Over the past few weeks, I’ve been the fly in the LinkedIn ointment.

You’ve probably seen the bold projections from AI leaders like Mustafa Suleyman and Matt Shumer predicting cataclysmic AI impacts on our work, employment, and artistic endeavors.

There’s a defensive argument surfacing on LinkedIn: “If you care about artistry, you must resist AI.” Many marketers and creators hold on to a hope that the AI Era will have a place for the slow, the steady, the artisanally-crafted tradition of human content. I’ve responded with comments of “probably not.” Which has not been a popular view.

In a webinar last week, I explained how I was using AI as an editor and video producer to make my content exponentially better, faster, and cheaper. I was brutally scalded by one of the webinar participants. “How can you turn video editing over to AI?” one man bristled. “That’s where the craftsmanship happens. That is the artistry. Why aren’t you fighting against AI?”

Good question. Is it time to battle AI and protect human artistry?

I am not anti-human or anti-artistry. But this storyline seems familiar. Before we put on the AI armor, let’s face the music:

A familiar tune

In 1982, the British Musicians’ Union made a remarkable move. They called an emergency meeting and voted to ban music synthesizers from the U.K.

The trigger was Barry Manilow, of all people. On his U.K. tour, Barry had replaced his orchestra with synthesizers. String musicians, horn players, and percussionists lost their work. Traditional artists were furious and responded the way humans almost always do to disruptive change: they tried to make it illegal.

And it was futile.

The following year, the MIDI software standard was codified, and digital music synthesizers became widely available. Overnight, a person sitting alone in a room could produce music that previously required a full band and technical team.

Within a year of the MIDI revolution, thousands of studio musicians and technicians working on commercials, TV shows, and movies lost their jobs. The market for musicians collapsed.

By the mid-1980s, electronic music had created entirely new industries, careers, and genres. Survival in the music business meant adopting, adapting, and embracing the new technology.

Do we still have musicians? Of course. Do we still have orchestras? Absolutely. But the industry that once supported competent session workers evaporated and never came back.

The number of songs produced each year has exploded. The number of people making a living as full-time musicians has not.

The argument against AI today is exactly the same one made in 1982 against digital music. And the result will be the same.

We need to get ready, and I have an idea about that.

But first, let’s look ahead to our probable future. What do we know to be true? Can we think through the implications? How real is the threat?

What we know to be true:

1. The economic value of intelligence is near zero

Since the beginning of time, humans have prospered and advanced by acquiring knowledge. Every institution is built on the organization of scarce human intelligence. Universities exist because they have been the gatekeepers of knowledge.

These dynamics are irrelevant today because we can’t out-smart AI.

Even the most complex code is being written by bots. AI is developing PhD-level research studies and solving problems in physics and genetics that have stumped humans. Will it be able to create intelligent marketing strategies and insightful content? Of course.

If your career is based on intelligence, you’re vulnerable. Intelligence is abundant and nearly free.

2. Skills don’t matter so much

A primary argument for the worth of humans is that we’ve spent years developing our talents. Surely AI cannot match the experience we’ve honed over decades?

If you believe that AI can’t write as well as you, for example, consider this quote from Mike Kaput, a long-time PR pro and co-host of the (excellent) Artificial Intelligence podcast:

“I’ve been a professional writer for a very long time. I would argue that I’m just shy of being a world-class writer. It is my superpower. And I don’t mean to be arrogant about it, but I have some receipts to prove it.

“By the end of 2025, my use of AI as a writing companion has become very, very different. I can safely say that AI is a better writer than me in every way that counts. That doesn’t mean writing and writers are obsolete. It just means that when it comes to taking my ideas and putting them into really good words, putting them into logical and emotive constructions, AI is just as good as I am — and it’s way faster. It will be even better soon.

“Three years ago, you could see this day coming. It’s not coming, it is here.”

The same thing is happening in video and every other creative field. Responding to a realistic clip of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise engaging in hand-to-hand combat, Deadpool screenwriter Rhett Reese lamented on X that “I hate to say it, but it’s likely over for us.”

My critic in the webinar said, “Editing work must remain human because that’s where the artistry lives.” The musicians said this in 1982. The monastic scribes said it about the printing press. The darkroom operators said it when digital cameras arrived.

Each time, the argument was emotionally true and economically irrelevant.

The art survived. The skilled infrastructure around the making of art did not.

3. The economics favor the bots

In my book How AI Changes Your Customers, I describe AI’s biggest lie.

Every AI company creates PR spin about how AI will “enable” humans. While this is somewhat true, for these companies to recover the trillions being spent on data centers, research, and energy, they must replace human jobs on a massive scale.

Mustafa Suleyman, the CEO of Microsoft AI and one of the most trusted voices in the field, recently said that most white-collar work will be fully automated within 12 to 18 months. Lawyers. Accountants. Project managers. Marketing teams. Anyone, as he put it, “sitting down at a computer.”

I am humble enough to accept that these insiders see a technological future that I can’t access. Is massive job loss certain? No. But I’m paying attention to these leaders.

Thinking it through

Let’s think through the implications of these realities:

• The economic value of intelligence is near zero
• AI creative skills will meet or exceed human output
• ROI for AI investment requires massive job replacement

I am not an alarmist. I am not a pessimist. I try to see the world as it is, not what I would wish for. But I think there is a probability that my fellow creatives and I are facing a “MIDI moment.”

What can we learn from the musicians who survived that cataclysmic crash?

1. Resistance is futile

The musicians who thrived after 1983 were not railing against synthesizers.

They adapted to the new tools, found the intersection between technology and human creativity, and built careers doing the work that a machine fundamentally cannot replicate.

Adopt AI, don’t fight it. Use it, master it, twist it into exciting new opportunities.

Get over the depression and shock of the AI event horizon and figure out how it can make you bigger, bolder, more creative, and more impactful in this world.

I believe the future still belongs to extraordinary human creativity. But I also believe it is irresponsible to tell young creatives that the economics of the past might protect them. Technology adoption does not honor tradition and artistry. It follows cost curves.

When something becomes:

• 90x cheaper
• 90x faster
• 90% as good

… It wins.

That is not cruelty. That is capitalism.

Acknowledging that reality is not anti-artist.

2. Become a true artist

The MIDI moment separated the great from the competent. Here’s where I need to be concrete, because the conversation tends to get muddled.

I am NOT arguing that AI will replace the editor whose instincts transform raw footage into something that makes you cry. The visionary creative director who tells a story the world needs to hear isn’t vulnerable. The beloved YouTuber or podcaster who creates compelling, entertaining content every day is safe.

I am addressing the layer of technically demanding, repetitive, formulaic work that makes up the majority of billable hours in creative businesses.

If your value is defined by:

• Repetitive technical execution
• Tool mastery alone
• Process efficiency
• Pattern recognition

You’re standing in automation’s path.

If your value is defined by:

• Taste
• Judgment
• Emotional intelligence
• Cultural fluency
• Emotional connection to an audience
• Unmatched talent

You’ll probably become more valuable, not less.

In my book Audacious: How Humans Win in an AI Marketing World, I explore this in depth. If you’re among those who refuse to be ignored, read this book.

If AI content is indistinguishable from human work, nobody cares. Your job is to transcend AI and MAKE. THEM. CARE.

Your blog, podcast, or video series must rise above common, competent AI slop and approach the level of art (more on that here.)

Art will persist. Many jobs won’t. Both things are true.

3. Become known

So here we are. We’ve embraced the technology. We’re expressing our human experience and rising above the slop. That’s not enough. You could be great and still buried in this noisy world.

It doesn’t help to be a star if nobody knows you are a star. You must work on your personal brand.

You don’t have to become famous by dancing on TikTok. But you must have the authority, presence, and reputation to break through the AI pandemic of dull.

Your personal brand is your only long-term defense against AI.

A final word

Many people point to past technological innovations, like the internet or the industrial revolution, to dismiss gloomy forecasts of job loss. They say that over time, technology creates MORE jobs and opportunities.

Sometimes that is true. And honestly, the jury is still out on AI adoption.

But this feels different. In the past six months, I’ve had three relatives lose their jobs to AI. Their entire departments were permanently wiped out by AI.

If you’re replaced by AI, what new job could you create in your field that won’t also be replaced by AI?

And I’m worried about the gap between the tech elites and the vast majority of people who have no idea what AI can really do and what is coming.

Economist Dr. Noah Smith wrote:

If it helps you feel unique and special to sit there and tell yourself, “AI can’t think!”, then go ahead. And sure, AI doesn’t think exactly the way you do. It probably never will, in the same sense that a submarine will never paddle its fins and an airplane will never flap its wings. But a submarine can go faster than any fish, and an airplane can fly higher and faster than any bird, so it doesn’t matter. You can value your own unique human way of thinking all you like — and I agree, it’s pretty special and cool — but that doesn’t make it more effective than AI.

To my passionate LinkedIn pals who want to stay in the slow lane and battle AI, I understand the emotion. I’ve built my career on creativity. I celebrate it. I teach it. I depend on it. I love it.

But believing in artistry does not require denying economic gravity.

And economic gravity always wins.

My friends, we should not “battle AI.”

We should battle mediocrity. Rise above the noise.

Need an inspiring keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post Do we begin to battle AI for human artistry? appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

For more than 15 years, I’ve studied and written about “rising above the noise” — how a business or individual can be seen, heard, and discovered amid the overwhelming wall of content competition.

Since I wrote about Content Shock more than 10 years ago, the total number of hours each day that consumers spend watching, listening to, reading, and interacting with content has barely grown. At the same time, technological innovations in production and distribution, the rise of user-generated content, and the proliferation of premium content have created a dizzying array of new choices.

This is Content Shock on steroids. There are 50 times more amateur uploaders than professionals on Spotify, 25,000 times more hours of content produced last year on YouTube than on all traditional television networks and video streaming services, and AI has flood the zone and is now the dominant source of web content.

So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered a new McKinsey Research report that offers an important new clue about how content actually cuts through effectively.

The breakthrough idea in this report is that most businesses focus on the time spent on content and the size of their audience. This overlooks a more important issue: the quality of time spent.

Not all consumer attention is created equal. Consumption and monetization vary widely across the content marketing spectrum, and the quality of the attention is the reason for that variability.

Let’s dive into this today and learn about how to measure and optimize the quality of attention on your content.

The drivers of attention value

Backed by an in-depth survey of 7,000 consumers worldwide, McKinsey developed an “attention equation” that reveals the full drivers of attention value. Attention doesn’t simply equal the amount of time spent; it equals the amount of valuable time spent, driven by focus and intent. 

Using a new equation, McKinsey measured the value of consumer attention across 20 media channels. Not all content types are created alike. The value of an hour of consumption ranged from:

$33 per hour for live sports,

$17 per hour for live concerts

$7.18 for movies

$0.37 for books

$0.25 for social media posts

$0.12 per hour for digital music

$0.05 for podcasts

This is common sense. If you’re attending a live sports event or a concert,  you’ve paid a lot of money for that “content.” You’re committed!

But looking at the “lower tier” of content we usually produce — social media posts and podcasts — there’s a massive difference McKinsey describes as an “attention quotient.”

The attention quotient consists of two primary components: 1) consumers’ level of focus, or how actively they’re engaged with the content, and 2) the job to be done, or why they are consuming the content. Taken together, these components have significant predictive power on monetization.

Let’s look at these two factors — level of focus and the job to be done — more carefully to see how this might work in practice in our own companies.

Level of focus

McKinsey’s research revealed several insights about where and how consumer focus differs across media:

• In-person experiences elicit the highest level of focus.
• Books (digital and physical) engage audiences to a comparable degree with live experiences
• Console and PC gaming is the only digital medium that gets close to live levels of focus
• Community events create a high level of focus, even in digital, where group activities elicit higher focus than more solitary activities.
• Younger consumers aren’t less attentive; they just pay attention to different media. Gen Z consumers and baby boomers report the same average level of focus, but it’s split across different media: Gen Z consumers are highly focused when playing video games, while boomers prefer reading.
• Overall, the more focused consumers are, the more likely they are to spend. Across consumers, a 10 percent increase in average focus paid across media is associated with a 17 percent increase in consumer spending. Consumers in the top quartile of focus spend twice as much as those in the bottom quartile.

The job to be done

The second factor builds on a famous framework created by Clayton Christensen. When a person consumes your content, what are they “hiring it” for? What is the job to be done?

The primary “job to be done” of media consumption falls into one of five categories (from most to least valuable):

1. To enjoy something that I love. In-person experiences—including live concerts and music festivals, theme parks, sporting events, and movie theaters—dominate this category. Physical books and (to a far lesser extent) audiobooks are also consumed primarily for love.
2. For education and information. This is the primary job to be done for newspapers, magazines, and podcasts.
3. For social connection. This is the primary job of social media sites (Facebook more so than others). Social video (including Instagram reels and TikTok but not YouTube), live events, and video games overindex on this role.
4. For light entertainment and relaxation. This is the primary job of cable television, video streaming, social video, and mobile and console gaming.
5. For background ambience. This is the primary role of radio, digital music, podcasts, and cable television.

Adding these two factors to our content analysis begins to shed light on why not all marketing-related content is created equal:

Implications for demographics

The research also allowed McKinsey to tease out three distinct customer groups based on their high level of economic value:

Content lovers

Entertainment omnivores represent 13 percent of all consumers. Curious and passionate, they spend 2.4 times more money on content and consume 1.7 times more content than the average consumer. They’re the superfans, casting their consumption nets wide to see the movie franchise, watch the spin-off show, ride the themed roller coaster, and buy the items advertised at every step.

Interactivity enthusiasts

The immersion seekers (16 percent). Competitive and lively, they love video games, sports, online betting, and comedy. They prefer endorsements to advertisements, overindex in user-generated content, and spend a reasonable amount of time on online message boards such as Reddit. Although eager consumers, they find the modern media landscape confusing, difficult to navigate, and overly expensive.

Community trendsetters

The culture creators (10 percent). Extroverted tastemakers, they seek out large communal events such as concerts, movies, and theme parks. They’re active on social media and drive online culture and fandom, often with outsize spending on their hobbies and interests. They enjoy advertisements more than any other segment, and when they’re not setting the cultural conversation, they’re shopping.

The report clusters the remaining 60 percent of consumers in groups with lower attention value, and thus lower economic value.

Implications for marketers

The competition for consumer attention has long been measured by audience size and time spent. This view misses the whole story (a point I made in my 2017 book, The Content Code).

It also reinforces the basic idea behind Content Shock: you’re probably going to have to pay more for the content types that cut through the noise.

The attention equation helps clarify what the winners in that competition have suspected: Quality and relevance, not just quantity, of attention go a long way in determining success. In a media environment defined by abundance, fragmentation, and distraction, marketers must ask themselves:

• Is my content designed for high focus or low focus?

• What job am I really being hired for?

• How can I elevate the focus or shift the job?

Think about this practical example: Google wanted to shine a light on the Nobel Prize-winning work of its genius AI leader, Demis Hassabis.

Most companies might put out a press release or a blog post — very low attention value. But Google produced a full-length documentary called The Thinking Game. It already has 14 million views on YouTube alone.

According to the McKinsey formula, this film is already worth more than $100 million in attention. Let’s say it took $5 million to make the film. This would break most content marketing budgets, but within the McKinsey model, that is a bargain. And that return on attention that will only grow as the movie is viewed over time.

Implications for strategy

This research tells us something I’ve been circling around for years: the brands that win aren’t the ones who shout the loudest, but the ones who create moments that matter. Attention is no longer a game of volume. It’s not about hacking the algorithm or flooding the zone. It’s about earning focus and aligning with the deeper job your audience needs you to do in their lives.

That’s the frontier now. Not more content … but higher-quality attention.

The companies that embrace this shift will stop measuring the wrong things. They’ll stop obsessing about impressions and start designing for immersion. They’ll stop producing noise and view content as nourishment. And in a world overwhelmed by Content Shock, that will be the ultimate competitive advantage.

I also want to connect the dots between the Attention Equation and a post I wrote about ethically-sourced marketing. If we turn our focus to higher-value content, it could reduce the social media “litter” that drives up energy costs and funds online hate and bullying.

Make something worth hiring. Make something worth focusing on. Make something worthy of the precious, finite human attention that has become the most valuable currency in the world.

Need an inspiring keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustration courtesy Nano Banana

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Guest post by Richard Bliss

Last week I read a new analysis of LinkedIn’s latest engineering research papers by Trust Insights. After spending days going through it, I’m not exaggerating: everything we thought we knew about LinkedIn changed in mid-2024, and almost nobody noticed.

Not an update. Not a tweak. A complete teardown and rebuild.

Here’s what happened:

LinkedIn ripped out their entire ranking system and replaced it with a foundation model AI that reads and comprehends your content like an expert consultant would.

The old system counted signals. “Comment = 15 points, like = 1 point, keyword detected.”

The new system reads your text, understands context, and makes expert judgments about substance and relevance.

This means all those tactics we learned are obsolete:

Post at 7:43 AM on Tuesday? Doesn’t matter. Keyword stuffing? The AI detects and penalizes it. Engagement pods? Flagged. Generic thought leadership? Dead on arrival.

What works now: Clear communication. Genuine expertise. Strategic engagement with industry leaders.

The LinkedIn engagement paradigm

But here’s the part that blew my mind.

Your recent LinkedIn engagement (your last 5-10 actions) is incorporated into a real-time “prompt” that the AI reads before deciding what to show you next.

You’re literally training your own algorithm through every click.

Every comment you leave becomes a training example: “This is what I find valuable.” Every post you engage with teaches the system: “This is the conversation I belong in.”

This is called In-Context Learning, and it’s why some people’s content suddenly reaches exactly the right audiences while others are shouting into the void.

The practical impact

Your profile is now a narrative document, not a keyword repository. The AI reads it like an executive summary before every ranking decision.

Your engagement strategy matters more than posting frequency. Quality signals from strategic interactions outweigh volume.

The first sentence of everything you write carries exponentially more weight than anything buried later (technical limitation called “Lost-in-Distance”).

You can prime the algorithm right before you post by strategically engaging with related content 10-15 minutes beforehand.

I know some of you are crushing it on LinkedIn already. But many of you are frustrated because great content isn’t getting seen.

This shift explains both.

The people winning aligned their approach with how this reasoning engine actually works. The people losing are still using the old playbook.

Authority in context

This paradigm validates what I’ve been teaching for years. LinkedIn is a business platform where authentic professional communication wins. That philosophy is now literally encoded in the technology.

But the technical details of HOW it works changed so dramatically that even correct instincts need new tactical applications.

Quick example: I’ve always taught “the currency is in the comments.” That’s still true, but now we know WHY. Thoughtful comments on expert content create textual training data that associates you with that expert’s community in the Economic Graph. The AI literally starts showing your content to people interested in that expert’s topics.

Aspirational networking with algorithmic leverage.

I’m doing a deep dive on all of this because this is the single biggest opportunity for professional visibility in the last decade.

If you understand this shift, you have a 12-to-18 month window to dominate visibility in your space while everyone else is still using engagement pods.

If you ignore it, you’ll wonder why your competitors are suddenly everywhere while you’re invisible.

This isn’t about gaming anything. It’s about understanding how an intelligent system evaluates professional value and aligning your communication accordingly.

I’m not prone to hype anything. This is real, documented in LinkedIn’s own research papers, and it fundamentally changes the game.

I’m genuinely excited by these changes and the impact it will have. Especially as the ‘influencers’ have been screaming that they are being shutdown on LinkedIn, which is great. Because they have been gaming the system to inflate their image, and I get so angry I get when I come across them.

Richard Bliss is the founder of BlissPoint Consulting, an agency to help leaders turn digital hesitancy into market authority, build a leadership presence that crosses cultures and generations, and create scalable influence systems their teams can execute.

The post LinkedIn engagement down? Here’s why. appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

My friend Tim Peter, the brilliant author of Digital Reset, had a provocative post on LinkedIn. He lamented that he was tired of following all the “marketing rules” and boldly posted a link within his content — an algorithmic no-no!

It was a small act of defiance that ignited a lot of emotion in the comment section. It seems that many marketers are tired of the constraints of social media rules that make us compromise with content.

I just wrote an entire book about breaking bad rules for good reasons (Audacious) so Tim’s post got me thinking — how do we approach this constant dance of give and take? Do we create to win the attention of our customers, or the attention of the search engines? Or … do we have to somehow please both?

What are the guidelines that let us know when to compromise with content?

I thought this would be a great topic for a podcast conversation with Jay Acunzo, who thinks deeply about such things. On a new episode of The Marketing Companion, we talked about:

• Knowing the tradeoffs and making a strategic decision about the path you’re on.
• How your business model might dictate your content compromises
• The misperception that a social media audience equals business success

… and much more.

To listen in, just click here:

Click here to enjoy The Marketing Companion Episode 317

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this fantastic episode.

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Now, any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence to strengthen their customer relationships.

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Illustration courtesy ChatGPT

The post When to compromise with content appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

This headline isn’t clickbait. And I’m not selling you any LinkedIn consulting services! But I just had something really weird happen to me and it points to a few important LinkedIn growth secrets nobody talks about.

The crazy thing that prompted this article was, last week I had a LinkedIn post receive 100,000 impressions (104,833 and counting). On the surface, it looks like I’m killing it. Obviously, there was some luck involved. Nobody can plan viral. However, there are bigger lessons here about LinkedIn success, and I wanted to use this as a teachable moment.

The surprising post

It’s important to start with the actual content, and you’ll be surprised. The post that went viral was under 100 words. It wasn’t an in-depth article — I wrote it in five minutes. It wasn’t controversial. It didn’t have any photos or illustrations. And I posted the darn thing late on a Saturday night!

Before I tell you why it picked up steam, here is the entire post:

I have a sinking feeling of being left behind.

I’m reading about big companies and their AI re-invention and startups being “AI first.”

But here I am as a small business, fully immersed in the smart ideas of AI and using GPT as my sidekick every hour of the day. Yet the foundation of my business is Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and a WordPress blog/website. This is CRUDE.

AI is creating iterative improvements but I am not TRANSFORMING. I am augmenting, not reimagining. I sense that as a small business, I don’t have the ability to really LEAD with AI except to maybe be a little better at prompts than the next guy. Thoughts?

Not that exceptional, right? So let’s see what happened …

The first rule of LinkedIn growth success

First, let’s remind ourselves of the first rule of LinkedIn success — create conversations.

The number of likes doesn’t really matter. The number of shares doesn’t matter so much. Are people leaving lengthy comments? That represents a conversation, and LinkedIn loves that.

Specifically, when you first post content, LinkedIn only shares it to a small percentage of your followers. It wants to see if people are interested … do they comment? So those first few hours are key. If conversations (meaningful comments) happen, LinkedIn shares it to more of your followers, and if the comments continue, it might even get shared beyond your audience. Open waters!

Why did people start leaving comments on my post? Because I ended the post with a question. People just love to answer questions. If they leave the post without answering the question, it seems like the interaction is incomplete.

The post itself was honest, relevant, and vulnerable, something rare for LinkedIn, where everybody seems to be only interested in selling stuff. So, interrupting the flow with a short vulnerable post ending in a question started the conversations. And the first rule of LinkedIn success is, START CONVERSATIONS.

The other key is that I responded right away. This encouraged other people to converse, and then the ball was really rolling.

The viral moment

I’ve had many posts on LinkedIn create conversations and earn 30,000 views and more, but I think tipping 100,000 was a record for me. I can only guess why, but here is my theory.

1. First, it was short. There seems to be a trend on LinkedIn toward exceedingly long posts, but who has time for that?
2. It was a sincere cry for help that hit a nerve. It was unusual in its raw humanity.
3. It was timely. Let’s say I posted a little rant about an algorithm change that happened a month ago. Nobody wants to hear about it. It’s old news. But at this moment, much of the world is feeling a little stressed about AI and keeping up. So my timing was right. Be current.

The outfall

On several occasions, I’ve written that “engagement” is a lousy metric, and this viral hit was proof. With more than 300 comments, this would be deemed a major success by most businesses, but answering even most of them in a meaningful way was a distraction for my business. I’ve often said that you can engage yourself broke.

I tried my best to keep up because I always do. It’s an honor to earn a person’s attention and I don’t take that for granted. But another part of LinkedIn success is, don’t be fooled by engagement as a meaningful metric. There is no research I can find that correlates engagement to profitability or loyalty.

The responses were pretty evenly divided into:

• You’re doing OK as you are
• You’re doing it all wrong
• Let me sell you something

The business benefit

I had a viral success. What was the business benefit?

I certainly earned some awareness and about 1oo new followers. But the true benefit is unknowable. Allow me to explain.

I once had a client who told me, “Blogging doesn’t work.”

I asked him why.

“Because I wrote three blog posts in 2017 and nothing happened.”

Well of course not. Creating content that leads to a powerful personal brand is the long game. I teach a Personal Branding Master Class and I repeat over and over that “consistency is more important than genius.”

The LinkedIn post that went viral was not an act of genius. It was act of perseverance.

If this was my first post on LinkedIn, or my fiftieth, it would not have gone viral. But I have been publishing several times a week for 20 years, and I always provide helpful, quality content. I’ve built an audience who looks for my content and is ready to respond. That takes time.

The long-game nature of LinkedIn growth

Let me conclude with a final thought about benefits of content over the long term.

Many years ago, I received an email from a person who said he had been reading my content for three years. And based on his affection for my articles, he bought one of my books. He just wanted to tell me that this was the best business book he had read in 10 years. I didn’t know this person. As far as I knew, this had been my first contact with him, and the email was signed with his name and title — he was the CMO of a Fortune 100 company.

About two years later, I heard from him a second time, He wanted to hire me to help him re-organize his corporate content marketing effort. I didn’t have to bid on the contract. After reading my content for what was now five years, he knew I was the right person for the job and I just named my price.

And that’s how it works.

There is no get-rich-quick scheme for LinkedIn. You build an audience. The audience trusts you, and they become your customers.

The greatest secret of LinkedIn growth is perseverance.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post The LinkedIn growth secrets nobody talks about appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

AI and search

New research shows that 27% of adults are using AI platforms for traditional search functions. I am getting about a dozen direct inquiries on my site from ChatGPT, and I’ve secured two customers through AI.

So, how is this going to work? It seems that Google is in trouble, but how can you bet against the world’s number-one search engine?

That’s the subject of the new episode of The Marketing Companion. I welcome a new co-host, Andy Crestodina, one of the premier digital marketing wizards around. Andy has some well-informed views of what is happening, what is likely, and how we need to think about search in the next few years.

We also delve into a topic that is a bit more controversial (believe it or not!) LinkedIn newsletters. Historically, I have not been a fan. You’re turning over your email list, SEO value, and perhaps even content discoverability to LinkedIn. And hey, who ever heard of a newsletter going viral?

But Andy has had some success in this area and presents a compelling case for the platform. An interesting debate!  To hear it all, simply click here:

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 310

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this fantastic episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now, any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post Goodbye Google? Dissecting the role of AI and SEO appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

I think most people have a love-hate relationship with LinkedIn. Even if you’re a fan, you’re probably annoyed by spam, AI-generated content and comments, and wonky algorithms. LinkedIn success is a challenge for us all.

Well, I have some good news for you. My recent conversation with LinkedIn guru Richard Bliss won’t make these problems disappear, but he does help you navigate the platform for a more productive and enjoyable experience.

In the latest episode of The Marketing Companion, Richard and I cover:

• The fundamental strategy for personal success
• The end of LinkedIn “pods”
• How LinkedIn is fighting AI and actually depressing the value of comments
• The truth about the success of video on the platform
• The growing power of collaborative articles
• The best strategy for LinkedIn newsletters
• … and much more.

For many years Richard has been my go-to advisor for all things LinkedIn and I know you’ll enjoy this Master Class in LinkedIn success strategy. Just click here to listen!

Just click here:

Click here to enjoy Marketing Companion Episode 301

Please support our sponsor, who brings you this amazing episode.

Bravo for Brevo!

This episode is brought to you by Brevo (formerly Sendinblue). Brevo gives you the tools to attract, engage, and nurture customer relationships.

Now any business can build automated customer experiences, email marketing workflows, and landing pages that guide your customer to your main message. We are here to support businesses successfully navigating their digital presence in order to strengthen their customer relationships.

Go to https://www.brevo.com/marketingcompanion to sign up for Brevo for free and use the code COMPANION to save 50% on your first three months of Brevo’s Starter & Business plan!

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post An inside view of LinkedIn success appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

This week marks the fifteenth anniversary of my blog. Crazy, right? I realize that nobody cares about an anniversary like this … I don’t even care, honestly … but I thought I would use the milestone as a teachable moment because blogging changed my life. And here is the main lesson of the milestone:

To stand out in this world, you have to be known. To be known, you have to show up consistently. Consistency is more important than genius.

Unfortunately, this is where most people fail. They stop and start, or perhaps they never start at all.

In my Personal Branding Master Class, I show a slide depicting my personal income attributed to “being known.” My income grew steadily over time (except 2020!) because the more I am known, the bigger my audience, the greater the opportunities, the higher the book sales, and the more valuable the speaking and consulting engagements. This progress can only come through consistently showing up with helpful content.

Creating meaningful content is hard work, and at low times, I wonder if it’s worth it. While I’m working on a blog post, my friends might be reading, hiking, or cooking a great meal. Blogging is a sacrifice.

But when I emerge from this introspection, I return to the same conclusion: Everything started from the blog, and every business benefit comes from the thought leadership I’ve built from this space. In fact, without a doubt, blogging changed my life forever, in these five ways:

1. Deep emotional connection

A few years ago, I received an email from a blog reader: “I’ve been reading your blog for three years. It led me to buy your latest book, and it is the best business book I’ve read in the last ten years.”

It was signed by the CMO of a Fortune 100 company. Two years later, he hired me for a consulting project to transform his content marketing department.

Let’s dissect what happened:

• A stranger built an affinity for me through my blog.
• Over time, the affinity became trust … a strong enough bond for him to hire me, even though I had never met him.
• To earn his business, I didn’t have to apply for the job or bid against competitors. I was simply awarded the work, and I named my price.

If I didn’t have a blog, how much would I have had to spend on advertising to have a success story like that?

Brand marketing is about building an emotional connection that differentiates you from the competition. What a wonderful world we live in where a guy like me has the opportunity to build relationships — and a business — through my content. You can do it, too.

2. The introvert’s revenge

I hate networking. I am the worst networker in the world. I’m an introvert who loves a quiet dinner with friends, but put me in a room with a lot of people, and I want to crawl into a hole.

I know that sounds weird coming from a person who delivers keynote speeches in front of thousands of people, but it is different. I come alive on a stage because I can teach and entertain, and I’m really good at it. But shaking hands all night at a cocktail reception is my idea of torture.  I am a mingler misfit.

But through a blog, I can build business friendships with people every day without actually meeting them!

3. The fuel for a legacy

When my blog hit its tenth anniversary, I wrote that my biggest accomplishment was that over all those hundreds of posts, I never humiliated myself. My record still stands!

I have not made a major stumble because blogging forces me to clarify my ideas. Before I put something into the world, I think it through deeply. Is it thorough? Have I considered all sides? Am I being kind and showing up in a way I can be proud of?

These clarified blog concepts are later used in my speeches and books. The seeds of my legacy are planted here.

4. Personal reward

When I was in the corporate world, I would get an annual performance review (if I was lucky!).

Although I generally had an idea of how I was doing, there always seemed to be a zinger in there. Nobody gets a perfect performance review, right?

The cool thing about blogging is that I get a performance every week. Here is a comment posted on LinkedIn recently by Jim Hunt.

Isn’t that awesome? It makes my heart soar. I just can’t believe how lucky I am to have an audience of people who appreciate my work.

That’s the fuel that keeps me going. When I create a blog post, a podcast episode, or a book, I have only one mantra in my head: “I will never let you down.”

5. Personal healing

In the first chapter of my book KNOWN, I wrote about the darkest time of my life. This was so difficult for me to reveal, but I did it to show the reader that when I started my personal branding journey, I was a mess. I was below zero. I wanted to encourage people — If I can do it, you can too.

In those dark days, the stress of my life was killing me. When I went to see a doctor, my blood pressure was so high she would not let me leave her office. She was afraid I was about to have a stroke or worse.

The doctor demanded that I monitor my blood pressure every hour of the day. And this is when I witnessed something miraculous. There was one hour every day when my blood pressure was normal. It was when I was blogging.

There is a zen about blogging that sends you to a different place of focus and peace, even when the world is terrible.

Even more importantly, when I started posting my ideas online, I received feedback from people who didn’t know what I was going through. It was so nice to connect with people who didn’t know of my suffering. I was so tired of being sad.

Perhaps it is too dramatic to say that blogging saved my life, but mentally, physically, spiritually, and financially, I am transformed from creating these words on a screen.

Thank you, friend

I will never forget the moment 15 years ago when I received the very first comment on this blog. It was a moment of awe. Somebody read my work and spent their precious time commenting on it.

I have never forgotten that feeling. I re-live that sense of awe every day when I get feedback on my work.

Whether you have followed me for 15 years or this is our first meeting, thank you for being here. I’m just getting started, and I will never let you down.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Illustration courtesy MidJourney

The post 15 Years On, Five Ways Blogging Changed My Life Forever appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.

Too short for a blog post, too important to ignore, here are some short takes from the world of marketing and beyond.

Money drives social isolation

Recently I posted about how an unintended consequence of the massive amount of personalized content choices has sent young people into sociological siloes. They consume content in isolation and have fewer shared experiences than their parents.

This launched a debate about why this is happening. I think the answer is simple: Money.

Money drives everything. What are we trying to accomplish as marketers? Personalization. For your business, for any business, it’s about personalization. The more we personalize, the happier our customers are because they get exactly what they want.

There is no “deep state” making us personalize content as part of a master plan to control us. We personalize and segment people because it’s good business. But what one customer wants is different than what you and I want, so now we’re in our own content silos — by choice. We have EXTREME individual choice regarding content and entertainment — in fact, far too many options. But nobody wants to go back to the days of one daily newspaper and three network TV channels, right?

Our individual choices put us in silos because we want content our way, supporting views of the world aligned with our own views. In a weird way, there is a business benefit to social isolation. But personalization in the extreme creates loneliness.

Weird LinkedIn Tricks

All of a sudden, I’m getting LinkedIn notifications that people are responding to posts that are three, four, and even five years old. This is unexpected and weird. So I asked LinkedIn expert Richard Bliss what the heck is going on. He pointed to three possible factors:

1. I had been asked to participate in collaborative articles through LinkedIn. I’m not sure what I’ve done that put me into that category. But Richard said this is putting me in front of a new audience that is checking out old content.
2. An algorithm change is trying to put relevant content before a new audience. It is possible your content is being indexed and then served to small groups interested in that topic.
3. The recent partnership between LinkedIn and Google means your articles are now being indexed by Google and showing up in search results.

Apple is different

In a recent post, I forecast that the speed of marketing is one of the most pressing and interesting trends.

A member of my RISE community asked, “Is Apple the exception to the importance of speed in marketing? They don’t participate in memes or other in-the-moment-marketing.”

Great question. Apple is different because it is a luxury good. They’ll never be part of the social media track meet (like Gucci or Lamborghini). They are never first to market, but they’re never too late either.

Luxury good marketing has a completely different flow and pace. I discussed this in a podcast episode with Amanda Russell — one of the most fascinating discussions!

AI and humanity

I had a Twitter discussion with a friend who claimed, “We can’t trust humanity.”

I responded, “I agree that humanity can’t be trusted. But there are people who we trust. Those are the ones who can transcend the AI misinformation onslaught. There are individuals you’ll always turn to.”

The business case for the personal brand!

The big question

The most important question for marketers in the future will be: “Can an AI bot do this?”

This will push us to be more creative, more weird, and more human, or we will be replaced. Truly, the most human company wins.

No, it’s not

I’ve been preparing for a big new speech about brand communities and have found lots of articles touting community successes. Many people confuse a loyalty program with a community.

Loyalty programs are great, but that’s not a community. Having a loyalty card shows you love the brand, but it’s not a group of people working toward a common purpose. A community needs to know each other.

Let’s bust an AI myth

Here is advice I see over and over, and it drives me crazy: “AI isn’t going to take your job, but someone who knows AI will.”

This implies that if you know AI you will somehow be safe. This is false. AI will overtake many knowledge worker jobs whether you know AI or not. And there may not necessarily be a person behind that AI. The technology will become ubiquitous and companies will use it to reduce headcount ruthlessly. This is already happening in the tech industry.

This advice is like telling a person who made horse buggies in the 1920s: “The automobile won’t take your job, but somebody who knows automobiles will.” No, automobiles eliminated their job, not some person. And even if you “know” automobiles, your buggy business is dead, no matter how much re-training you have.

I’m a positive person, but I also want to be realistic about what is happening.

Distrust is the default

I couldn’t sleep after a long overseas flight, and while flipping through Instagram, I saw a post featuring other-worldly, mesmerizing butterflies. Then I wondered, “Is this real? Is nature really this beautiful, or did somebody make this up?” There was no way to tell.

It saddens me that I can’t even look at butterflies these days without being skeptical. Distrust is the default now.

And now, some good news

Over the next few months, we will hear A LOT of bad news about AI. Deep fakes. Political misinformation. Bullying and chaos.

The bad stuff makes great headlines, but don’t miss out on the extreme new levels of discovery, innovation, and beauty that have been unleashed by AI.

A non-profit called The Earth Species Project aims to use AI to interpret animal communication systems. That makes my heart skip a beat.

So embrace the chaos and look at how AI is bringing new beauty into the world.

Need a keynote speaker? Mark Schaefer is the most trusted voice in marketing. Your conference guests will buzz about his insights long after your event! Mark is the author of some of the world’s bestselling marketing books, a college educator, and an advisor to many of the world’s largest brands. Contact Mark to have him bring a fun, meaningful, and memorable presentation to your company event or conference.

Follow Mark on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram

Image courtesy MidJourney

The post The business benefit of social isolation and other observations appeared first on Schaefer Marketing Solutions: We Help Businesses {grow}.