In Chicago you can always find a slice of the best pizza @LaGondola, the best cupcakes from @FoiledCupcakes and once a year you can find the best Social PR strategies at SES Chicago. SES Conference & Expo provides marketing professionals, brand advertisers, agencies, and business leaders with the knowledge and tools needed to traverse the dynamic digital landscape.

Social PR tips are always the best when shared over drinks.

One of my favorite SES conferences is SES Chicago. Besides the fact that Chicago is my hometown, SES Chicago was my first search engine marketing conference that started my long history of becoming part of the SES family of speaker panelists.  Whether you are attending this week’s conference or following on Twitter with hashtag #SESCHI, the speaker line-up is stellar and the sessions offer some of the most cutting edge content that marketers and public relations pros need to know.

Social PR Tip: Video can be the difference between getting a story picked up or getting it featured on the home page.  This is where PR people can leverage what they do best to make their company’s or client’s marketing efforts more successful. Greg Jarboe, President & Co-founder, SEO-PR

Best Pizza in Chicago at La Gondola for the Best Speakers at SES Chicago Merry Morud and Angie Schottmuller_

Social PR Tip Coolest free (yet robust!) social analytics tool I’ve seen in awhile is SocialBro. @MerryMorud

Social PR Tip Leveraging  user-generated content (UGC) like Q&A, ratings, reviews, and shared photos on your website is a fantastic way to organically grow more relevant, unique and fresh content that both users and search engines love.Via @ Angie Schottmuller

SES Chicago Sessions for Social PR Good

Dana Todd wears many SEM, SEO and PPC hats including one at La Gondola

If you are in the Social PR world and want to learn new strategies that are out of the PR box; follow these speakers and/or sessions

Mobile Marketing Optimization – a must for PR players

• Angie Schottmuller, Chief of Conversion Marketing, Unbounce

Getting Started with SEO  - In today’s world you can’t be in PR without understanding SEO

• Carolyn Shelby, Director of SEO, Chicago Tribune/435 Digital

Beyond Engagement: Harnessing the Power of Social Media -Dig into the minds of these digital PR pros

• Laura Roth, Conference Program & Training Manager, SES Conference & Expo
• Mel Carson, Founder, Delightful Communications
• Jason Yormark, Senior VP of Marketing & Social Media, ShowPony

Metrics for Success in the Mobile and Apps Ecosystem - PR means nothing without analytics

• Jonathan Allen, Director, Search Engine Watch
• Adam Singer, Product Marketing Manager, Google Analytics

Social Media, Meet ROI: The Secrets to the Strategic Thinking Driving Social Commerce -
Dear PR pros: PR Commerce = Social Commerce

• Aaron Kahlow, CEO & Founder, Online Marketing Institute
• Angie Schottmuller, Chief of Conversion Marketing, Unbounce

Keys to Success with B2B Video - Today’s PR = video

• Greg Jarboe, President & Co-founder, SEO-PR

Deep Dish Pizza for all the SES Chicago speakers celebrating Search and Social at La Gondola

SEO 2013: The Future of Search – Big Data has exploded onto the scene forcing marketers to be more savvy with their analytics – PR Pros need to understand what’s trending.

• Dana Todd, Vice President of Performance Innovation, Performics
• Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc.

Optimizing B2B Content Across the Sales Cycle – a great opportunity for PR pros to learn how content flows through a B2B sales cycle and how to be part of it. This speaker also wrote the book and writes the blog on it it too! @leeodden

• Lee Odden, SES Advisory Board; CEO, TopRank Online Marketing

Leveraging Twitter and Facebook Ads -Get the full Social PR picture how to match up earned and paid  from two of my fave writers, speakers and marketers.

• Miranda Miller, Lead Writer, Search Engine Watch
• Merry Morud, Online Marketing Account Manager, aimClear®

Social PR Tip  Learn to program your Twitter buttons so they attribute where the content came from. Look at BBC News, New York Times and All Things Digital.They’re missing a trick by not adding @BBCNews or @NYTimes to the end of Tweets  shared from their pages. If they did, people have the source re-enforced before they click and those site are likely to pick up new followers as well.  Digital PR Expert Mel Carson – Founder of  DelightfulCommunications

Looking for Marty Weintraub? Find him talking about Psychographic Targeting at SES Chicago or somewhere really cold or really cool!

Social PR Tip Think of press releases as opportunities for social engagement – instead of linking your next press release to a static website, try linking it to your Facebook Page focusing on a video or interesting graphic!  Aaron Kahlow – CEO of Online Marketing Institute

Social PR Tip Retarget psychographic segments and target media occupations in Facebook and LinkedIn in a grid of “Intent” publications. Marty Weintraub – CEO of aimClear

Best cupcakes in Chicago and best social media case study: Foiled Cupcakes

When in doubt, check out La Gondola Italian Restaurant for some of the best Italian or a cupcake from Mari at Foiled Cupcakes - only found in Chicago!