Chapman Students Mingle with the Best in Social Media Marketing

10,000 Instagram followers, 280,000 likes on Facebook, and 1.4 million Twitter followers.
 These credentials belong to some of the speakers from
Social Media Marketing World
, a social media marketing conference hosted annually by online magazine
Social Media Examiner.
On March 25th, 2,500 marketers, small business owners, educators, analysts, consultants, and graphic designers from all over the world met at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Diego for three days of insight into the newest strategies and trends in social media. Among the volunteers for the event were 26 Chapman students from the Internet Marketing class taught by
Niklas Myhr, Ph.D.
, aka ”
The Social Media Professor
.”

When the students arrived for training early on Wednesday morning of Spring Break, they were greeted by
Social Media Examiner founder, Michael Steltzner
, who revealed the backbone of Social Media Marketing World: exceptional customer service. A guest is looking for registration? Don’t just point – take them there. They’re frustrated with long lines? Don’t just apologize – make it up to them. Over the next three days, the Chapman students became concierges, room hosts, runners, greeters, and ambassadors dedicated to going above and beyond to serve the customer.

When the students weren’t working, they were able to experience the event as a guest. After a day of volunteering, many students attended the social event on the
Midway Aircraft Carrier
on the first night and the
Social Beach Party
on the second night where they made valuable connections. “My favorite part was the different networking opportunities and the chance to see what my future might look like,” says graduating business major Alison Valin.

Over 100 speakers appeared at the conference, lecturing on topics ranging from Twitter sales techniques to Pinterest advertising to visual marketing to blogging. In addition to being able to attend the sessions for free, volunteers also received 12-month access to all session recordings. For Glyn Kennedy, ’15, the event was the perfect end to her four years at Chapman. “We were able to spend three days on the waterfront in San Diego learning from some of the biggest names in marketing.”

By the end of the conference, Chapman University had become quite well known at the conference. Professor Myhr was happy to report that many guests commented on how helpful they found the Chapman volunteers. Even renowned speaker
Chris Brogan
commented on how nice it was to see college students taking time out to further their expertise in Internet marketing. “We were exhausted by the end,” Valin says, “but it was definitely worth it.”