Announcing the Initial Lineup of #SMWNYC Events and Speakers

This February, Social Media Week returns to New York for its 9th year.

If you’ve been waiting to see who we’ve confirmed to speak, then your wait is over. Check out the initial lineup of events, speakers and presenting brands.

Tickets are selling fast and with less than 500 HQ passes remaining we’re on schedule to sell out the event in the next few weeks. Secure yours at 20% off today!

This year’s program will be our most inspiring and thought provoking to-date. Through our 2017 global theme, “Language and the Machine”, we will explore a future, where new elements of language and forms of communication will continue to evolve. We’ll dive into these trends via four themed days of events, which will look at the Business, Art, Science and Future of social media.

Each day we’ll address a range of topics including Emerging Platforms, New Business Models, Content Creation, Storytelling and Distribution, Fake News, Snapchat for Brands, Facebook Live and the Future of Video, Paid Social, AI, Chatbots and VR.

Featured #SMWNYC sessions already confirmed include:

  • Distributed Media All-Stars: Experts Share Their Viral Content Secrets, with Business Insider
  • Don’t call Snapchat a Social Media Platform with Hearst’s Snapchat publication Sweet
  • From legacy brand to multi-platform powerhouse, with Bob Cohen, President of The Atlantic
  • Experiential Brand Storytelling with The New York Times and Fake Love
  • Spatial Storytelling, with Megan Summers, Global Head of Production, Facebook
  • How Johnnie Walker Brought Drunk Driving Into Social Media Users’ (Virtual) Reality with VaynerMedia
  • The Future of Data-Driven Customer Communications with Bitly’s CTO
  • Serving the Public: PBS and the Future of Language with Iris Worldwide
  • Podcasts and Brands: A Match Made in Brand Marketing Heaven with Gimlet Media
  • A/B Testing is Dead. Long Live Rapid Mass Experimentation with Wunderman
  • Decoding ?: Building Machines That Know How Humans Feel
  • Social Etiquette For Chatting With Robots with Momentum Worldwide Chief Technology Officer

Social Media Week will take place February 28 to March 3 at The TimesCenter in midtown Manhattan. You can secure your pass with a 20% discount by signing up before prices increase on January 12.

Make sure you look out for more #SMWNYC announcements over the next several weeks. We’ll introduce new sessions, speakers, and brand partners taking the official #SMWNYC stages.

Become A Cult Brand With These #SMWNYC Sessions

Today’s wave of cult brands – Uber, Warby Parker, SoulCycle, Tinder – are using the basic principles of branding and taking it to the next level by creating on-demand apps, social followings and customer incentive programs that breed extreme customer loyalty and fanaticism. These brands create experiences so transformative and disruptive, that once a consumer tries them out and likes what they see, they never look back. What’s more, they become their biggest champions.

Find out what it takes for your brand to succeed with these #SMWNYC sessions:

1. Tapping Millennial FOMO: A Brand’s Guide to Relevance Beyond “Real-time Marketing”

Tue, Feb 24 — 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
From tapping into “FOMO,” to understanding teen etiquette on platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, attendees will learn how to integrate new millennial insights into their marketing plans, and offer a new real-time playbook for social media marketers.

2. From Fans to Advocates: How to Build Community and Grow #BrandLove

Tue, Feb 24 – 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Join Hootsuite for an interactive session discussing the best practices and real-world examples of how a strong community of fans and followers can become a powerful tool in activating others to get involved and fall in love with your brand.

3. Swipe Right: What Tinder Can Teach Brands

Tue, Feb 24 – 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Peer through the window into the microcosm of human behavior that exists behind the walls of online and mobile dating services, and ultimately reveal how marketers can connect with their audiences in a more meaningful way.

4. The 10 Rules Of An Open Brand: Evolving With Your Customers and Industry

Wed, Feb 25 – 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
This presentation provides guidelines for companies to use in establishing themselves as an open business; one that can build meaningful relationships with peers and consumers, and adapt and thrive when faced with change.

5. Cult Brands 2.0: How Today’s Top Brands Breed Loyalty and Fanaticism

Fri Feb 27, 9:00 AM — 10:15AM
On this panel you’ll hear from several masters of Cult Branding 2.0 themselves, who will showcase how marketers can cultivate brand loyalists.

6. Brand Reputation Management: Tactical Ways to Build an Army of Advocates

Fri Feb 27, 10:30 AM — 11:30AM
Learn the importance of brand reputation, the factors that impact brand reputation and what you can do to manage those factors and tactical ways to build an army of advocates for your brand.

7. People-Powered Marketing: A Crash Course in Putting Consumers at the Heart of Your Brand

Fri, Feb 27 – 10:45 AM – 12:00 PM
In this session, you’ll learn how forward-thinking brands are putting people at the heart of their marketing to drive product ideation, inform marketing strategy and create authentic content that fuels earned media.

16 Sessions At SMW New York That Marketers Will Love

Marketers attending Social Media Week New York this month will hear from industry leaders and brands spanning the marketing, advertising, and media world. You’ll hear from organizations such as General Electric, Shutterstock, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Vimeo, Hootsuite, Medium, Barbarian Group, and more. Whether you’re attending each day with a few breaks at the co-working tables, or stopping by for a morning or afternoon, here are 16 sessions you should bookmark right now.

1. MEASURING ATTENTION AND INTENTION, WITH THE NEW YORK TIMES

Tue, Feb 24 – 10:45 AM – 12:00 PM
With the rise of video and native advertising, combined with social distribution, digital advertising has blossomed into a method to capture attention.

2. FROM FANS TO ADVOCATES: HOW TO BUILD COMMUNITY AND GROW #BRANDLOVE

Tue, Feb 24 – 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Join Hootsuite for an interactive session discussing the best practices and real-world examples of how a strong community of fans and followers can become a powerful tool in activating others to get involved and fall in love with your brand.

3. CREATING VIDEO CONTENT FOR HOW IT’S CONSUMED

Tue, Feb 24 – 2:30 PM – 3:45 PM
Jonathan Perelman, BuzzFeed Motion Picture’s Vice President examines the evolution of media and how new innovations in distribution technologies have changed how it’s consumed, we’ll dive into the science behind creating shareable content for the social web.

4. SWIPE RIGHT: WHAT CAN TINDER TEACH BRANDS

Tue, Feb 24 – 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Peer through the window into the microcosm of human behavior that exists behind the walls of online and mobile dating services, and ultimately reveal how marketers can connect with their audiences in a more meaningful way.

5. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL MARKETING AND SOCIAL PR?

Wed, Feb 25 – 10:45 AM – 12:00 PM
There’s a clear-cut difference between social marketing and social PR. Unfortunately, the majority of brands are overlooking the business value of the former and focusing too much on the latter.

6. THE 10 RULES OF AN OPEN BRAND: EVOLVING WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS AND INDUSTRY

Wed, Feb 25 – 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
This presentation provides guidelines for companies to use in establishing themselves as an open business; one that can build meaningful relationships with peers and consumers, and adapt and thrive when faced with change.

7. IS SOCIAL MEDIA JUST MEDIA? THE FUTURE OF PAID, EARNED AND CONTENT

Wed, Feb 25 – 2:30 PM – 3:45 PM
For brands, is there such a thing as earned media now, or has paid media taken over social media? Will content marketing continue to thrive even as social platforms demand more paid budgets? In 2015 and beyond, how social can media be?

8. NETWORKS OF INFLUENCE: HOSTED BY TRANSLATION, ELITE DAILY, AND CRIMSON HEXAGON

Wed, Feb 25 – 4:30 PM – 5:45 PM
This event will target advertisers and marketers who seek to spread messages, ideas, and products to the upwardly mobile, millennial consumer. In this session we will uncover how brands can tap into the dynamic of this coveted audience and benefit from the network of influence.

9. FOSTERING SELF-DISRUPTION, COLLABORATION AND INNOVATION AT LARGE COMPANIES

Thu, Feb 26 – 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Executives are realizing they need new methods for approaching innovation, internal collaboration, and creating opportunities for disruption. This discussion will feature a roundtable of leaders looking to affect change within their large organization, along with entrepreneurs that are seeking insight and direction post-acquisition.

10. TAKE COMMAND OF YOUR DATA: HOW TO STRATEGICALLY USE SOCIAL LISTENING IN BUSINESS

Thu, Feb 26 – 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Advanced analytics and insights have now equipped brands with a ‘sixth sense’ of the online landscape, driving businesses toward a new level of social intelligence. Listeners will walk away with an in depth understanding of not only how social listening and intelligence can reinvent business, but also how the landscape is quickly evolving.

11. A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH B. BONIN BOUGH OF MONDELÉZ

Thu, Feb 26 – 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Join B. Bonin Bough, Vice President of Global Media and Consumer Engagement at Mondelez International, for a discussion on the evolving relationship between artists and brands.

12. USER GENERATED CONTENT: THE ULTIMATE HUMAN CONTENT CONNECTIVITY

Thu, Feb 26 – 2:45 PM – 4:00 PM
From crowd-sourced contests and event social media walls, to compensated word of mouth endorsements and use of user reviews and comment sections for UGC campaigns, you’ll walk away with new ideas, best practice advice and also some legal “watch-outs” that anyone considering a UGC campaign should keep in mind.

13. RETURN OF THE PODCAST WITH ALEX BLUMBERG, FOUNDER AND CEO OF GIMLET MEDIA, AND ANDREW McLAUGHLIN, PARTNER AT BETAWORKS AND CEO OF DIGG

Thu, Feb 26 – 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Join Alex Blumberg, award-winning reporter and producer for This American Life; co-host of NPR’s Planet Money; and founder and CEO of Gimlet Media, for a discussion on the rising popularity of podcasts, technology’s influence on the future of audio content distribution, and also what he has learned on the journey of a startup from idea to execution.

14. STORYTELLING WITH VINE: HOW TO CREATE SHORT VIDEOS THAT PEOPLE REMEMBER

Fri, Feb 27 – 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Today, storytellers are finding increasingly imaginative ways to share their ideas with interactive and visual elements, bringing their messages to life. This masterclass will explore storytelling techniques using Vine, specifically how to create short form videos that people remember.

15. SOCIAL STORYTELLING AND THE HUMAN CONNECTION: PROFESSIONAL STORYTELLERS ILLUSTRATE WHAT’S AT THE HEART OF CONNECTING TO YOUR AUDIENCE

Fri, Feb 27 – 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
With the introduction of technology and social networks, the mediums may have changed, but the power of stories and their ability to draw people in remains the same. In this fun, interactive session, you will help dissect these stories, the elements that made them so engaging and how brands can apply these principles to make consumers a part of their story in a very real way.

16. SMW NYC OFFICIAL VIP CLOSING PARTY

Fri, Feb 27 – 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
To wrap up the 2014 edition Social Media Week organizers Crowdcentric and are hosting the Official Closing VIP Party in New York City. The Closing Party is by invitation only, however, if you wish to attend there are a limited number of Insider Passes still available, which grant you access to both the official Opening and Closing events.