San Diego sunshine, a stage full of experts, and an overdose of learning and innovation. Our team—Jennifer Dring, Ashley Allison, Nick Denbow, and Evan James—had the privilege of attending Social Media Marketing World 2025 (SMMW), one of the world’s leading conferences for digital and social media marketers. Hosted by Social Media Examiner, SMMW brings together the brightest minds in the industry to explore new tools, tactics, and strategies.
At MJ2, our core values—excellence, intentionality, agility, and partnership—guide everything we do. Attending SMMW 2025 reinforced our mission to deliver smart, scalable, and strategic marketing solutions for our clients. We’re already infusing what we’ve learned into our agency’s processes and client strategies.
These are just a few key takeaways from SMMW, but this is only the beginning. There’s so much more we’re excited to explore and implement.
The Power (and Limits) of AI
The AI Track at SMMW 2025 made one thing clear, AI isn’t just a trend—it’s a strategic imperative for modern marketers. From building custom GPTs to refining prompt libraries and integrating voice and visual inputs, speakers like Dan Sanchez, Nicole Leffer, Andy Crestodina, and Brian Piper emphasized the need for intentional, strategic, and efficient AI adoption.
Rather than chasing every new tool, marketers were encouraged to go deep with platforms that align with their workflow and goals. At MJ2, we’ve already embraced this mindset, adopting an AI Policy that encourages the use of these tools to simplify and streamline research, inform campaign strategy, and support competitor analysis. It plays a vital role in our SEO keyword development, and subject matter research, while also enabling us to extract data-driven insights more effectively.
As Andy Crestodina emphasized during his presentation, AI doesn’t necessarily make us faster at what we do, but when used properly, it can make us even better at what we do.
Storytelling, Psychology & Messaging That Sticks
One of the most powerful themes throughout SMMW 2025 was the reminder that great marketing starts with great messaging. Whether it was Dr. J.J. Peterson’s storytelling framework, Melina Palmer’s insights into behavioral science, or Marcus Sheridan’s bold branding advice, the message was clear: if you want to move people, you need to make them feel something, see themselves in the story, and clearly understand the value you offer.
At MJ2, we’re bringing these lessons back to refine how we position our clients by elevating brand stories, simplifying complex messaging, and building emotional connections through clarity and authenticity. In a crowded digital landscape, messaging that resonates isn’t just nice to have, it’s what drives action and creates lasting brand loyalty.
Platform Playbooks: What’s Working Now
Sessions that took a deep dive into the various social platforms provided a wealth of tactical insight across Instagram, LinkedIn, Meta Ads, and short-form videos. The key takeaway… what works on one platform won’t always work on another. From building magnetic LinkedIn profiles and optimizing Reels for watch time, to structuring Meta ads for better performance, the sessions emphasized platform-native strategies that are rooted in audience behavior and data.
We’re using these lessons to fine-tune how we create, publish, and promote content across channels to ensure that every piece not only looks great but performs with purpose.
SMMW 2025 confirmed what we’ve always known – the future belongs to the brave, the curious, and the customer-centric. Whether you’re a business leader, brand manager, or fellow marketer, we hope these insights spark ideas for your own growth.
Want to put some of these ideas to work? Let’s connect.
