What was your journey until taking on this role in the company?
My path was quite evolutionary: my first job was in an office furniture company, however, within the administrative department. Afterwards I changed roles and moved to the commercial department as an account manager. Subsequently I became Italy area manager of a French multinational leader in the production of plastic materials, until arriving at Martex again with the role of area manager. However, my passion for furniture and design has pushed me more and more to deal with products, thus combining my commercial experience with my more creative side. Seeing a product being born gives you a unique perspective that goes beyond the purely aesthetic aspect, it gives you the opportunity to learn about strengths, competitive advantages and key messages that allow you to communicate it effectively: this is what I deal with. Within the marketing office I am supported by another more operational figure who takes care of the realization of ideas and strategies.
What do you think of social media within the interior sector?
In this historical period, social networks are used a lot, especially Instagram, because it recalls the much more visual part of the product and thanks to this platform it is possible to capture the aesthetic side and style of each brand. LinkedIn instead allows you to reach a large professional audience, build a reputation and generate new business opportunities. In our sector, architects and various architectural firms mainly use these two social networks to get inspired, seek contacts and interact with companies and for this reason they represent two very strong channels. In recent years I have noticed a significant increase in the use of platforms, they have become indispensable for corporate communication. Most companies are pouring a large part of their paper investments into digital and specifically into social media: the presence of the furniture sector on the main channels is now evident and indispensable.
Which social network is more suitable for your reality and which is less?
Definitely Instagram because product images linked to the interior world are highly rewarded by the platform. Secondly, LinkedIn because it represents the company in the social ecosystem where professional exchanges take place with new partners and professionals. Martex is also present on Facebook but I consider it more rewarding for B2C rather than B2B companies like we are, even if for the same result it is more rewarding than Instagram as well as costing half as much. To conclude, we believe Pinterest is promising but we are rebalancing it as so far we have only posted some collections but without real strategies. I follow Tik Tok a lot because I am convinced that videos represent the future.
The data shows that having a low number of followers damages the brand image, what do you think?
Yes, because it is a piece of data that you look at immediately and cannot help but catch the eye: it has become a comparison metric within the reference market. Martex does not have a very high fan base because the communication activity was managed uniformly on all channels not only with regards to the contents but I am referring precisely to the actions implemented. We are currently trying to work more strategically on social media to push it and grow our communities.
Have you ever collaborated with external professionals regarding the social sphere?
We have collaborated with external agencies for the social part and also for the graphic part, however completely outsourcing this part does not lead to a quality result. Corporate know-how needs to be transmitted by those who live it every day and know it deeply otherwise the added value or essence of what is communicated will be lost. We currently have an external person who follows us on the social platforms regarding the management and administration of each channel.
What are the future corporate communication projects?
Future corporate communication projects include the promotion of the new products presented during the Salone del Mobile 2023, but above all they will focus on the philosophy, know-how, study and culture of living well, which Martex transfers daily into its products. In recent years, we have dedicated time and energy to studying the issues of feeling good in the office, finding the layout solutions and furnishing proposals that can best respond to these needs. In particular we are delving into the themes of Biophilia and Biophilic Design: only by transmitting the values of these themes can we make the nature of our products better known.