What was your journey until taking on this role in the company?
I graduated in Journalism because writing was a passion of mine even though I later chose a Master's Degree in Corporate Communication. Both directions had the common thread of being able to tell stories. Over time I collaborated with various television networks and was sent to Lebanon when the war broke out in Syria. After some freelance experiences, I worked in a company that deals with green building, where communication was mainly technical and scientific. I then joined Tecnest where, right from the start, I perceived the importance of marketing within the company. Furthermore, it is a reality very oriented towards culture and continuous updating. Our mission is to digitalize manufacturing companies. An objective that concerns both our customers and our organization itself.
What do you think about social media in the B2B market segment?
In my opinion, in B2B social networks are mainly used as a sort of showcase. LinkedIn, for example, plays a reputational role: at Tecnest we also made this choice because it is a more stock-oriented platform with comments and interactions with professional figures. I believe this channel is the most suitable for B2B even if it does not 100% reflect the needs of companies. Many of our competitors use social media because they have been purchased by large groups and therefore have a different approach.
Which social network is more in line with your business model and which is less?
The most online social network is certainly LinkedIn, based on B2B and perfect for more technical communication. At the moment the most distant platform is TikTok due to the target being too young and the topics covered being very distant from ours. Instagram is a particular channel where companies are also arriving: we use it as a sort of "behind the scenes" to make the team and the human side of the company known.
The data shows that having a low number of followers damages the brand image, what do you think?
It is a figure that does not indicate the quality of the work of the marketing area but it is certainly a number that is taken into consideration from the company's reputation point of view. Perhaps it is used as a slightly "discriminatory" figure: when you are evaluating a partner, even the number of followers can affect the idea you have of the brand. It could also be an indication of a slightly stale company that does not invest much in communication and marketing.
How important are online reviews, are they important?
It depends, word of mouth still works a lot in B2B. Tecnest reviews are often left by people linked to our employees, they are almost never from customers or partners precisely because they are not used much in our sector. At a business level, at the moment, the score on Google is not an element that changes the business. Personally, however, I read and leave reviews when I travel, especially on TripAdvisor.
Have you ever collaborated with professionals regarding the social sphere?
We have been collaborating with an agency for over 20 years: the strategy is always internal but the more operational part is outsourced. Since the beginning of this year we have also relied on another company for the Google Ads part with which we are very comfortable and we are followed in a prepared and technical manner. Working closely with vertically trained professionals on certain skills allows us to create "contamination": we exchange ideas, we grow in terms of skills and a synergistic relationship is created between the parties.
What are the future corporate communication projects?
On the marketing side, we will certainly redo the Tecnest site: in addition to optimizing content, layout and performance, we would also like to implement AI to carry out advanced analyzes and be closer to our end user. Since the advent of artificial intelligence, right from the start, we wanted to discover more and more: we started out of curiosity, with coffee between colleagues who exchanged ideas and opinions. In the meantime, on this front, we are working on various projects focused on colleagues and customers. What we are going to include in our software dedicated to the factory is intended to facilitate the work of the operators. This is an advanced conversational AI that will simplify the user experience and revolutionize the way of interacting with the application by optimizing end-users' time. Each figure within the company had their own role in this project.