Your next big social win might start in a conference hallway. Use this guide to pick social media conferences 2025–2026 that sharpen your strategy, spark new ideas, and send you home with plans you can actually ship.
You’ll get our short list plus quick tips to make every badge count—set one learning goal, one connection to make, and one experiment to try the week you’re back. No hustle slogans, just moves that work.
Featured events to attend in 2025
We’ve included social-only shows, digital marketing conferences, and creator summits so you can choose what fits your role, audience, and goals—whether you’re B2B, consumer, or working in regulated categories.
Social media conferences Q4, 2025
Digital Summit series
Date: Ongoing, September 2025-April 2026
Location: Various, including Raleigh, NC; Dallas, TX; and Chicago, IL
The Digital Summit series of conferences travels across the U.S. from September to April, hitting regions across the East Coast and the Midwest.
Come for fresh tactics, leave with a stronger network. Not a social-only summit, expect hands-on sessions, Q&As, and peer meetups, and headliners from HubSpot, Morning Brew, and Deloitte sharing what’s working now.
Advertising Week New York 2025
Date: October 6-9, 2025
Location: New York, NY
Advertising Week New York 2025 brings marketing, media, tech, and culture under one roof—and includes plenty of social-focused content. If you run social or digital strategy, expect practical sessions, helpful case studies, and networking that turns into ideas you can ship when you’re back.
This week-long event features 28 tracks and over 250 planned sessions, from AdTech to trends, so there’s something for every member of the marketing team.
Social media professionals will want to check out sessions in these tracks, among others:
- Modern Media & Storytelling
- Industry Disruptors
- Engaging the Modern Customer
- Culture & Society
- Cross-Screen Engagement
- Connections & Community
VidSummit
Date: October 7-9, 2025
Location: Dallas, TX
VidSummit is a specialized gathering for video creators and influencer marketers focusing on platform trends and creator strategies. The conference brings together creators, marketers, agencies, and brands connected to content creation in a fan-free environment where everyone is looking to level up their skills.
Content at VidSummit focuses on the business of video and video-driven content, with tips from YouTube insiders and sessions on which metrics really matter, when to hire a producer, and how to build community from views.
TwitchCon
Date: October 17-19, 2025
Location: San Diego, CA
Returning for its 10th anniversary, TwitchCon is a major live-streaming and creator-focused convention that emphasizes platform-building, community management, and engagement within the Twitch ecosystem.
Don’t be fooled by the cosplay and community events; this convention also brings plenty of education opportunities. In addition to networking with streamers and industry professionals, TwitchCon has interactive workshops and Creator Camp to spark creativity.
Social Media Strategies Summit (higher ed edition)
Date: October 20-21, 2025
Location: Virtual
A sector-specific virtual event for higher education social media professionals, Social Media Strategies Summit (Higher Ed Edition) offers best practices and peer learning.
Learn from social media strategists and practitioners from some of the U.S.’s most prestigious schools in two days of panels on how to create social media programs that engage and build community on campus and beyond.
Stay an extra day or three to access optional workshops around ambassador strategies and social media strategy basics, or attend panels from brands like the NFL, Lenovo, and Shake Shack on the tactics and metrics that matter for today’s communities.
10th Annual Digital Marketing Summit for Financial Services
Date: Nov 2-3, 2025
Location: New York, NY
The 10th Annual Digital Marketing Summit for Financial Services is a niche conference that brings over 40 speakers together for over 20 hours of learning.
Featuring some of the most respected voices in financial services marketing, this summit delivers compliance-ready strategies. You’ll gain expert guidance on everything from growing through advisors to successfully navigating a merger.
This conference offers three major tracks—Resilient Brand, Modern Marketing Capabilities, and Data- and AI-Enabled Go-To-Market—each with focused content and actionable insights.
Web Summit
Date: November 10-13, 2025
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Web Summit is a global tech conference with a strong stream of content focused on social media innovation, the creator economy, and digital strategy. With 20 tracks to choose from, every social media practitioner can find sessions of value, including the creative, AI, commerce, new media, growth, and people.
Web Summit also offers the unique Experience Summit, which gives the audience opportunities to ask questions of the speakers as they go to the podium, making this an interactive and immersive event.
Social Media Strategies Summit (Government Edition)
Date: December 10-11, 2025
Location: Virtual
Tailored for government and public sector communicators, the Social Media Strategies Summit (Government Edition) is a virtual conference focused on policy, community engagement, and platform strategy.
From engaging new audiences to avoiding burnout, this two-day summit brings government social media professionals from across the U.S. together to share insight and strategy while focusing on the needs of government representatives and employees.
Social media conferences Q1-Q2, 2026
B2B Marketing Exchange
Date: March 9-11, 2026
Location: Carlsbad, CA
B2BMX moves to California in 2026. This conference is focused on growth and community in the ever-important world of business-to-business marketing. The conference sessions aren’t available currently; however, B2BMX 2025 featured sessions on:
- Expert content.
- Pipeline messaging.
- Leveraging AI for revenue growth.
- Mapping business outcomes from marketing strategies.
Social Media Marketing World
Date: April 28-30, 2026
Location: Anaheim, CA; Virtual
From the brains over at Social Media Examiner, Social Media Marketing World is a social media-focused conference that covers organic, AI, paid social, strategy, and interactive workshops from social media giants like Joel Kletteke, Brenna McGowan, Nici Sweaney, Salma Jafri, and Keenya Kelly.
Social Media Marketing World also offers three ticket levels:
- A virtual ticket at a reduced price that includes a live stream of all sessions plus recordings.
- An on-location ticket with access to all live sessions.
- An all-access pass that gets you in-person sessions as well as recorded and streamed virtual sessions.
How to choose the right social media conference for you
Not all events suit every social media professional, despite what value they bring. Your particular choice will depend on many factors unique to your situation, including:
- The type of audience you target, such as B2B, B2C, D2C, small business, and enterprise.
- Company (or personal) professional development budget.
- Location and travel restrictions.
- Format, such as virtual, in-person, or hybrid.
- Strategic fit for your marketing plan.
As you research conferences, identify the key objectives of your marketing strategy that would benefit from professional development, and review the speakers and agenda to determine whether the sessions meet your needs.
If you’re unsure how to translate your marketing strategy into learning opportunities, ICUC’s social media strategy services can refine your objectives and help you make a plan.
Smart planning tips for attending social media conferences
Once you’ve picked your event, a bit of prep goes a long way. If you treat the conference like two or three days of meetings by planning an agenda, you can stick to your schedule and save your brainpower for learning and networking.
Try these tips:
- Set clear goals for learning, networking, and expo browsing. Will you demo five new client relationship management (CRM) technologies, or are you looking to meet 15 contacts? If your goal is learning, how many actionable objectives will you come away with?
- Preselect sessions and speakers to get the most from each. Preselection will help you map your route and not miss an important talk. Visit ICUC’s community engagement guide for valuable follow-up approaches to use after the event.
- Network with purpose at breakout sessions and the hallway track. Keep your badge visible so others can easily see your name and company, have business cards or a QR code handy, and don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation.
- Debrief post-event. What was the most significant learning or biggest miss? What ways can you turn the theory or examples you heard into actions? Debrief post-event: apply insights directly to your campaigns with our Social Media Strategy services.
Most of all, you want to prepare yourself to make connections with people and ideas that will last much longer than the event itself.
Turning conference insights into action with ICUC expertise
When you get back to the office after the social media conference, ride that wave of insight and connections into an immediate debrief with your team.
Once you share what you learned from the high points and favorite sessions, start building those improvements into your planned initiatives. Then, leverage new peer connections, technologies, and new trends to drive followers and engagement.
Conferences can spark innovation, but success comes from putting those ideas and connections to work with the proper support. Ready to transform what you learn into a lasting strategy? Connect with ICUC’s team to explore how we can help.
Social media conferences frequently asked questions
How do I choose the right social media conference to attend?
Choosing the right social media conference to attend depends on several factors specific to your company and team. Some deciding factors include:
- Budget: Consider the conference price, travel and lodging, meals, and transportation during the conference.
- Location: Depending on where you’re based, you may need to travel for in-person events. For those with restricted budgets, virtual conferences provide an opportunity to learn from anywhere.
- Networking opportunities: Check which gatherings are included with the ticket price, as well as any vendor-sponsored events.
Of course, make sure the event aligns with your team’s goals, audience, and strategy. You’ll find conference sessions can vary widely, from planning to community building to content creation — so do your research before registering.
What should I bring to a social media conference?
Other than plenty of energy and a willingness to learn, you don’t need to bring much to a social media conference. Some items to consider are:
- A way to take notes, such as a notebook, phone, tablet, or another device.
- Business cards or networking tools.
- A plan for which sessions you’ll attend.
- Questions to ask during sessions.
Keep your backpack light, or leave it at the hotel, and come ready to engage with the content. And while it may be tempting to live-tweet every session, try to balance your participation in sessions with any social media engagement during the event.
You can always post those insights from talks and notebook spreads after the fact.
Are social media conferences worth the investment?
Yes. In addition to valuable networking (and fun swag), social media conferences present a real opportunity to get up to date on the latest social media trends, skills, and case studies for inspiration.
And, every conference has the potential to make you think about your craft in a new way, which you can then leverage through actionable takeaways to strengthen brand performance and community engagement.
What’s the difference between a social media conference and a digital marketing conference?
Social media conferences have a narrower scope than digital marketing conferences, focusing on trends and insights for social media platforms, communities, creators, and engagement.
Any broader discussion of other channels will be a footnote or byproduct of social media strategy.
Digital marketing conferences may include sessions on social media topics; however, they take a broader view of online marketing that includes search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), pay-per-click (PPC), email, content, and other channels, in addition to or to the exclusion of social media.
When should I register for a 2025 social media conference?
Registering three to six months before the conference usually gives you enough time to secure early registration prices for sessions, travel, and accommodations. This time frame has the added benefit of securing seats at limited-capacity or VIP workshops and breakout sessions.
