The Digital Marketer’s Guide To SXSW Interactive 2016

This year’s SXSW Interactive features an abundance of events devoted to digital marketers. With hundreds of interactive panels, pitch events, and speeches to choose from, sorting through the massive SXSW schedule might seem a little overwhelming.

But before you enter this year’s downtown jungle in Austin, Texas, be sure to read through this list we’ve put together containing some of the best marketing events to attend so you can hone in on some of the hottest trends in today’s digital marketing world.

Marketing Event Guide for SXSW interactive 2016

Friday, March 11

• Like a Boss: Track Success with Google Analytics – In this session, get a better grasp at how to make a measurement plan and deploy tags using Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. Hilton Austin Downtown, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
• The Next Multibillion Opp: Marketing in Messaging – Learn how to effectively engage audiences using messaging apps like Snapchat and Kik in this session. Hilton Austin Downtown, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
• Go Native or Go Home: Ads and Addictive Content – This session will cover balancing effective and authentic advertising to reach that sweet spot with your audience that inspires and creates customers. Westin Austin Downtown, 3:30-4:40 p.m.
• Marketing to Moments that Matter – Explore how people connect around moments on Facebook and Instagram, and how brands can participate in and enhance these moments so that they can deliver experiences that matter more. Hilton Austin Downtown, 5-6 p.m.
• Digital Marketing in the Age of Influencers – Find out how relatable content can help guide consumer purchases, and how the landscape of digital influence has evolved to become a pillar in key marketing strategies that shape consumer engagement. Austin Convention Center, 5-6 p.m.

Saturday, March 12

• Search Camp: Converting SEO into ROI – In this workshop learn analytics that make SEO measurable and allow you to demonstrate the ROI of your efforts. Hilton Austin Downtown, 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
• The Art of Mobile Persuasion – In this book reading, hear from its author Jeff Hasen about how the world’s most influential brands are transforming the customer relationship through mobile marketing. Austin Convention Center, 9:30-10 a.m.
• IoT: A Thousand Touchpoints of Marketing? – Find out the new rules of engagement in a “post-media” world, where everything and every place is a potential touch-point for a brand to engage with customers. Sheraton Austin, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
• 140 Characters, Zero Context – Join a series of panelists who will discuss how Twitter has changed the journalist’s playbook, and how this now robs our readers of context instead of more thorough reporting. Hilton Austin Downtown, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
• Email Is the Devil and Must Be Vanquished – Explore workable alternatives to email marketing, inbox hacks, and collaborative techniques. JW Marriott, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
• From Social Networks to Market Networks – Learn about the key attributes of a market network and how companies can take advantage of this potential to gain their own network effects. Hilton Austin Downtown, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
• Why Your Content Needs to Disappear – Hear from the heads of social media at NASCAR and MLS who will discuss the importance of reinventing content creation to separate yourself from more traditional social platforms and the content of your competitors. Four Seasons, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
• Content Now! Stop Advertising, Start Publishing – Hear from several panelists about what kinds of content move people towards brand affinity and the sale. Sheraton Austin, 3:30-4:30 p.m.
• Everything You Think About A/B Testing Is Wrong – Learn why A/B Testing isn’t just about searching for a single solution, as well as the future of A/B Testing. Hilton Austin Downtown, 3:30-4:30 p.m.
• Humans, Not Machines: Content is About Connecting – Join three top digital editors who will discuss why people are the most important consideration of any successful digital media business. Hilton Austin Downtown, 5-6 p.m.
• Using Content and Collaboration to Stay Afloat – Information overload is an increasingly big problem today; hear from Jeff Brenner, CEO of Pressly on how to break through the noise to content nirvana. Old School Bar, 5-6 p.m.

Sunday, March 13

• Analytics for Social Marketing – Find out how to harness social data so that you can take decisive action across the enterprise. Courtyard Marriott, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
• Good Charts: Making Smarter Data Visualizations – Learn how to build better charts and turn plain, uninspiring charts into smart, effective visualizations. Austin Convention Center, 10-10:30 a.m.
• Is “Conscious Consumerism” Just a Marketing Term? – Join several panelists who will discuss how you can evolve your brand, or start a new one, that will speak to today’s conscious consumer. Hilton Austin Downtown, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
• How To Stop Speaking in Bulls**t – Several panelists will call out the bulls**ttiest language they’ve ever seen, and offer tips on how to speak conversationally and authentically. Hilton Austin Downtown, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
• Four Counterintuitive Methods to Build a Big Brand – Hear from the co-founder of Barkbox, who will discuss tactics to help build your brand and how marketing is a skill that everyone in the company is empowered to do. Austin Convention Center, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
• Acquiring Subscribers in a Digital World – Learn about a method crafted by the NYTimes to drive sales and subscriptions using great content rather than offers and discounts. Hilton Austin Downtown, 3:30-4:30 p.m.
• Outside the Comfort Zone: Big Data Analytics – Take a look at how applications of advanced and predictive analytics on big data can help you act on insights and transform your business. Courtyard Marriott, 5-6 p.m.

Monday, March 14

• You Know What? F**k Dropdowns – Join a conversation that will discuss why dropdowns are an annoying and unnecessary hoop for the consumer to jump through before reaching his destination. JW Marriott, 9:30-10-30 a.m.
• Smart Ad Campaigns: It’s Not About the Product – Discover why catalyzing meaningful conversations with your target audience can be more effective than leading with a traditional product-first approach. Hilton Austin Downtown, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
• Making Metrics Sexy: Find ROI in the (Excel) Sheets – This session will help create a means to prove the worth and accountability of your social strategy, presence and content while also making reports digestible and sexy. Hilton Austin Downtown, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
• Google, Twitter and More: Takedowns, Tools and Speech – A series of panelists will answer questions like, how should users be able to get their voice heard when they think content should be taken down or put back up? Hilton Austin Downtown, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
• Exhibitor Pitches: Marketing + Engagement – Gain insights into strategies and services that can build your brand’s community in this SXSW Trade Show Pitch Stage. Austin Convention Center, 3:30-4:30 p.m.

Tuesday, March 15

• Digital Content and the Legality of Web Scraping – Find out best practices for protecting your website content against web scraping, the process of using bots to systematically lift content from your site. JW Marriott, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
• Taking it to the Streets: Digital Gets Physical – Explore how brands are moving to take advantage of digital advertising beyond the web and towards the ubiquity of the Physical Web, where app downloads won’t be required. Austin Convention Center, 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
• Instagram and Snapchat Content: The New Hustle – Hear from brands and artists that are winning on Instagram & Snapchat to understand how you should be approaching these platforms to get noticed, build, and retain new fans. Four Seasons, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
• Exhibitor Pitches: Content + Social Engagement – Get an introduction to the products and platforms that will soon change the way you create content and socialize. Austin Convention Center, 2-3 p.m.
• SXgood Lab: Redesigning Media – Experiment with new tools that combine design thinking with media-making to effectively tell impactful stories and spark change in the world. Palm Door on Sixth, 3:45-4:45 p.m.

Did we forget anything? Leave us a comment to let us know what digital marketing events you’re looking forward to the most at SXSW Interactive 2016. For other notable SXSW events, check out Get Ready for SXSW 2016!