
Fractional CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) - Digital / Content / Influencer / Social Media Marketing
NealSchaffer.com
Neal Schaffer is a leading social media strategist, fractional CMO and founder of PDCA Social. As an author of multiple books including *The Age of Influence*, and a professor at Rutgers Business School, he helps global brands harness influencer marketing and digital transformation
Few voices have shaped the modern social‑media landscape as profoundly as Neal Schaffer. After a career in B2B sales that took him from Los Angeles to Tokyo and Shanghai, he began blogging about LinkedIn and social networking in 2008 to help professionals navigate a new era of digital relationship building. That hobby blossomed into PDCA Social, a consultancy that has guided enterprises from Fortune 50s to SMBs through the complexities of social selling, employee advocacy and influencer marketing.
Neal is fluent in Japanese and Mandarin and has taught marketing at Rutgers Business School and the Irish Management Institute, bringing a global perspective to his students. He has written four books on social media, the most recent being The Age of Influence, which encourages brands to build deeper partnerships with creators and advocates. As a fractional CMO he embeds with companies to design data‑driven strategies and mentor teams. What makes Neal stand out is his generosity as an educator and his conviction that marketing success today comes from empowering others—whether internal employees or external creators—to become brand storytellers.
NealSchaffer.com
2010 - Present
NealSchaffer.com
2009 - Present
NealSchaffer.com
2013 - Present
NealSchaffer.com
2013 - Present
Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship
2024 - Present

Pfeiffer Law Entertainment Law Blog
In-depth interview on influencer marketing.

Wellspring Digital Blog
Recaps a discussion on influencer marketing.

EIN Presswire (via Fox59)
Launch of his book Digital Threads.

Cox BLUE
Schaffer's insights on developing social media business plans.

Target Internet Podcast
Discussion of The Age of Influence.

Real Life Superpowers Podcast
Journey and topics like influencer marketing, personal branding, and sales.

Driving Change Podcast
Advice on leveraging social media influence; Schaffer is Forbes Top 50 Social Media Power Influencer.

Entrepreneur On Fire
Discussion of Digital Threads and simplifying digital marketing for entrepreneurs.
NealSchaffer.com
Due to the popularity of my Fractional CMO services, I have now consolidated all of my social media and digital marketing consulting, PDCA Social marketing agency work, as well as influencer marketing services into this offering. A Fractional CMO is a unique type of marketing consultant that works for you, on your time, as if they were your employee. Known also as an Outsourced CMO, a Fractional CMO has the expertise of a marketing leader that joins your company team, but in a part-time fashion. What makes it different from a part-time CMO is the fact that a Fractional CMO will share their time among several enterprises, benefitting each company with the wealth of varying experiences and expertise that a Fractional CMO acquires over time. Some of the experiences I have as a Fractional CMO include: ・Strategic Marketing Assistance for Multiple New Brand Launches for a B2B Company ・Strategic Marketing Consultancy for CEOs of Multiple Online Brands ・Digital Marketing Transformation For Ecommerce Companies ・Social Media Marketing Strategy Creation and Revision for Global B2B Enterprises ・Strategic Leadership for Implementation of Employee Influencer Programs for B2C Enterprises ・Redesign for the Digital Content Strategy for Ecommerce Businesses ・Creating Strategy and Implementing Executive Online Branding ・Replacement of Reliance on PPC Ads with Inbound Content Marketing Strategy Creation and Execution ・Launch of Overseas Sales Territories for B2B Brands Using Only Digital and Social Media Marketing ・Management of B2C Brands Influencer Marketing Program Contact me for more information or go to https://nealschaffer.com/fractional-cmo-services-by-neal-schaffer/
NealSchaffer.com
Digital and Social Media Marketing Keynote Speaker Neal Schaffer Looking for a passionate and energetic digital and social media marketing keynote speaker to enlighten and inspire your company or professional association on the strategic and influential uses of digital and social media throughout your organization? Having spoken at more than 200 events worldwide in more than a dozen countries on 4 continents, I have the ability to demystify, inspire, and provide actionable takeaways to help businesses and professionals to understand and truly embrace the potential of digital and social media for many objectives, especially those related to sales and marketing. In addition to speaking across the United States and Canada, I have spoken in Europe (London, Vienna, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Hanover, Bucharest, Helsinki, Dublin, Cork), Asia (Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Osaka, Bahrain), and Africa (Johannesburg). I have presented at national conferences on social media marketing including AdTech, CeBit, CES, Social Media Marketing World, Social Media Strategies Summit, Marketing Profs B2B Conference, Social Tools Summit, iStrategy, Social Media Success Summit, and the Gravity Summit on Social Media. Popular speaking topics from recent presentations, all which can be done in person or virtually, include: "Becoming a Digital First Sales and Marketing Organization" “Social Selling in a Digital World: Optimizing Your LinkedIn Presence for Success” "How to Scale Your Marketing $$$ through Influencer Marketing" "How to Convert Your Employees into Becoming Influencers" "How to Collaborate with Influencers in Building Your Own Content" "Business in the Age of COVID-19: How to Adapt Your Marketing" "How to Find an Collaborate with Influencers Who Already Like, Know and Trust Your Brand" "Employee Advocacy is Out. Employee Influencer is In." "(Influencer) Marketing in the Age of COVID-19" Each of my presentations is customized for the specific needs of your audience.
NealSchaffer.com
Maximize Your Social – A One-Stop Guide to Building a Social Media Strategy for Marketing and Business Success Published by WIley, September 30, 2013 Create and maintain a successful social media strategy for your business Today, a large number of companies still don’t have a strategic approach to social media. Others fail to calculate how effective they are at social media, one of the critical components of implementing any social media strategy. When companies start spending time and money on their social media efforts, they need to create an internal plan that everyone can understand. Maximize Your Social is a social media strategy book which offers a clear vision of what businesses need to do to create—and execute upon—their social media for business road map. Today, a large number of companies still don’t have a strategic approach to social media because they have not aligned business objectives with their approach to social media. Others fail to calculate how effective they are at social media, one of the critical components of implementing any social media strategy. When companies start spending time and money on their social media efforts, they need to create an internal plan that everyone can understand. Maximize Your Social offers a clear vision of what businesses need to do to create—and execute—a social media game plan. Maximize Your Social details the evolution of social media and explains the absolute necessity for creating a social media strategy. It outlines the preparation for, mechanics of, and maintenance of a successful social media strategy. This practical guide allows any business, big or small, to create and maintain its own social media strategy—no more paying agencies or hiring expensive consultants. You can master social media marketing strategies and save a chunk of your business’s budget while achieving more effective results. Read some of the rave reviews that have already been published on Amazon: http://wind.mn/maxyoursocial
NealSchaffer.com
I launched this podcast back in January of 2013 with the original name of Social Business Unplugged, which was thereafter renamed Maximize Your Social and was reincarnated as the Maximize Your Social Influence podcast with the corresponding release of my book The Age of Influence. The podcast is 1/2 solo episodes, 1/2 interviews, but the mission is the same: Help grow your business through innovative and impactful marketing leveraging the concept of digital influence. More specifically, I teach sales and marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, and small business owners to build, leverage, and monetize their influence in digital and social media. This podcast helps businesses and professionals maximize their sales and marketing ROI from social media on sites like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube as well as through Social Media Marketing, Influencer Marketing, and Social Selling to help reach a broad variety of business objectives. You can subscribe to the podcast on any of these platforms: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/maximize-your-social-influence-with-neal-schaffer/id955352073?uo=4 Google: https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS84MzYwMDIucnNz Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6GAmkrGi8y8bZttQc8eCXO Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes955352073/maximize-your-social-influence-with-neal-schaffer Podcast Addict: https://podplayer.net/?podId=2535814 Castbox: https://castbox.fm/channel/2591073?utm_campaign=ex_share_ch&utm_medium=exlink&country=us Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=38060 For all other, or to access my newest and most popular episodes on the web, please go to https://nealschaffer.com/podcast If you would like join the thought leaders I have interviewed and be a guest on my podcast, you can apply here: https://nealschaffer.com/newpodcaster I also would love to be on your podcast - please reach out to me at https://nealschaffer.com/contact/ Thanks for listening!
Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship
Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship Advisory Boards are comprised of business and academic experts who discuss emerging industry trends and advise on the development of NSU's forward-thinking programs to ensure that NSU Business graduates are well-prepared to lead as difference makers.
Solvay Brussels School Vietnam
I teach the Earned & Owned Social & Content Marketing course at this Advanced Masters program offered by Solvay Brussels School in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. This executive-level course empowers seasoned marketing professionals and business leaders to strategically leverage organic content, social media marketing, and generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to achieve tangible business results. The curriculum reflects my real-world experience and innovative thinking as a Fractional CMO, global keynote speaker, award-winning author, and university educator. Students gain deep insights into: ➤ Platform Authentic Content: A concept from my book Digital Threads, guiding the creation of engaging, algorithm-friendly content that thrives organically on social platforms. ➤ Strategic Content Marketing: Designing comprehensive, goal-oriented content strategies using audience personas, differentiated storytelling, and precise measurement methods. ➤ Integrated Social Media Strategies: Leveraging User-Generated Content (UGC), Brand Ambassadors, and External Influencers to enhance brand authenticity, amplify reach, and build genuine advocacy. ➤ Generative AI & ChatGPT Training: Practical instruction on leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT for strategic content ideation, creation, optimization, and data analysis, dramatically enhancing marketing productivity and innovation. ➤ Measurement & Optimization (PDCA Approach): Employing data-driven optimization techniques through the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle for continuous improvement. Participants complete the course with a practical digital marketing strategy ready for immediate implementation, powered by core marketing principles, cutting-edge AI tools, and my holistic, data-driven approach. My mission is to inspire actionable transformation, equipping students to confidently lead their organizations through today's rapidly evolving digital-first landscape.
Rutgers Business School
I am the lead faculty for this program with responsibility for content selection, faculty development, and program development. This is the first executive education program on social selling launched from a university which I am proud to be a member of. Other faculty instructors include social selling thought leaders Tim Hughes, Brynne Tillman, Sandra Long, and Spencer Smith. Recent studies have shown that a majority of buyers are "significantly influenced" by what they find on social networks. It's not a mystery, then, that utilizing social media as part of the sales process has become a trait of top selling salespeople, 90% of whom are leveraging social selling according to LinkedIn. These same salespeople who leverage social selling also tend to hit their quotas more often and outperform their peers. Bringing together leaders and influencers who have trained dozens of companies from a variety of industries internationally in social selling, this program goes beyond simple "I already knew that" LinkedIn training and provides participants a global perspective on leveraging social media that is applicable to both B2B and B2C salespeople. The objective of this innovative program is to train salespeople to not only master the tactical functionality that is possible with social media in order to help engage with the digital buyer at every stage of the sales cycle, but also to build internal leaders and change agents who will truly impact an organization's sales and internal digital literacy after taking the program. More specifically, this course will cover professional branding, aligning one's own brand with that of the corporation, social selling across multiple social networks (including LinkedIn), the importance of getting people onboard and minimizing internal resistance, breaking down internal barriers to social selling, better aligning social selling efforts with marketing and employee advocacy programs, and calculating the ROI of social selling efforts.
Rutgers Business School
Teaching and coaching executives on social media marketing by instructing on both how to leverage the various social media channels of Blogging (WordPress), Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube as well as how to leverage content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), paid social (including PPC advertising), experimentation, social media analytics and social media strategy as part of your social media marketing. Currently teaching Social Media Platforms and Applied Social Media courses.
UCLA Extension
Develop and deliver curriculum for the Influencer Marketing: Employing Influencers course taught in-person at UCLA Extension. Course is an extensive overview on influencer marketing which includes content on: - Defining Influencer Marketing and Its Role in Digital Marketing Today - Influencer identification and analyzing influencers both quantitatively and qualitatively - How to engage with influencers, both from a practical perspective as well as legal issues such as influencer contracts and FTC guidelines regarding influencer marketing - How to create, implement, and measure the ROI of a comprehensive influencer marketing strategy - Always on influencer marketing, including topics such as employee influencer (employee advocacy) programs, finding and collaborating with influencers who already have brand affinity, and the role that user-generated content can play in your influencer marketing strategy
Digital Marketing Institute
Honored to be selected to participate on the Global Industry Advisory Council, which helps the Digital Marketing Institute, a global standard in digital marketing education, promote excellence in digital marketing and digital sales as well as strengthen the profession through the creation of standards, insights and best practices globally. Members are invited from global leadership companies and organizations that constitute business and consumer leadership, engagement and innovation in technology, platforms, brands, agencies and influencer domains.
Bigbeat Inc.
I am working with Bigbeat, the leading Japanese B2B advertising and marketing company, as an advisor in their social media marketing and social selling efforts. Drop me a line if you're looking for help with lead generation from Japan. Bigbeat Inc. is a business-to-business (B2B) advertising and marketing organization in Japan with a specific vision: to stimulate communication that leaves an impression. We specialize in a wide variety of services to ensure our business clients’ success in all their Japan networking goals. From support promotions for exhibitions and seminars, to print and digital creative contents, to web creation and design, we meet every challenge with know-how and enthusiasm. Our staff is also trained in both Japanese and English to take full advantage of a rapidly globalizing market. Through our creative yet professional approach, we give voice and opportunity to each client’s unique story. Please allow us the chance to see to the success of yours. Since its establishment, Bigbeat Inc. has been continuously supporting the marketing communications of foreign-owned IT companies. How do you adapt globally transmitted messages to the Japanese market? How do you drive the various activities of small-size marketing departments most efficiently? At Bigbeat, we possess the know-how and knowledge based on a wealth of experience spanning more than 20 years. Our past and present customers include industry leaders such as: Adobe Systems ARM ASUS Autodesk CA Technologies CAPSUGEL Citrix Systems Dassault Systèmes Dell DELTA ELECTRONICS DHL EMC Ericsson F5 Networks GRAPHISOFT InterSystems Juniper Networks Lookout Magic Software McAfee Medidata Solutions MSC Software NetApp Nimble Storage NXP Pivotal PTC Pure Storage salesforce.com SAP Sensata Technologies Siemens SolidWorks Sony Marketing Super Micro Computer Symantec Synopsys Trend Micro Veeva Veritas Technologies VMware Webroot
Irish Management Institute
Taught digital and social media marketing to executives as part of the IMI Digital Business certification program. Focused on social media platforms but also concepts that can be leveraged across the enterprise such as employee advocacy, influencer marketing, and content marketing.
Social Tools Summit
I co-founded the Social Tools Summit (http://socialtoolssummit.com , @socialtoolssmmt , #SocialTools16 ), the leading corporate social media conference which has now been held four times, to help educate professionals on social media best practices as well as how technology can help them scale efficiency and ROI in their work. This conference fits a unique need in the social media community by exposing the stories and experiences of the tools vendors and those that use them with brands, enterprises, and companies everywhere. In doing so, it delivers an unparalleled ROI for both sponsors and participants. Present and past sponsors include Talkwalker, AgoraPulse, LiftMetrix, Simply Measured, Oktopost, Brandwatch, Likeable Local, Synthesio, Socedo, Traackr, Ditto Labs, Abbson Live, Aha Amplifier, Blappsta, Curata, Firebrand Group, GaggleAMP, Little Bird, Social Chorus, Post Creator, Sociabble, SoCXO, Texifter, and TINT. Past keynote speakers include Dave Kerpen, Michael Brito, Jill Rowley, Christopher Penn, and Rob Fuggetta . Past session topics included: - Enterprise Social Media Management is a Large Enterprise - Social Monitoring and Analytics is All about Data and What You Can Do with It - How to Use Your Fans and Employees to Build a Social Advocacy Program - Analyzing the Business Value of Your Social Media Program - Content Is King! Long Live Content Marketing! - Future of Visual Social - Influence the Influencers through Influencer Marketing - Social Selling and the Changing Dynamic of B2B Sales in a Social Media World - Servicing Your Customer Where They Spend Their Time in Social Media
HarperCollins Leadership
My 4th business book was published on March 17, 2020 in collaboration with HarperCollins Leadership. "The Age of Influence" strives to help marketers in any industry, small business owners, and entrepreneurs both demystify and generate business value from a fresh look at redefining influencer marketing and digital influence. The book is structured in 4 parts with the following chapters: PART ONE: Why Influencer Marketing 1) The Origins of Influence in the Modern World 2) The Emergence of Digital and Social - and the Importance of Content 3) Social Media Was Made for People 4) How Visual Social Presents New Challenges to Businesses and New Opportunities to Influencers 5) Your Community is Always a Subset PART TWO: Understanding Influencers and the Ways You Can Engage with Them 6) Understanding the Influencer Landscape 7) The Employee as Influencer 8) The Sixteen Different Ways to Collaborate with Influencers PART THREE: How to Work with Influencers to Generate Massive Results 9) To Buy or to Build 10) Developing the Foundations of an Influencer Marketing Strategy 11) The Art and Science of Influencer Identification 12) Creating and Managing Influencer Relationships 13) The Tools of the Influencer Marketing Trade 14) Measuring Your Influencer Marketing ROI PART FOUR: Becoming and Influencer Yourself 15) Why and How Every Business Should become More Influential 16) How to Become a Social Media Influencer Yourself 17) Final Thoughts Check out the book at https://nealschaffer.com/ageofinfluence . A limited number of reviewer copies are available for marketing professors - please message me for more details.
UCLA Extension
Develop and deliver curriculum for the Personal Branding and Becoming an Influencer course taught in-person at UCLA Extension. Course is an extensive overview on both professional branding as well as how to become an influencer in your industry or on social media, including content on: - Understanding the history of personal branding and the key elements that go into the construction of a personal brand - Learning about concepts related to personal branding such as credibility and thought leadership and determine how these personal branding elements can be reflected in a LinkedIn profile - Internalizing the role that influencer marketing - and influencers - play in modern digital marketing - Deciphering all of the components that go into the creation of a personal branding influencer strategy - Grasping the need for influencers to treat being an influencer as a business Here is the full course description: Marketers are increasingly hiring influencers to generate greater impact in the market, from simply promoting a brand and spreading a message to attracting the influencers' personal followers. Those promotional opportunities--along with the accompanying fame and other rewards--have inspired thousands of people worldwide to become influencers themselves. At the same time, many professionals are looking to increase their personal influence to grow their own brands, careers, ventures, and overall efficacy. In this course, students learn how to develop and manage personal brands to achieve true influence. This involves establishing credibility as an "expert," promoting that expertise through media and messages that match their talents and their market, building a genuine and significant following, and developing rewarding relationships with their community, including other influencers and potential sponsors.