The state of video for news outlets, content marketers, and everyone in-between is constantly changing, and at Social Media Week New York, you will hear from the industry’s experts on how to break through the noise with video content.
Below are 14 events that will dive into these questions, and get you up to speed on the latest trends such as virtual reality, 360 video, live video, and storytelling in new, immersive formats.
1. What’s Emerging? Insights, and Big Predictions for the Future of Our Industry (Deep Focus)
In this opening session to kick off #SMWNYC, Chairman of Deep Focus, Ian Schafer will participate in a rapid fire Q&A about the state of the industry. During the discussion Ian will share his predictions for business and what he believes are the most important opportunities and challenges that marketers face today.
2. Distributed Media All-Stars: Experts Share Their Viral Content Secrets (Insider)
Insider has nearly 2 billion video views each month across platforms including Facebook. Nicholas Carlson (Editor-in-Chief, Insider) will moderate a discussion with some of the leading distributed media content creators — all of whom will share their own secret sauce for creating and distributing content with the power to go viral like wildfire.
3. Keeping Up With Social Platform Perspectives (Adaptly)
Audiences are becoming more and more fragmented every day. Though 78% of Americans have a social media profile, users exhibit markedly different behavior on each of the major platforms. Learn how users consume content differently (speed, sound-on versus sound-off, images vs. text), as well as the approach advertisers should take towards campaign planning.
4. Don’t Call Snapchat a Social Media Platform (Sweet)
Snapchat is expanding into a full-blown entertainment and communication platform; it’s so much more than social media, and it is becoming deeply personal. In this talk, Ross Clark (VP and GM, Sweet – Snapchat Discover Channel) will speak on the importance of creating a two-way dialogue with conversational content and about future trends of different digital media that have outgrown their early “social” beginnings.
5. Spatial Storytelling with Megan Summers, Global Head of Production, Facebook (Facebook)
In this talk, Megan, who runs production globally for Facebook’s Creative Shop team, will lead a session that explores new storytelling principles and languages in the age of VR, 360 and the Feed.
6. The Evolution of Social Video (Adaptly)
From modest YouTube beginnings to effortless livestreaming from a smartphone, social video has evolved immensely over the past decade. Today, over 100 million hours of video are consumed on Facebook daily, and smartphone users spend 45 minutes each day watching videos on their phones. Ken Blom (Director, Branded Content Distribution, BuzzFeed), Nikhil Sethi (Co-Founder and CEO, Adaptly), and Jeff Taylor (Regional Product Marketing Manager, Instagram) will lead this session on social video best practices for brands.
7. Video + Media: The Power of Visual Communication in the Digital Age (Brit + Co)
It’s no secret that video now rules the digital media world. Whether it’s a video mini-series, a Facebook Live, or a GIF, visual content is catching the attention of consumers and brands alike. Brit Morin, Founder & CEO of a digital media and commerce company Brit + Co, has always been focused on the visual, and she’s speaking at #SMWNYC on why video is the center of media right now, and the benefits and challenges of making visual communication a core focus of your business.
8. From URL to IRL: The Content for the Digital Generation (Refinery29)
Refinery29 is constantly balancing meaningful digital content with real-life experiences across platforms like Snapchat Discover, Facebook, Instagram, and more. In this session, Refinery29’s SVP of Content Strategy & Innovation, Neha Gandhi, will explain how her team creates authentic content that resonates with today’s audience plus the power of emerging platforms.
9. The Future of Video in Advertising with Michelle Klein, Marketing Director of North America at Facebook (Facebook)
In this talk, Michelle Klein, Facebook’s Head of Marketing, North America, will share Facebook’s vision for the future of video, the role it will play in advertising and how language and communication will continue to evolve in this space.
10. Instagram Killed The Television Star (Crowdtap)
Television as we know it will soon be no longer. The notion of tuning in to a TV network will be a distant memory and the proverbial cord will someday be forever cut. These changes will disrupt the marketing industry in ways that the onset of the internet itself didn’t achieve. Leading this session is Matt Britton (Chief Executive Officer, Crowdtap).
11. How Johnnie Walker Brought Drunk Driving Into Social Media Users’ (Virtual) Reality (VaynerMedia)
In this panel, attendees will learn from marketing and studio production experts at Diageo and VaynerMedia, respectively, on how together they exposed social media users to a reality never before experienced on platforms including Facebook 360, YouTube 360, and in an integration with the New York Times to directly and emotionally impact viewers.
12. musical.ly and MTV: A Master Class in Mobilizing Musers (MTV)
From the MTV Video Music Awards to the Nickelodeon HALO Awards to other major events and activations, musical.ly’s powers of promotion and unprecedented engagement have brought custom solutions to life for networks, studios, and brands. Join representatives from musical.ly and MTV for a master class on harnessing the power of this video social network and its influential group of “musers.”
13. All You Can Eat: How BuzzFeed’s Tasty Used An Audience-Driven Approach to Become the No.1 Publisher on Facebook (BuzzFeed)
In less than two years, Tasty, BuzzFeed’s global food network, has published more than 2,000 recipe videos that reach a staggering 500 million people a month. Michelle Kempner (VP of Operations, BuzzFeed) will share BuzzFeed’s test and learn approach as well as digital advantages that helped build the initial and continued success of Tasty and beyond.
14. Future Publishing Models: VR and 360 Video (The New York Times)
Via NYT’s VR app, users can go underwater or on the campaign trail, experience life through the eyes of a refugee or explore previously unseen worlds and experience stories reported by award-winning journalists, all told in an immersive, 360-degree video experience. In this session, Sam Dolnick (Associate Editor at NYT) and Andy Wright (Publisher, The New York Times Magazine) will share how they have embraced, integrated and innovated in VR and 360 with exceptional results for brands and readers alike.