The What, Why, and How of LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index

25 May 2021

Catherine Louw, Marketing Strategy Specialist and Copywriter at Clash Copy

Five-minute read

With nearly 740 million users in 200 countries, LinkedIn is the premium social networking platform for building your professional brand, making meaningful connections, and establishing yourself as an industry leader.

It’s no surprise then that LinkedIn provides many fantastic tools for optimizing your profile. My personal favourite? LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index (SSI).

What is it?

LinkedIn’s SSI helps you measure how effectively you’re using LinkedIn for social selling. The metrics it provides allow you to tailor your business approach – very helpful when user behaviour is constantly changing! Plus, it reveals how you rank against other professionals in your network and industry.

Your SSI score is out of 100, updated daily, and based on four factors: creating a professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and building relationships.

For a snapshot, see my SSI score below. My ranking is 70 out of 100, placing me in the top 1% for my industry.

How does each category work?

Regarding your professional brand score: have a complete LinkedIn profile. This score also considers the relevancy of your content, how you’re interacting with content shared by your network, and your current connection endorsements.

Your “Find the right people” score centres around your connections, relationships, groups, and overall engagement with fellow LinkedIn users.

When it comes to engaging with insights, the SSI comprises the number of shares, likes, and comments your posts receive and how much you engage with content that your connections share.

The fourth and final factor is how successful you are at expanding your network. Considerations here include the number of people searches you’ve conducted, profiles you’ve viewed, and how often you’re active on the platform.

How can I use it to my advantage?

Social selling is all about building your brand, engaging with your audience, and establishing relationships and credibility within your industry. LinkedIn provides the perfect platform for social sellers to do these things.

With an optimized LinkedIn profile, professionals can take advantage of their SSI to measure their success and leverage their position against the competition, leading to better results and a higher reach.

Business leaders like to do business with people they know or with those recommended by people they trust. By connecting with the right people on LinkedIn, you can build a trusted network and position yourself for new leads and sales opportunities.

How can I improve my score?

As mentioned earlier, make sure you have a complete LinkedIn profile with all the relevant fields filled in: a profile photo, headline, summary, experience, and education.

Identifying your desired target market and optimizing your profile with the right keywords for this audience is also essential. And remember: share content that aims to educate and inspire your market! Just as you’re drawn to valuable content, so are your ideal clients. I recommend insightful pieces with eye-catching visuals that will establish your position as a thought-leader in your field.

Another great way to add value to your profile is to have colleagues and managers endorse your skills and write recommendations. Having links to and sharing samples of your work can further attract the right people.

Engage and connect! It will never hurt your score. Join industry-specific groups to share ideas and collaborate with like-minded professionals. Create conversations organically by sharing your ideas and expertise in these groups and commenting on other members’ posts.

Your Social Selling Index

Optimizing and taking full advantage of your LinkedIn profile involves consistent engagement and interaction. This may seem like a lot of work initially, but the rewards will certainly be worth it!

We love helping business leaders optimize their LinkedIn. Want me to get your score up for you? Book a call, and let’s chat about a strategic and budget-friendly solution that will meet your business objectives.