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Shane Schick shared thisI have and will write for marketers, IT leaders and almost every other C-suite title you can name, but I'm not writing for bots. There's a big danger in treating the mechanism for reaching your audience as though it were more important than your audience. We saw this in the early days of SEO, when people like me were asked to stuff so many keywords into articles that some sentences nearly became gibberish. There's something similar happening in the race to get scraped by LLMs and have your content cited by AI search services. I got to write a blog post that's more like an essay about this on WordPress VIP (and even snuck a Bible reference in!) that spells out how I'd suggest framing your strategy for content in an AI-powered era. https://lnkd.in/gb9ct4w9The Two-track Internet Trap: Why the Best AI Strategy Stays Human-focusedThe Two-track Internet Trap: Why the Best AI Strategy Stays Human-focused
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Shane Schick shared thisLooking forward to hosting a virtual roundtable today with IDC titled: 'From Data to Outcomes: AI, Governance, and the Path to Measurable Business Impact.' Join me along with Kathy Lange, Michael Pompey and Gustavo Parés as we explore: 🧮 Connecting AI strategy to business ROI 🟰 How to achieve the right level of data quality and governance 🔏 Approaches and frameworks that drive responsible AI and more! If you're an IT leader and free at 1 pm EST today, I'd love to see you there: https://lnkd.in/gwhCVnGBIDC VRT in partnership with Arrow, Key Prediction & IBM August 20, 2026IDC VRT in partnership with Arrow, Key Prediction & IBM August 20, 2026
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Shane Schick posted thisTo fully understand the angry discourse about influencers that’s coming out of Nantucket, I’d suggest first making a brief stop in Cinque Terre. Based in northwest Italy's Liguria region, Cinque Terre features five colorful, cliffside fishing villages that have proven popular tourist destinations. So popular, in fact, that the area is the subject of a new film titled ‘The Siege of Paradise.’ You only have to watch the trailer to see how the locals dread the influx of boats coming into their shores, and the young, often beautiful influencers who insist on waltzing through public restaurants loudly capturing content they’ll upload to social media. It’s possible that this film, or at least its core theme, led the owner of a Nantucket boutique known as The Four Winds Craft Guild publish an Instagram post showing a sign in their store that proudly reads, “NO INFLUENCERS.’ The post has sparked a viral, global debate about whether influencers positively or negative contribute to visiting a store like The Four Winds Craft Guild. It hasn’t necessarily been framed as a CX conversation, but that’s what it is. For a long time, influencers were seen as an increasingly important part of the discoverability phase of of the customer journey. At least in some cases, influencers’ photos and videos could celebrate a business in a way that served as free advertising from an ostensibly neutral expert source. As the influencer space has become more crowded – Goldman Sachs research suggested we reached more than 50 million influencers worldwide three years ago – the competition for content has intensified. Influencers now threaten to disrupt customers from enjoying their visit to a business more than they than drive demand to a business. What if a customer is waiting so long for an influencer to finish filming they don't make it to the checkout? What if customers avoid an aisle where a TikToker is narrating their shopping journey? Even if more brands don’t put up similar signs, they may train staff to discourage endless selfies and constant filming in every corner. CX leaders should get ahead of this by developing strategies to avoid the too-many-influencers effect: • Create designated showrooms or events that specifically encourage content creation, like when a business opens or amid a product launch. • Alternatively, setting up clearly marked and enforced “influencer free zones” that allow customers to enjoy themselves without becoming a background character in someone’s YouTube short or TikTok. If you can have a laptop-free cafe, you can have this. • Developing closer relationships with influencers by allowing them to self-identify through branded mobile apps so they can be given guidelines about appropriate content creation. CX leaders will increasingly have to learn how to ensure customers are not only liking, sharing and subscribing, but feeling as though they can shop in peace.
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Shane Schick shared thisThese recruiting scams are reaching a new level of ridiculous. I've been approached in the past for supposedly senior content roles at Nvidia, Adobe and other firms that would probably have no interest in hiring me, but this? A phony recruiter has reached out to see if I would be interested in joining . . . MY OWN BLOODY MAGAZINE. Do better, cybercriminals. Do better.
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Shane Schick shared thisI'm on vacation in Italy and shouldn't be on LinkedIn, but I had to publish this important reminder, inspired by a local menu, that editing matters.
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Shane Schick shared thisIf AI is killing web traffic, as every marketer seems to believe, the race is on to keep brand engagement alive. Maybe you’ve already increased your PPC spend this quarter. Those SEO posts the content team was developing? Perhaps you’ve pressed ‘pause’ in favor of other tactics. Before making any hasty decisions, however, research from WordPress VIP shows that organic search referral traffic hasn’t completely died off, but is shifting from one channel to another. Among 12,000 U.S. adults 86% say they always or sometimes click through to the original sources cited in an AI-generated summary or overview. For enterprise marketers in particular, this data offers a more hopeful outlook, where they can return to treating AI as one of their greatest opportunities — not a scapegoat.
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Shane Schick posted thisThe last time I worked for a large publisher we were trying to figure out how to juggle producing written articles alongside videos, podcasts and events. It seems like a cakewalk compared to today. Media companies now have to determine: 🧮 How much back-office activities can be automated with AI (which could make redesigns a lot faster and more frequent) 📃 To what extent, if at all, should AI be used to actually write articles? ⚖️ How will readers respond to AI usage, and what will it mean for editorial reputations that in some cases took decades to build? WordPress VIP recently convened business leaders to get their take, including Breaking Media's John Lerner, Pew Research Center's Jess Awtry, Yahoo's Kat Downs Mulder, Crain Communications' Veebha Mehta, People Inc.'s Adam McLean, host Brian Morrissey and more. The summary: There's a lot of healthy experimentation going on, particularly in developing proprietary, audience-centered tools and services that are going to change the experiences media delivers in 2026 and beyond.
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Shane Schick shared thisIf you're having a hard time getting going this Monday morning, I'd like to offer you an alternative to hustle culture. This is one of 10 poems I recently got published in UCity Review, an online literary magazine that's now in it's 16th year. Take a break from debating AI writing and worrying about whether you'll be replaced. It's a beautiful day outside. Enjoy it.
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Shane Schick liked thisMy favorite thing about this WordPress VIP site redesign is that they changed all of the video animations into Lottie-powered Gutenberg blocks. Lightweight, crisp, fast-loading animations that are even more mesmerizing than videos.Shane Schick liked thisA redesigned WordPress VIP. Running on WordPress VIP, of course.
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Shane Schick reacted on thisShane Schick reacted on thisI’m honored to have received the IDC Events Leadership Excellence Award this August. This recognition reflects the power of adaptability, collaboration, and a commitment to delivering excellence, especially when navigating new challenges and opportunities. Over the past months, I’ve had the opportunity to take on new responsibilities, support key initiatives, and work alongside amazing colleagues across different regions. This is a reminder that growth happens when we step outside our comfort zone and embrace challenges with a positive mindset. A special congratulations to my fellow nominees, whose contributions continue to raise the bar for excellence every day: 👏 Lucie Tolika 👏 Jiya B. 👏 Hui Jia Tan 👏 Sally Badr 👏 Şule Saltık Ateş Being nominated among such accomplished colleagues is an achievement in itself. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this journey and for the opportunity to continue growing professionally.
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Shane Schick reacted on thisShane Schick reacted on thisI wrote something on my blog in re: Dolly Parton's death that I think bears repeating: Fandom often gets reduced to parasociality, which is a shame, because while a lot of contemporary fandom is almost necessarily parasocial (cough, cough, social media ruined the world), I've always believed that at its purest and most real, fandom is a public declaration of love. And love is a risk. All of this is to say that if someone makes you feel stupid for mourning Dolly Parton (or Tim Curry, or Yayoi Kusama, or Hayden Panettiere, or whoever else), you should resist the urge to say something sharp (or punch them in the face) and instead pity them. The whole point of art is to move people, and if someone's response to you being upset about losing one of your faves (even if you only "know" them by way of the art they made) is to mock you, it seems plain that they have neither the capacity or bravery to love and, as such, have never lived a day in their lives.
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Shane Schick reacted on thisShane Schick reacted on thisIf you want true inbound from LinkedIn: EVERY SINGLE post needs a JOB. This four-bucket funnel is how I build six-seven figure pipelines from content alone. Most people post whatever comes to mind and hope for the best. That's a slot machine, not a strategy. After building some of the biggest personal brands on LinkedIn (and building an agency that's pulled in over $1M from content alone), I realized every post falls into one of four buckets. Each one has a specific job in the funnel: → Growth (40% of posts) Gets you discovered by new people. Hot takes, industry commentary, bold observations. This is your top of funnel. Broad enough to attract, sharp enough to stand out. → Authority (30% of posts) Makes them trust you. Frameworks, systems, case studies, client results. This is where you prove you can actually deliver. → Conversion (20% of posts) Turns followers into clients. Direct offers, lead magnets, clear CTAs. This is where content becomes revenue. → Personal (10% of posts) Makes them remember YOU. Stories, behind the scenes, real moments. People buy from people they feel connected to. Each type feeds the next. Growth posts bring new eyes → Authority posts build trust → Conversion posts drive action → Personal posts keep them engaged. That's a flywheel, not just a content calendar. Go look at what you published this month. Sort every post into one of the four. The bucket that's empty is the reason your content isn't converting. P.S: I run this exact system with the founders and operators inside The LinkedIn Engine. Come join us: https://lnkd.in/etU6X5MT
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Shane Schick reacted on thisShane Schick reacted on thisI thought I would travel the world, but I’ve lived in this province my whole life. While most of that time I’ve only been a short walk from the Great Lake that the province took its name from, I’ve only been on the open water on a few occasions. Really, I’ve spent the biggest part of my 50 years inside — in newsrooms leading teams of passionate journalists. Time well spent, especially when you get to work on a newspaper cover like this. But before the summer is over, I’m getting out on that water. #lakeontarioforever
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Shane Schick reacted on thisShane Schick reacted on thisServiceNow is going to die. Not the company. The idea that ServiceNow is where work happens. Salesforce just put its CRM inside Claude and effectively told customers they no longer need to open Salesforce. ServiceNow should pay attention. Tomorrow, people won’t log into ServiceNow, search for a record, open a ticket, navigate a workflow or build another dashboard. They will tell an AI what outcome they want. The AI will determine the work, gather the context, make decisions and execute across ServiceNow, Salesforce, Workday, SAP and every other system required. The UI disappears. Tickets disappear. The workflow escapes the application. And once AI owns the intent, reasoning and orchestration, ServiceNow is no longer the “system of action.” It is an action provider. Its CMDB, governance, permissions and accumulated workflow logic remain valuable. But they become infrastructure consumed by an intelligence layer ServiceNow may not own. That is a radically different market position and likely a radically different valuation model. The next enterprise platform war will not be won by the company with the best application. It will be won by whoever understands the work, determines what happens next and executes across every system required to produce the outcome. Software is becoming the work. And the winners will own the workflow, not the screen. https://lnkd.in/gappEhsQ #EnterpriseAI #ServiceNow #AgenticAISalesforce just put its entire CRM inside Claude — and says you’ll never need its app againSalesforce just put its entire CRM inside Claude — and says you’ll never need its app again
Experience & Education
Publications
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Genius at work
CPA Magazine
See publicationInstead of waiting for lightning to strike, smart companies are creating systems to cultivate innovation throughout their ranks.
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CIOCAN Peer Forum 2012: How to 'Be the business'
CIO Canada
See publicationThe eighth annual gathering of the CIO Association of Canada continues an ongoing dialogue about the evolution of the IT executive role. Plus: Microsoft's VP of user experience IT on new staff roles
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What the network will know
CIO Canada
See publicationSystems that understand what we're doing and what we need, even before we need it – that's long been the dream. CIOs who make it a reality will prove just how innovative they are
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Maple Leaf Foods' ERP system project: A CIO strategy
CIO Canada
See publicationThe Canadian packaged foods giant is working on a five-year business plan to turn itself around. Jeff Hutchinson explains how moving from 30 ERP systems to one instance of SAP will contribute to the transformation
Courses
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Coaching for Performance - Eagle's Flight
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Content Marketing Institute 'Master Class', Toronto 2014
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Situational Leadership - Ken Blanchard program
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Projects
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CommerceLab.ca
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CommerceLab.ca is a resource site and a bridge between business and academic researchers. The site features Canadian innovation, use cases and research in digital technology. Currently focused on Interactive Display, Gamification and UX (user experience). Funded through a CECR (Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research) grant through the Canadian Digital Media Network. Produced originally out of the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus by a virtual team of online specialists and…
CommerceLab.ca is a resource site and a bridge between business and academic researchers. The site features Canadian innovation, use cases and research in digital technology. Currently focused on Interactive Display, Gamification and UX (user experience). Funded through a CECR (Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research) grant through the Canadian Digital Media Network. Produced originally out of the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus by a virtual team of online specialists and professional journalists.
Other creatorsSee project -
expertIP
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Award-winning content marketing program for Canada's only B2B telecommunications provider, bringing value to enterprise IT departments about the potential of unified communications, DDoS security, IP telephony and other technologies through a blogging community of subject matter experts.
Other creatorsSee project
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Diane Akam
If you're a small business with less than 40 employees or a Canadian non-profit here's an incredible FREE opportunity to take advantage of an accelerator program for help adopting and using artificial intelligence (AI) more effectively. And it's not ChatGPT. agentiiv, the Canadian Marketing Association, Ownr, Staples and the CCNDR are offering: "You.Scaled. will provide step-by-step support to guide organizations through AI adoption in a structured, practical way. Each recipient will receive tailored onboarding, mentorship and access to learning sessions that help translate training into measurable outcomes such as improving efficiency, enhancing customer or supporter experiences and identifying new opportunities for growth." Applications are open until Nov.15th www.youscaled.com
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Dr. Cecilia Dones
The new AI playbooks from the Canadian Marketing Association do something valuable: they 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀. But they also highlight a deeper shift that our field may only be starting to grapple with. What if the more profound shift isn’t that marketers are using AI tools… but that 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀? More and more discovery happens through systems like: • 𝗔𝗜 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 • 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 • 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲 • 𝗔𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘂𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱. That raises some questions I don’t think our field has fully answered yet: • 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗜-𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆? • 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 “𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀” 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝘀? • 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗴𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗺𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀? The CMA work is a great foundation for operationalizing AI responsibly. The next layer, I suspect, is understanding how AI reshapes the information layer of marketing itself. I’m curious who else is thinking about this. Researchers, strategists, data scientists, product teams, marketers: what are you seeing? 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗜’𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀. Feels like this is a conversation our field needs to have together. Will put the link in the comments. Many thanks to the The British Institute of Branding®for bringing this to my attention. A few colleagues that came to mind for their expertise, systems thinking, and industry perspectives: John Hardy, Ryan Dinger, Marni Gordon, PCC, Marcia L. Soling, David Cohen, Tracy Adams, PhD, Steven Millman, Keith Marion Smith, PhD, Earl Taylor, Darren Coleman
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