The Daily Carnage

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AI Literacy Is More Than Prompting

JUNE 5, 2026

Many people assume that becoming AI-savvy means learning how to write better prompts.

While prompting is useful, it’s quickly becoming one of the least valuable AI skills. As AI tools become easier to use, the competitive advantage shifts from knowing what to type into knowing what to trust, question, and improve.

The real skill is judgment.

Strong marketers understand how to evaluate outputs, identify weak ideas, spot inaccuracies, recognize missing context, and decide when AI-generated content needs a human touch.

The professionals who get the most value from AI aren’t necessarily the best prompt writers. They’re the people who combine industry knowledge, strategic thinking, creativity, and decision-making with the speed AI provides.

So, here’s what to know:

Prompting is only one component of AI literacy.
Critical thinking becomes more valuable as AI tools improve.
Human judgment helps identify errors, bias, and missing context.
Industry expertise remains essential for evaluating AI outputs.
The best results come from collaboration between humans and AI.
AI can generate ideas, but humans determine which ideas are worth pursuing.
Decision-making and strategic thinking remain competitive advantages.
Success with AI depends less on tool mastery and more on outcome evaluation.

The takeaway: AI won’t replace the need for human judgment. In many cases, it makes judgment even more important.

Check out Search Engine Journal to learn more.

Growing on Social is Easier Than You Think

JUNE 3, 2026

Growing on social media can feel like a mysterious game of luck, but it’s more predictable than most people realize.

Growth is driven by two core levers: creating content around proven topics and intentionally building relationships with other creators.

The first lever is to focus on ideas that have already demonstrated demand. Instead of constantly searching for completely original topics, identify subjects, hooks, and formats that audiences consistently engage with. The goal is to contribute a unique perspective to a conversation people already care about. Attention is won through familiar themes, while originality comes from the creator’s experiences, opinions, and examples.

The second lever is networking. Social media platforms are ecosystems of people and communities. Rather than relying solely on algorithms, you can accelerate growth by building genuine relationships with peers. Consistent interaction, thoughtful conversations, sharing resources, and supporting others can create opportunities for collaboration and audience exposure.

Here’s the skinny:

Study high-performing content in your niche.
Reuse proven topics while adding your own perspective.
Focus on packaging, including titles, hooks, and positioning.
Engage with creators before expecting engagement in return.
Build authentic relationships through DMs, comments, and conversations.
Share resources and create value for others.
View audience growth as a skill that can be learned and practiced.
Treat networking as an essential part of content creation, not an afterthought.

Head to Future/Proof by Dan Koe to learn more.

Which Social Content Should You Prioritize?

JUNE 2, 2026

Posting more often does not automatically lead to better engagement.

Data shows that content format and quality often matter more than sheer volume. We frequently invest the most effort in formats that are easy to produce, but those formats aren’t always the ones generating the strongest results.

For Instagram, brands average 10 Reels per month, but carousels generate the highest engagement rate (despite being posted only about five times monthly).

On Facebook, we tend to focus on images and links, but Reels and albums deliver stronger engagement.

And on LinkedIn, native documents and multi-image posts significantly outperform standard image and link posts.

So, here’s what to know:

Instagram carousels generate the highest engagement despite lower posting frequency.
Facebook Reels outperform more commonly published images and links.
LinkedIn native documents achieve the strongest engagement rates.
Consistency is more important than posting at unsustainable volumes.
Every platform rewards different content formats and audience behaviors.
Regular testing and performance analysis should guide content strategy.
Quality and relevance generally outperform quantity alone.

The takeaway: posting frequency isn’t always the primary driver of success.

Check out Social Insider for more.

Affiliate Marketing Has Evolved

JUNE 1, 2026

Affiliate marketing has matured from a transactional channel into a trust-driven ecosystem.

Historically, it was associated with coupon sites, referral links, and publishers optimizing for clicks. Your success was largely measured by traffic volume and last-click attribution.

But now, that model is being replaced by creator-led commerce, where influence, credibility, and audience relationships drive performance.

Consumers increasingly discover products through creators, niche experts, newsletters, and communities rather than traditional ads. As a result, affiliate programs are a scalable way to reward real recommendations instead of just buying your reach.

Several factors are accelerating this shift:

Creators are prioritizing long-term audience trust over one-off sponsorships.
Brands prefer performance-based partnerships with measurable ROI.
Social commerce platforms make purchases seamless within content experiences.
Affiliate tools provide better attribution and tracking across channels.
Consumers increasingly rely on recos from people they follow rather than brand messaging.

Check out Because of Marketing for more.

How to Boost Your Newsletter Open Rate

MAY 31, 2026

Beehiiv’s analysis of top-performing newsletters suggests that excellent open rates are the result of consistently delivering value and building trust over time.

The average newsletter on beehiiv sees open rates around 38–41%. The best publishers (those that become part of users’ routines) regularly achieve 55% or higher.

A predictable schedule, highly relevant content, and a clear editorial focus are the common demoninators. They don’t appeal to everyone. They serve a specific audience very well.

Plus, engagement starts before the email is sent. These creators often validate ideas through social channels, segment audiences based on interests, and continuously test subject lines (short > long) and calls-to-action.

And community matters, too. Newsletters that encourage replies, referrals, and reader participation tend to see stronger retention and long-term growth.

These are the key drivers of 55%+ open rates:

Consistent publishing schedule
Highly relevant, niche content
Strong audience trust and credibility
Short, tested subject lines
Audience segmentation
Actionable content readers can use immediately
Community engagement through replies and referrals
Clear, repeatable newsletter structure

Head to Beehiiv for more.

Your Google Maps growth might be stalling

MAY 27, 2026

A lot of local brands assume Google Maps growth is linear. It’s not.

Most businesses see fast early ranking gains from profile optimization, reviews, and category updates. But once those basics are covered, growth tends to slow — and staying visible becomes more about consistency than setup.

Some things to consider:

Google increasingly rewards ongoing activity. Fresh reviews, updated photos, regular posts, and continuous engagement appear to matter more over time than one-time optimization fixes.

Behavior signals may also play a larger role than brands realize. Clicks, calls, saves, and direction requests can help reinforce visibility in competitive markets.

At a certain point, local SEO starts behaving more like social distribution: freshness and activity sustain discoverability.

Quick hits:

Fresh activity matters more than static optimization
Review quality may outperform review quantity
Engagement signals likely influence rankings
Competitive categories require constant maintenance
Local SEO is now an ongoing channel, not a setup task

Head to SEOPressor for more.

LinkedIn Shares Video Tips

MAY 26, 2026

LinkedIn is pushing video, and they’ve shared some tips for how to perform.

As everywhere, authenticity and repeatability are outperforming polished production. Creators who win on LinkedIn are building recognizable systems, not one-off viral posts.

Some things to consider:

Start with expertise you already have. The best-performing videos are rooted in real experience and a clear point of view. Industry commentary, lessons learned, and simplified trend breakdowns perform well because they feel credible and practical.
Consistency matters more than perfection. LinkedIn recommends posting 2–5 times weekly, with 1–2 video posts. Sustainable cadence beats sporadic high-production content.
Series-based content is becoming the dominant format. Repeatable frameworks create familiarity and audience retention. Named formats (“How I Did It,” “Pick Up the Tab,” etc.) make content easier to scale and easier for audiences to recognize.
Behind-the-scenes content builds trust. Audiences increasingly respond to process transparency rather than polished outcomes. Showing workflows, planning, scripting, and execution creates credibility.
Native LinkedIn video is being prioritized. Vertical, mobile-friendly uploads appear to receive stronger placement in LinkedIn’s evolving video feed.
The platform is clearly investing in video discovery. LinkedIn is expanding its video tab and carousel internationally after extensive testing.
Simplicity wins. Smartphone footage, captions, natural lighting, and one clear idea per video are enough to succeed.

Head to LinkedIn for more.

The State of Brand Deals

MAY 26, 2026

The creator economy is becoming more structured, performance-driven, and platform-specific.

Some of the most important insights:

TikTok currently leads in ad disclosure compliance, with 52% of sponsored posts properly disclosed, compared to 42% on YouTube and just 29% on Instagram.
YouTube has emerged as the strongest platform for long-term creator relationships, averaging 13.5-month partnerships and a 50.9% repeat collaboration rate.
TikTok partnerships are far more transactional, with 71.8% of creator relationships ending after a single collaboration.
Affiliate-first partnerships dominate YouTube, where 52.9% of deals are affiliate-based instead of flat-fee sponsorships.
Q4 remains the busiest season for influencer campaigns, but each platform follows a different engagement rhythm, making platform-specific budget planning increasingly important.
Brand deals now account for 12.7% of creators’ annual income, while more than half of creators reported year-over-year income growth.

Overall, brands are shifting away from vanity metrics and toward measurable, long-term creator partnerships, increasingly investing in creators who can drive conversions across more than one campaign.

Google Ads Benchmark Report 2026

MAY 20, 2026

According to WordStream’s Google Ads Benchmarks report, 2026 marks the first year in five years where average cost per lead declined across industries.

Advertisers are becoming more effective at using Google’s AI-powered campaign tools, audience targeting, and conversion-focused strategies to improve efficiency over simply driving more clicks.

Google’s Performance Max and automated bidding appear to reward advertisers with stronger relevance and better-qualified traffic.

Brands that invest in first-party data, creative testing, and landing-page optimization are seeing stronger returns despite higher media costs.

Some insights to know:

Average click-through rate (CTR): 6.64%.
Average cost per click (CPC): $5.42.
Average cost per lead (CPL): $66.69.
Average conversion rate increased in 87% of industries.
CPLs declined year-over-year for the first time since 2020.
Legal industry had the highest CPL: $131.63.
Arts & Entertainment had the lowest CPL: $26.84.
CPCs have increased more than 100% since 2015.
AI-powered campaigns are outperforming many manual strategies.
Landing-page quality is becoming more important than keyword volume.
Automation is reducing wasted ad spend.
Competitive industries continue to see aggressive bidding pressure.
First-party data strategies are becoming critical for targeting and attribution.
Performance Max adoption continues to rise across industries.
Advertisers focused on efficiency are outperforming those focused only on scale.