Timothy Armoo from Fanbytes shares top influencer and millennials marketing tips to reach time poor younger audiences
Social Media Portal (SMP) What is your name and what do you do there at for Fanbytes?Timothy Armoo (TA): My name is Timothy Armoo. I?m CEO and lead magician at
Fanbytes. My role is to help as many brands benefit from the world of influencer marketing
SMP: Briefly, tell us about Fanbytes what is it and what does company do?TA: Fanbytes is the ?Adwords of Influencer marketing?. Influencer marketing as a medium helps brands to engage with their desired audiences through social influencers on social channels such as YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Vine. These individuals with large audiences provide a direct channel for brands to engage with niche audiences and Fanbytes acts as the platform which facilitates partnership. With our tools and analytics we?re providing brands with a way to run, measure and analyse influencer marketing campaigns.
SMP: When did you start the company, how people work there and how is it funded?
TA: We started the company with just myself and my cofounder. About eight months ago. We took a very fake it till you make it approach for the first campaign, approaching brands with the promise of having a network they could tap into. Once we?d got our first client we just ran from there. We?re currently a team now of six and we?re funded through some great angel investors.
SMP: Why did you call the company Fanbytes, how did you choose the name?TA: Our name was actually thought of by a friend, we wanted to do something around being digital but also around helping influencers and brands engaging with their fan base. Meshing the two together, a focus on ?fans? but then a focus on digital and ?bytes? brought forth the name Fanbytes.
SMP: Who are your target audience and why?TA: Millennials are the target audience for us. Across a myriad of various interests, the unifying thing between all of them is that they have grown up with social and digital which makes them an apt audience for our campaigns.
SMP: What were you doing before you joined Fanbytes and what made you start the company?TA: I had started and sold a small media company. With starting Fanbytes it was an awareness of the fact that advertising was increasingly losing its potency when engaging with millennials. Coupled with the understanding of the growing importance of social and the social influencer, we knew that there needed to be a place where both parties could come together and create compelling campaigns.
SMP: Briefly, what does your job entail and what does a typical day look like?TA: My job is to get the brands on board. We now work with a plethora of brands ranging from start-ups to big brands and my job is to make sure we never stop growing and are able to help as many brands as possible benefit from the influencer marketing landscape which benefits them and their desired audiences.
SMP: What are the challenges that you?ve encountered and how are you overcoming them in what you have been doing so far at Fanbytes?TA: When you?re trying to do something new with a disruptive business model and technology it can be hard to explain what you do. To people who have been so used to old methods of advertising which disrupt consumption, the notion of being part of the consumption can be hard to explain. But then once you?ve got in a couple of case studies and referrals it gets a little easier.
SMP: What are the high moments of what you have been doing so far?TA: Working with some fantastic brands like Nickelodeon and Adidas. I?d also say our first campaign we did was pretty thrilling one as it validated our value proposition.
SMP: What do you see as your biggest challenges and opportunities for your sector and the competition that you have?TA: I think the biggest challenges will be being able to keep up with all the new social platforms. Things like Vine, Snapchat, Periscope are all becoming part of any marketers toolkit and the ability to bring measurable influencer campaigns will be an interesting challenge and opportunity too. I think our biggest competition is currently the multi-channel networks (MCNs), they mainly focus on premium brands and premium influencers with a very agency led approach where we have a slightly different offering bringing technology to the market.
SMP: What do you think is going to be the most interesting aspect regarding social influencers ad what they do for the next 12 to 18-months and why?TA: Most interesting will be that influencers will get younger and younger and the path to being an influencer on a platform will be quicker. It took us a while to get the Zoella?s of the world on YouTube and I estimate that the next Zoella on something like Meerkat will be even quicker.
SMP: What are your top five predictions for social media and influencers and platforms they use for the next 12 to 18-months and why?TA replies with:- Snapchat and Vine will become marketing mainstays.
- The rate at which someone becomes an influencer will be much quicker.
- Influencers will become younger and younger.
- Influencer marketing will become a category of its own.
- Brands will spend considerably more in this niche.
SMP: What are your top overall tips for working with social influencers and why?
TA replies with:
- Learn to let go and let them create.
- Involve your audience.
- Entertain don?t lecture.
SMP: Best way to contact you and Fanbytes?TA: I?m always up for a chat and finding cool start-ups to help or work with, ping me an email at
tim@fanbytes.co.ukNow some questions for fun
SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch?TA: A beef salad with coffee.
SMP: What?s the last good thing that you did for someone?TA: I introduced a friend to an investor and looks like she is going to get funded!
SMP: If you didn?t create Fanbytes what would you be doing?TA: Creating the next big thing in advertising.
SMP: When / where did you go on your last holiday and why?TA: About three years ago, I took a holiday to Ghana to see family. As you can tell, I don?t holiday much.
SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning?TA: Put on my favourite Spotify playlist and power through emails.
SMP: If you had a superpower what would it be and why?TA: Ability to reach someone else?s mind. Will be so useful in sales meetings.