Connecting remotely is in growing demand and not just because of Covid and the future promises of 5G, but as a way for agribusiness and producers to connect and engage on the challenges and opportunities they face in agriculture. Today, 60 million Americans and 93 million Europeans live in rural areas. In the US three million people work in the dairy industry from farm to plant, supply chain, and research. Our centers for research and innovation tend to be in urban settings or within the outskirts of urban areas, connecting producers with these global centers and their research is of major importance as we move into the digital age. Those in academia and industry centers need the connection with producers to ensure they are researching the correct problems and developing viable solutions. Working collaboratively can provide far superior results. We need to see it as an industry ecosystem. This is the same for major service providers in the industry.  

Connection has been central to our industry and a necessary part of the increased speed at which we are trying to address the major challenges and opportunities within agriculture [welfare, sustainability, traceability, scalability, robotics, customer food preferences]. We need the ability to stay up-to-date on what is going on, connect to relevant information, research, and learn, while translating our work and presence outwardly with the world and grow our professional connection base further from the farm, state, and country.  

More producers also need to start seeing themselves as professionals and as an integral part of a connected, complex food system. we must participate and engage in those areas. 

Community in agriculture is and will remain an important part of how we conduct business, but today we now need blended professional connection optimizing in-person and virtual connectivity.  

LinkedIn is the largest business-oriented networking website geared specifically towards professionals. It has over one billion members, in over 200 countries. A professionally written LinkedIn profile allows you to create an online professional brand that can help open doors to opportunities and networks that you may not have been aware of without the help of social media. 

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So why as a producer should you use LinkedIn:  

Make important business connections: It maintains your “Rolodex” of contacts. You get to choose whom to connect with on LinkedIn. For example, you can connect with past co-workers, employers, potential employees, and Fortune 500 executives. 

It can also be a great place to remember that awesome young professional you met at that conference three years ago? Or that friend of a friend who was interested in freelancing or working for your company? Rather than stuffing their business cards in your desk drawer or adding their email addresses to your outdated address book, add these folks to your professional network on LinkedIn when you meet them. Keep them in your connections so one day you can reconnect when the time’s right. 

Reach out to the people who are viewing your profile. LinkedIn tells you who is viewing your profile, which opens the door when it comes to meeting new people and making important connections. For example, if someone you are interested in working with has viewed your profile, you can contact him, saying, “I noticed you viewed my profile. I’d love to chat.” 

:  LinkedIn is a brilliant tool for researching organizations and people that work at them. 

Read news from your connections and it can help you tap into industry news – Your connections post news, tips, and updates, which you can look over to stay current on industry trends and timely topics. 

: There, you will find news updates from your connections, your groups, and your company. It is both fun and wise to keep tabs on industry trends and reports. 

Participate by sharing and Introduce others to your books, websites, blogs, on-farm experiences, and more. Your profile has spots where you can make posts or areas within the profile for links to your blog, website, or other online content. This drives more traffic to your interests. 

Join LinkedIn Groups – Groups are a brilliant way to meet people with similar professional interests and expand your network from other graduates to professionals already working in your industry. Groups allow you to take part in discussions. This is a great way to exhibit your knowledge on topics related to your industry, ask questions, and start conversations with key people in key organizations. Like the mastitis council, lameness council, fertility council, corn growers, etc.  

Use LinkedIn as a research tool – Having a LinkedIn account also means that you can use the site to research companies, interviewers, recruiters, and those hiring. 

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Remember, LinkedIn Is a professional social platform and differs from other social media platforms with that respect, treat this platform as a non-political and non-partisan forum, please respect these unspoken rules within LinkedIn.  

This is also not personal social media, so you will see very few selfies and pictures of people’s dinners.  

So what is the difference between LinkedIn and Facebook or other social media products for a producer and we often see producer put their farm on Facebook? Well, imagine Facebook is like the NYT or Washington Post or any other major national newspaper, where we are taking out a general shot in that paper in the hope that the public see what you are doing. While imagine LinkedIn acts as an industry magazine of your contacts interests, post likes, etc. while blending lightly industry-relevant mainstream news you have signed up to.  

For your personal LinkedIn profile, it’s a place to tell the professional world what you do, and are interested in and share that story. For your company’s/ business group or page, it’s a great place to promote the business interest, issues, and success with your professional community.  

Only connect or accept connections with contacts that you know or have messaged you to indicate their interest. You always have the right to refuse if they seem suspicious. You want to keep your feed clean of ads and irrelevant content from unknown connections, which can be distracting or contain misinformation.  

Do not feel bad viewing people or companies’ pages. Be deliberate and let the community know you are active. Send messages to connect when connected with people you do not know or want to follow and let them know your interests.  

Go by the principle of ‘good in, is good out’ with social media, share or promote relevant, accurate information that is of a positive, progressive, or of an encouraging nature to the field that you work in or have an interest in.  

Using this platform to expand your professional reach, get access to valuable knowledge that interests you professionally, and participate in your industry community, is the way of the producer of the future. If we can embrace social media tools in this way, they can help us as a force for good and allow us to solve some of the major challenges we face in agriculture today and in the future.  

It is our chance to embrace these professional tools as producers and engage with the wider community with your professional story. As we move into an era of enhanced business intelligence in agriculture, LinkedIn is our outlet and connector. 

Lastly, keep at it, have a routine and make some LinkedIn time, follow your close contacts, colleagues, etc. It will start snowballing. Feel free to reach out and connect, I’d be happy to be a connection. 

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Useful material  

Books: The power formula for LinkedIn Success by Wayne Breibarth  

Youtube: Natasha Vilaseca – YouTube[helping business owners in the B2B industry dominate lead generation using LinkedIn]