Latest Digital / Social Media Marketing News & Insights

​Presented by Neal Schaffer​

In this week's newsletter:

• AI content isn't an SEO risk and never will be.
• When it comes to Meta Ads, let the algorithm do what it's designed to do.
• Learn how to feed the AI better, not faster.

Hey Reader,

Here's a number that should bother you: 91% of marketers say they're using AI — but it's only showing up in about 15% of their actual marketing work.

That gap tells you something important. Most of us are still treating AI like a fancy search engine. Open tab, ask question, copy-paste, close tab.

I was guilty of this too — until something quietly shifted. I noticed that my email inbox was no longer mission control. Without planning it, the center of gravity for how I run my business had moved into my AI conversations. Projects, strategy, content, speaking prep — it was all living there. And the more I put in, the better and faster the output got.

I started calling it the AI Workflow Flywheel. It's the compounding effect that kicks in when you stop asking one-off questions and start building entire workflows inside AI — front-loading your context, your brand voice, your goals, and then coming back to the same conversations instead of starting fresh every time.

In my latest podcast episode, I break down the four stages of the flywheel, the two mistakes that keep most marketers from ever experiencing it, and a five-step action plan you can start this week.

But here's the real question this raises: are you using AI, or are you actually working inside it? Because the difference between those two things might be the biggest competitive gap in marketing right now.

I'd love to hear where you are on that spectrum — hit reply and tell me. Now, on to 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

​Stop Using AI Like A Search Engine - Build A Flywheel Instead​

In my latest episode, I introduce the AI workflow flywheel—what happens when you stop treating AI as a one-off tool and start working inside it as your primary workspace. The more context you feed it, the smarter it gets about your business, and output quality compounds over time. I share the two mistakes keeping most marketers from experiencing this and a five-step action plan to start building yours this week. One workflow is all it takes to get the flywheel spinning.

This Week's Video

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​The Human-First Strategy That's Beating AI-Generated Content​

Phil Treagus-Evans built his agency Giraffe Social on a powerful idea: human-first marketing is the antidote to AI-generated sameness. In this episode, he shares his EMPATH framework for truly understanding customers, explains why he believes funnels are a lie (and replaces them with his Pinball Method), and draws the line on AI use in marketing. His take on employee advocacy? If it's forced, it's not advocacy—it's "employee hostage." A refreshing conversation about keeping marketing human.

This Week's News

TubeAnalytics Launches To Show Creators Exactly How To Succeed On YouTube - TubeAnalytics just launched with a simple premise: most YouTube analytics tools tell you what happened, but not what to do next. Built for solo creators and small teams, it analyzes performance patterns across your videos and delivers specific recommendations—topics to revisit, formats to double down on, and where audience drop-off can be reduced. As the creator economy matures, tools that support decision-making over raw reporting are exactly what serious creators need. Worth a look if you're treating your channel as a business, not a hobby. MarTech Series​

How Query Fan-Out Works, Why It Matters, And What It Means For Brand Visibility In AI Search - Foundation's latest research explains why your content can answer a buyer's question perfectly—yet never get cited by AI. The culprit: query fan-out, where one AI prompt expands into dozens of sub-queries your keyword tools can't see. Strikingly, 95% of ChatGPT's fan-out queries show zero search volume in traditional tools, and 85% of retrieved pages never make the final citation. The fix isn't more content—it's building topic ecosystems that cover the full constellation of sub-queries. Stop asking what you want to rank for and start asking what AI needs to recommend you. Foundation Inc.​

Is AI Content Bad For SEO? No, And It Never Will Be (7 Reasons) - Ahrefs studied 100,000 keywords and found only 13.5% of top-ranking pages are "pure human"—81.9% use some form of AI assistance. Their verdict: AI content isn't an SEO risk and never will be. Google penalizes thin, spammy, deceptive content, not the tool that made it. Sites penalized for "AI content" were actually penalized for scaled content abuse—fake bylines, zero review, mass production. The lesson: don't use AI to do what's always gotten sites penalized. Helpfulness is the only ranking signal that matters. Ahrefs​

This Week's Sponsor

​Move From Ideas To Action With Manus​

If you’re curious about what it looks like to truly work alongside AI, Manus is a great place to begin. It goes beyond ideas and helps you actually move things forward—whether you’re writing, building, or figuring things out step by step. It’s a simple, low-pressure way to explore how AI can quietly support the way you work. Bonus: get 500 credits when you sign up now!

More News

Ad Creative Strategy: The Easy Way To Improve Facebook And Instagram ROAS - Meta ads expert Ben Heath reveals why ad creative is now your biggest competitive lever—not targeting, not funnels, not campaign settings. He recommends stocking ad sets with 20 diverse creatives, testing angles like affordability vs. anxiety alleviation, and using Meta's free Creator Marketplace (1.5M creators) to produce video ads at scale. His highest-leverage hack? Ask creators to film five different hooks per video, then edit them onto one body—5x the testable ads for nearly the same cost. Social Media Examiner​

A Guide To Meta Ads Targeting In 2026 - Meta ads veteran Jon Loomer clarifies what most advertisers overcomplicate: targeting now falls into just three categories—controls, suggestions, and restrictions—and your job is knowing when each applies. His core argument? Most audience inputs are merely suggestions Meta can ignore, so building separate ad sets around them wastes effort. Remarketing happens by default, detailed targeting rarely restricts anymore, and age/gender limits usually hurt more than help. The takeaway: simplify your campaign structure and let the algorithm do what it's designed to do. Jon Loomer​

What AI Writing Tools Get Wrong (And The Stack I Use Instead) - Ahrefs' Mateusz Makosiewicz generated 40 articles through Claude—and explains why he'll never go back to AI writing tools. The core issue? Writing was never the hard part; verified information is. Writing tools recycle whatever's ranking, can't handle 15–20 reference files, and cost $50–$2,000/month while running older models. His alternative: build your own source-of-truth files, develop repeatable prompts, and invest in inputs, not wrappers. The future belongs to knowledge curators, not content generators. Feed the AI better, not faster. Ahrefs​

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Are you a small business owner, entrepreneur, or content creator struggling to navigate the complex world of digital marketing? Do you want to learn how to build a powerful online presence, leverage social media, and harness the power of AI tools without breaking the bank? If so, Digital Threads is your ultimate guide to mastering digital marketing in today’s fast-paced, digital-first economy.

Latest From My Blog

15 AI SEO Tools That Actually Help You Rank - I recently reviewed 15 AI SEO tools that actually move the needle in 2026—from research and content optimization to tracking your visibility in AI-generated search results. My honest take after testing them across client projects and my own content? You only need 2–3. I break down which combinations work best for solo creators, agencies, and enterprise teams at every budget. The goal isn't to automate everything—it's to free up time for the strategy only you can provide. Neal Schaffer​

Best Time To Post On TikTok In 2026: Data-Backed Times By Day, Industry & Region - In my latest deep-dive, I analyzed over 10 studies covering 2 million+ TikTok posts to pinpoint the best times to post in 2026. The single highest-engagement slot? Sunday at 8 PM EST—not the "dead weekend" many creators assume. I break down optimal windows by day, industry vertical, and global region, plus the worst times to avoid (Thursday 1 PM is a dead zone). Your TikTok Analytics will always beat generic advice, so use this as your starting point, then test. Neal Schaffer​