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If you work in social media marketing and you didn’t attend Social Media Week Lima – you’re missing out! This is the hidden gem of social media marketing conferences and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg! (Seriously, when I booked four tickets and saw the price, I thought it was a mistake!) We were able to hear from exceptional thought leaders in our industry and connect with so many great like-minded individuals – it was truly the best week ever!
The best part about this week for me was that it was Sydney, Lys, and Chasity’s first-ever conference! And if you have followed along with the LMC gang for a while, you know we are all about learning and we love being able to attend conferences! I was sooo excited to get some time out of the office with them and to watch them experience this. Chasity found our restaurants and we cued up our Social Media Week Road Trip Spotify Playlist and hit the road! Hear from the entire team about how great this conference was! 
Takeaways:
The theme of the entire conference was: Emerge. Throughout the jam-packed two days, we heard from speakers from across the country on how to emerge our brands, emerge with humanity, and how to emerge with everyone’s favorite topic… Chat GPT (dun dun dun!). Some of my favorite sessions were:
Navigating the Future of Analytics with Confidence with Brie Anderson. We had actually heard from Brie when we virtually attended Social Media Marketing World! I have never been a numbers person and when I signed up for marketing, I was intimidated by analytic reports and then having to confidently present those reports to clients. Nightmare! But something that was weighing heavily on me within the agency was the switch to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), but Brie’s presentation was ALL about how to transition into this new phase! It gave me and Chasity SUCH peace of mind on the transition.
How to EMERGE with Humanity with Julia Jornsay-Silverberg was another favorite. And it’s not just because she walked up to a Taylor Swift song and immediately proclaimed she was a Swiftie, I swear! (But I did find out that she and I attended the same show for the Era’s Tour!!) Her presentation was all about remaining human on social media, for both brands and individuals. I think we can all agree that sometimes social media can get a little too polished and it can be intimidating to others to see that perfectly polished life or brand kit. It can be off-putting, so the reminder of humanizing your brand was refreshing!
Another session I really enjoyed was the Table Talks. I sent all the girls off to separate tables to get them out of their comfort zone and I sat down with Jamie Staples for her table talk: Just Shut Up! The Art of Listening. I’ve been trying to work on developing my leadership skills and something I’ve realized about myself is that I can be a terrible listener. I was so excited to get a chance to hear what Jamie had to say about developing your listening skills and while we were at the table she and the other participants were able to teach me new ways to listen to my team, but also customers and clients!
Now hear from the girls of the LMC Social Media Department…
Sydney Mullenax:
What better way to learn all things social than going to a social media conference? Working in social media for the past 3 years, I have learned a lot, but hearing from the experts themselves was a whole different ball game. Pages and pages of notes, question after question, and of course the occasional look over to my social media girls saying, “I knew that!”
I learned many things, but my top takeaway from SMWL was, “Being human is your competitive advantage.” This is so important to keep top of mind when you are speaking to your social media audience, whether you are on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Businesses that anchor their strategy on this golden rule have loyal audiences, bigger following and more sales. The beauty of social media is that it allows a two-way conversation and can be a fast track to real relationships with an audience if done right.
Overall, the trip was filled with team bonding, learning, and of course a little shopping. ???? I cannot wait to start implementing everything I learned. When in Lima.. ????
Lys Gibson:
Like two of the other girls, this was the first social media conference that I had ever been to, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was so fun hearing from other people who have been in this industry for years. Seeing how much they’ve grown since they started was very inspiring. It was also very refreshing to spend time with the social media department girls; whether it was going to Hibachi or shopping after the conference, our time was full of laughter. Overall, we get to experience our industry in a new way, and we learned that when you’re in Lima, OH, you’re going to experience something new.
Chasity Anderson:
Social Media Week was an amazing experience for my first conference. I learned so much from the sessions and was able to bring some significant takeaways home with me. I believe our team gained a lot of knowledge and insight from the speakers at this conference, and we had a lot of fun doing so.
Like Erin, one of my favorite sessions was Navigating the Future of Analytics with Confidence with Brie Anderson. Brie was an incredible speaker. She walked us through the process, policies, and changes to Google Analytics with the introduction of GA4. This gave me a better understanding of the updated platform, which was super helpful as I worked on transitioning our accounts from UA. Not only did Brie provide us with all of the details and tools necessary to be successful with Google Analytics 4, but she allowed her personality to shine through. She was unapologetically her authentic self as she presented on stage, which was very inspiring and engaging.
Additionally, there were several other sessions that I thoroughly enjoyed, such as the Chat GPT session. However, a couple of quotes from one of the speakers, Terry Weaver, has stuck with me; “Real power is knowledge going to work for you,” and “Don’t delegate your dreams to someone else.” He provided lots of insight about how to live and work up to your fullest potential. His session inspired me to be a better employee and member of this industry not just for our team, but for myself.
Overall, I would 100% bring the team to this conference again and you should check it out yourself! We’ll see you again, Lima! Keep following LMC for more exciting conference recaps!