{"id":1244,"date":"2019-10-04T10:05:53","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T17:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futuresharks.com\/?p=1244"},"modified":"2021-11-22T09:02:46","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T17:02:46","slug":"markian-benhamou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/markian-benhamou\/","title":{"rendered":"How did Markian blow up? [Exclusive interview]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Markian, aka The Smiling Redhead, is a social media influencer with over 750k followers, a young entrepreneur, and a college student at USC.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>City where you\u2019re from:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Marbella, Spain<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Hobbies: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Soccer, Entrepreneurship, Dancing, Leaving comfort zone<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Favorite quote: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s nothing worth worrying about in life<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Social accounts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Facebook (680k) <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/markianb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">www.facebook.com\/markianb<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Youtube (60k) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCi1ynaf3mWz-mgim7LvqjzQ\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCi1ynaf3mWz-mgim7LvqjzQ<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instagram (20k) <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/markianb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">www.instagram.com\/markianb<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Snapchat: <a href=\"http:\/\/snapchat.com\/add\/mformarkian\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@mformarkian<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What&#8217;s good Markian, awesome having you at Future Sharks. What got you into making your influencer account? When did you start?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:<\/strong> 2 years ago, I started a monetization platform for Youtubers so it made sense for me to create my own channel in order to reach out to Youtubers and understand how they work. I saw the value in creating content and building a large following so I\u2019ve been making videos ever since. My theme has always been making people smile so I make acts of kindness videos\/fun challenge vlogs on Youtube &#8211; short, funny skits on Facebook.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-post\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/markianb\/videos\/557347874390511\/\" data-width=\"500\" data-show-text=\"true\">\n<blockquote class=\"fb-xfbml-parse-ignore\" cite=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/markianb\/videos\/557347874390511\/\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Don&#8217;t get your hopes up ??<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Posted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/markianb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Markian<\/a> on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/markianb\/videos\/557347874390511\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wednesday, July 20, 2016<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are some secrets to virality in your most successful platform (Fb, Twitter, IG, Snap, etc)?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:\u00a0<\/strong>Viral content elicits emotion. Doesn\u2019t matter which emotion, but all viral videos make you feel someway and want to share it with others. My video \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Oz6N0yJqWAw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">What It\u2019s Like To Have a Sister<\/a>\u2019 was the 55th most viewed Facebook video of 2016 with over 100M views. It was impactful, funny, and extremely relatable.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you had to build your following all over, how would you do it much quicker?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:\u00a0<\/strong>Definitely start on Facebook. It\u2019s much easier to grow a Facebook page compared to a Youtube channel. Facebook has great shareability functions that allow videos to spread, such as sharing, tagging, commenting and liking. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who are other influencers you look up to?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:\u00a0<\/strong>I really like Jerome Jarre. He makes fun videos in a very positive, light-hearted way. An upcoming Youtube channel that I\u2019ve enjoyed watching is Yes Theory, who do positive challenges to leave their comfort zone.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How did you promote your content in the early days?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:\u00a0<\/strong>First step is to send your channel to ALL your Facebook friends. And I mean private message them (not public post on your wall). This got me my first 100 subscribers in a week. Next steps is to create unique, high-quality content and send it to blogs that could hopefully write articles about your videos. It\u2019s all about experimenting, practice and persistence.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How long does it take you to produce your content? Which software do you use to make your video and track its engagement\/promotion if any?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:\u00a0<\/strong>Facebook videos are relatively quick to produce &#8211; 2 hours to film, 2 hours to edit. Youtube videos take longer &#8211; 3-6 hours to film, 4-6 hours to edit. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I use Final Cut Pro to edit and the stats can all be tracked from each platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Value-add questions<\/b><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s something new you\u2019ve learned in the past month (whether some new social media update or a new marketing technique)?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:\u00a0<\/strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The power of chatbots<\/span>. Chatbots are the future for Facebook pages. Chatbots allow you to instantly message any of your followers who have either commented on a post or previously messaged your page. This is extremely valuable because when pages are doing promotions or running events, they can send that individualized DIRECT message to their followers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teach us something we don\u2019t know (it\u2019s vague and open-ended on purpose)<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ll teach you the best way to approach strangers. I have approached hundreds of people in my videos &#8211; giving flowers to people, asking strangers on dates, getting strangers to call their moms&#8230; Whether you\u2019re giving out flyers, taking surveys, asking people to be in a video, or just want to meet people, here are my top 3 tips. <\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, <\/span><b>confidence<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is everything. If you don\u2019t appear confident, nobody will commit to talking to you. Fake it (being confident) until you become it. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Second, don\u2019t open with a Yes or No question. This just gives people the opportunity to say no and move on. Start by giving a compliment or making a statement \u2018I need your help real quick\u2019, \u2018I love your outfit!\u2019 The time you spend talking builds trust with the person and they\u2019re more likely to follow through with your next requests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Third, always SMILE! Approaching people with a genuine smile is extremely powerful. People will reciprocate that positive energy and be willing to interact with you.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Final tip: practice, practice, practice. <a href=\"http:\/\/alejandrorioja.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-anything\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">It all comes by just doing it, getting rejected, and doing it again<\/a>. I used to be very shy and not-confident approaching strangers. Now I have no problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">Youtube: Asking Stranger on Dates with Snapchats<br \/>\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QYwH11Ugbd0<\/h3>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What should an influencer focus on?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:\u00a0<\/strong>An influencer should focus on building a relationship with their followers &#8211; that\u2019s what influence means. Having a large following but very low engagement loses its value. It\u2019s crucial to keep your fans connected and feeling like they want to talk to you. There are a number of ways influencers can do this through social media: replying to comments, replying to messages, referring to fans in videos, call-to-action, asking questions in posts, and implementing their feedback.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are some of the best books you\u2019ve ever read?<\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2ruMY3N\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DotCom Secrets<\/a> for anyone in social media\/online business world.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2rMcZv4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tools of Titans<\/a> for best\/successful life habits.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2rcDdWO\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Predictably Irrational<\/a> for business psychology.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Find more books in the <a href=\"http:\/\/futuresharks.com\/books\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">list we compiled at Future Sharks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s your ultimate goal with your account? <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:\u00a0<\/strong>My end goal has always been to create my own companies. Having a large following is an extremely valuable business asset that will help me leverage my startups. The current goal is to grow my fanbase across all platforms and monetize through different revenue streams (merch, online video series, book). At the same time, be able to inspire young adults to leave their comfort zone and add positivity in people\u2019s life one smile at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s your dream?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Markian Benhamou:\u00a0<\/strong>My dream is to be on my death bed and say \u2018I lived every moment of life. I have no regrets.\u2019 I wish to travel the world, have meaningful experiences, constantly learn, and help underprivileged societies. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Markian, aka The Smiling Redhead, is a social media influencer with over 750k followers, a young entrepreneur, and a college student at USC. City where you\u2019re from: Marbella, Spain Hobbies: Soccer, Entrepreneurship, Dancing, Leaving comfort zone Favorite quote: There\u2019s nothing worth worrying about in life Social accounts: Facebook (680k) www.facebook.com\/markianb Youtube (60k) https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCi1ynaf3mWz-mgim7LvqjzQ Instagram (20k) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":20633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[637,632,633,648,777,635,656,636],"tags":[99],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian.jpg",900,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-768x768.jpg",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian.jpg",800,800,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian.jpg",900,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian.jpg",900,900,false],"alm-thumbnail":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian.jpg",150,150,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-850x560.jpg",850,560,true],"digiqole-medium":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-600x398.jpg",600,398,true],"digiqole-small":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-455x300.jpg",455,300,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-24x24.jpg",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/markian-300x300.jpg",300,300,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"So Influential","author_link":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/author\/soinfluential\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Markian, aka The Smiling Redhead, is a social media influencer with over 750k followers, a young entrepreneur, and a college student at USC. City where you\u2019re from: Marbella, Spain Hobbies: Soccer, Entrepreneurship, Dancing, Leaving comfort zone Favorite quote: There\u2019s nothing worth worrying about in life Social accounts: Facebook (680k) www.facebook.com\/markianb Youtube (60k) https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCi1ynaf3mWz-mgim7LvqjzQ Instagram (20k)&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soinfluential.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}