Buzz, buzz, buzz...optimize your content on the social web...increase brand reach and customer influence...buzz, buzz, buzz...targeted inbound marketing campaign...Content, Content, Content...buzz, buzz, buzz....Expert, Guru, Maven...buzz, buzz, buzz...

Everyone's an expert and then again, no one's an expert in social media marketing.
There's a thin line between saying you are knowledgeable in an area of marketing and actually having an expertise or concentration in that area. There are those that were raised on traditional marketing principles in their career and have gravitated to digital (like me), and then there are those that learned the tools, are savvy salespeople, and convince others that don't know any better that they are experts.

Personally, I favor the term "thought leader" and seek to learn from others that have a deeper level of expertise or have a varied background in "user experience" from actually practicing marketing techniques within today's technology-rich consumer world, and oh yeah....make an impact (emotionally, financially, spiritually, whatever).

I'm very excited to be attending two conferences back to back this April one regional -Social Slam and one national -Social Media Marketing World - where I plan to learn from today's top thought leaders in social media marketing. Some of them will know pretty much what I know, some will know more, and if we're productive in networking, we will form new ideas, thoughts, and marketing buzz words as we learn from each other.

Like a busy bee, I'll be flying around from flower to flower at these events looking for some pollen of good knowledge and fascinating conversations.
I'll ask a lot of questions and start connecting the dots of my own theories in social media marketing. I'll share those concepts with new people I meet and likely right here on my blog. It doesn't really make me an expert, but it does make me an advocate, educator, and fabulously kind person for sharing my sweet honey pot of knowledge.

Just a few of the thought leaders I'm excited to network with and learn from at #SoSlam and #SMMW are:

•  @JasonFalls- Always a delight to hear him talk about tree-huggers!
• @JohnMorgan & @LauraClick- Representing Nashville!
• @AnneDGallaher- One of the Leading Ladies in digital/ social!
• @Mike_Stelzner- The "Social Media Examiner" Guy!
• @GuyKawasaki- Google+ anyone? He's all over it!
• @Chris Brogan- Everyone in social knows Chris!
• @Nichole_Kelly- This girl knows how to weed out the ROI in social!
• @JayBaer- I'm a fan of his weekly Social Pros Podcast!
• @MarioSundar- Just call him Mr. LinkedIn!
• @LeeOdden- He is into SEO + Social + Content (all my areas of focus)!
• @NealSchaffer- If you've got social media, he'll tell you how to Maximize it!
•  @MarkWSchaefer- This guy knows his Twitter!
• @DuctTape- - John Jantsch, wrote Duct Tape Marketing- for making your marketing campaigns stick!

I've already started connecting with many of the conference speakers and other attendees via the hashtags:

• Social Slam's hashtag is #SoSlam.
• Social Media Marketing World's hashtag is #SMMW13.

Follow along for some nuggets of info and jump into the conversation with us!