Today we’d like to introduce you to Hilik Haviv.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Hilik. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, I first moved to the United States in 2002. My journey started in Mississippi, where I stayed for one year, then I moved to Columbus, Ohio and got my business degree before moving to Las Vegas. At 25, I became the CFO of a multi-million euros company in Eastern Europe (Romania), in 2006.
In 2008, I started my first advertising company and provided indoor advertising in residential elevators. With over 700 locations, we provided solutions to small business owners to reach their potential audience more efficiently than the traditional print media that was used at that time. I sold the company in 2010.
I soon became the CEO of that same Euro company until the end of 2013, when the company was sold with a net worth of about $30 million euros.
In April 2014, I started my financial service company (Haviv Victorious Management), which provided financial services. At the same time, I was traveling between Romania, Hungary, Turkey, and Israel, developing relationships, connections and creating more investment opportunities.
In 2016, I moved back to the U.S. This time, I brought my wife and three kids, and we chose Atlanta as the best opportunity for us. (Our choice was between Atlanta and New York). We wanted to provide a better future for the kids, and we felt that Atlanta has the right culture, lifestyle, quality of life, new developments, and best overall growth of the city (opportunities). We also loved that it is a sports city.
In 2017, I saw a huge opportunity in the digital marketing field. I felt (and feel today) that online is the place to be and the people that understand that and learn it quicker will benefit in the future. So I decided to invest in this field. As I always do, I took the time to research and studied the demographics of the area I was moving to, and truly learned everything from the ground up. Two years later, I fully invested into the development of this current company. I hired experienced employees, purchased professional and updated software, invested in advertising, developed marketing strategies, and partnered with big 3rd party companies, and this is how HVMA Social Media came about. Today we have several collaborations we do with several freelancers and consultants and we work with industry influencers. Our staff is truly talented.
Has it been a smooth road?
It is never just a smooth road or transition. I had to adjust to so many personal and professional situations. However, being an entrepreneur, I know how to adjust. There are so many cultural differences between Israel, Mississippi, Ohio, Eastern Europe, and Atlanta. Language is a huge barrier, as well as the way some of the slang, style, and just overall fast-paced life of each city. Of course, bringing my wife and kids to an unknown place (Atlanta) was a huge challenge, but we got through it together. As a business owner, there are always risks with losing time, money, employees, etc. There are many people you meet along the way and not all have positive intentions. You have to be sharp, learn to take a hit or to hit back when needed. There are ups and downs in every journey but if you are (mentally) strong enough and have the love and support from your family and friends, you will go through. I don’t get scared. I always work hard to find a way to overcome any obstacle.
I understood my vision for HVMA Social Media but also found a way to make the vision work for my new environment. A leader is not someone who decides to act. A leader is someone who acts because it is already in them to do so. My wife and kids are my power. I get great support from my family which keeps me going. I couldn’t do it without them.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the HVMA Social Media story. Tell us more about the business.
At HVMA Social Media we work a lot on content creation. We provide Social Media Management for businesses by developing strategic plans for their profiles and their daily online activity. We create the content from the ideas to the final product you see online, measuring success and improvement. Analytics is an important piece in order to reach the right target audience and bring new customers to our client’s doors.
We also provide Email Marketing services (weekly/monthly) including automations and optimizations. Professional Facebook Advertising and YouTube Advertising and we also develop and maintain websites.
The thing that separates us from other competitors is simple: WE FOCUS ON RESULTS! And we go deeper into details. Unlike others that talk about social media for brand awareness and reputation, etc., we create data driven social media marketing strategies. In other words, we understand you care about making money. Marketing should be a source of income, not a bill. If you understand that, you may work with us in the future.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Everything is going online. We already see mobile use of 80% and 90% over desktop use. With it, the businesses that will generate the most revenue will be the companies that understand and allocate their resources to collecting data and data analysis. If you know who, where and when your audience is at all time, and if you learn what they want and need, the chances for you to make a sale is higher. There is a reason why Google and Facebook and YouTube, etc. are all for free. They collect data which is more valuable than charge us another dollar. Data = Value.
We are planning to do more in depth data analysis, optimize each online post and activity in order to be a competitor in the digital marketing world. Video production at a high level and creating data driven social media marketing strategies are the future of HVMA Social Media.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4865 Olde Towne Parkway Suite 250
Marietta, GA 33068 - Website: www.hvmasocialmedia.com
- Phone: 770.702.7181
- Email: office@hvmasocialmedia.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilik-haviv/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/hvma-social-media/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/hvmasocialmedia
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGi8KAfnZbvvmYuDNgaqPtg?view_as=subscriber
Image Credit:
All the images are property of HVMA
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