What was your journey until taking on this role in the company?
I have always thought that companies are like people: companies have something to say about themselves, they have values, emotions, stories to tell. This is why I have chosen to do what I do: communicate to customers, shareholders, colleagues and anyone involved, what the companies I work for do and how they do it. Petfood, coffee, furniture, debt collection services, steel plants are very different products, yet they have something in common: a story to tell, an Italian story. I am lucky to do a job that I like, I have the opportunity to work with a great team of people and we all contribute to the final results. From my first experience at Nestlé, immediately after graduation, I understood that soft skills are as important as technical knowledge and skills. In those years I learned the first rules on how to organize marketing and communication activities. After Nestlè I moved to Illycaffè where everything revolves around the values of the brand, of the family who firmly believes in them and where I understood the importance of reputation. In the following years, at Calligaris, I worked closely with the sales office and discovered the value of the relationships that allow us to build a true partnership with our customers; and where I learned to deal with stakeholders. Looking for new experiences and new challenges, in 2017 I started working for Danieli & C. SPA, a company with a long history and a strong position in its sector: the steel and metals markets. Finally, in 2019 I joined LimaCorporate, I have always been particularly attracted by the "emotion of motion" concept which brings with it many noble contents. What I try to do every day is to put my experience at the service of the whole team in the preparation of actions and communication activities always in line with the objective of restoring the emotion of movement in our patients.
What do you think about social media in the B2B market segment?
Social media, in the B2B market, are certainly not the main or most critical lever for moving business, especially in a context like ours with all the limitations of the healthcare sector. However, healthcare professionals are also people and as such they will use social media. Even a company like LimaCorporate cannot ignore having a position on the platforms and using them appropriately. Our salespeople are very passionate and, unlike a few years ago, they are now very active in providing us with content. The difference with the rest of the market exists and is very present because our competitors are almost all American and consequently have much fewer legal constraints regarding the publication of content on all platforms. In Italy we are limited because our ability to expose both the product and its application is minimal and all this immensely reduces the media exposure that we could gain from it even just in terms of visibility.
Which social network is more suitable for your reality and which is less?
We use LinkedIn a lot even if we haven't started using ads much, and we have activated the Twitter page to take a position on the American market even if it isn't bringing us great results at the moment. I don't think Facebook is the right social network for LimaCorporate, so we are considering opening an Instagram channel but we need to delve deeper into the topic and better understand the risks and benefits. We are also present on YouTube but the use is purely as a repository so we use this channel as a sort of dynamic digital archive where we can find corporate content linked to the company rather than to the products.
The data shows that having a low number of followers damages the brand image, what do you think?
In the reality that surrounds us, even the number of followers can influence the image of the brand. However, I believe that corporate reputation, especially in the healthcare sector, is built more on factors such as trust, reliability and correct behaviour. Doing the right things in the right way. It must be said that when our competitors decrease or increase the number of followers, these are certainly statistics that also trigger internal reasoning about it. It is definitely a goal for LimaCorporate to increase the number of followers and grow the community within the healthcare industry.
Have you ever collaborated with professionals regarding the social sphere?
At the moment there is an agency that follows the LimaCorporate website and we have involved a consultancy company for initial social analyses, but not for the actual management of the company profile. Sometimes we thought about it and who knows maybe in the future it could become something really concrete so I don't think it's a bad investment. Currently the entire social activity is managed internally at both a strategic and content level, but that doesn't mean we won't decide to rely on professionals in the future.
What are the future corporate communication projects?
There are several ongoing projects related to new products and launches on new markets. LimaCorporate is pursuing ESG and D&I initiatives. Our communication pillars in general revolve around our historic pioneering vision which can be expressed in different fields and aspects on the one hand and the importance that has always been recognized for people, here in LimaCorporate, on the other. This content must then materialize and be transferred in the right way, to the right target, with the right means and at the right time... Simple, right?