MARK ASQUITH, SNAPCHAT EXODUS, AND BUILDING COMMUNITIES THAT STICK – VB INSIGHT

In this week’s episode, recorded on the day of the Snap IPO, Stewart and Travis discuss the supposed exodus of influencers using Snapchat, and whether those with a huge following are that valuable to your business anyway. With great reward comes great risk, right PewDiePie? We also discuss the latest AI-powered marketing technology, and Travis throws down a challenge.

After the news, we interview the U.K.’s top podcaster, Mark Asquith, about creating amazing content and how to build communities that stick around, something he knows a thing or two about.

By listening to this episode of VB Engage, you will hear:

• Welcome to VB Engage episode 42, the meaning of life! [00:10]

• In this episode, Stewart was in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress [00:40]

• All of the big brands had a strong presence; including Samsung and Huawei [01:30]

• Huawei took over Mobile World Congress, and a lot of Barcelona, and generated a lot of buzz [02:00]

• Mastercard made some big announcements, and Ericsson is doing some interesting stuff with artificial intelligence [02:45]

• CES in January, MWC in February, SXSW in March — great events to start each year [03:30]

• We recorded the news segment on Snap IPO day! [04:05]

• Snapchat may have a problem with influencers leaving its platform [04:45]

• “Snapchat has solidified its position as a giver of zero Fs” [05:50]

• Stewart is a big fan of Snapchat’s creativity, yet he sees a lot more views on Instagram. Still, Snapchat gives a much higher rate of engagement [07:00]

• Many important connections and narratives have happened for Stewart solely due to Snapchat [07:15]

• Micro-influencers are very targeted and may even be a better value for brands [07:20]

• Interesting statistics show that micro-influencers are going to be helpful for your brand [07:30]

• 32 percent of internet users are using an ad-blocker in 2017 [07:45]

• 90 percent of consumers trust peer recommendations and only 33 percent trust ads [07:50]

• 40 percent of millennials say that their favorite YouTuber understands them better than their friends [08:10]

• The most subscribed YouTuber, PewDiePie, who the Wall Street Journal wrote about, has over 54 million subscribers, almost triple the amount all of MSM top sites combined [08:30]

• Mitigate your risk by utilizing micro-influencers instead of using huge influencers [09:40]

• ReFUEL4 launches an AI-powered analyzer for Facebook ads, called Chaka. [10:25]

• Let me rock you, Chaka Khan! I feel for you! [10:35]

• The AI engine for ReFUEL4 draws thousands of design points for ads and predicts how successful the ad will be [11:25]

• Take the guessing out of your Facebook and Instagram advertising [12:15]

• Last week, we chatted with Mitchell Reichgut, CEO of Jun Group [14:05]

• Next up on VB Engage, Mark Asquith, the host of the U.K.’s number one small-to-medium business (SMB) podcast, Excellence Expected [15:00]

• A little banter between our guest and the hosts on IQ [15:30]

• Mark shares thoughts around startups and building community [17:00]

• Just because an audience is on one of these social networks doesn’t mean they are easily accessible [17:20]

• We all value a personal approach. We all expect a hyper-personal experience [18:15]

• People at Thread are doing amazing things with just an affiliate model [18:45]

• Giving people a premium feel, what they want, and when they want it [19:15]

• Thread allows a personalized shopping experience that seems almost like a chatbot [20:20]

• Mark has an AI startup called PIP, a forward-thinking concierge service [21:25]

• If you can manually act like a chatbot / AI to test your idea, that may be worth doing before you build out your artificial intelligence tool [22:55]

• Mark shares some tips and tactics on how to work smarter, not harder [24:45]

• The Triple-I Principle: important, integral, and interesting.  What are the most important tasks for your business? [25:30]

• That’s it for episode 42. Thanks for tuning in! [26:15]

Next week, we interview Stephen Gold, CMO of IBM Watson Marketing. We discuss artificial intelligence, deep learning, and how IBM has transitioned its business into the 21st century.  It’s a fascinating interview with a brilliant, brilliant marketing leader.  You’ll want to tune in!

If you missed last week’s episode (VB Engage 041), Travis and Stewart interviewed Mitchell Reichgut, CEO of Jun Group, about honesty in mobile ads, consumers and the “race to X,” and what the future holds for mobile engagement.

As always, thanks for listening. We would love for you to subscribe, rate, and review VB Engage. Well, we’d love you to, but it doesn’t mean you will. Or will you? Only you can say for sure.