Social media marketing has become an integral component of every company’s success, irrespective of its size and niche.
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram let businesses attract their target consumers and build a loyal community around their brand. On the other hand, platforms like LinkedIn are excellent for B2B lead generation.
The vast reach of social media makes it an excellent tool for building brand awareness and reputation. In 2022 alone, the number of social media users grew by 4.24%. As more tech-savvy youngsters join these platforms, social media will become even more crucial to brand-building and marketing.
But life as a social media marketer is a constant roller-coaster ride. With new platforms, features, and trends emerging now and then, it can be difficult to consistently execute high-performing campaigns.
Of course, you can turn to various digital marketing experts for advice. But if you’re looking for a unique take to survive as a social media marketer in today’s competitive and fast-evolving world, you can seek inspiration from the journey of Refael (aka Rafi) Edry.
Refael Edry’s Journey: A Compelling Story of Ups and Downs
The world knows Refael Edry as an accomplished business leader and philanthropist from Israel. He owns and operates several successful businesses in Africa and Israel.
But Refael Edry had to overcome countless obstacles to reach the epitome of success. He had barely stepped into adulthood when he got a hint of his family’s financial struggles.
His father’s income wasn’t enough to support the entire family. He decided to put his dreams of pursuing higher education and building a career on hold and started working.
The good thing is that he didn’t let fate get the better of him. Instead, he worked hard to defeat every obstacle that came his way and turned his life around. He had his younger brothers, Eyal Edry and Moshe Edree, to support him on his journey.
Here are a few valuable lessons from the life of Refael Edry for today’s social media marketers:
Never Give Up
The biggest takeaway from the journey of Refael Edry is the importance of determination and perseverance. As the nephew of a brave freedom fighter (whose name he shares), he’s always tackled challenges head-on and emerged victorious.
Refael Edry z|l (the uncle) was a valiant war hero who fought in Israel’s war of independence. While he was martyred at 24, stories of his courage and fearlessness echo in every corner of his hometown, Safed.
As a child, Rafi Edry (the nephew) grew up listening to these heroic tales. And that’s what kept him going through every challenge life threw at him. He continues to perpetuate his uncle’s legacy through various initiatives, even today.
If you want to survive amidst the cut-throat competition of social media marketing, you must become as determined and resilient as Refael Edry. In other words, keep at it even when your campaigns don’t deliver the desired outcomes or you have to start from scratch due to a new trend.
Empathize With Your Audience
Despite his professional accomplishments, Refael Edry has made it a point to give back to his community. Having dealt with financial hardships as a child, he knows what it’s like to struggle for basic necessities, such as education and employment opportunities. The sad reality is that thousands of children in Israel’s periphery are deprived of these resources.
That’s what prompted Refael Edry to start the Ahinoam Association for the Promotion of Equal Opportunities. Through the organization, Refael Edry and his younger brothers run various welfare programs to support children from underprivileged families.
The organization’s volunteers find and mentor at-risk youth, help them pursue higher education, and facilitate their integration into the country’s job market.
Also, they provide financial support to students from low-income households. They even run various development initiatives to improve Israel’s peripheral infrastructure.
Through sheer compassion and empathy, Refael Edry and his brothers have touched the lives of thousands of children and helped them build better lives. That’s exactly the kind of empathy social media marketers need while building campaigns.
It’s one thing to perform audience research and create buyer personas. But if you want your campaigns to strike a chord with your audience, you must step into their shoes and understand what drives them. Also, get a clear idea of the challenges they face in their journey.
Empathizing with your target audience will help you create content that recognizes and resolves their pain points. And that’s what helps brands deliver value and stand out from the crowd of self-promotional content.
Up Your Problem-Solving Game
When the COVID-19 pandemic made quarantine and social distancing the norm, schools in Israel transitioned to online classes. It seemed like a logical solution to help students continue learning.
What they didn’t realize is that thousands of underprivileged children in the country didn’t own computers or smartphones.
Rafi Edry realized that if no one stepped up to help these children, they’d have to give up on their education. That, in turn, could be catastrophic for Israel’s social integrity and resilience in the future.
Once again, he joined forces with his brother and started a fundraising initiative, which helped provide computers to more than 30,000 students. His timely intervention helped these children stay connected with their classmates and teachers and retain a sense of familiarity despite a global pandemic.
If you want to make it big as a social media marketer, you must develop a similar eye for problem-spotting. It’s not enough to tackle a campaign’s problems as they emerge.
Instead, you must stay on top of the latest trends and identify potential roadblocks for each campaign. It’ll give you ample time to brainstorm ways to overcome these problems and maintain consistent campaign performance.
In Conclusion
The competitive and volatile nature of the social media ecosystem makes it painstakingly difficult for marketers to survive. But like Refael Edry, you can use determination, resilience, empathy, and foresight to build campaigns that stand the test of time and generate the desired traction.
