What was your journey until taking on this role in the company?
I am Dutch and I moved to Italy when I was young: I graduated in Italian Literature and Linguistics at a Dutch university, commuting to take exams. I immediately entered the world of work also because I know several languages. I started as a salesman in various sectors, from construction to the food industry. After various experiences, I joined Elifriulia about 5 years ago. Now I deal with 360° Marketing, from social media to events, as part of my various functions within the sales office
What do you think about social media in the B2B market segment?
From what I have found, social media is used little in our sector. It is mostly about brand awareness and positioning on platforms. Our main competitor also uses them with this meaning. It is a very particular market niche that requires equally specific and detailed communication. This is also considering that our core business is the air ambulance service and other public services and our main customers are public bodies.
Which social network is more in line with your business model and which is less?
Elifriulia is present on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. The first is certainly our flagship social network, also for the recruiting aspect, which has been widely used recently given the strong growth of the company. The furthest platform, however, is TikTok because it still has an audience that is too young compared to our market. Facebook allows us to involve people in the area, also using events.
The data shows that having a low number of followers damages the brand image, what do you think?
I agree because the number of followers influences, even unconsciously, the perception that people may have of that brand. Obviously, then, it depends on who reads this issue: based on their background, each person will have a different opinion on the matter.
How important are online reviews, are they important?
At the moment we do not constantly monitor the reviews of Elifriulia but we create situations to make ourselves known even to an audience that is not expert in the sector. We organize panoramic flights during some events in the area, we have a flight school where we train both airplane and helicopter pilots and we are still very visible given our presence in the area also on behalf of the firefighting service and civil protection. These activities certainly bring us traffic and feedback on both Facebook and Google and, without a doubt, we will take some targeted action in the future.
Have you ever collaborated with professionals regarding the social sphere?
We are supported with regards to the website while social media is currently managed internally. For some time there was a resource who took care of the Press Area. Now I manage all the marketing even if in the future we do not rule out collaborating with external companies. Undoubtedly, collaborating with the outside can be a source of ideas, new points of view and gives the opportunity to learn and learn about different aspects.
What are the future corporate communication projects?
We would like to improve and update the Elifriulia website which, together with social media, must be more in line with our values and more functional. We are working on organizing many events in different sectors: for example, we will participate in two days dedicated to the field of air rescue from a technical point of view.