Podcast Summary

Podcast: Do This, NOT That: Marketing Tips with Jay Schwedelson
Host: GURU Media Hub
Episode: What’s Up THIS WEEK: Email EASY Win! AI Updates! 🫣 Stranger Things??👾 | Ep. 457
Date: December 2, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of "Do This, NOT That!" is a rapid-fire roundup of marketing news, pop culture curiosities, and tactical advice to boost your marketing strategies. Jay Schwedelson covers international social media legislation trends, an actionable email send-time hack, fresh influencer marketing rate stats, a head-to-head look at the AI wars, and a few surprising pop culture and web traffic facts—all delivered with his trademark humor and candor.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Social Media Age Gating: The Australian Push & Global Implications

[00:13-02:17]

Australia is actively enforcing a social media ban for users under 16. Snapchat has begun requiring age verification for 440,000 Australian users, utilizing "behavioral signals" to determine age.
Jay questions the accuracy of these signals, joking:

“Behavioral signals on social media is like, oh, they watch Stranger Things. They play video games. They must be under 16…or they’re 52 years old like everybody else!” — Jay, [01:20]
Importance: While currently in Australia, similar legislation is advancing in the EU and debated in various U.S. states (Utah, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana).
Jay’s take: He’s “very pro” age gating, folding in a quip about social media being “the end of the universe.”

2. Actionable Tip: Email Scheduling for Higher Open Rates

[02:18-03:40]

Data-backed Tip: 80% of marketers schedule marketing emails to be sent exactly on the hour (e.g., 8:00 AM, 10:00 AM).
Problem: This causes inboxes to flood simultaneously at those times, making individual emails more likely to be ignored.
Tactic:

“Just by not sending your email campaign out on the hour, you will see your email open rates rise by about 15% for business and consumer.” — Jay, [03:14]
Practical Advice: Schedule sends at odd times (e.g., 8:12 AM, 11:17 AM), so your emails land when the competition is quieter.

3. Holiday Influencer Marketing Rate Reality Check

[03:41-05:20]

Research from firms like 4 reveals what micro influencers (10K–100K followers) are earning per sponsored post:
- Instagram: $200–$1,000
- TikTok: $300–$1,500
- YouTube: $500–$2,000
Jay notes: “If you're out there like, ooh, I want to be an influencer and I'm going to really make a boatload of money. It ain't that easy because you gotta do a lot of paid posts to make a living doing this stuff.” — [04:37]
Warning: Don’t judge influencers by follower count alone—“You could buy followers”; engagement is what really matters.

4. AI Platforms: Gemini Surges in Popularity

[05:21-06:29]

Gemini (Google’s AI) is gaining rapidly on ChatGPT in monthly active users:
- ChatGPT: 600–700 million users (as of November 2025)
- Gemini: Now at 400 million users—a “huge jump.”
Jay admits he now alternates between Gemini and ChatGPT:

“I find myself going to Gemini as much now as ChatGPT and the data started to prove it out.” — Jay, [05:52]
He predicts Gemini will continue to gain ground and lauds its improvements.

5. Surprising Web Traffic Stats: Yahoo & Bing Are…Winning?

[06:30-07:18]

SocialMediaToday reports on most trafficked websites:
- Google is #1, YouTube is #2.
- Surprise: Yahoo has double the traffic of ChatGPT; Microsoft Bing has more than Yahoo!
Jay’s disbelief:

“Who goes to Microsoft Bing? The only reason you go to Microsoft Bing is if you don't know how to change your browser setting and it automatically goes there.” — Jay, [07:04]

6. Movie Revenue: "Zootopia 2" Beats "Wicked for Good"

[07:19-08:05]

Jay shares “meaningless nonsense”: Zootopia 2 has grossed $556M worldwide, far exceeding Wicked for Good’s $393M.
Honest aside: “I don't know a lot about Zootopia 2. I'm not gonna lie. I know it involves the zoo and topia, whatever that means.” — Jay, [07:43]

7. Stranger Things Season 5 (and Jay’s Embarrassing Ringtone)

[08:06-09:28]

Stranger Things 5 is out—Jay confesses he’s long since tuned out but his phone ringtone is still the Stranger Things theme:

“This is super embarrassing, my ringtone is the song from Stranger Things. I don't know why…it’s been that since season one? I’m a loser.” — Jay, [08:24]
Notes the oddity: Only 2-3 years have passed in the show’s timeline, but the cast are now well into their 20s:

“They can't be riding bicycles looking for aliens when you’re 23 years old. It is. This is out of control. What’s going on here?” — Jay, [09:02]

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

On Age Gating and Behavioral Signals:
“Behavioral signals on social media is like, oh, they watch Stranger Things. They play video games. They must be under 16…or they’re 52 years old like everybody else!” — Jay, [01:20]
On Email Send Times:
“Just by not sending your email campaign out on the hour, you will see your email open rates rise by about 15% for business and consumer.” — Jay, [03:14]
On Becoming an Influencer:
“It ain't that easy because you gotta do a lot of paid posts to make a living doing this stuff.” — Jay, [04:37]
On Bing’s Popularity:
“Who goes to Microsoft Bing? The only reason you go to Microsoft Bing is if you don't know how to change your browser setting and it automatically goes there.” — Jay, [07:04]
On Stranger Things’ Cast:
“They can't be riding bicycles looking for aliens when you’re 23 years old. It is. This is out of control. What’s going on here?” — Jay, [09:02]

Timestamps for Key Segments

[00:13] — Social Media Age Legislation in Australia and Globally
[02:18] — Email Marketing Hack: Avoid Top-of-the-Hour Scheduling
[03:41] — Micro-Influencer Rates: Holiday Season Snapshot
[05:21] — Gemini Challenges ChatGPT: AI Trends Update
[06:30] — Web Traffic: Unexpected Winners (Yahoo & Bing)
[07:19] — Movie Box Office Surprises: Wicked vs. Zootopia 2
[08:06] — Stranger Things 5 Out, Jay’s Nostalgic Embarrassment

Tone & Takeaways

Jay keeps the pace energetic and playful, peppering rapid-fire marketing advice with offbeat pop culture digressions. The actionable tip about email send times is the episode’s biggest “easy win” for marketers, while his influencer payment breakdown and AI trend-watching are grounded in real data—yet always delivered with wry humor.

This concise yet comprehensive episode is a quick listen packed with at least one tactic every marketer can use this week.

Transcript

A (0:01)

Welcome to do this, not that, the podcast from marketers. We share quick tips, things you can do right now, and then we add a little bit of chaos at the end of every episode. We also keep it short, like this intro. Let's check it out. We are back for what's up this week from the do this not that podcast. This is our short episode. We break down what's going on this week in marketing and business and life. And let's jump into it. There's a lot going on. So in Australia, and you're like, what, Australia? Who cares? Well, first of all, if you're in Australia, you care. But in Australia, they've really started to push their under 16 social media ban. So if you're not 16, you can't be on social media. And Snapchat right now this week rolled out telling 440,000 Australians that they need to prove that they're 16. And Snapchat's using behavioral signals to determine if somebody's 16 or not. Which makes me laugh. Right? Because, like, behavioral signals on social media is like, oh, they watch stranger Things. They play video games. They must be under 16 or they're 52 years old like everybody else. I mean, those behavioral signals are going to be a little wonky. They also said, though, if, if you want to say, hey, I really am over 16, you could use an ID and all this stuff. But why does this matter for marketing and all the different things? Well, this is going to go further. So the European Union is already far down the road of wanting to make this happen. Also where they are banning people under the age of 16. So I think in the next year to 18 months, that's going to happen in the EU and even here in the United States. A lot of states have tried to pass this social media age. Gating, Utah, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, among others. It hasn't passed yet because there's all, you know, political dividends. But we're heading in that direction. And by the way, I'm very pro because, you know, I think social media is the end of the universe. What are you going to do? All right, so let's get into a useful tactic. So this came out from subject line.com so this time of year, not sure if you're aware, but there's a lot of email being sent out by business brands, consumer brands. It's out of control. So what's one little thing that you can do this time of year that actually may give you a little bit of a boost in terms of performance? Well, here it is so when you set up your email campaign, when do you have it go out? What time is it? At 8am, at 6am, at 10pm or whatever time. I'll tell you what 80% of people do, 80% of marketers send it out on the hour. Nobody sets up their campaign to have a go out at 8:12, at 11:17, at 2:04, it's always on the hour. And so 80% of marketers are sending it out on the hour. And in the first 10 minutes of every hour there's all this garbage that shows up right in your inbox. Just by not sending your email campaign out on the hour, you will see your email open. Rates rise by about 15% for business and consumer. All you're doing is instead of sending at 8:00am, you're sending at 8:17am just by not saying the hour. Because that way your emails are showing up with actually like real emails from somebody's aunt or friend or whatever it may be. So testing, not sitting on the hour is a no brainer. So what else is going on around this holiday season? One of the other things is a lot of influencer marketing that's out there. And there's been a lot of new data out from research companies like 4 and a few others sharing what are influencers getting paid this holiday season to do a post? So I thought this was pretty interesting. So micro influencers, those are influencers that have 10,000 to 100,000 followers. What do you think they're getting paid per post? On Instagram, on TikTok, whatever. So here's what they got right now, these micro influencers, 10,000 100,000 followers on Instagram are getting $200 to a thousand dollars a post on TikTok, $300 to $1500 and on YouTube, $500 to $2000. So if you're out there like, ooh, I want to be an influencer and I'm going to really make a boatload of money. It ain't that easy because you got to do a lot of paid posts to make a living doing this stuff. And by the way, followers, you could buy followers. So I wouldn't even if you're going to hire an influencer, you got to look at the engagement. It's not about the followers ever. All right, what else is going on out there? Well, Gemini is really starting to kick, but I believe this. So in the AI wars, in terms of ChatGPT and Claude and Gemini and who's. Where's everybody going? The latest update to Gemini is pretty awesome. It really is. And I'm not paid to say that it is really good. I find myself going to Gemini as much now as ChatGPT and the data started to prove it out. So data that just came out. Okay, did. Just came out and shows that monthly active users on Chat GPT right now and as as of November. So very recent data. Okay, Monthly active users are between 600 to 700 million monthly active users on ChatGPT. But now on Gemini is up to 400 million. That's a huge jump. So I'm on Team Gemini. I think it's going to continue to gain ground. It is very awesome. Who cares? By the way, super weird. We're talking about traffic. Just because I thought this was interesting, I was surprised by this. So social media today released some information on what are the most trafficked websites. What websites get the most traffic right now? Okay, okay. Google's number one. YouTube number two. Who cares? Whatever. But here's the stuff that blew my mind. All right? Yahoo. I don't go to Yahoo. Yahoo has twice the amount of traffic as ChatGPT. And do you know what has more traffic than Yahoo? Microsoft Bing. Who goes to Microsoft Bing? The only reason you go to Microsoft Bing is if you don't know how to change your browser setting and it automatically goes there. How does that have more traffic than ChatGPT? That is wild. Oh, unbelievable. So another thing that blew my mind. Here's some. Here's a stat that nobody cares about about the movies. This is where you get the meaningless nonsense. So of course Wicked is out and Zootopia is out. Zootopia 2. I. I don't know a lot about Zootopia 2. I'm not gonna lie. I know it involves the zoo and topia, whatever that means. But here's what I was surprised about. Which movie do you think is doing better money wise? So Wicked for Good, as of right now, Worldwide has generated $393 million in sales. Wicked for Good. You know, all the promotion, everything going on. Zootopia 2 has generated $556 million in sales. That is wild. I mean, who. What's going on? This is wild. All right. What else is wild? So of course the biggest pop culture thing going on right now is Stranger Things. That's out. Stranger Things 5 and I'll be very real. I was all in season one and two, halfway through three. And then I kind of gave up. If you ever called me on my phone, and this is super embarrassing, my ringtone is the song from Stranger Things. I don't know why it's been that since season one? I'm a loser. But putting that aside, I really don't know why I need to change that ringtone. That's very weird. I should be judged for that. But. So I never saw a 4. I should get into it. Who cares? But here's the funny thing about Stranger Things. Stranger Things season one was set in 1983. Season five is set in 1986. So like two and a half to three years max has passed since then. The cast is so old it's ridiculous. Like they're all in their 20s. Like that dude Gaten Matarazzo, he's 22 years old. The dude with the big curly hair. They're all in their 20s. Caleb whatever. Caleb McLaughlin, whatever is 23. They can't be riding bicycles looking for aliens when you're 23 years old. It is. This is out of control. What's going on here? So that just makes me laugh. But I like Stranger Things. It just went a little bit off the rails for me. I'll probably watch the very end to find out everything. I don't know what's going on. Listen, I appreciate you. I hope you're having a great start to this holiday season. I hope you have decorations up and I hope all is going great out there. Hope you're not freezing your butt off. It was almost 80 degrees where I live this weekend. Hahaha. And yeah, leave this thing a review. Shoot me a note. DM me go to J schweddelson.com let's partner later. You did it. You made it to the end. But wait. The party is not over. Listen, I want to keep hanging out. Subscribe to this podcast and if it wasn't the worst podcast you've ever listened to, give it a five star review. Why not? But you know what? I want to do even more with you. Go to gurumediahub.com and we can partner there. You can find out about all of our free events, all of our stuff. And if you're epically bored, go to jschwetelson.com and we could stay connected. You could find my newsletter and everything else I got going on. Thanks for being here and hope you subscribe.