Street Fight Daily: Facebook Looms Over Snap IPO, Inside a Local Publisher’s Rise

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

A Rival’s Shadow Looms Over Snapchat IPO (WSJ)
As Snap Inc. pursues its $25 billion initial public offering, Facebook is borrowing some of the moves that catapulted Snapchat to popularity with teens and young adults. MediaPost: Is Snap thinking beyond ads?

The AI Wars in Local Have Already Begun (Street Fight)
Mike Boland: The AI-centric battle is being waged by heavier contenders than any before it, including Apple (Siri), Amazon (Alexa), and Google (Assistant). They’re each basing battle plans on their current positioning and biggest assets, and the winner will sway the next era of local commerce.

How Local Publisher Technically Media Is Diversifying Its Business with a Community Focus (Nieman Lab)
From the beginning, Technically has eschewed traditional online advertising. Events produce the bulk of its revenue — 73 percent last year, down from 85 percent in 2015 — and from early on, the company has seen events as a way to attract sponsors and grow readership.

Case Study: Brick-and-Mortar Shop Looks to Compete with Online Sales (Street Fight)
At Nutrishop in San Francisco, Jason Miller is using a digital platform called Pointy to automatically publish his products online and also drive customers into his store. By integrating Pointy’s box with his Lightspeed POS system, Miller has been able to scan products with a scanner and have those products appear on his store’s Pointy page online.

Marketo CEO on the Company’s Big Plans to Take On Big Marketing Clouds (AdExchanger)
Marketo’s first order of business was to re-engineer its marketing automation software from the ground up — a continuing overhaul that includes adding account-based targeting, which Demandbase and LinkedIn had already tackled — and deeper data management and analytics.

Amazon Declines to Report Prime Membership Growth Rate for First Time Since 2013 (Recode)
Jason Del Rey: It’s fair to assume that Amazon is starting to rub up against saturation levels in the U.S., and Prime is still brand new in some huge international markets like India and China.

5 Ways for B2Bs to Tap Into Social (eMarketer)
eMarketer’s Maria Minsker spoke with business-to-business (B2B) marketing experts about the best ways for B2Bs to leverage social media. Here are five tips drawn from the interviews. 

The Brand Winners and Losers of Superbowl LI (Digiday)
This year, official sponsors weren’t alone in trying to nab some attention: Countless other brands also tried to cash in on an highly-engaged second screen audience on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and, most importantly, Twitter.

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