What was your journey until taking on this role in the company?
I have a somewhat particular path: I attended linguistic high school and then graduated in Multimedia Sciences and Technologies. Thanks to an internship, I realized that I was passionate about the world of graphics and therefore specialized in this sector through a dedicated course. I worked in a well-known company where I was in charge of graphics, website management and some time later also the commercial department. I then moved to another sector, working for a leather factory in Pordenone. Here I managed the company's social networks at 360°, from the production of content to the management of the newsletter, through the creation of the editorial plan and the implementation of the site. I then became manager of the Venice office and managed all the products that had to arrive in the store in addition to all the previous tasks. I joined DA Group, choosing to get involved in a sector that was new to me and now I take care of the digital part of the three brands Dall'Agnese, Birex and Comprex: website, social media and newsletter.
What do you think about the use of social media in the B2B market segment?
This is a bit of a difficult question for me because I come from the B2C world which is much more sales-oriented than B2B. The objective, in this sector, is inspiration and not sales: the methods of communication, means and contents intended for social media therefore change. Dall'Agnese products, together with those of the Comprex and Birex brands, are designed as a continuous line of styles, essences and characteristics that are taken up in every room of the house: the essence of the dining table can be the same as the furniture for the sleeping area as it can be the same for the bathroom furnishing accessories. It is therefore very important to be able to communicate this unique facet of the brand: to do so you need to create special content, aimed at this objective but intended for a corporate audience. In the generality of B2B for our sector, I can say that only now is there a noteworthy use of social media. Previously it was very rare to see communication in the media even from very important brands. I understand the challenge in bringing content aimed not at the end user but at the company which, in this case, plays the role of intermediary. It is undoubtedly easier to talk directly to the consumer than to another business. Now I have noticed an increase in the use of Instagram by B2B.
Which social network is more in line with your business model and which is less?
Facebook still works very well for Dall'Agnese and Birex because we have the strength of historicity on our side: many agents and customers share our content, thus bringing us traffic and interactions. I expect Facebook to slowly lose its power over our reality. At the moment one of our goals is to invest time and resources on Pinterest and Instagram as we are trying to raise our target, aiming at architects and designers, and we have understood that this platform fits perfectly with our line of business. I believe that social networks with a great visual impact, such as Instagram and Pinterest, are the most suitable for a furnishing company like ours. In this period the platform that differs the most from our business is YouTube, where we publish less content.
The data shows that having a low number of followers damages the brand image, what do you think?
It's true, even if professionally speaking I prefer to have targeted and active followers rather than a larger fan base but less in line with Dall'Agnese, Birex and Comprex. One of our objectives is, yes, to grow but always in an organic way and always aiming for followers in line with our brand. However, we also want to continue to focus on interactions, another fundamental fact on social platforms. The interactions, then, are an index of the quality of the followers: if the first number is low but the second is high, a discrepancy is immediately noticed and, probably, the first conclusion drawn is that the followers have been bought, especially for those who deal with social media and work in the sector.
How important are online reviews, are they important?
They are certainly important in B2C but at the moment I don't yet see them as equally important in B2B. In sectors such as furniture, where DA Group operates, the impact in real life is fundamental: those who purchase furniture and accessories want to be sure that the company is solid but are above all interested in touching the materials first-hand, in the concrete impact of what they will choose. Personally, however, I prefer not to leave reviews because I believe they are a powerful tool that is taken too lightly by those who leave them: a review has a great impact on the perception of the brand, whether negative or positive. Even when I do personal research, such as places to visit or restaurants to try, I tend not to be too influenced by what I read.
Have you ever collaborated with professionals regarding the social sphere?
In the past DA Group has collaborated with professionals and agencies. At the moment, however, we manage everything internally, relying on web developers only for the website. I believe that being able to create a synergy between internal and external resources is ideal for complete, efficient and coherent communication. The internal team knows the brand perfectly, its strengths and what to enhance while the external professionals are always up to date on the dynamics of each social platform and can take care of the operational side with competence and in a vertical manner. I tend to prefer agencies or professionals who are vertical on some aspects rather than on the quantity of services offered: no one can perform in every area, social network or sector to the same extent.
What are the future corporate communication projects?
The objective is certainly to increasingly communicate the Group as a brand strength. We currently have three events planned in collaboration with major brands in the sector, such as Whirpool where we will focus on offline communication. We want to create a total partnership with our customers and we would like to organize visits to the facility so as to best tell our story and our products, eliminating the difference between showroom and catalogue. Breathing in the atmosphere, seeing and touching the products is a completely different thing than leafing through a catalogue. Among the various projects we would also like to focus on brand awareness for complete communication on all sides.