Jessy Hanley, Marketing Secrets, and Instagram’s Snapchat killer – VB Engage

This week, Travis and Stewart interview Jessy Hanley, who knows a thing or two (well, more like a few thousand things) about apps, games, and how to unlock the secrets of success.

They also discuss the latest Instagram features, which look to further copy Snapchat and take on the likes of Periscope and Facebook Live. Will Instagram win, or are we headed toward a livestreaming future that no one company will dominate? The dynamic duo put their futurist brains to the test as they try to work out what will happen next.

Listen to the 30th episode of the VB Engage podcast to hear:

• Welcome to the 30th episode of VB Engage [00:10]
• This week’s news segment was taped on Black Friday [00:50]
• Deep-fried turkey in destroyer ship shell casing-sized fryers [01:05]
• Travis and Stewart mass unsubscribe from all the Black Friday emails [02:15]
• Stewart even got a Black Friday text message, but it didn’t end there [02:45]
• Apptopia gets $2.7 million from Ashton Kutcher and Mark Cuban [04:15]
• AppAnnie and Sensor Tower are other app analytics platforms [05:15]
• There are about 200-300 legitimate apps being released daily [07:10]
• Number one iOS app is Bitmoji, and the number two is Snapchat [08:30]
• Travis met the CEO of Bitmoji at WebSummit, and discussed TW’s goatee [09:15]
• Instagram keeps stealing features from Snapchat [10:15]
• Video influencers are moving to Instagram from Vine [11:05]
• Instagram Direct feature for disappearing inbox messages [13:15]
• Facebook Live vs. Snapchat advertising [14:20]
• Snap Inc. IPO is coming up [15:10]
• Snapchat ads aren’t that obnoxious [17:00]
• Travis bets on Snap Inc. because it owns Bitmoji, who is adding his goatee [17:55]
• Guest interview: Jessy Hanley, VP of product marketing, GSN Games [18:45]
• How you get high-value users to your app [19:25]
• When you have great users, they tell their friends [20:15]
• Make sure your customers’ expectations match their experiences [20:50]
• Don’t only look for customers in traditional places [21:05]
• Can you create whales that are loyal to your product? [21:40]
• What’s a good foundation for customer experience on a mobile device? [22:40]
• It’s all about customer experience [23:10]
• The difference between “good” and “great” [23:50]
• Marketers and developers/engineers need to work together [24:05]
• Marketing helps move the customer through the entire experience [24:30]
• Preach on, Jessy! [24:50]
• A “quick change” to an app could be a six-week “feature creep” [25:30]
• Prioritization is important on both sides of marketing and development [26:55]
• What’s the best thing for the whole game? [27:10]
• What is GSN doing around AR, VR, and MR? [28:30]
• Jessy hopes that marketers and advertisers get creative and interactive [29:20]
• We all really want more interstitials and pop-up ads, right? [31:25]

Thanks for tuning in this week. We appreciate your awesomeness.

See you next week with Episode 31, where we have our first interview of the Web Summit series.  If you missed last week’s episode with Seth Besmertnik, CEO of Conductor, you can listen to it right here.