About Truly Social + Massimo Burgio

Massimo Burgio is an internationally recognized internet marketing and digital communication expert, with a solid professional experience and reputation on SEO Search Engine Optimization. Let’s take a few steps back to figure out how Massimo got here.

After spending a few years as an officer (in the engine room) on commercial transatlantic merchant routes, mostly container ships, Massimo graduated in 1993 in Marketing Communication at the university in Rome, and started working straight away in a “weird” new technologic sector that was on the rise because of the rapid early adoption of the Internet. Back then we were doing SEO without even knowing it, as we were scanning and indexing with keywords thousands of photographic images per day, to be used by Italian newspaper for their daily publishing.

From there, Massimo specialized as a consultant for an IT security consultancy firm, assessing security flaws and sorting out quality system procedures and security manuals for the company’s clients. Next professional step was at RAI, the national Italian TV broadcaster, who hired Massimo to be part of the team designing and implementing the first ever internet portal of the national broadcaster.

Looking for a different, more dynamic working environment, Massimo moved “agency side” at Deepend Italy, a multi-awarded creative interactive hub, also part of the great international network Deepend grew internationally into, with offices in San Francisco, New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Prague and of course Rome. That was the time when the internet marketing world was growing insanely, and if you have heard the expression “party like it’s 1999”, that was the daily spirit at work.

Until the moment when the internet market imploded in its own bubble at the beginning of 2001, and the entire Deepend group collapsed with it. We the people at Deepend Italy, before the company was getting sucked into bank debts and all, decide to spin-off with the creation of Xister (today Xister Reply), managing to bring a few clients with us in our transition.

At the beginning of 2003 Massimo couldn’t resist the offer from Italian search marketing agency Ad Maiora who wanted him to be person in charge for the start-up of their new office in San Francisco, California. This decision cut Massimo off the enormous growth Xister would have experienced in those years, but it was an important pivotal point in Massimo’s professional and personal journey.

Operating in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley for a European search marketing firm, at a time when SEO was starting to shape up as a critical asset in digital marketing, got Massimo relevant in the industry pretty fast. At first, the many invitation to speaks at the most important search engine marketing and digital marketing conferences across the United States (such as SES Search Engine Strategies and SMX Search Marketing Advanced), and soon around the world (see list of main conferences).

Then it was Massimo’s participation and commitment to the work of SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, that brought him at first to be in charge for the international growth of the organization, as Chair of the SEMPO Global Committee and other regional committees such as SEMPO Europe and SEMPO Italy. Eventually, Massimo served as a Director (and later also Vice President, International) at the SEMPO Board of Directors, for about 7 years, being elected in three election terms.

While doing all this, Massimo started to work in San Francisco for a couple of US-based SEO and search marketing firms, ed eventually started his own first consultancy agency, Global Search Interactive, which has been mostly serving the internet marketing needs of big international brands and corporations, as already mentioned.

While all this was happening, social networks emerged, and established around 2006. Since all activity on social media networks has always been beneficial to SEO (today is paramount), Massimo became an expert on social media marketing, social media engagement and, most of all, on digital strategies that bridge search engine optimization and social media marketing, such as content marketing. And took his time to sign up for a post-graduated class on Integrated Marketing Communication at Berkeley University.

Around 2011, after way too many years of corporate worlds, Massimo decided to “go sustainable business“, and created Truly Social, with the philosophy and mission described above. Operating in this new, more relaxed and sustainable environment, Massimo decided to gradually slowing down the commitment to public speaking and teaching across the world, even if he occasionally accept some invitations, such as in the case of the events from Web Congress across all Spain, and SMXL Milan 2016, the first ever event of the SMXL series, for which Massimo has been called in not only as the Co-Chairman of the conference, moderator and speaker, but also from day one in the very own branding of the conference series newly launched by Fiera di Milano.

Massimo today is laser-focused on work, and less available to keep bouncing around the world. One of the main reasons not to dedicate too much time to PR, is that Massimo loves to dedicate time and resources to engage in several creative activities, from the creation of large scale art installations to the works “just for fun / bedroom dj-stile” as an electronic music producer and dj. If you want to know more, just check out the website that collects Massimo’s creative activity burningmax.com.

For more info on Massimo Burgio’s professional life check out Massimo’s LinkedIn profile at linkedin.com/in/massimoburgio or contact Massimo directly.