From October 31st to November 1st, Julius will be attending Social Media Week London, Europe’s premier media and marketing event. Our Head of Product Marketing, Danny Palestine, will present our research report, “The Now and Next of Influencer Marketing.”

This year, we’ll be swapping our Halloween masks and candy bags for tickets to London, where we’ll meet with marketers from around the world to discuss future trends in social media marketing. Having previously attended Social Media Week New York and Los Angeles, we’re eager to round out the year on stage with the SMW team.

Before we take off, we sat down with two of our sales representatives who will be in attendance, Karin Swanson and Brad Halperin.

Karin Swanson onstage at Social Media Week LA

What do you think are the main themes of the event?

Brad Halperin: I think some of the main questions the event looks to answer are: How do I measure success on social media? How is social media evolving? That includes:

• New platforms and how they fit in social space
• How b2b brands can leverage social media
• Tech trends in social (AI, machine learning, automation)

Karin Swanson: In particular, I think some of the themes that are most relatable to us at Julius are:

• Safe practices for social media consumption for the next generation
• Data privacy in social-first storytelling approaches
• Cleaning up the social landscape: focusing on a content-first approach to build your brand, engage core customers, and reach new audiences

SMW London will host over 1500 attendees from over 20 different countries. What are you hoping to learn from the conversations you’ll have with such a diverse set of people?

BH: I am most looking forward to discussing thoughts around the future of influencer marketing as an industry, and where leaders in the space are focusing their time and attention. On the agency side, what are the best tools in the space and what do they deliver? How do they make the planning and execution of influencer campaigns more efficient and streamline busy workflow? For brands, what does the changing landscape in the space do to 

your strategy? Where does influencer fit? Is it a channel to drive engagement or a measurable sales arm?

KS: As a California resident working in a social media marketing landscape, I think about the new data privacy policies frequently. As marketers, we need to first ask ourselves, how can we take the data privacy issues and turn them into positive practices for the next generation of social media users? For this to happen, does storytelling on social need to shift? Have we over-complicated that process or does it need even more structure – tools, data, and regulation – to refocus and ultimately harness its marketing potential? I look forward to attending sessions at Social Media Week that will touch on these themes - or, hopefully, take them head on.

What panels are you most looking forward to attending?

BH: I’m excited for two panels in particular: Publicis and Poke’s “Influencers 2.0: Do We Need Humans Anymore?” and Tommy & William Grant & Sons “The Attention Economy.” I’m interested to learn more about how technology like artificial intelligence and even synthetic influencers will shape the influencer space moving forward. With the constant streams of content that flood our feeds on a daily basis, how can brands buck the trend and deliver valuable, interesting content? Will it be through a synthetic influencer?

KS: I’m interested to learn more about storytelling will change on social media. How will social media marketers execute partnerships and collaboration on content at scale with influencers, without sacrificing quality? I’m eager to attend “Think Forward 2020: The Social Trends Brands Need to Know” by We Are Social, and “Harnessing the Power of Instagram for B2B” by Avocado Social. "We see more and more B2B brands engaging influencers and seeing success for their individual goals, so I'm looking forward to seeing how industry leaders are helping evolve those strategies with a social-first approach.

“The Now and Next of Influencer Marketing”

Danny Palestine, our Head of Product Marketing and favorite public speaker, will be presenting our research report in an panel entitled, “The Now and Next of Influencer Marketing.” He’ll be joined onstage by Alex Burgess, the Managing Director APAC at The Goat Agency, Lizzie Rabone, Associate Director of Strategy and Analytics at Edelman, and Gemma Albin, Social Infleuncer Partnerships Manager at The Lego Group.

We surveyed over 100 agency and brand marketers about their biggest wins earned and toughest pills swallowed through their influencer marketing campaigns. We asked them about their plans for 2020 (and beyond), and expectations on how influencer marketing will continue to evolve over the coming decade. Danny will take us through the survey results, identifying key takeaways and best practices from the people on the frontlines of influencer marketing. He’ll then be joined by Alex, Lizzie, and Gemma for a Q&A session on their experiences with influencer marketing, as well as their own takes on our survey results.

Click here to buy a pass to SMW London today, and use our discount code ldn19julius25 for 25 percent off your purchase!