It's a wrap! And what an event it was!

More than 1,100 marketers came to San Diego to learn the latest in social marketing and to network with peers at the inaugural Social Media Marketing World planned and hosted by Mike Stelzer and the great folks at Social Media Examiner.

I’m thrilled to have attended and the event was even more than I had hoped for!

Great speakers, valuable content, and awesome networking made this first time event a smashing success.

Quick Summary:

I definitely recommend this event for those thinking ahead to 2014.

The conference was well planned out, with a great mix of practical tactics, as well as deeper social and digital theory.  It was clear that intentionality went into the planned networking from the opening night at the San Diego Natural History Museum to the cruise in the Bay and set times throughout the daily agenda.  As Ambassador Michael Bruny says, we went from #HashtagsToHandshakes!

Going Deeper

Beyond the excellent array of social and digital input, there were sessions with inspirational and personal life messages that went beyond business.  In fact, some of these keynotes that went beyond tools and tactics by the great folks below were the most impacting sessions for me!

• Larry Benet “How can you add value to a new connection? Think "them" not "you."”
• Sally Hogshead “Become more of the person you already are!”
• Dave Kerpen“The 4 most important words in business are, thank you and I’m sorry”

Other attendees were also impacted by these soul reaching messages...

@wholefoods Yes, @sallyhogshead and @larrybenet changed the way I'm approaching life. #SMMW13

— Eric T. Tung (@EricTTung) April 9, 2013

There were also frequent "Heavy Tweet Warning" statements as 1100+ attendees unloaded and provided play-by-play on Twitter as well as on Instagram, Facebook, Vine and Google+.  I was told we were also trending on Google+ a few times during breakout sessions.

For those interested in reviewing the social chatter in more detail, a search of the hashtag, #SMMW13 on Twitter, Instagram, Vine and Google+ will yield loads of results.  Or see a compiled summary of social posts by the folks at Social Chomp.

Guess who had the most retweets today from the #smmw13 conference? Yup, @marismith =) twitter.com/socialfresh/st…

— Social Fresh (@socialfresh) April 9, 2013

— Mari Smith (@MariSmith) April 8, 2013

Breakout sessions were like a "Who's Who" of the Social Marketing realm!  Excellent input on Facebook as given from the Queen herself, Mari Smith, and added value from other top notch folks like Brian Carter, Amy Porterfield and Andrea Vahl.

Mark Schaefer and  Chris Brogan delivered great content, and I was even inspired to be on Google+ more with key nuggets delivered by Guy Kawasaki and Jesse Stay!

Treasures:

• @DaveKerpen gave a powerful keynote on "Why it Pays to be Likeable."  

• Nicole Kelly of Social Media Explorer delivered a "no holds barred, straight shooting" session on measuring social media that left me knowing I need to take my measuring to a whole new level! Click the image to get to her presentation Prezi.

Measuring Social Media via @Nichole_Kelly

•  Via Larry Benet, the most powerful gift...
  

  @socialgemillion: "The most powerful gift you can give someone is being present." SO TRUE! #SMMW13 via @larrybenet < right on!

  — Ken Alawine Waggoner (@alawine) April 8, 2013

   

• "You Aren’t Going to Like This: Social Media Isn’t the Answer"
  Chris Brogan gave a great presentation on what actually "adds value" to his bank account. Anything that doesn't, isn't worthy of being a tracked metric.  Bottom Line:  Email matters.  Your email list is gold. It reaches people, and those people buy.  Social is conversation and part of the community building but make sure your opt-ins and email nurturing is in place!  Chris wasn't the only one to say this.  One of my key takeways is the ongoing importance of email marketing and list building.

Conclusion:

Social Media Marketing World 2013 started out as a event.

It has potential to become a movement.

A movement of the best practices in social media along with a "Give First" and "How can I serve your goals?" servant leadership model lived out.  #SMMW13 headlined a transformational approach of "bottom up" selfless service with excellence that's good for life, and also good for business.

I can't tell you how many times I heard a variation of, "Always start with, 'How can I help you?'"

Life will be much richer and business will follow.

What are your thoughts?  Anyone that attended want to add more?  Please comment below!

Read another take by the 60SecondMarketer (@askJamieTurner).

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