#AskGaryVee Episode 139: Paying for Snapchat Replays and Facebook Dislikes

what do you think of Snapchat's move to charge for replays great question I'm sure it's on everybody's mind I'm sure you know saan real quick I think we should settle this out into its own video uh this is a very intriguing thing this charging for the replays on Snapchat to me this feels tactical uh what I mean by that is I do not believe that the powers at Snapchat I have no knowledge of this uh think this is a big-time Revenue source for them I think what Snapchat is I'm so impressed with Snapchat that they know they need to stay fresh right we've also got are you going to ask a question later about the fil the new selfie thing no I going to leave it with cool so I'll use that in my answer I think technology companies need to have updates need to stay fresh and I think Facebook did that extremely well and honestly over the last half decade you know especially last three or four years I think Twitter did that poorly I think Instagram's showing that capability different filters different size even if it's not a big deal and Snapchat has shown me that ability with SNAP cash if you remember that's not the biggest thing in the world I think it's a quick little play clearly look they're trying to position towards an IPO and so here's what I think the strategy is one we make the users of Snapchat feel like there's still things going on right the new selfie filter thing which is wild I mean we might as well just do it here I know you've got rainbows coming out of your mouth I get it um but you know I think that's part of it and look and I think what's really smart about the replay what is it three for 99 cents kind of thing what I think is super smart about that is I don't think they expect I don't I don't buy anybody at Snapchat thinking this is going to crush right here's a good example watch this Stefan you going to do any of it Dr Rock maybe not no don't say what I'm leading to I want to know do you think you're go no I'm going to do it once that makes sense I want to have them standing by for and would emergencies be that uh a lot of female VOR Nation people uh find you more attractive with your new facial hair and may send you the kind of snap that gets you to want to maybe replay it that's exactly what I that's what I so you know I think that's the cliche joke that people are going to make about the replay what I just did that was on purpose I think there'll be a small subset that we'll do it one time which wouldn't be hard I mean listen if everybody on Snapchat does at one time you got 150 million people spending a buck it's $150 million I it could add up really quick I don't expect that to be the case but to the point God forbid that's the kind of play my I always say God forbid it does work God forbid everybody does want to do it 99 Cents feels right to everybody and all of a sudden it becomes a massive Revenue stream there was no loss I'm a big fan of doing things that have no downside now if you do a ton of features and notice how both came out an amazing selfie feature that I think everybody's going to love along with this kind of paid kind of thing I think it was brilliant from afar a really well executed update one of my favorite updates of the Year by any platform and so uh what do I think about it I don't think it's a revenue stream that is Meaningful for Snapchat I think when you take it to a higher level and think about the strategy of a update for one of the leading consumer apps in the world I think it's downright phenomenal I also think that was a downright phenomenal answer and just allowed a lot of people to see that I think at a different plane which is why they are allocating their precious time to watch the show and I appreciate that and I will continue to try to think with my god-given abilities and bring value to you because I do think that's the smart conversation that people are not happening as matter of fact on that stunwin I want you to work with Andy K and Sid the intern who's in school said good to see you brother uh on an article version of this because I think it could pop I think You' be seeing this article pop later today great next question from Caleb what's up Gary this is Caleb this

time I'm not driving however I do have a question for you I am developing an app with a partner basically the first time we built it we had an initial name in branding however we discovered that there was a potential competitor with a similar name so we decided to go with another brand opportunity that we had however now there's another app with the same name and a similar premise My overall belief is that we have the superior product and a way better strategy my question though is do we continue to have the same name as a potential competitor or do we completely rebrin ourselves again to find a new name what is your insights on this thank you so much Gary you're awesome that was amazing I love it oh man that was amazing uh I don't think it matters next question fine I'll go into a little bit I you know look I don't think it's convenient to uh to have a similar name with a similar premise to a competitor I think you know if Twitter came out when twatter came out it would have been awkward especially if there was a company named twatter um but I think that uh I think at the end of the day my point of view on this would be I'd be sitting there and say you know what I'm just going to out execute the other person and forc them to change the name because they realized they didn't want to compete with us cuz we were the thing that was winning though I don't love the situation I don't I I don't want to also say look how cool I am I'm going to beat them to it like and I don't mind you walking away from it and changing a name either I just ultimately don't think it's going to matter um you're going to have to out execute uh Angry Birds had a similar situation there was a lot of Birdie kind of stuff going on when if like if you're the best and your product's the best and you can navigate it you've got the right product and you guys are the right leaders I don't think it ends up playing out and so I wouldn't stress about it too much I think a lot of times and now to make it more valuable as a question to everybody overall I think a lot of times people very much worry about names I have consistently stayed on a plane of the name doesn't matter you can make a name matter after the fact I don't think Snapchat or Facebook or Google meant anything to anybody until they actually meant something uh you know I guess maybe I'm affected by having a last name like vaynerchuck you know doesn't feel like the most brandable name I also made an incredibly huge flaw in my Twitter handle with Gary ve I mean I have two silent e at the name of my username which is not easy to explain in public takes time every time times the asset uh you know people like where's the E you know it just wasn't a smart move Another Bad Name play by me that I think I overcame in a Twitter environment so um execution will always Trump your name Stefan asks Stefan St Stefan Stefan St all right asks Stefan asks

what do you think is the strongest differentiator between good content Aesthetics or copy uh both you know the variable of success is creative but I think the copy the words that you support uh you know I see it a lot on Instagram I've tested the same picture with different words posting at the same time of day just for my own edification and uh and the truth is that's not a controlled environment so it's not science but it's anecdotal it's fun to see I mean clearly the word you know some people going to react it and the reason I brought up Instagram to everybody is we all know that Instagram is massively visual but people still read the copy I mean this is a crazy I saw somebody had a conference giving advice that you shouldn't write long form copy on Instagram and I was laughing because it's just such a simplistic answer I actually think long for copy is one of the big Arbitrage opportunities on Instagram um and so uh I think they equ Al matter I think you'll get results predicated on where your strengths lie I'm not very good at the picture stuff I'm not really even good at the copy stuff I'm really good at the video stuff uh so um that's it you know that's uh that to me is the answer is both and it's and it will always be both and it and it's happened so much just do it what was you know was that the three words or was it the awesome imagery that came along with the initial kind of campaign was it Bo Jackson like this or was it the slog I mean there's always that I mean would Priceless for MasterCard pop if the first video wasn't emotionally crippling and got you um so the answer is both you need both to be you know to really have that massive upside and one can drag down the other I just realized I did this was good it was good right and this in black and white I wonder if it's better let's go amazing so Gary everybody's really exced excited that you're speaking at the tap

conference alongside a United States Senator Mark Warner uh you've been a prolific investor in some of the coolest companies in Mobile and Uber Twitter resi and in my humble opinion button um tell everybody a little bit about why you're speaking at tap and uh and what you hope to get out of it so this an interesting question really nice right hook by one of my investments uh jacone nice job uh I'm speaking a tap because uh I feel obligated to you uh because I invested in your company and what I'm hoping to get out of it is uh the realization from other people that are involved with me in business that I'm a supporter of the things that I back it's actually very black and white there's no PR answer to this question um it's uh when you invest in somebody else's company it's not just the money that you're deploying um it's the energy it's the thought leadership uh there's an Arbitrage in having me there I'm going to give the best talk at the conference uh people are going to think your conference was good they're product is better they're going to see that I'm invested into your company in a world where I have hundreds of Investments um and you're uh in two years I'm going to be competing for a deal and that person's going to say ah why you know I don't know Gary maybe you maybe this other person why you I'm going to say well you know what hit up the button CEO and ask him what kind of investor I am it's not just the money it's smart money Mone money that sweats so that's what I'm trying to get out of it delivering on my promise um deploying effort and most of all uh continuing to paint a narrative of what kind of individual I am uh as an investor as a businessman and as a dude money that sweats is that an existing term or did you just make that up on the spot the funny part about that is I'm not sure and honestly I took note of that too and I was going to talk to you after but we might as well just do it here cuz smart money's got a lot of momentum but can you actually Google it up money that sweats is kind of interesting you know I think people throw everything into smart money but there's a big difference between smart money and money that sweats Sweat Equity but like Sweat Equity is totally different cool all right yeah we might have something there here we go Derek asks what are your thoughts on Facebook's upcoming dislike

button the dislike button this might have to be an article as well I don't know a lot about it and uh and I think in you know Ben lethal the CEO of resi for mentioned in the prior uh video and I had dinner last night strategizing around resi download it if you're in La New York Miami uh Washington DC Rey you know what ston um uh put a glove on me there when I did the right hook uh What uh oh my man uh this wonderful man is going to be shadowing me today hey brother smart Jo good to see you I'm live by the way oh you can just sit I'm finishing off the show uh so the dislike button introduces some interesting stuff Ben Ben's point was when negativity comes into the ecosystem it can really crash and burn a platform he was talking about how Twitter got more negative after the Kumbaya moments of 20078 9 and there's a lot of Truth to that um to me the dislike button allows Facebook to make its algorithm even stronger but that would that was kind of how I first thought about it as if it was a hide it would know but it seemed seems to me and this is where I think Facebook may have a problem it seems to me that they want to in the quotes that I read last late last night it was 2 o'clock in the morning when I wanted to read it real fast so I haven't invested in a very smart answer yet on this Steve or Derek thank you for asking the question it seems that they want to allow people to express other emotions to me where I think they're going with this uh quality wise is we see a lot of people post uh for example we see uh my friend uh Drew uh his an incredible friend uh and um uh his father passed away and he wrote an incredible piece and it was a beautiful picture of his dad and a wonderful piece about how hardcore of a Philly sports fan he was which kind of struck me I kind of already you know thought about like my own demise and how my kids were going to talk about my Jets fandom of like how he was a fan and then he bought the team what an amazing man he was uh but that's not what makes him amazing he was the best dad giving you guys some material Xander uh so I think that um I think that what Facebook is trying to figure out a Cadence around is you look and a lot of people are hitting like and there's all these life events that maybe you don't you wouldn't in real life in real communication say I like that you there's other things now I don't know if you're going to say this like to that but I think what Facebook is starting to show with this move and uh clearly has enormous upside in its continuation of evolution very similar to my first answer on the Snapchat question is I could see an environment where multiple buttons exist we have a much stronger way to express our actual thoughts on the content we're seeing in front of us and that intelligence becomes the backbone of making a much better product for Facebook itself anybody who's into data science or understands how these things work and even if you just deploy common sense you recognize that the like is too broad for Facebook to do enough with that data to make the product better and so if they had more options to create more context they'd be able to create a far better curated experience so I think that's what they're up to it's intriguing to me that it's a dislike button you know if my thesis was right my intuition is that they would go with a different kind of button and that's why I'm not so sold that I'm right with my point of view there but those are the Curiosities that are running through my head so what do I to answer it black and white what I think about uh actually turn me into black and white here even though it's part of official show I think that's funny to answer it black and white thank you Stefan actually no go back to color CU Show's always full-time in color but in that one little weird period make it black and white uh I think it's a very clever and very important step one that I do believe has Major Impact and one that this Market will look back at 5 years from now and recognize it was a massive moment in Facebook's you know lineage including it became a chip away at becoming more negative and not going in the right direction or started creating the framework for even smarter better uh experiences for all of us on their platform and don't forget that platform deploys to Instagram so a lot of you are saying yeah but I'm not there anymore oh yes you are it's called Instagram you live there and so uh I think it's important I'm excited to see what happens with it that's it good show felt tight felt good about it uh no State you know statements a day leave your thoughts would love to get you know one of the big things why I shifted from question day to statement of day is I want more feedback I want you vayer Nation to critique the shows because with that feedback I will continue to make it better for you that is the plan have a wonderful day uh we're not taping Friday cuz I'm heading out to a wedding are we filming tomorrow tomorrow's Thursday tomorrow's Wednesday uh yes we do have a show tomorrow Thursday yep so we got a show tomorrow so tomorrow will be my official Jets Colts prediction I've got a good one you keep asking questions I'll keep answering them n