Sill, whose sales have increased over 50% since March due to the shelter-in-place mandate. Erik can discuss how your marketing strategy should adapt with growing demand, and the steps to plant the right seeds for revenue growth with search and social ads. Learn how to maximize your Google Adwords and Facebook advertising to decrease CPAs, improve CTR, and boost revenue by nurturing your marketing strategy with impactful targeting and tracking that puts you in front of audiences that matter the most.
AI and Social Media: Your Toolkit for Success
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Artificial Intelligence. It’s mystical, it’s fascinating, and it is the most prominent of the tech buzzwords heading into the 2020s. For digital marketers, AI is most often seen as a piece of technology that is untouchable and near impossible to be able to deploy successfully. Well, the good news is that AI is no longer confined to a black box of mystery. In fact, there are many cost-effective and easy-to-use AI-powered tools that already exist that can help you to grow and empower your social media strategy. All you need is a roadmap and a place to start.
In this thought-provoking session, you will:
- Learn the basics of Artificial Intelligence: what it is, how it works, and why it matters
- How AI has been and will continue to impact marketer’s heading into the 2020s
- Learn about some of the AI-powered tools available today that can help enhance your social media strategy
- Leave with a roadmap that can help you to determine where AI can best fit within your digital marketing strategy to yield the greatest ROI
How to Choose and Optimize the Right Social Platform for your Brand
(READ MORE)
Almost all brands have a presence on social media, but the bigger question is if they are on the right platforms to reach their target audience and if they are leveraging those platforms to their fullest.
With new social media platforms emerging and younger audiences with more buying power, is it time for your brand to re-evaluate your channel strategy?
During the presentation, we'll cover:
- Using target audience research to determine the best platforms
- How to identify the right channels and KPIs for your objectives
- Ideal content types and messaging by platform
- Key tactics that are driving the best results on those platforms
Reporting: How to Set Yourself Up for Success
(READ MORE)
Media planners see the world differently. In dissecting campaign performance, media teams are able to dig under the surface of the numbers, finding real truths about the audiences that brands are trying to reach - or even in some cases uncovering complex or trending behavior. In this session, learn how to translate your findings to your clients and brand decision-makers. What about your reporting creates trust between you and your client? How will you cull down complicated data to improve your campaign? Where can you pinpoint cost savings and efficiencies?