What was your journey until taking on this role in the company?
I studied Architecture at the University of Venice, then I started working in this sector but I realized almost immediately that it wasn't for me. I moved into the B2C world for some time, working in a shop. This experience trained me a lot and allowed me to learn numerous skills that I still treasure today. I joined Ronda Design about 10 years ago, moving from Pordenone. I therefore experienced the beginning of the brand from the very beginning, growing and learning with it. Now I am Marketing Manager and I manage all communication, both offline and online. Supported by another resource, I follow all the contents: from the graphics of the price lists to the articles for the blog, via social media and the website.
What do you think about the use of social media in the B2B market segment?
In my opinion, there is still a long way to go in B2B compared to B2C: they are totally different methods of communication. Even in Ronda Design it is difficult to find the right key with which to communicate the contents: they have different objectives and, consequently, are used differently than contents aimed at private individuals. I believe that, in part, this difficulty in finding the right approach also lies in the particularity of the products to be described. Even with our flagship products such as magnetic furniture, for example, it is difficult to explain what it is, thus adding an extra step, understanding, in the use of the content. In the panorama of Ronda Design's competitors, we see that overall the use of social media is similar to ours: strategies, yes, but without major marketing projects. In recent years there has been an increase in the use of LinkedIn, a platform where professionals and companies can be reached more easily, even if it is a very expensive channel.
Which social network is more in line with your business model and which is less?
Instagram is certainly, at the moment, the social network most in line with Ronda Design. This channel gives us good satisfaction, between interactions and engagement, even if we don't allocate such a high budget to it. LinkedIn also gives us good results, especially in terms of reposts and interest in the topics covered. Facebook, on the other hand, I believe is now a saturated market even if we continue to work on it with campaigns and strategy. At the moment the most distant social network is TikTok which, despite having evolved and developed in recent years, represents a completely different platform on which studies must be carried out and ad hoc strategies created. We prefer not to be present on a platform rather than position ourselves with a bad image. This is why we have temporarily chosen not to have a TikTok page. Generally speaking, we have a very active internal community, such as collaborators and agents, who support Ronda Design with shares and traffic on social media.
How much weight do you give to social media within the work context?
For Ronda Design, social media is an integral part of communication. They are definitely important but not fundamental: the conversion percentage is not so large as to make the platforms on which we are present essential. Lately, however, it happened to us that a content creator who talks about reading and books mentioned one of our bookshops. This not only provided us with traffic on social media but also with many requests for that product which therefore experienced an unexpected wave of popularity. In the future we would therefore like to create collaborations with content creators in line with our products and our philosophy.
How important are online reviews, are they important?
Reviews are an important tool with which to evaluate different aspects of the brand. Ronda Design has very few on Google because it is difficult to stimulate the desire to leave a review, especially in the B2B market. It is objectively more common to leave negative reviews than to take even a few minutes to write a positive opinion. In my personal sphere, however, I consult them and leave them, both negative and positive. Obviously I am very happy to leave positive thoughts while, when it comes to less than brilliant experiences, I tend to leave only the score.
Have you ever collaborated with professionals regarding the social sphere?
At Ronda Design we currently collaborate with various external professionals. We rely on a press office for the entire press area and are supported by an agency in the creative field. It is a young company of which we are very fond: they support us for sponsorships on the web and for updating the site code. We believe that collaborations of this kind can only bring benefits: we know the brand and the external agency, which deals every day with different realities in different sectors, can bring points of view and ideas that perhaps would never occur to us. The perception of the company is also different and could be a source of inspiration from both sides.
What are the future corporate communication projects?
At the moment at Ronda Design we are following various projects in the sustainability field, a topic that has always been very close to our hearts and for which we have worked constantly. The magnetic that intertwines with our furnishings is proof of this: being able to change the layout or position of a piece of furniture simply by moving certain elements is a concept that goes perfectly with sustainability. Ours are products that easily adapt to multiple areas of the house: today they are in the living room, tomorrow they could be in the study of the new house, offering green durability. Furthermore, metal is infinitely recyclable.