LinkedIn, a professional social media platform, has gained popularity in recent years for business-to-business interaction. Did you know that as of January 2025, there were 27.4 million users in Canada. It’s the third largest social media platform in Canada after Facebook and Instagram. Users skew to a younger demographic – 43 per cent are aged 25-34.

Your relationships with retailers need to be cultivated often, in different places. And LinkedIn can be a great opportunity for 10-12 touchpoints through the year.

It’s a space to share wins, celebrate other people and position yourself as an expert in your category. Our experience has been you will build relationships if you share and celebrate, however you will alienate people if you sell. We do see people who try to sell in this space but would not recommend it. 

Start with a good profile

Set up a strong profile with a good photo. Step back and look at your profile from your customer’s perspective. Your photo does not need to be in full-on business attire, but it should be professional and relate to the products and brand you represent.

Look at your written profile, experience and accomplishments. Do they relate to the industry you are in? If your customer reads it, will they come away with the conclusion: ‘I want to do business with this person.’

When you reach out to a retailer contact, they will likely go to LinkedIn for a “heads-up.” You have probably researched them; remember they will probably check you out too! This can be a great opportunity to connect on different levels such as attending the same school or volunteering for the same organization. These connections can definitely help your relationship.

Read their profiles

Read through their profile, past history and look for connections you might have. Education, volunteer work and past work experience are great conversation topics. Look to see what they are interested in and who they follow. You can learn a lot about a person from the profile they share.

Connect with the right people

Our experience has been that social media connections work best after you meet a person, for example at a trade show or industry event. Send them a connection invite on LinkedIn within a day or two. You can also reach out to key contacts you do not know. If you choose this strategy, make sure your connection request includes a personalized message explaining why you want to connect. 

Do not try to connect with everyone at every retailer. Select the key contacts first in merchandising, procurement and supply chain. If you do meet other people in operations or different departments, reach out to connect after you meet them.

Follow and comment appropriately

Pay attention to what your retail contacts are posting. These are insights into what they are doing and what is important to them. Comment when it makes sense. You do not want to comment on everything they post. You can be too much in their face which does not help your relationship.

Share or re-post their posts when it’s appropriate. Again, do not do this all the time. Pick a few opportunities when the post really does deserve to be shared.

Put your own posts through this lens

Every time you post, comment or share ask yourself ‘what will my connections in retail think?’. This is an important question. You do not want to have a negative impact on your relationships.

It is the right thing to post about wins or milestones in your business. Sometimes they are with one customer or another. If you get listed at Loblaw, you might want to post a photo the first time you see your product on the shelf. Celebrate this milestone with your employees and your team. 

If you started in the Sobeys’ local grower program, mention them in the post when you say ‘thanks’ to everyone who has been a part of the journey. Retailers understand you will be in different stores. If you are connected with Sobeys people, they will see your post about getting on the shelf in Loblaw. Never hurts to make them feel appreciated as well.

This lens should be applied to all posts or comments you make. There are other social media platforms where you can express more personal views. LinkedIn is intended to be a business-focused space. Fortunately, most people respect that.

Keep the playing field level

Set up your own process to keep the posts roughly equal across all customers. If you only post photos from one retailer, you will hurt your relationships with others. They will not keep score. But you should!

They should never see the news here first

If you have big news to share, take the time to send an email to your large customers (or all of them) before you post it on LinkedIn. Make them feel special. LinkedIn is a public platform and a great place to share wins or milestones. You just want your direct relationships at the retailers to feel closer to you than the public space of LinkedIn. They are also more likely to comment on it if they know the news in advance.

Position yourself as an expert

 

You want your customers to see you as an expert and a resource in the category. This does not mean say “I am an expert.” What it does mean is regularly post content, photos and information to lead people to conclude you are an expert. This is a great spot to share a few photos from a market you visited or something you saw at a trade show. It sends the message you are sharing and also that you are involved in the industry and events. If you are doing variety trials or working with something innovative this also reinforces your expertise and commitment to innovation.

It takes time to build prosperous relationships. LinkedIn can be a valuable piece of the puzzle. You need to work at it and be consistent. Diving in and posting all the time for two weeks and then disappearing is not the right strategy. You have lots of things to do but if you carve out some time each week to maintain a presence on LinkedIn and communicate with your customers, it will pay dividends.