In this week's newsletter:

• Don’t panic when your site drops out of an AI answer.
• How long should your social media captions be?
• If your YouTube views suddenly jumped, don’t celebrate yet.

Hey Reader,

My homepage still promotes The Age of Influence as my newest book. It came out in 2020. I’ve been meaning to redesign the site for about five years.

What finally got me moving was a Thomas Friedman column in The New York Times on AI in China. At factory after factory, he kept hearing the same phrase: “good enough” AI. Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, told him that America builds “Socrates AI,” chasing the big questions with frontier models, while China builds “Lu Ban AI,” named after a legendary master carpenter. Huawei now runs quality inspections on its smartphone line with small AI models that don’t even need a data center.

Here’s the thing, though: most of us are waiting for a better model, when the one we already pay for is good enough for the work we keep putting off.

So I stopped waiting. I’m redesigning my website with Claude, and it’s going through all 675 of my blog posts to update dates, catch broken internal links, and flag outdated information. That audit would have taken me or a VA a lot of time. Now it runs while I do other work.

Pick one task you’ve been putting off for months and hand the first pass to the AI you already have. Then hit reply and tell me what it was.

Let’s jump 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 Video

Fractional CMO vs Agency vs Consultant: Which Do You Need?

Most businesses pick an agency, consultant, or fractional CMO based on who they know or who called first. I’ve run my own agency and now work as a fractional CMO, and in my new video I break down what each actually buys you, the intellectual property you give up with an agency, and when you shouldn’t hire any of us.

This Week's News

Getting YouTube Views Is Changing: What Marketers Need To Know - If your YouTube views suddenly jumped, don’t celebrate yet. YouTube now counts a split-second autoplay as a view, and what used to be a view is now an engaged view. Justin Brown of Primal Video explains which metrics actually matter and why he titles every chapter like a standalone search. AI tools are already his fastest-growing traffic source. Social Media Examiner​

LinkedIn Marketing Strategy: How To Build One That Actually Brings In Business - I’ve written three books on LinkedIn, and most people I work with run their presence on just one or two of its four cylinders: profile, network, content, and relationships. My new post shares the framework I use with clients, why your personal profile should carry 90% of the work, and a 30-day plan that fixes one cylinder a week. Neal Schaffer​

HubSpot Lost 80% Of Its Traffic: CMO Kipp Bodnar Explains Why Revenue Kept Growing - HubSpot’s blog lost about 80% of its organic traffic, and revenue still grew nearly 20%. The reason is worth stealing: 90% of its content leads now come from newsletters, podcasts, YouTube, and creators that barely existed in its mix five years ago. If sessions are still your scoreboard, CMO Kipp Bodnar explains the three metrics HubSpot tracks instead. Search Engine Journal​

Is Blogging Still Relevant in 2026? What My Own Traffic Says - I’ve been blogging since 2008, and this year my data told two stories. Total sessions rose nearly 14% from January to July, with Bing traffic up 69% and Google down 46%, yet my email signups stayed flat. In my new post, I share what still works, what died, and why visitors from AI convert about three times better. Neal Schaffer​

This Week's Sponsor

​Find The Best Influencers With Upfluence​

Finding the right influencers for your brand doesn’t have to feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. Upfluence makes it easier to discover creators who match your audience, niche, and goals, so you can spend less time searching and more time building great partnerships. Ready to find your next favorite creators? Check out Upfluence and get started!

More Recommended Reads

How To Build A Claude Project That Writes Your Client Proposals - This is the kind of Claude Project every freelancer and consultant should build this week. Corey Walker, co-author of Instagram for Dummies, turns scribbled call notes into a branded proposal in about two minutes, and Claude even flags billable hours she forgot to charge for. She still sets the final price herself, sometimes lower, sometimes higher. AgoraPulse​

[What Data Says] Social Media Caption Length Best Practices - Most caption-length advice comes from habit. Socialinsider analyzed millions of organic posts across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok and found the answer depends on format. Instagram carousels peak under 60 words, while LinkedIn multi-image posts do best past 90 words. Sort your own top posts by format and see where your audience lands. Social Insider​

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How Stable Are AI Citations? 10 Things We Learned Tracking 37,500 Citations - Don’t panic when your site drops out of an AI answer. Ahrefs tracked 37,500 citations for 20 days and found half or more vanish by the next day, yet most return. What keeps them? Ranking in Google, which made pages about seven times likelier to stay cited for a week in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Classic SEO still pays. Ahrefs​

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From Reels To The Living Room: What Instagram’s Long-Form Push Means For Brands - Instagram is coming for YouTube’s spot in the living room. It’s testing 90-minute horizontal videos called Features, linked from Reels and watchable on its Apple TV app, and Adam Mosseri says brand deals will fund the creators who make them. With no going rate yet, early sponsors can shape pricing and terms. That window won’t stay open long. Later.com​

Why B2B Marketers Are Turning To Paid Influencers - B2B influencer marketing has moved past analysts and executives. 83% of B2B marketers are actively pursuing programs, and the most effective ones partner with entertaining creators at nearly double the rate of traditional influencers. Marketers also rate always-on programs almost twice as desirable as one-off campaigns. Is there a creator inside your company, or inside you? Martech​

​Maximizing LinkedIn For Business Growth​

Whether you're a business professional looking to attract clients, a job seeker wanting to stand out, an entrepreneur building your personal brand, or a sales professional focused on social selling and lead generation, this fully updated and expanded 2nd edition of Maximizing LinkedIn for Business Growth delivers a proven, practical playbook for maximizing LinkedIn in 2026 and beyond

Recommended Newsletters

If I can be of any help to you or your organization, please consider joining my Digital First Group Coaching Membership Community or considering hiring me as a Fractional CMO. Need more info? Book a time with me simply by replying to this email!

Warm regards,

Neal

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