Last year’s Zenith Duluth SocialCon premiered as an up-and-coming boutique Midwestern conference and was an unadulterated hit. The conference drew more than 300 attendees from Minnesota and the world surrounding. Last year’s keynote speaker was Rand Fishkin, which was a fantastic coup for our Northern Minnesota marketing community. [The Zenith agenda has been posted and it’s outstanding. Stand by for major speaker announcements.]
The speaking lineup was stunning, on par with regional events held annually in much larger cities. Dude, Zenith is like a slice of Charlotte, Portland, NYC, SFO, Sydney, London, and Boston, for less than the cost of airfare. Regional marketers obviously understand the value. In 2013, 30% of the audience was from the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area. All three tracks (highlighted below) are sequenced by AIMCLEAR. This year’s conference will be held at Zeitgeist Arts, which is a killer venue for such an event. The big date is May 30th. Come early and stay longer.
This year, we’re pleased to announce that Danny Sullivan, Founding Editor of Search Engine Land, will be Duluth Zenith SocialCon’s 2013 morning keynote. Yes! (Register here if that alone sells you on this awesomeness of this event). Danny is a foundational online marketing journalist. Widely considered a leading “search engine guru,” he’s been helping webmasters, marketers and everyday web users understand how search engines work for well over a decade.
Danny’s expertise about search engines is often sought by the media and he has been quoted in places like The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, Forbes, The New Yorker, Newsweek, and ABC’s Nightline. He began covering search engines in late 1995, when he undertook a study of how they indexed web pages. The results were published online as “A Webmaster’s Guide To Search Engines,” a pioneering effort to answer the many questions site designers and Internet publicists had about search engines.
Danny is the Founding Editor of Search Engine Land, an industry news website  respected for all aspects of search marketing and search engine news. Danny also serves as Third Door Media’s chief content officer, the company that owns Search Engine Land and the SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series. He also maintains a personal blog called Daggle and microblogs on Twitter: @dannysullivan. For history buffs among us, Danny also founded SearchEngineWatch and SearchEngineStrategies before those assets were acquired.
Three Awesome Tracks
Zenith attendees can choose from offerings and move between three kick-butt tracks.
- The “Boot Camp Track” will nourish the ambitions of enthusiastic social marketing newbies, covering crucial fundamentals like “How Does Social Media Fit & What Should We Do First?,” “Fundamentals Of Reputation Monitoring & Community Management,” and others.
- The “Channels “Track” will take a deeper tactical dive into Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube marketing. This track also covers essential social media analytics and “SoLoMo,” the explosive mashup of social, local, and mobile online marketing.
- The Advanced track is recommended for experienced marketers who want to sharpen their social skills. You won’t want to miss “Killer Social Ads! Research, Test, Measure, Dominate” For cutting-edge marketers, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube represent fertile fields for deadeye contextual advertising, display ads, branding, and conversions. Join our panel of front line speakers for a crash course in social PPC marketing focusing on each channel’s fundamental strengths, “whole user” demographic targeting, and advanced campaign management hacks.
Other Advanced Track offerings include content marketing sessions and our famous” Social Media Marketing ‘Live’ Clinic,” which provides attendees with the opportunity to interact directly with speakers to mine panelists’ immediate feedback on attendees’ social media profiles, real-time.
Academic Ties
Conferences passes will be given to professors and worthy students, representing all of our regions fine academic institutions, as well as our storied Center for Economic Development (CED). The Zenith Social Media Conference is dedicated to empowerment over profit. AIMCLEAR has six employees who were educated locally. We can vouch for the fact that supporting the marketing education programs of our universities is a great investment.
The Early Bird Gets The Deal. It’s hard to believe but the Duluth Chamber has set early bird pricing for this this gem of a one-day educational shindig at $149 for Duluth Chamber members and $199 for non-Chamber members. Don’t delay, because the price goes up substantially after the early bird expires. Group discounts are available and registration includes continental breakfast, lunch, and admission to the after-party!
So… if you’re ready to go, head on over to register and cash in on the early bird.
Zenith is a truly collaborative effort, designed to foster deeper ties between our region’s marketers and the world. All proceeds go to support Fuse Duluth, a division of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce focusing on informing, connecting, and networking young talent. In other words, they help keep talented regional college grads in town. To give you an idea how important this is: 30% of AIMCLEAR‘s team fits that description. Local businesses are digging deep to sponsor the event, including incredible hotel room offers and other perks, so come early and stay late.
This is an honest-to-goodness national fare at local-opportunity pricing. Stay tuned for additional announcements about the agenda as well as a host of other speakers. For those interested, Duluth is often called the “Zenith City,” which we’ll cover in an upcoming blog post…
Header image courtesy of NorthernImages.com
