Around 2 years ago we published a blog on the LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI)
The Social Selling Index on LinkedIn is where we often start with our LinkedIn Training sessions
We’re still big fans of it today in 2020, but one thing we’ve come to realise is that so many people aren’t looking past the score out of 100
They’re treating the SSI score as the end goal rather than business as the end goal
WHY WE THINK THE SSI SCORE IS WORTHY
Just as a high Klout Score is no guarantee that you will win business with your online presence, the Social Selling Index offers no guarantees you will sell via social media
However it does give yourself an indication that you’re doing the right things on LinkedIn on a regular basis
For those with a lower score it’s the motivation to be more active on the platform and implement many of the ideas we suggest in our LinkedIn Training
For those with a higher score it’s acknowledgement that not all is lost and with a few tweaks’ things can improve
IS THE LINKEDIN SSI ACCURATE IN 2020?
Honesty time
Something has changed
When we published the original blog in 2018 about the SSI score people got the feeling it was accurate
If someone has a score of 10-30/100 they looked at you and said fair play – that reflects where I’m at with LinkedIn
Now in our training sessions people are walking in with scores of 50-75 and admitting they don’t know why it’s so high as they hardly use LinkedIn
HOW DO YOU GET AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF WHERE YOU’RE AT WITH LINKEDIN?
I want you to be honest at this section
Give yourself a score out of 10 for your LinkedIn Marketing
0 – Being Terrible
10 – Being a LinkedIn Expert
Write that score down now
And now take 2 or 3 off it
Why? Due to egos people always give themselves a higher score than they’re actual ability
Now check your LinkedIn SSI score and see if it’s reflects where you truly are
The lower of the 2 is where you’re at
So What The LinkedIn Social Selling Index Doesn’t Tell You
Here’s our look at the things it doesn’t tell you
1. Establish your professional brand
This section is highlighted with the line
“Complete your profile with the customer in mind. Become a thought-leader by publishing meaningful posts.”
Now imagine you had the worlds worst LinkedIn profile
– A cover image with Comic-Sans
– A cropped profile photo from your wedding
– A professional headline with job title at company name (or the next step down Helping XYZ)
– An about section full of lorem ipsum
– Experience at the university of life
You’d probably still get a pretty high score out of 25 here
LinkedIn doesn’t look at your LinkedIn Profile like a human would look at your profile. So it doesn’t see what you’ve completed on your profile – just that fact you have completed it
–
2. Find the right people
“Identify better prospects in less time using efficient search and research tools”
LinkedIn doesn’t know who your ideal customers are (and there’s always been talk that your score can change or increase if you use LinkedIn premium)
LinkedIn isn’t about
– Adding 100 connections a day because a “LinkedIn guru who wins business from Facebook Adverts” told you to
– Adding everyone in a LinkedIn pod even though they all post low quality content
Only you know who your ideal customers and clients are
The easiest way to check this is to either
– go to my network > connections and then look manually at who you’re connected with
– Export your contacts and look through the job titles of who you’re connected with
Do they reflect who you should be connected with
3. Engage with insights
“Discover and share conversation-worthy updates to create and grow relationships”
“Conversation-worthy updates” is an interesting choice of phrase and a good reason to state if you’re part of a LinkedIn Pod then your updates probably aren’t conversation-worthy
In terms of conversation worthy updates LinkedIn doesn’t know if you’re in a Pod or are sharing engagement bait updates
A recent client came to us and stated
“My objective is to achieve in short term, same levels of engagement as being in a LinkedIn pod, without being in LinkedIn pod.”
And it’s SMART
Really SMART
Because it focuses on one thing
The importance of quality content that attracts rather than playing a Vanity Metrics numbers game in a pod
Would you like to leave your LinkedIn Pod, but are worried that post views will drop?
Read The Anatomy Of A Perfect LinkedIn Post first and then get in touch
4. Build relationships
“Strengthen your network by connecting and establishing trust with decision makers”
Similar to Finding the right people, LinkedIn doesn’t know if you’re engaging and building relations with the right people
Who are you messaging / commenting on?
Why are you messaging / commenting?
What is the outcome of all this?
There’s a sense again that only you know the real outcomes of relationships rather than LinkedIn
SO, AFTER ALL THIS – IS THE LINKEDIN SSI A MEANINGFUL METRIC
Yes – if you want to become more active on LinkedIn and gamifying it helps
But like all metrics from likes, comments, shares … to connections, profile views and post views. They can mean everything or they can mean nothing. Alone they don’t pay the bills, but they can be an indication you’re doing all the right things to win clients and grow your business
IF YOU WANT A HUMAN TOUCH WITH YOUR LINKEDIN MARKETING
Chat to us on 0780677429 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk
We can identify what you’re doing right, what needs a tweak and what needs a major overhaul
NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?
Chat to us about Social Media Marketing for YOUR organisation , so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your organisation
We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you
Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services
We offer Social Media Training on
* Twitter
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* LinkedIn
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* Blogging
We can do this
* 121
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* Face to Face or Via Zoom / Skype
Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk
