Marketing under the influence. Episode 17 revisited a topic from a recent show: influencer marketing. The trend (think Instagram celebrities and personalities using their profiles to market products from partner brands) has gained a lot of attention lately, and not for the best reasons.

It got very weird, very quickly in the penultimate episode of the first season for "Above the Fold" during which we were joined by digital marketing sage Shane Barker — who may or may not be Paul Rudd, just based on his voice.

Is influencer marketing inherently bad? Are there ways to make the strategy work for you? What is a good amount of emoji comments?

Scratch that third thought — at least, because emojis don't equal real engagement in influencer marketing. But what does constitute true results? The guys try to answer that question and nail down how influencer marketing can be successful.

We shared a wide-ranging conversation on influencer marketing and smart marketing that had its fair share of detours into the strange and unusual, with plenty of jokes and sidebars along the way.