Social media has revolutionized the way people communicate and connect with others throughout the world, by using the Internet. From a business perspective, they proved to be highly useful in attaining company’s objectives and understanding better the customer needs, although some risks and challenges are always lurking. In this research, we were able to interview 383 innovative startups across industry sectors and took a snapshot of the Italian Startup Ecosystem for insights into what objectives, benefits and perceptions they have in mind when following a social media marketing strategy. Innovative startups have been regulated in 2012 and since then, they benefit of several legal, tax, labor and corporate incentives given that they are considered a crucial device for enhancing sustainable growth, technological development, and employment. Among the statistical findings of this study we want to outline that some 81% of the innovative startups have their presence on social media, employing on average 97 minutes every day and exploiting 5 platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google +, Youtube), allocating approximately 20% of their budget to them. They are relatively small given that on average a startup has an annual turnover of 0,22 million and employed 4 employees. One startup out of 2 is young, that means that most of the founders are less than 35 years old and 17% are “pink” (most of the founders are women). More than 60% of the companies agree mobile social media is a top priority, 71% affirm they will be more dependent on social media in 5-year period and 73% assert social media has already helped to improve the reputation of the firm. Finally, Lombardy is the Italian Silicon Valley, given that one startup out of 4, comes from this region. In terms of the bottom line, we run two regressions in order to explain the social media presence. We found out that drivers such as size, budget, internationality and the charateristics of the founders may be useful to justify it.
I social media hanno rivoluzionato il modo in cui le persone si relazionano e comunicano tra di loro in tutto il mondo utilizzando Internet. Per le aziende hanno rappresentato un fattore importante per raggiungere obiettivi sociali e conoscere meglio i bisogni dei consumatori, anche se alcuni rischi e sfide sono sempre presenti. In questo studio, siamo stati in grado di intervistare 383 startup innovative provenienti da diversi settori produttivi e fotografare così l’ecosistema imprenditoriale italiano per analizzare quali sono gli obiettivi, i benefici e le aspettative che gli imprenditori hanno in mente quando seguono una strategia basata sui social media. Le startup innovative sono state regolamentate nel 2012 e da allora, beneficiano di incentivi legali, fiscali e lavorativi poiché migliorano la crescita sostenibile di alcune attività, sviluppano nuove tecnologie ed innovazioni, e contribuiscono a far crescere l’occupazione. Tra i risultati principali che emergono da questo studio sottolineiamo che l’81% delle startup innovative ha una presenza sui social media, impiegando giornalmente in media 97 minuti per gestire 5 piattaforme (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google +, Youtube) ed attribuendo quasi il 20% del proprio budget a tal proposito. Sono relativamente piccole dato che il volume di affari medio annuale è di 0,22 milioni, impiegando 4 lavoratori. Una startup su 2 è gestita prevalentemente da giovani con una età inferiore ai 35 anni, mentre le startup “rosa” sono il 17%. Il 60% dichiara di puntare sul “mobile”, il 71% afferma che sarà più dipendente dai social media fra 5 anni ed il 73% sostiene che hanno già contribuito a migliorare la reputazione della propria azienda. Infine, la Lombardia è la Silicon Valley italiana, dando i natali ad una startup su 4. In conclusione, l’analisi di due regressioni aventi come variabili dipendenti numero di social media e tempo impiegato in minuti, ci ha permesso di determinare il ruolo svolto da alcune variabili esplicative quali la dimensione della startup, le caratteristiche dei fondatori ed il grado di internazionalizzazione.
Social Media Marketing for Innovative Startups
DUTTO, FABRIZIO
2014/2015
Abstract
Social media has revolutionized the way people communicate and connect with others throughout the world, by using the Internet. From a business perspective, they proved to be highly useful in attaining company’s objectives and understanding better the customer needs, although some risks and challenges are always lurking. In this research, we were able to interview 383 innovative startups across industry sectors and took a snapshot of the Italian Startup Ecosystem for insights into what objectives, benefits and perceptions they have in mind when following a social media marketing strategy. Innovative startups have been regulated in 2012 and since then, they benefit of several legal, tax, labor and corporate incentives given that they are considered a crucial device for enhancing sustainable growth, technological development, and employment. Among the statistical findings of this study we want to outline that some 81% of the innovative startups have their presence on social media, employing on average 97 minutes every day and exploiting 5 platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google +, Youtube), allocating approximately 20% of their budget to them. They are relatively small given that on average a startup has an annual turnover of 0,22 million and employed 4 employees. One startup out of 2 is young, that means that most of the founders are less than 35 years old and 17% are “pink” (most of the founders are women). More than 60% of the companies agree mobile social media is a top priority, 71% affirm they will be more dependent on social media in 5-year period and 73% assert social media has already helped to improve the reputation of the firm. Finally, Lombardy is the Italian Silicon Valley, given that one startup out of 4, comes from this region. In terms of the bottom line, we run two regressions in order to explain the social media presence. We found out that drivers such as size, budget, internationality and the charateristics of the founders may be useful to justify it.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/6556