Social Selling Index on LinkedIn A Complete Guide (2024)

Ready to turn your LinkedIn profile into a social selling asset?

LinkedIn isn’t just for networking; it’s a goldmine for driving business with over 1 billion users worldwide.

It’s a powerful tool for social selling, but how can you know how effective your profile is on this platform?

In this guide, you will learn how to use the SSI tool to increase your sales and make your LinkedIn presence work for you.

What is the LinkedIn Social Selling Index?

LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index (SSI) is a metric designed to measure your effectiveness in utilizing LinkedIn for social selling.

Simply put, this tool tells you how effective you are at social selling and what you can do to improve it.

Social selling on LinkedIn involves leveraging the platform’s features to excel at social media sales and marketing activities.

Benefits of Using SSI on LinkedIn

A high SSI score can give you opportunities like:

• Increased visibility and credibility
• More connections
• Business opportunities
• Establish a position as a thought leader
• Increase quota for contact requests

According to LinkedIn, social sellers with a high SSI score create 45% ****more opportunities than those with lower scores.

Find your LinkedIn Social Selling Index score

Finding your SSI score is very easy.

Log in to your LinkedIn account and click the link below to get your score.

Check your SSI.

Or you can access the LinkedIn sales navigator; log in and go to sales navigator dashboard to view your score.

LinkedIn provides additional insights into each component of your SSI, allowing you to understand which areas contribute the most to your score.

How is SSI measured on LinkedIn?

The SSI is a numerical score ranging from 0 to 100, and it is calculated based on four key points:

• Create your professional brand
• Find the right people
• Engage with insights
• Build relationships

Each point is worth 25 scores.

You get a perfect score when you do all these right.

It gives a quantitative measure of your social selling efforts on the platform, helping you understand your strengths and areas for improvement.

Here’s what you need to know about these metrics and how to improve your score:

Create Your Professional Brand

It evaluates how well you present yourself on your LinkedIn profile.

The more detailed your profile info, the better your score.

It considers factors such as:

• Completeness of your profile
• Use of a professional photo
• Inclusion of relevant skills and endorsements
• Your profile views
• Number of likes and comments

Find the Right People

It checks your ability to identify and connect with the right individuals on LinkedIn.

It looks at your activities in searching for professionals who are relevant to your business by:

• Using advanced people searches
• Number of profiles you visit
• Days you are active

You can use LinkedIn tools to find the right people to connect with. This part of the SSI mainly encourages you to use advanced LinkedIn search options like sales navigator.

Engage with Insights

It measures your involvement in the following:

• Sharing relevant content
• Commenting on other’s posts
• Participating in discussions
• Groups you join

It emphasizes your ability to contribute valuable insights to your network and engage with relevant content.

Build Relationships

It estimates how effectively you nurture relationships on LinkedIn.

Building relationships involves the development of meaningful connections that could lead to business opportunities.

It takes into account your:

• Interactions
• Connection growth
• Acceptance rate of your connection requests

How to Improve Your LinkedIn SSI Score

You can use the LinkedIn SSI score to increase social sales and strengthen your brand.

Here are some ways to improve your SSI score:

Optimize Your Profile

The first step is to make sure your LinkedIn profile is complete.

It is the easiest way to improve your SSI.

You can start by following these steps:

• Use a professional profile picture.
• Write a compelling headline and summary with related keywords.
• Add education, skills, and work experience.
• Request and provide recommendations to strengthen your professional credibility.
• Comment on and engage with content from your network to facilitate meaningful conversations.
• Endorse others for their skills, and they may return, contributing to your SSI.

Ensure the information is useful and easily readable when filling out your profile.

Build a Network

Building a network is important to show the algorithm you are committed to long-term relationships.

The more you engage with your network and connect with people, the higher your score will be.

To find related connections, go to “My Network”> “People you may know.”

Or use LinkedIn’s Advanced Search Tool to find the right people to connect with.

Key tips:

• Personalize connection requests to increase the likelihood of acceptance.
• Regularly review and manage your connections.
• Connect with key decision-makers and influencers in your industry.
• When sending connection requests, include a personalized message to express your interest in potential collaboration.
• Like, comment, and share posts from your network.
• Respond promptly to messages from your connections to show your active presence on the platform.
• If your message does not get a response, it negatively impacts your score.

Post Quality Content

Post quality content and share insights to improve your score.

You can do this easily by improving your LinkedIn posts.

• Share relevant content
• Your insights and experiences
• Best practices about your field
• Industry knowledge

Use Sales Navigator to find the right People

You can improve your SSI score by finding relevant people to connect with.

If you can access LinkedIn Sales Navigator, use its advanced features to identify and engage with the right people.

You can use its saved search feature to save time or sales navigator search templates.

You won’t have to enter the same variables into your search form every time.

Compare your SSI with industry Benchmarks

Comparing your SSI with others in the industry is a good way to improve your personal brand and sales efforts.

When you check your SSI score, the tool automatically compares your profile with others in your network.

You can use this tool to:

• Identify areas of improvement
• Find out where you are lacking behind your peers

Once you are aware of your shortcomings, you can overcome them easily.

You can use it as a benchmark to improve further as a social seller.

Final words

Building a strong LinkedIn presence takes time, consistency, and genuine engagement.

Monitor your SSI score to understand how LinkedIn perceives your social selling efforts.

Focus on improving the components that contribute to your SSI score.

By improving your SSI, you can create more opportunities to connect with potential leads and ultimately improve your effectiveness in leveraging the platform for sales and relationship-building.

FAQs

What is a good score on the social selling Index?

A good Social Selling Index score on LinkedIn is typically considered 70 or above.

How is the SSI calculated on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn uses a proprietary algorithm to calculate your SSI based on your activities and engagement, such as creating and sharing content, building your network, and engaging with connections.

Why is it important to increase my SSI on LinkedIn?

Increasing your SSI can help you establish yourself as a social selling leader, improve your sales and marketing efforts, and increase your overall presence and influence in your industry’s social space. However, SSI is partially a vanity metric. Increasing your SSI above 70 might not be ROI-positive.

How often is the SSI score updated on LinkedIn?

The SSI score is updated daily on LinkedIn, allowing you to track your progress and continuously improve.

Is SSI a vanity metric?

According to some, it’s a useful indicator of LinkedIn performance. Some claim it’s a pointless measure of vanity. There is a substantial correlation between certain networking activities and an increase in sales possibilities and potential prospects, even though the LinkedIn score does not guarantee increased sales success. Maintaining a SSI score above 70 can help you boost organic reach on Linkedin.