Master’s Degree Programme in International Management Final Thesis The use of digital and social media in the speck sector Supervisor Ch. Prof. Vladi Finotto Assistant supervisor Ch. Prof. Michele Tamma Graduand Giorgio De Stefani Matricolation number 877634 Academic Year 2020 / 2021 1 2 ABSTRACT The society we are living in is becoming increasingly related to social media and their impact on business activities is more and more relevant. The purpose of this thesis is to study and to understand the role of digital within the speck sector: in particular, to investigate the importance of social media and website use in this specific agri-food sector, the one of speck, in order to improve their performance. So, this study first describes what social media are and how they were born, then it deepens the main performance indicators to be used in order to measure the impact of social media on business activities. An overview about the made-in-Italy food industry comes next, expanding more and more on the speck sector, with a focus on the Trentino Alto Adige region. At the end, thanks to a qualitative and a quantitative analysis, it tries to understand social media strategies of the concerned speck companies and their related impact on business, by identifying strengths and weaknesses. 3 4 Index Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 7 1. Theoretical background .................................................................................................................. 9 1.1 Internet and social media overview ........................................................................................ 9 1.1.1 Use of digital worldwide .................................................................................................... 9 1.1.2 Social media today ............................................................................................................ 13 1.1.3 Use of digital in Italy ........................................................................................................ 16 1.2 Social media: definition, birth, and evolution ..................................................................... 18 1.2.1 Definition of social media ................................................................................................ 18 1.2.2 How social media were born and developed over time .............................................. 21 1.3 Digital marketing: how companies do marketing online .................................................. 24 1.3.1 What is digital marketing?.............................................................................................. 24 1.3.2 Digital marketing advantages and disadvantages ..................................................... 25 1.3.3 Digital marketing tools .................................................................................................... 28 1.3.4 Owned media ..................................................................................................................... 30 1.3.4.1 Website ....................................................................................................................... 30 1.3.4.2 E-mail direct marketing .......................................................................................... 32 1.3.4.3 Mobile app ................................................................................................................. 34 1.3.5 Paid media ......................................................................................................................... 35 1.3.5.1 Pay per click and SEM .............................................................................................. 35 1.3.5.2 Display advertising .................................................................................................. 37 1.3.5.3 Paid influencers ........................................................................................................ 38 1.3.5.4 Retargeting and paid content promotion ............................................................ 38 1.3.6 Earned media .................................................................................................................... 40 1.3.7. A focus on digital marketing within SMEs ................................................................... 41 1.4 Social media as digital marketing tool ................................................................................. 43 1.4.1 Facebook ............................................................................................................................ 46 1.4.2 Instagram .......................................................................................................................... 50 1.4.3 LinkedIn .............................................................................................................................. 53 1.4.4 Twitter ................................................................................................................................ 55 1.4.5 YouTube .............................................................................................................................. 57 1.4.6 Pinterest ............................................................................................................................. 59 2. The “Made in Italy” food industry and the potential of social media marketing ................. 61 2.1 An introduction to “Made in Italy” and the agri-food sector ............................................. 61 2.2 The Italian agri-food industry: features and data ............................................................. 64 5 2.2.1 Food consumption in Italy ............................................................................................... 69 2.3 An overview of Trentino-Alto Adige ...................................................................................... 72 2.4 The use of Internet and digital marketing in the Italian food industry .......................... 75 2.5 A focus on “Speck Alto Adige IGP” .......................................................................................... 82 3. The application of digital marketing tools on the Speck Alto Adige IGP’s companies ........ 85 3.1 Research goal ........................................................................................................................... 85 3.2 Working method ...................................................................................................................... 86 3.3 A quantitative analysis on the use of digital marketing tools .......................................... 89 3.3.1 Official website .................................................................................................................. 91 3.3.2 Facebook ............................................................................................................................ 94 3.3.3 Instagram ........................................................................................................................ 103 3.3.4 LinkedIn ............................................................................................................................ 108 3.3.5 YouTube ............................................................................................................................ 109 3.3.6 Twitter .............................................................................................................................. 110 3.4 A qualitative analysis: interviews with five speck producers ......................................... 112 3.4.1 Segata Spa ........................................................................................................................ 112 3.4.2 G. Pfitscher Srl ................................................................................................................. 114 3.4.3 Mendelspeck Srl .............................................................................................................. 115 3.4.4 Martin Speck Srl .............................................................................................................. 117 3.4.5 Carpano Speck Srl ........................................................................................................... 119 3.5 Findings ................................................................................................................................... 121 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 125 Appendix ............................................................................................................................................ 127 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 129 Sitography ......................................................................................................................................... 135 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... 145 6 Introduction Nowadays it is increasingly well known how important the use of digital is for companies. The online presence is something that no enterprise can do without and thus more and more companies, even the smallest ones, are gearing up to land online and to exploit