In this week's newsletter:

• LinkedIn Premium? Pay for it when you need it, then pause it.
• Meta wants you to stop touching your campaigns.
• ChatGPT is becoming a place to look things up, more slowly than the headlines suggested.

Hey Reader,

I’m writing this from my flight home from Delaware Technical Community College’s Social Media Conference, where I just ran my first Claude for Social Media workshop. I also got plenty of dedicated time with my social media “cousin” Mark Schaefer, talking shop and life. What a day!

This workshop was a milestone for me. I’ve been building my AI Workflow Flywheel inside my own business, and this was the first time I brought that thinking into a room and showed it live.

I covered two big ideas. The first was the role Claude can play in your marketing. The second was a question I keep coming back to: what would my 2013 book on social media strategy, Maximize Your Social, look like if I rewrote it today for the age of AI?

Juggling Claude and PowerPoint live kept me on my toes, but the response told me the message landed. One attendee said she could have stayed in that room for another hour.

Here’s the thing, though: this is just the beginning. I’ll be sharing more of this thinking in the months ahead, and as a reader of this newsletter, you’ll see it first.

So I’d love your help shaping what comes next. What’s the one thing you most want to learn about using AI in your marketing? Hit reply and let me know. And if you’d like me to bring this workshop to your team or event, just say so in the same reply.

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 News

STOP Paying For LinkedIn Premium (Until You Need It)

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After writing three books on LinkedIn, my advice surprised even my daughter: you don't have to pay to play, and more than 85% of members never do. In my new video, I explain what Premium really buys you (time and efficiency) and the four questions that settle it. Pay for it when you need it, then pause it.

The Secrets Of Human Behavior Applied To Social Ads - Your best ad worked for a reason you probably can't name, so you can't repeat it. Consumer behavior analyst Sarah Levinger fixes that with three decisions: emotional tone, which version of your customer you're speaking to, and the buying stage. Her proof: swapping "deserve" for "earned" was a six-figure change for one watch brand. Social Media Examiner​

Email Open Rate: What Yours Actually Means In 2026 (With 11 Months Of My Own Data) - I pulled 11 months of my own email data to see what my open rate really means. It landed right on the industry median, which tells me almost nothing. One resend made the point: opens fell 3.5x, but clicks fell 39x. My new post covers how much list cleaning actually lifts your rate and what to fix first. Neal Schaffer​

ChatGPT Sends Less Than 1% Of Google's Traffic - Before you shift budget from SEO to AI visibility, look at this. Across 145 million sessions, ChatGPT sent just 0.62% as many visits as Google organic. Its visitors converted better, yet Google still drove 27 times as many conversions as every LLM combined. AI search shows where buyers are heading. Google is where they arrive today. Martech​

Content Decay: What Cutting My Blog From 1,600 Posts To 700 Taught Me - I've run this site since 2008 and cut it from 1,600 posts to 400 before rebuilding to 700. My new post explains the four causes behind sliding clicks, why a rewrite fixes only one, and why I now demote old posts instead of deleting them. You can undo a demotion; a deletion is permanent. Neal Schaffer​

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More Recommended Reads

How I Decide Where The Next $100,000 Of Marketing Budget Should Go - Most companies pour their next $100,000 into whatever worked last quarter, usually paid search. This framework says to map your funnel through month-12 retention first. In its model company, $60,000 more in search returns about $36,000 in new ARR, while a $15,000 conversion fix could be worth $1.1 million. Would your budget plan survive that comparison? Search Engine Journal​

AI Share Of Voice: What It Is, How To Measure It, And What It Actually Tells You - An AI share of voice number means little without its scope. In one example, a brand's 67% share drops to 31% once you weight prompts by how often people ask them. The useful view is the score by prompt group, where the gaps show you what to create next. The headline number is the least useful one. Ahrefs​

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Why Organic Traffic Can Fall While Revenue Stays Strong - If your organic traffic is sliding, check five numbers before you rewrite anything: pipeline, branded search, direct traffic, commercial-page sessions and impressions. If those hold, you're mostly losing low-intent clicks to AI answers. Protect your pricing and comparison pages and publish original data AI can't summarize away. A panicked rewrite can damage the pages still earning revenue. Martech​

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Meta Says Advertisers Should Let Campaigns Gather Data - Meta wants you to stop touching your campaigns, and its numbers make a decent case. Give each ad set roughly 50 conversions a week. Below that, Meta found, ad sets ran about 28% more expensive per purchase. Peak season is weeks away, so set a clear brief now and give it time to learn. Social Media Today​

ChatGPT Data: 1 In 5 Consumer Messages Now Seek Information - ChatGPT is becoming a place to look things up, more slowly than the headlines suggested. Information seeking hit 20.7% of consumer messages in August, edging past writing for the first time, while practical how-to guidance still leads at 28.1%. Quoting ChatGPT stats in a deck? Cite the dataset, since this one differs from earlier research by nearly six points. Search Engine Journal​

​Digital Threads​

Digital Threads is a practical guide for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and creators who want to grow their online presence with confidence. Learn proven digital marketing strategies, make the most of social media and AI tools, and build your brand without a massive marketing budget.

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Warm regards,

Neal

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