This case study covers a Social Selling project on LinkedIn for an AI-powered platform used by FMCG field and marketing teams. ModumUp managed the CEO’s LinkedIn profile. The project included building the CEO’s personal brand, publishing relevant content, growing a targeted network, launching a LinkedIn newsletter, and conducting one-on-one outreach.

Social Selling is the use of a company expert's personal social media profile to attract customers, partners, and employees.

MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead) is a target contact who shared their contact details and requested a product presentation.

SQL (Sales Qualified Lead) is a call or meeting with a potential customer.

The client is an AI-powered platform for FMCG field and marketing teams. Merchandisers use the app to capture shelf layouts and price tags, while managers receive detailed reports on in-store execution and sales across retail chains. This makes fieldwork faster, reduces manual reporting errors, and helps teams make quicker decisions about promotions and distribution.

The target buyers were directors and senior managers in trade marketing, category management, digital transformation, and operations at FMCG brands. The client focused on companies with at least 5,000 employees, particularly large global FMCG manufacturers.

The client set two goals for ModumUp. The primary goal was to generate SQLs through the CEO's personal LinkedIn profile as the company entered new countries. The second was to build awareness of the product and the CEO within the FMCG and retail professional community. The CEO had the strongest industry reputation and visibility, so the company chose to develop the CEO's LinkedIn profile for the Social Selling project rather than its corporate page.

ModumUp worked with directors and senior managers in FMCG and retail across MENA, South Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the US. The team prioritized people involved in purchasing digital tools for field teams and trade marketing. Testing one region at a time was important because the speed at which the team built the right network affected the entire lead generation funnel.

At the start, the profile had around 800 connections from earlier outreach attempts. There was no consistent process for working with the audience, and no content was being published. ModumUp repositioned the profile and rebuilt the process from the ground up.

Regions were added in stages. The team started with MENA and South Africa, followed by Southeast Asia and India. Each region was tested separately: Was there demand for this type of product? How did the audience respond to connection requests? How ready was the market for this type of solution? Latin America was tested as a separate stage. Direct lead generation did not deliver the desired outcomes there, so the team returned its focus to markets with a stronger response. Starting in month 16, the focus shifted to networking in the US and Europe.

FMCG companies tend to take a cautious approach to new technology. Companies evaluate new solutions based on the expert’s reputation, the experiences of industry peers, and clear business value. The profile was positioned as an expert resource rather than a sales page, with an emphasis on industry experience and retail challenges. This built trust and raised the connection acceptance rate. Over two years, ModumUp added 5,578 target contacts to the CEO's LinkedIn profile. The Connection acceptance rate was 33%, which is high for international B2B networking on LinkedIn based on the agency's benchmarks. MENA had the strongest response, while some Southeast Asian segments performed less well.

As the target audience grew, the agency team published expert content on the profile and adjusted the lead generation approach based on what the team learned from prospect conversations.

The content focused on three areas: FMCG and retail trends, AI and the digitization of field operations, and practical implementation case studies showing the business problems the product solved for retail chains. The posts showed both the CEO's industry knowledge and the product's practical value for trade marketing and retail. Direct sales pitches were not the focus. Industry insight and practical value came first, followed by a low-pressure introduction to the product when it fit the topic.

The best-performing post was an expert post analyzing McKinsey's report "The Consumer Sector in 2030." The CEO revisited forecasts from 2015 and compared them with what had already happened in FMCG and retail. The post received 2,677 views and a 77% View Rate. The post worked because it combined established research with practical takeaways for trade marketers. This format helped decision-makers quickly see how global trends affected their work.

Another high-performing post was a repost of an open letter from an FMCG CEO, which started a discussion about the shelf-level challenges manufacturers face. The post received 1,785 views and a 44% View Rate. Target contacts shared it with colleagues and left comments. Reposts and active replies to comments also extended the post's reach, with each new comment bringing more views and engagement.

Another high-reach post was a personal story about the CEO's management approach: when to delegate and when to take ownership. It received 1,519 views and a 27% View Rate. Personal leadership stories built trust in the CEO and balanced the industry content. During introductory calls, advisors said the profile feed made it immediately clear what problem the product solved and who was behind the company.

ModumUp also promoted high-performing posts through direct messages. Each message included a short note, a link to the post, and an invitation to share their thoughts. Within two months, the View Rate tripled, and the posts received more likes and comments. Tagging FMCG and retail influencers also expanded reach beyond the CEO's existing connections.

Alongside expert content and personal stories, the agency team launched a LinkedIn Newsletter from the CEO's profile.

A LinkedIn newsletter is a series of articles published regularly around a specific topic. Followers can subscribe and receive a notification whenever a new issue is published, whether by email, on LinkedIn, or through a push notification. This gives each issue a better chance of reaching its audience and helps the expert stand out from competitors.

The Newsletter was published regularly and covered FMCG and retail trends without direct product pitches, focusing on industry analysis and market news. The profile-to-Newsletter subscription rate remained between 20% and 23%.

Over two years, 1,236 target contacts subscribed to the CEO's LinkedIn Newsletter.

Profile content and the LinkedIn Newsletter supported demand generation, but successful Social Selling in new markets also required proactive one-on-one outreach

ModumUp used two communication formats. The first was networking outreach without a direct offer, framed as a professional introduction. The second was a lead generation sequence offering a call, demo, or product materials. During the first few months, the team tested direct product messages for FMCG companies across different regions to learn how the audience responded to a direct offer.

During these calls, we learned that some contacts were not interested in buying the solution for their own company, but offered to promote the product through their network for a commission, acting as local representatives. The direct product messages generated responses, but not the opportunities the client was looking for. This is a standard part of ModumUp's approach to entering new markets: testing reveals actual audience behavior and allows the team to adjust the strategy before committing major resources.

The team then added message sequences for advisors - experts and consultants in the target markets with FMCG and retail experience.

ModumUp found them on LinkedIn, offered a partnership, and managed the conversations on behalf of the CEO. During calls, ModumUp handled the initial qualification so the CEO's time was protected as SQL volume increased.

The new approach generated most of the SQLs. MENA and South Africa were the strongest markets, generating 38 SQLs. The team later generated 23 more SQLs, mainly through advisor messages in Latin America.

After 18 months, the focus shifted to target audiences in the US and Europe. Communication followed two steps: networking messages first, followed by lead generation messages. The networking messages covered industry topics, profile content, and FMCG practices, without a sales offer in the first touch. The lead generation sequences then offered a presentation, demo, or call. Follow-ups played an important role in generating MQLs and SQLs. The team kept these messages low-pressure, brief, and useful to the target audience.

Over two years, the ModumUp team generated 298 MQLs - target contacts who requested materials or expressed interest in working together - and 89 SQLs, including calls and meetings with potential customers.