Business becomes social

“The Facebook business page was opened in 2009, Youtube in 2010, years when few companies used social networks”, explains Alessandro Rossi, Webmaster of Elica. “Over time we have understood how to approach socials in the right manner and two years now we have started investing in these channels, using them in strategic manner. In 2014 we adopted an integrated approach with the establishment of Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter”. Why the choice to be there? The communication on social networks is extremely effective and fast. A company can directly reach its reference target with relatively low investments, especially if compared to other communication media. People surf socials two hours per day on average and they certainly talk about online brands, too: channelling these conversations on official profiles allows us to monitor and to chair at least a part of what the net thinks of a brand. This is an essential aspect to build a good reputation, to create confidence in the brand, to propose products and services and to fidelize consumers. Social networks have become a marketing instrument. How do you benefit from this means? The diffusion of social networks has contributed in revolutionizing the standard marketing paradigm of the four P, enhancing the so-called conversational marketing. The true boost at which companies must work is conversation.

Each conversation includes different stages, from listening to answer, and then enterprises must use socials to establish, to strengthen and to take care of a relationship. Can socials be also a useful instrument for the sale or the promotion of products? Yes, certainly. The most obvious aspect is to use them to promote products and services, besides the values that are behind the brand, we should not forget that they are essentially communication instruments. The sale will not be fulfilled in these platforms, but in other physical places (store) or virtual ones (e-commerce). Who takes care of managing social pages? We work on Facebook through an editorial plan, shared with company managers, according to brand strategies.

There is an internal team entrusted with strategic aspects, with the publication of contents, with the management of comments and the monitoring of results in order to adjust, eventually, the strategy. What do users ask on socials? Our fans use Elica’s social channels as first contact point with the company. They reply to posts with likes, shares and comments, they sometimes publish contents and they often submit requests, also of after sale service.

The posts that arouse more lively interest are those dedicated to top products. Since we do not sell directly to final consumers, they often ask us where they can find our hoods and how much do they cost. We undertook several initiatives to increase people’s engagement on our channels, the last is a sort of photographic contest on Instagram. How do you use the Youtube channel? As “archive” of all of our corporate videos, but it is very useful also for a share on other media. Starting from this year, we will adopt also a video strategy that will become another pillar of our communication strategy.

Silvia Ferrari, Marketing Manager of Franke Italia explains: “We opened the Facebook page in December 2013 and in June 2014 we activated also a blog to give space to thorough analyses. We are very satisfied with the results achieved until now. We have base fans who follow us constantly, who interact with us and this is very challenging”. Why the choice to be there? We believe that the social dimension allows a company to have a constant and direct contact with its customers and consumers. It becomes a unique exchange opportunity with one’s own partners because in this way the company informs, suggests and updates and, on the other hand, fans can send their feedbacks in immediate and practical way. It creates proximity and share. Besides, today social peoples correspond to the almost totality of consumers, therefore having a social dimension for a company means acting on an important marketing boost, like conventional ones.

How do you use the blog? We have decided to complete our Facebook page with the blog of Franke Italia to allow our fans to study in-depth the topics proposed in Facebook posts. They are then two complementary instruments that work synergistically each other. How do you use Facebook? We use our socials to promote our products and initiatives. We provide useful suggestions about what product it is better to buy according to the various requirements, we illustrate the exclusive characteristics of our products so that consumers are guided in the purchase choice, all that adopting a fresh and dynamic language. Big space is also dedicated to our initiatives, for instance at the end of April we were on tour in Italy with our testimonial Bruno Barbieri and on our Facebook page it was possible to follow the live posting of all events.

Who takes care of social pages? It is a team activity involving several players: our web agency, our press office and an internal person who coordinates and takes care of the whole activity. Have you got a Youtube channel? Yes, we have a dedicated Youtube channel, where it is possible to see all the videos dedicated to our products shot in the finest locations in the world.

“We have been active on socials since January 2015, starting from the official inauguration of Hisense Italia in Milan“, explains Tatiana Pampalone, Marketing Manager. “We are present on Facebook, the most renowned and easily usable social, with a heterogeneous target that represents a mirror of real life and of what characterizes it. Twitter has instead an informative character, the followers are not friends but people sharing the same interest. Youtube, Pinterest, Instagram are socials fully immersed into a specific issue, from video to photography”. Because social media are a new form of communication that allows consumers to learn and to share. On socials, we shift from a unilateral to a bilateral relationship, from monologue to dialogue. Are socials a marketing and sale instrument, too? Social media have become also for businesses an unfailing communication channel to raise the brand awareness and, afterwards, also sales. They say that the word of mouth is that phenomenon that brings more results in absolute in promotional operations and today social networks have become the main source of the word of mouth. 

They are a direct instrument that allows using an informal communication made of images, phrases and thoughts. The monitoring of communities permits the analysis of conversations, the possibility of intervening as a customer care and the creation of relationships with users. How is the Facebook page organized? It reports the product novelties, it advertises conventions, exhibitions and meetings but it shares also photos taken during special events with customers. Besides, it is an instrument that simplifies the technical aspects of products and interacts with users simply, for instance posting the recipe of the week or giving suggestions for gifts. What do users ask on socials? Users’ response is good and improves day by day. The most frequent questions concern the after sale service, especially in the business of TV sets and furniture. Have you got a Youtube channel? Yes, we have a Youtube channel where we load corporate and product videos and product reviews realized by the specialized press.

“We have been active on socials since 2009“, explains Michele Difrancesco, Digital Marketing Manager of Nital, distributor of iRobot, “and we have more than 50,000 likes on Facebook, which is among the official iRobot channels with more likes in Europe, probably the one with the biggest number of involved users”. Why the choice to be there? For over 20 years, iRobot has been developing cutting-edge technologies aimed at creating robots able to improve people’s life. In 2009, the choice was to make a young target know our products through the Facebook channel, more similar to an official website. Over time, the coverage of Facebook has embraced a very broad audience and today, through targeted campaigns and contents conceived for a specific target, we can lead to the discovery of our solutions with higher efficacy. Are socials a marketing and sale instrument, too? Social networks are an exceptional marketing instrument and allow us to make our solutions renowned thanks to our customers’ satisfaction and witness.

We propose robots that help people in their daily life, giving the opportunity of improving their time. Socials rank among the best amplifiers of the commonly and historically known word of mouth. For these reasons, socials are a useful instrument to spread the knowledge and then directly useful as instrument of indirect sale and promotion of products and activities. Who takes care of the social management? We rely on some external professionals who help us in finding the most suitable creativeness, but the boost in contents is fruit of an analysis carried out inside our digital office. What do users ask on socials? The robotic technology arouses lively curiosity. Very often, we receive demands for suggestions and thanks for the offered products and, among the most frequent questions, they ask us whether a product with such characteristics really exists. We also organize promotions and competitions addressing our owner customers and we communicate them through socials, too. Have you got a Youtube channel? Facebook is the social that is identified as engagement, that is to say with the active participation with the decisively broadest number of users. I believe however that social video channels will grow and, in fact, we are devising “how to” activities where these instruments will certainly help remarkably. We have in fact a Youtube channel with videos showing both the robot operation and maintenance interventions. We will soon inaugurate also a channel on Instagram.

Andrea Beloni, Head of Digital IIG di Philips explains “In Italy we have decided to be active with local contents on Facebook, Twitter and soon on LinkedIn. We are anyway present on all networks with international accounts/profiles managed by the Dutch HQ. Last summer we finally redefined our Social Strategy, with the target of telling the story of Philips brand in more effective manner and consistently with the Company’s ranking”. Why the choice to be there? Social networks are a context inside of which it is indispensable to be present and where the brand is offered the precious opportunity of interacting directly with users, establishing a direct and informal relationship precisely where discussions take place and opinions spring. Are socials a marketing and sale instrument, too? Besides the possibility of having a direct brand-user relationship, social networks offer a very deep audience profiling that allows reaching the various typologies of users with customized messages according to their interests and their geographical location. The target is to focus on the quality and the relevance of contents, reaching users with stories in which they are interested. The possibility of reaching specific targets allows proposing customized offers that grant a higher conversion rate than mass market ones. Who takes care of the social management? In Italy Philips has two fan pages: Philips Italia that transmits contents concerning all the businesses of the company and Philips Avent focused on contents for mothers and children. Inside the team of Digital Marketing operates a Social Media Manager who is responsible for the management and the performances of the two pages and of all profiles/social accounts of Philips Italia. Philips avails itself of the collaboration of two agencies that take care of the creativeness, of the community management and of chairing the contents published on the pages. What do users ask on socials? The Social Care, that is to say the support request, is more and more important. Social networks are for users a direct and immediate communication channel with the brand, this allows them to receive a response to service demands in short times. This type of service is accomplished by an internal specialized team able to address at best the various request typologies, with the goal of solving the warnings in the shortest possible time and with the highest satisfaction level of our customers. Have you got a Youtube channel? Yes, it is managed centrally and mainly acts as repository of good part of the local and international video contents that are then distributed and published elsewhere. Users’ response varies, also in this case, depending on the content that is published. There are then emotional videos that work on the brand and are very successful in a broad and heterogeneous target, but also more functional and business-oriented contents.