Latest Digital / Social Media Marketing News & Insights

​Presented by Neal Schaffer​

In this week's newsletter:

• LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky is moving out after six years (but not too far away).
• ChatGPT vs Claude: maybe just use both?
• Social media marketing is human, more so in the age of AI.

Hey Reader,

I had the honor of keynoting this year's Digital Marketing Summit at NOVA Southeastern University last Friday. My talk was on what I'm calling the LinkedIn Business Engine — a completely new way of thinking about LinkedIn that goes beyond content posting. I broke it down on my latest podcast episode here.

The full-day summit covered everything from social media replacing the traditional funnel to SEO in the age of AI. But the through-line across every session was unmistakable: the AI transformation isn't slowing down, and almost everyone feels like they're behind.

After attending several events over the past few weeks, I'm seeing the same three-stage framework emerge everywhere:

• Stage 1: Bring AI into your existing workflow (my AI Workflow Flywheel video covers my approach here)
• Stage 2: Agentic AI — letting AI take actions on your behalf
• Stage 3: Autonomous operations and the AI-native organization

Here's my honest take as a small business owner: I'm still getting massive value from Stage 1. And I think that's fine. The tools are evolving so quickly that by the time most of us are ready for Stage 2, the technology will be more mature, more accessible, and frankly easier to adopt. Rushing into agents before you've mastered your core AI workflow is like optimizing ads before your landing page converts.

Don't let the hype pressure you into skipping steps. Master the fundamentals first — then level up when it makes sense for your business.

Now let's get into this week's updates!

Please note: Some links in this newsletter are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I may earn a small commission—at no extra cost to you.

This Week's Podcast Episode

​10 Social Media Principles That Work for MrBeast's Beast Games, Lord Of The Rings, And Your Business​

In this episode, I sit down with Jon-Stephen Stansel, author of The 10 Principles of Effective Social Media Marketing — a social media pro whose resume includes Invincible, Lord of the Rings, and MrBeast's Beast Games. His guiding principle? Social media marketing is human, and that matters more than ever in the age of AI. The practical advice is sharp: start every engagement by listening to your audience first, solidify brand voice before posting anything, and if you're a solopreneur with limited time, 15 minutes in the morning and 15 at the end of the day is enough to build the habit. His take on goals hit home too — when he asked one organization's C-suite for their top three social media priorities, not a single answer matched. Worth a listen if you need a reset on fundamentals.

This Week's Video

​

​Stop Chasing AI Prompts. Build This System Instead.​

In my latest video, I share the full framework from my DigiMarCon keynote — and it starts with a stat that got a real reaction from the audience: consumer preference for AI-generated content dropped from 60% to just 26% in two years. AI solved the execution problem, but execution without strategy just produces more of the wrong thing faster. I walk through the SCS framework — Search, Email, Social — and the people ecosystem layer that makes the whole system work. The proof? Deloitte activated 250 internal creators on LinkedIn, generating 400 million impressions and $13 million in earned media value. No prompts did that — people did. If you want to see how it all connects, this one lays out the complete roadmap.

This Week's News

LinkedIn’s CEO Is Moving On; Please Hold Your Tearful Video Tributes - LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky stepped down after six years, handing the reins to COO Dan Shapero. The numbers tell the story of his tenure: 700 million members to 1.3 billion, $8 billion in revenue to $19 billion. But perhaps his bigger legacy is transforming LinkedIn from a glorified jobs board into a full-blown social network — for better or worse. Roslansky isn't going far though; he stays on as EVP at Microsoft, and Shapero continues to report to him. For marketers, the leadership change is worth watching — Shapero inherits a platform increasingly central to AI search citations, B2B lead generation, and creator-driven content. Whether LinkedIn's evolution continues in the same direction could shape your strategy. TechCrunch​

ChatGPT Ads Now Offer CPC Bidding Between $3 And $5: Report - ChatGPT's ad platform is evolving fast. Just 10 weeks after launch, pilot advertisers can now bid $3–$5 per click — a major shift from the CPM-only model that started at $60 per thousand impressions. Minimum spend has dropped from $250,000 to $50,000, and a self-serve ads manager is quietly rolling out. The CPC addition matters because it opens the channel to performance marketers who need to compare results directly against Google and Meta. But here's the catch: measurement tools are still limited, and OpenAI is only now hiring its first advertising measurement lead. For paid media teams, the signal is clear — ChatGPT is building toward a real ad platform, not just an experiment. Worth monitoring closely, but don't shift budget until the reporting catches up. Search Engine Journal​

LinkedIn’s New Tool Lets You Test The Outputs Of Various AI Models - LinkedIn just launched Crosscheck — a tool that lets Premium members test prompts across AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft side by side, without knowing which model generated which response. You rate the outputs, and LinkedIn shares that feedback with developers to improve their models. There are even leaderboards ranking top-performing AI tools by vertical. It's a smart move that positions LinkedIn as the professional AI testing ground. The irony worth noting: despite all the AI hype on LinkedIn feeds, a recent study of 6,000 executives found 89% saw virtually no change in labor productivity over three years of AI adoption. Crosscheck could help close that gap by steering professionals toward the right model for their actual use case. Social Media Today​

This Week's Sponsor

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More Recommended Reads

LinkedIn’s AI Is Changing How Content Gets Distributed - LinkedIn just deployed 360Brew, a 150-billion-parameter AI system that evaluates what you write — not just how people react to it. The result? 98% of users saw a decline in reach after the change, because they're still chasing signals that no longer matter. What does matter now: one save gives a post 5x more reach than a like and doubles the impact of a comment. Your headline and first paragraph determine everything — AI categorizes your content before most readers even scroll down. The biggest shift? LinkedIn is cross-referencing your posts, comments, and profile to assess whether you have coherent expertise in a consistent domain. Scattered content across unrelated topics kills your authority signal. If you haven't narrowed your LinkedIn territory yet, this is the wake-up call. MarTech​

AI Citation Tracking: How To track (And Grow) AI Engine Citations - If AI engines aren't citing your brand, you're missing influence at the exact moment buyers form opinions. This HubSpot guide breaks down how to track and grow your presence inside AI-generated answers. The key distinction? Mentions are conversational visibility; citations are sourced authority — and you need both. The practical steps are solid: check your priority keywords in ChatGPT and Perplexity, filter GA4 for AI referral traffic, and build a Looker Studio dashboard to track trends over time. One stat stood out: the author's clients see AI traffic converting at 7% compared to 1% for traditional organic. If you're not yet tracking where your brand shows up in AI answers — or where competitors appear instead — this is the infrastructure guide to get started. Hubspot​

ChatGPT vs Claude: What 5,729 Comparison Mentions Reveal (2026) - Brand24 tracked 5,729 direct comparisons of ChatGPT and Claude over 90 days — and the conversation grew 414% in Q1 2026. The most revealing finding? When people stop asking "which is better" and start asking "which fits my workflow," they've moved past evaluation into adoption. Claude wins recommendations for coding, long-form writing, and research. ChatGPT wins for speed, ecosystem, and multimodal tasks. About 40–50% of comparisons don't even pick a winner — the consensus is "just use both." The marketing takeaway is sharp: if you only track your own brand mentions, you're missing the conversations where people actually decide what to buy. Worth reading for the social listening methodology alone. Brand24​

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Content Marketing And SEO: How To Align Both For Maximum Organic Growth - Here's a problem I see constantly as a Fractional CMO: businesses treating SEO and content marketing as separate strategies with different budgets and different teams. That's expensive and inefficient. SEO gets your content found; content gives search engines something worth ranking. Together, they create organic traffic that compounds over time. The data is clear — paid and organic search drive 68% of all trackable website traffic, and the #1 Google result averages 3.8x more backlinks than positions 2–10. I walk through keyword research, content clusters, on-page optimization, and a framework for measuring what actually matters. If you're creating content without an SEO strategy — or optimizing pages without fresh content to fuel them — you're leaving growth on the table. Neal Schaffer​

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