A lot of folks have been running their Social Selling Index score here and haven’t been exactly jazzed with their results, but the good news is you now have a starting point to build from.
Just to recap quickly…
An SSI score measures how effective you are at 4 key social selling practices.
- Establishing your professional brand
- Finding the right people
- Engaging with insights
- Building relationships
If you’re looking to grow your score there are a few simple adjustments and behaviors you can start to adopt today and when done consistently over time can garner an increase in your score and probably some create business connections as well. A win-win in my book.
1. Be Present
If you haven’t already, double check that your LinkedIn profile is completed. Start there. LinkedIn like a lot of social networking platforms have an algorithm and LinkedIn’s looks at profile completeness when determining your score. Hint: Clients also care that you have a completed profile with all the necessary info they want to know (background, achievements, portfolio items, etc.) After your profile is all set, pick a posting schedule for yourself. Maybe it’s to post once a week.
2. Make Connections
The purpose of a social network, especially one that’s as B2B as LinkedIn, is to seek out the right people. Think: Key decision makers. Utilizing the search bar and advanced search filters within LinkedIn can be very valuable. This strategy paired with natively climbing down the connections rabbit hole seeking out those second- and third-degree connections could ultimately lead to the decision maker and thus increasing your score. Find the right people!
3. Stay Consistent
LinkedIn SSI score relies on your engagement with its insights and with that comes creating or curated relevant content that positions you as the expert in the field or topic. As mentioned in point one, have a goal for yourself start small by posting something of high value to your audience once a week and then if that comes easy to you, aim for three times a week. Having regular updates will assist in boosting your score.
4. Build Relationships
Sales is all about building on that “know, like, and trust” factor and building relationships often start online with a platform like LinkedIn. A metric that is measured to determine your SSI score is the number of connections your making and the rate in which those connection requests are being accepted. This doesn’t mean invite everyone you know to be a connection, it’s important to focus on the quality of that connection and how those connections fit within your existing network. Pro Tip: Don’t spam requests to cold contacts who have never heard of you – these low acceptance rates could decrease your score.
Give these a try in the next 15 or so days and report back with your findings! Take a quick before and after screenshot of your score. I’d love to learn more about how these quick tips helped you!