The inverted pyramid: building a brand with social media advertising

A different platform from Google

I think social media advertising is the best platform for promoting SMEs, including high-end ones. It is harder than Google, because people don't go there to look for products they need at that moment: they chat with friends, look at photos, read news that interests them. They are completely different platforms. But that is exactly why you can build a brand on social media, through a scientific use of everything the platform offers: the largest database of profiled users in the world. It costs more every year, in 2025 the cost per thousand impressions rose by 20%, but it remains the most powerful tool an SME has for communicating a positioning.

The steps I am about to set out go against the current, and they have to be followed in order. You reach the next step only if you have interacted with the previous one: I don't ask you cold for an email and I don't send you to a contact page without the first step. If a potential customer is looking at friends' photos, how do they react if I ask for an email about something that may interest them, but not at that moment? That is why lead ads cost €5, €10, €15: run cold, they cost that much and bring dirty contacts too. Following the order, they cost much less and convert better.

Put yourself in their shoes. They are on Facebook, looking at photos of last night's dinner with friends, reading the latest row. And along I come, asking for an email for something that may interest them, but not at that moment. Who am I? This is why cold lead ads cost €15 and bring dirty contacts.

Step 1: brand awareness

You start with brand awareness. Many people ignore it, but it is necessary for two reasons: it triggers the mechanism of envy, and it gives access to the second step.

Nobody buys a product or service at a premium price if the brand offering it is not known.

The first ads are for the customer who doesn't know me: I have to show them my brand. It is like Rimadesio's or Minotti's magazine advertising, which shows only the photo of the door or the sofa with the brand; the same concept, online. A video or a photo with copy describing the product, with a views or engagement objective. At the start I want to reach as many people as possible, because then the system excludes those who are not interested.

People comment under the video, and it matters that they do, because target customers see it. This is envy explained in practice: I advertise through the brand and reach everyone, both potential customers and the mass who will never be able to buy. Everyone likes it. The mass comments “wow, I'll never be able to afford this”, and the interested customers read it. The platform itself tells you the format in its guidelines, which few people read: short videos, up to 15 seconds, vertical, because 85% of users arrive from their phone. The more of the screen you fill, the more attention you get.

Step 2: interaction and remarketing

Here the funnel narrows through pure remarketing: those who have seen the website, those who have interacted with the videos, those who have interacted with the page, those who have interacted on Instagram. The level of interaction rises.

Part of this step is organic. On our page, when we post, the content reaches thousands of people without paying, depending on how beautiful the photo is. Many say organic reach has collapsed, and it is true, but think about it: in Corriere della Sera you pay for all the advertising, you don't get a free trial page. On social media, in a sense, you do. The more organic reach you have, the more your audience is on target; the more on-target content you give, the more organic reach rises. If you have a horrible page and poor content, it collapses and nobody sees you: the problem is yours, because you don't know how to do marketing.

Examples that work: a simple product description with a mosaic of photos and “find out more”, all organic, with hundreds of interactions; a sponsored post with photos of a villa in Tuscany and long copy, because I want viewers to see how beautiful the house is, and out of fifty comments 80% are “wow, what a dream”; a vertical photo that fills the screen, with questions like “do you have dealers in the province of Naples?”. If you publish a blog article, the best format is the carousel.

Step 3: the contact and automated emails

Once the customer has been fished out from strangers using interests, or from people who know you using remarketing, and warmed up with videos, articles and photos, it is time to ask for their contact. But a soft lead: email only, no phone or address. I ask for further details from those who sign up to the reserved area of the website, because I give them something extra, such as the technical data sheets.

You segment: website visitors, interests plus competitors, customers who have already bought, and lookalike audiences, which the platform calculates from your contact database and your real customers. It does the work for you. Then several campaigns: “Want to know everything about luxury kitchen and bathroom design? Download your free magazine.” More aggressive copy, but that's fine, with a page that asks only for the email. “Beautiful and stylish, the kitchens are custom designed for you. Download the catalogue.” The ebook of completed projects, “the houses in Los Angeles and Ibiza”. Each ad has its own specific page.

You choose the countries and interests, and they must be your customer's. Ours: Italy, Ticino, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the United States. Interests: high-end German and American appliance brands, designer taps, the Salone del Mobile, architecture magazines. Whoever follows these things is furnishing a significant home.

From there marketing automation kicks in: a first email built around what they downloaded, then an email journey lasting months and years, mixing existing and new content. If three months after the kitchen catalogue they want the bathroom one, the flow doesn't start again from zero: you just add a welcome email with the link. Nobody cares which software you use except you: what matters is that it works.

Step 4: the showroom

We are at the end of the funnel. After the customer has followed the whole journey, I show them the advertising for the stores: “Does the world of RiFRA fascinate you and would you like to visit the showroom?” We are at a high level: the audience has been profiled, filtered and disqualified. Clicking, they reach the showroom page where they can book an appointment, with the video, the testimonials, the map. All on their phone. Some will come, some will say “lovely, but I'll come in a while”, and some will wait for the moment they have to renovate. For those without a store nearby, the same thing leads to online design.

And events: for an open day we run a dedicated campaign, with a video and a page, and a mini-funnel of two or three emails for those who sign up. Even the thank-you page is a funnel: it takes you to look at the website, the completed projects, to download a PDF. Always a call to action. The system, I repeat, exists for every language: each language has its own advertising, copy, pages, video captions, articles and emails. This is the basis for creating a brand that sells, in Italy and abroad.

From my book Direct from Milano and my classroom courses. Figures and examples updated to September 2026.