What is the social selling index?
The social selling index (SSI) is a score given to LinkedIn sales professionals based on their social selling skills and activities on the platform. It’s calculated based on four main components:
1. Establish your professional brand
This includes having a complete profile, including a professional photo, headline, summary, experience, and skills. A complete profile helps establish credibility and trust.
2. Find the right people
Connecting with the right decision makers and influencers relevant to your industry and target audience. Focus on quality connections versus quantity.
3. Engage with insights
Sharing valuable content to establish yourself as a subject matter expert. This includes publishing long-form posts, articles, images, videos, and links.
4. Build relationships
Engaging directly with your connections by liking, commenting, and sharing their content. Also messaging directly when appropriate to build rapport.
The maximum SSI score is 100. Most sales professionals score below 30, while SSI top performers tend to have a score above 80.
Why is your SSI score important?
A high SSI score helps position you as an expert in your field, opening doors to more opportunities. Those with higher SSI see 45% more sales opportunities according to LinkedIn.
It shows you’re actively engaging on social media to provide value to your connections. This social selling technique is becoming increasingly important for sales success.
It can set you apart from other sales professionals who are not as focused on social selling. Showcasing your expertise and developing relationships online can give you a competitive advantage.
How can I improve my LinkedIn SSI score?
Here are 10 tips to boost your SSI and improve your social selling effectiveness:
1. Optimize your profile
Completely fill out all sections – photo, headline, summary, experience, education, skills, accomplishments. This gives people a full picture of who you are professionally.
2. Showcase your expertise
Share articles, videos, images, and long-form posts that provide value. Comment on other posts to establish yourself as a subject matter expert.
3. Grow your network
Connect with both warm leads and key industry figures. Aim for quality, targeted connections versus random invites.
4. Engage regularly
Like, comment, and share content posted by your connections. Interact and provide value to stay top of mind.
5. Communicate directly
Leverage direct messaging when appropriate to establish more personal rapport with connections.
6. Join relevant groups
Groups related to your industry or niche allow you to showcase expertise and connect with an engaged audience.
7. Establish your brand and niche
Ensure messaging is consistent across platforms. Target specific audiences that most need your product or service.
8. Monitor your progress
Check your SSI regularly within your account settings. Review which subcategories need improvement.
9. Measure ROI
Track conversions driven by social selling. Correlate higher SSI with increased sales opportunities.
10. Refine and expand your approach
Continuously test what content and messaging resonates best with your audience. Expand activities that drive results.
Focus on the power of relationships
At its core, social selling is about leveraging online networks to build meaningful relationships. While tactics play a key role, your mindset is just as important.
Build trust by providing value to your connections consistently. Don’t overly self-promote. Establish yourself as a reliable expert.
Sales is based on human relationships. Use social platforms as a tool to develop meaningful rapport at scale.
Leverage LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator
For additional support, LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator provides powerful tools to identify ideal prospects, engage via helpful insights, establish your expertise, and build lasting relationships.
Key features include:
Lead recommendations
AI-driven suggestions of warm leads based on your target criteria.
Advanced search
Robust filtering to identify prospects by industry, job role, location, company size, and more.
Conversation intelligence
Background on your connections’ preferences and previous conversations to personalize outreach.
Automatic alerts
Get notified when your prospects post new content or celebrate career milestones.
Analytics
Tools to benchmark your SSI and track the ROI of your social selling efforts.
While Sales Navigator requires a paid subscription, it can be well worth the investment if used strategically to improve your SSI.
Adopt social selling best practices
While social selling represents an exciting new frontier in sales, time-tested techniques still apply:
Listen first
Understand your prospect’s pain points and challenges before positioning your solution. Establish trust by demonstrating you understand their needs.
Add value
Offer useful insights, advice, and resources without expecting anything in return. Avoid self-serving pitches.
Personalize your approach
Appeal to what motivates each prospect, like saving time, improving operations, or boosting revenue. Mass outreach rarely succeeds.
Embrace persistence
Nurture meaningful relationships over time. Stay top of mind through consistent value-driven engagement.
Prioritize quality over quantity
Carefully vet your connections. 10 solid connections are better than 500 weak ones. Identify influencers in your space.
Track metrics and refine your strategy
To maximize your SSI:
Benchmark your starting score
This quantifies your baseline, so you can measure future progress.
Review your SSI drivers
See which pillars have the most room for improvement. Set targets for each one.
Monitor your trajectory
Check if your SSI is trending up over time. Make sure your efforts are paying off.
Correlate SSI with sales pipeline growth
Gauge if higher SSI leads to more sales conversations and opportunities.
Double down on what’s working
If certain content or outreach is generating results, do more of that.
Revise ineffective tactics
If some areas aren’t moving the needle, try new strategies. Experiment to see what resonates.
With consistent refinement, you can maximize the impact of social selling and boost your SSI over time.
Conclusion
Improving your LinkedIn social selling index requires an integrated approach across four pillars:
– Profile optimization to establish professional brand
– Quality connections with target prospects
– Regularly sharing valuable insights
– Meaningful engagement and relationship building
This establishes trust and credibility with your audience. When combined with savvy relationship-building skills, social selling drives more qualified opportunities.
By benchmarking your SSI, tracking progress, and refining your strategy based on results, you can maximize the impact on your sales pipeline.
The time investment needed to execute social selling tactics is well worth it. A higher SSI correlates to 45% more sales opportunities.
As social media dominates the digital landscape, a thoughtful social selling approach is invaluable. With a more holistic mindset that builds relationships sustainably over time, your SSI and sales success will continue to grow.