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“I learned the hard way that authenticity is essential in marketing. It’s not about quantity, but quality” with Ben Guez and Candice Georgiadis

When I started marketing, I was young and stupid. Now I am old and stupid. I was pro “Fake it until you made it”. I made a stupid mistake of buying a bunch of fake likes for a clients Facebook page. It was ridiculous and caused a backlash on their page, as they received 50k new likes in a single day, but it didn’t make any sense. I really learned that authenticity is essential in marketing. It’s not about quantity, but quality and one small mistake can hurt your brand reputation- a lot.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Ben Guez . He left France 5 years ago to start his entrepreneur journey and founded his business venture as LAXIR a digital marketing agency, and been involved in many start up since then as Shamana, Tradefan and Universal promote. He is also a Savage!

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

I run a social media marketing network in LA, where we sustain a clientele of over 2,000 small business owners. We recently launched a series of campaigns for a few big brands, like Lionsgate. I am also active on Instagram, and currently have over 90,000 followers. And most of all, I am a learning addict so I am always keeping up with the latest updates and technological improvements within the social media world. I am a big believer in A/B testing for everything, and trying it out there first.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

A few years ago I had a client who was launching his Vape brand and needed exposure. He was trying to be perceived as a fashion item, it was more than just a vape ( he used leather material and it was indeed very fancy). I decided to go to a fashion show in DTLA and sneak into the models changing room . I gave all of them a vape and asked them to use it on the runway.

And that’s what they did. We gained a lot of exposure from it and made the headline for taking initiative and merging to a different world- fashion meets vape.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I started marketing, I was young and stupid. Now I am only old and stupid. I was pro “Fake it until you made it”.

I made a stupid mistake of buying a bunch of fake likes for a client’s Facebook page. It was ridiculous and caused a backlash on their page, as they received 50k new likes in a single day, but it didn’t make any sense.

I really learned that authenticity is essential in marketing. It’s not about quantity, but the quality and one small mistake can hurt your brand reputation- a lot.

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

The most effective platform to use varies based on the business. You have to assess your business and decide how you want to be seen and engage with your audience. For example; I find Wendy’s twitter to be very entertaining. They found a creative way to engage with consumers and drive traffic to their business. However, Twitter isn’t something that I utilize for my business.

Business wise Facebook and Instagram are my go to in terms of lead generation and bringing traffic to your site while increasing your brand awareness.

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

1. Niche hashtags
Hashtags help you to organize and categorize, but don’t just #hearts&flowers. Try using hashtags that are within the market that you would like to target. This will help you attract the right audience rather than a bunch of irrelevant users. If you need help, try following hashtags your followers are using to help you appeal to your audience.
2. Know when to post
​The cream to your pie, the most thrilling adventure, is right after you post and you look down at your phone to see who’s liked or commented. To know and understand when your audience is active on social media it’s probably best that you download a social listening tool, something that can monitor engagement. The end result is that it shows you the best times to post a day. This will optimize the number of likes and comments you get. We’re sure that you will reach the right audience and you’ll definitely get into those triple digits.
3. Sliding into your DMs
​Don’t be afraid to interact with your followers or influencers that can help boost your brands’ image, slide into the DM’s, there’s no shame in this. Talk to your audience that way you would talk to someone face to face. Remember, don’t be afraid to tell them what you want and to let them know what’s in it for them. This is your opportunity for people to ask you questions about who you are and what your ultimate goal is as a business.
4. Stories
​Usually when people go on Instagram, the first thing they look at are the stories. This is an effective way to keep your customers engaged with the most up-to-date news and relevant content.
5. Content
​Displaying goal-driven, stimulating, and consistent content throughout your business’s Instagram page can urge consumers to want to visit your page. This can show just how creative and professional your business really is.
6. Engage with influencers
​Instagram is the hot place for influencers to post about their lives as well as what brands they enjoy interacting with. This gives you the opportunity to work a deal with them in order to further promote your business and increase its followers.

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I am a big supporter of the entrepreneur community. I work to advocate for the importance of starting your own business and creating your own success. As someone who moved from France to America to build a business as a digital marketer, I want to support other people in my position. I want to influence other immigrant entrepreneurs to pursue their own professional endeavors.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

There are so many people to choose from, I can’t possibly choose just one. I would want to speak with Jen Gurecki to discuss her travel and how she perfected her system to work remotely. I want to engage with Gary Vee for his authentic tools in motivation. He has a unique way to inspire people on a personal level rather than using conventional methods and phrases. I want to learn more about Xavier Niels school project because I think it can be a game changer in education. And lastly, I would want to learn advice from Jeremi Berrebi, regarding business and Torah.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!


“I learned the hard way that authenticity is essential in marketing. was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.