One of our biggest fans has 530,000 people in his Facebook group. What if they all had a room at my conference? Jessica has been building our referral rewards. Rewards money can't buy. Her next steps: run the plan past our operations team, and get Joel to sign people up for the referral program the moment they buy a ticket. My worry: I would hate to take on a lot of costs and then not have a lot of people be part of it. Then I showed her my call with Jonathan Mast. He offered to bring his AI community to Social Media Marketing World. I offered him a private room on day one, just for his people. Jessica's first reaction: "That sounds like maybe it could be part of one of the incentive tiers too." Here's the key to the whole thing. Nobody gets into that room without a ticket. That's kind of a big development. Now Jessica goes back through the 200 and some ideas you've sent us to find what we do next. If there were a meetup just for your community, would that get you there? Reply "Yes" or tell me what would. Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #RoadTo3000# #CommunityBuilding# #EventMarketing#

Zero sales on the old page. Three on the new one. I did not see that coming. My AI video editor turned our conference footage into speaker videos and testimonial videos. Jon's first reaction: "Those look like they were professionally done." Then I tried something on our sales page. The moment you land on it, a video starts playing. We split-tested it against the old page. Jon brought the early data. Less than 150 people between the two pages. The old page: zero sales. The video page: three. "Shut the front door." Visits to the checkout page were up 251%. Jon admitted it's probably the lowest conversion rate we've ever called a test on. We're calling it anyway, and testing a different headline next. Jessica's take on why it works: the video at the top grabs your attention right away and sells the entire experience of the conference. Does video sell you on an event? Reply "Yes" or "No" and tell me why. 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #SplitTesting# #VideoMarketing#

I was manually scheduling every single video. It was an accident waiting to happen. I'd already figured out how to get AI to edit the show. So I asked myself: What else can I have AI do? Scheduling was next. I had Codex create a skill based on my feedback. Then I watched it add a thumbnail and paste the text into a LinkedIn post. The line breaks were missing. I asked it to fix the post and update the skill. It's still learning. But once I've reviewed a video and I'm happy with it, I can now say, “Schedule the video.” That means more time to be creative and think about strategy and what comes next. What's one task you'd hand off? Start your comment with “I'd hand off…” Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #AIWorkflows# #ContentCreation#

I was burning through tokens. And something more valuable: my time. Dan Sanchez showed me how to use ChatGPT Codex to edit Press Start. It could take a longer video, pick the storyline, and put the pieces together. I went from extreme stress to complete elation. Then I used up a lot of its tokens. And I had a thought: I'm already paying for Claude. May as well use that. What took Chat less than 10 minutes took Claude a lot longer. It did a pretty good job, but then it got caught up on the smallest things. Like accidentally cutting off words. And I was stubborn. I finally realized I could take what Claude had learned and bring it back into Chat. My time was worth more than I was giving it credit for. Has saving money ever cost you time? Finish this sentence in the comments: "I thought I was saving, but..." Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #AIVideoEditing# #SunkCostBias#

We made a really big bet on creators. Then we found out how many pages it touched. Social Media Marketing World is getting an official creator track. Here's why. I had just come back from a 4,500 person event in Dallas where creators were spending $1,000 on a ticket. Everybody told me these people are making great money. What they don't understand is marketing. And what they don't understand is how to use AI. A lot of marketers actually love working with creators. Jessica put it best: the marketing people can help the creators brand themselves and market whatever they're creating. Then came the ripple. There wasn't an obvious ticket for a creator. So our marketer ticket became the general access ticket. Social, AI and creator content, all in one. Jessica and Jon had to change about 12 pages on our website. The product name. The checkout. The thank you page. The welcome series. Her words: "I can say it so fast, but it took many hours." They moved mountains. Next up is a formal launch, so everybody hears about it. So tell me. Are you a creator, a marketer, or both? Drop it in the comments 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #RoadTo3000# #CreatorEconomy# #EventMarketing#

Creators are paying big money for events. Just not mine. I was on the phone with Keenya Kelly, who was in New York at a TikTok event. She said there is a whole new generation of younger creators who want to know how to be successful on social media. And she said, "You have all the greats already who come to your event." So I asked Lori, our event director, what she thought about adding more creators to the lineup. "I like the idea. Years ago, we had a creator track. You were just too early with it. I think now's the right time." Her version: hands-on, in the room. A creator gets up, gives an example, and everyone tries it. Not recorded. Not streamed. I pushed back. If it's not recorded, our virtual ticket sales take the hit. Recorded and streamed means a full crew. Her estimate: 25 thousand minimum. Probably closer to 30. Then she said it needs to be a full track. Friday and Saturday. Five speakers a day, just like the rest. Yes, it's going to cost more. But it brings a new audience to us, and that's exactly what we need. I feel like it's a risk we've got to take. Then Lori asked the question I didn't see coming: "Why are we limiting this brand new track to a small room?" While I'm trying to get to 3,000, this is a big shift for us. If you're a creator, would a creator track get you there? Reply "Yes" 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #CreatorEconomy# #EventMarketing#

Jon was mid-pitch when my power cut out. His first thought: "I just thought you hated my idea so much that you just left the meeting." You've sent us more than 200 ideas to fill Social Media Marketing World. Jessica and Jon have been going through them. Two made it to the table. Idea one: a monthly speaker meetup. Jon wanted it for ticket holders only. One of you suggested free speaker previews for anybody. Jessica liked that the exclusive version gives people a reason to buy sooner. My take: marketers will almost always say yes to a PR opportunity to a big audience. If we do this, we do it in public. Idea two: seven of you asked us to find out why past attendees stopped coming. We already know. It's almost always budget, or the dates don't work. So I don't want to ask why. I want to send an email that says, "We saw that you attended last year and you don't yet have your ticket this year." Then answer the real objection: all the things you've been meaning to do with AI, you'll be able to do as a result of coming. That's something I could write with my eyes closed. If you've been to a conference and never went back, what would win you back? Start your comment with "I'd come back if…" Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #RoadTo3000# #EventMarketing# #EmailMarketing#

Last year I asked a handful of podcasters one question: would you like to give away a free ticket to your community? Here's the catch. They had to announce a contest on their podcast. Then pick a winner and announce them on a different episode. Some of them kept reminding their listeners for about four weeks. "Don't forget to participate in the contest." That's free advertising, whether anybody buys a ticket or not. Jessica liked that it puts us in front of audiences that don't know us yet. Jon said it better: it's exposure from somebody those listeners already trust. And the host runs it however they want. A rating and review. A post on Instagram. They pick the winner. Everyone who doesn't win still gets a link to buy a ticket. Then Jessica pushed back. Why only podcasters? Plenty of people have huge audiences without a show. Fair point. But a podcast is guaranteed delivery. So the plan is to run it again, this time with AI podcasters and social media marketing podcasters. A short list. Maybe 10 people. Ideally people I know. Because if I don't know them, the chances they say yes are pretty much zero. It's one small play on the road to 3,000. If a podcaster handed you a free ticket to give away, what contest would you run? Start your comment with "I'd..." 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #RoadTo3000# #PodcastMarketing# #EventMarketing#

I showed two of my team how my AI editor makes this show. One of them asked why I was showing her. My AI editor is called Blade. A viewer, Ray Edwards, named her. So I pulled up a fresh call and walked Jen and Lisa through it, start to finish. Download the Google Meet recording. Open Claude Code. Drop the file in. Type "begin scripting." That's it. It keeps my computer awake, transcribes the call, checks the story so far, and writes the outline, the hooks and the script. Then it pings me. In the middle of the demo, it did exactly that: "Mike, the October 29th script is ready." Lisa asked about the training docs. There aren't any. It was just an ongoing conversation. I like this. I don't like that. Over time I had it keep a document of everything we've ever said on this show. Every episode, who spoke, every timestamp. So when I asked it to find the flashback where we named the AI editor, it found it on its own. Lisa: "It's kind of mind blowing." Then: "Why are you talking to me about this?" Because I wanted them to see what's possible. Jen asked how long it's been. About 30 days. A few weeks ago I was the main character, the producer, the scriptwriter and the editor. Now Blade is a full scale producer of the show. I create the show and she takes care of the rest. What part of your work would you hand to an AI? Start your comment with "I'd hand off…" 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #AIVideoEditing# #ClaudeCode#

I asked you to name my AI editor. You delivered. A while back I told you my AI video editor was getting so good it needed a real name. I asked you to drop ideas in the comments, and I promised to call out the winner. So I sat down with Jessica to make the call. First, a shout-out to Jonathan Mast. He's the one who said he'd love to see a weekly show, so now there is one: the best moments of the week, five or six minutes, on YouTube. My AI editor even made the thumbnails. The first ugly ones got no views at all. The new ones changed that. Jessica's take: "It really feels like you're watching a show and you know it's going somewhere." Then the big one. Ray Edwards left this comment: "Kubrick (or Stanley). Or... BLADE." Jessica had never heard of Stanley Kubrick. Stanley reminded me of a vacuum cleaner. She said, "Oh yeah, the Stanley Steamer." Kubrick doesn't roll off the tongue. But Blade? "Just has a cool factor sound to it." It cuts through the noise. And editing is all about cutting. I let Jessica make the final call. Blade it is. Then I asked her one more question: is Blade a guy or a woman? "Ooh, a woman." So meet Blade. She's our awesome editor. Thank you, Ray Edwards. Did we pick the right name? Reply Yes, or start your comment with "I'd have gone with…" 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #AIVideoEditing# #ContentCreation#