Mentor and entrepreneur, leader in a female community

An introduction with an expert and startup mentor, to the importance of communities and the value they can have for startups.

Do you know socialgnock – Women Ignite Relationships and Community House and their founder? Do you know she is also a startup mentor? Keep reading if you want to find out more!

Let’s meet Lorena Di Stasi, founder of socialgnock – Women Ignite Relationships and Community House, but also Startup Mentor!

Lorena Di Stasi is a startup founder since the times of Dot-coms, Digital Strategist, Social Media & Community Expert, unstoppable hunter of always new challenges, startup mentor, entrepreneur and professional with a determined and visionary gaze.

If you want to follow Lorena Di Stasi, don’t miss her podcasts on Spotify and on Spreaker.

Hi Lorena, would you like to tell us a little about yourself and your educational background that led you to pursue an entrepreneurial career in the startup field, also as mentor?

Mi occupo di Marketing e Comunicazione Digitale dal 1996, quando ho lanciato una tra le prime agenzie web in italia.

In questi 23 anni ho avviato altre startup, una del fondo Elserino Piol, creato e gestito Internet Expo® e Social Case History Forum®, scritto “Aziende di successo nei social media” ed Hoepli, gestito l’area strategico-creativa digitale di importanti agenzie di comunicazione italiane e globali.

I have been dealing with Marketing and Digital Communication since 1996, when I launched one of the first web agencies in Italy.

In these 23 years I have started other startups, one of the Elserino Piol fund, created and managed Internet Expo® and Social Case History Forum®, written “Successful companies in social media” and Hoepli, managed the digital strategic-creative area of ​​important Italian and global communication agencies.

In 2013 Lorena founded “socialgnock – Women Ignite Relationships”, the most active Italian networking community for women, included in the 150 European Facebook Community Leadership Program. Would you like to tell us something more about this magnificent project?

Nel 2013 ho fondato “socialgnock – Women Ignite Relationships” riconosciuta dal Facebook Community Leadership Program e per questo motivo nel 2018 assunto il ruolo di coordinatrice per il Facebook Community Leadership Circle di Milano.

Sia l’esperienza con la mia community che quella con Facebook, durata un paio d’anni, mi hanno fatto davvero toccare con mano quanto le community online siano ormai strumento fondamentale per generare impatto sociale e di business reali nella vita delle persone.

In 2013, I founded “socialgnock – Women Ignite Relationships” recognized by the Facebook Community Leadership Program and for this reason in 2018 I assumed the role of coordinator of the Facebook Community Leadership Circle in Milan.

Both my experience with my community and that with Facebook, which lasted a couple of years, made me really see first-handhow much online communities are now a fundamental tool for generating a real social and business impact in people’s lives.

Why are communities so important to startups? And how to incorporate them into your strategy?

Per le startup oggi le community online hanno un ruolo imprescindibile, sia in tutte le fasi di vita dei progetti d’impresa e sia in tutte le fasi del funnel di marketing. Sono imprescindibili per la costruzione della traction nelle fasi pre-seed ma anche per la crescita delle scaleup; non possono essere ignorate per la creazione dell’awerness ma nemmeno per la retention e la loyalty.

For startups, online communities play an essential role today, both in all life stages of business projects and in all stages of the marketing funnel. They are essential for the construction of the traction in the pre-seed phases but also for the growth of the scaleups; they cannot be ignored for the creation of awareness but neither for retention and loyalty.

For a startup, as mentor, do you recommend creating their own community or relying on other existing communities and why? When to choose one solution and when the other?

La community è sempre da concepire come un asset proprietario del brand, un ecosistema dove facilitare la creazione di relazioni fa persone del proprio target.

Tuttavia il legame con community già esistenti è una leva importante del marketing mix. Le due azioni non si escludono l’un l’altra e vanno ponderate coerentemente con la propria strategia.

The community is always to be conceived as a proprietary asset of the brand, an ecosystem where facilitating the creation of relationships makes people of one’s target.

However, the link with existing communities is an important lever of the marketing mix. The two actions are not mutually exclusive and must be weighted consistently with your strategy.

What are the metrics to look at to understand if a community is successful?

Utenti attivi giornalmente, contenuti pubblicati dai membri, opportunità attivate fra le persone della community, sono a mio avviso le principali. Ricordiamoci sempre che la community è un luogo che viene creato principalmente per il nostro target prima che per il nostro brand.

Daily active users, contents published by members, opportunities activated among people of the community, are in my opinion the main ones. Let’s always remember that the community is a place that is created mainly for our target before our brand.

What does it mean to you to share? what value do you give to sharing?

Le persone entrano essenzialmente nelle community online all’inizio per curiosità. Con il tempo il valore della condivisione cresce se queste persone trovano supporto, vantaggi o senso di appartenenza. Quando questo avviene esiste la community, non prima non con meno di questo. E in questo momento sapremo riconoscere il vero valore della condivisione che ormai sui social network non esiste più.

People essentially enter online communities at first out of curiosity. Over time, the value of sharing increases if these people find support, advantages or a sense of belonging. When this happens the community exists, not before not with less than this. And in that moment, we will be able to recognize the true value of sharing that no longer exists on social networks.

What is the relationship that exists between content marketing and online communities?

A mio avviso nessuna! Fino a quando in uno spazio online è necessaria una strategia di content marketing non esisterà mai nessuna community: chi seguirà, anche con interesse, quei contenuti è un’audience, una follower base. Nelle community sono le persone “il contenuto” e le relazioni l’engagement che si sarà generato.

In my opinion none! As long as a content marketing strategy is needed in an online space, there will never be any community: whoever follows those contents, even with interest, is an audience, a basic follower. In communities, people are “the content” and relationships are the engagement that will be generated.

If you are interested in Startup Geeks, please read more on the interviews with Giulia D’Amato and Alessio Boceda: Incubator online: the Startup Geeks case and Incubator succeeded with a 170,000 euro fundraising