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.