LinkedIn Social Selling Index: Definition & Tips [2024]

You want to improve your LinkedIn profile?

Use the LinkedIn SSI score tool.

In this article we will see:

1. What is the LinkedIn SSI score
2. How to access your LinkedIn SSI score
3. How the LinkedIn SSI score is calculated
4. How to improve your LinkedIn SSI score
5. Why have a high LinkedIn SSI score
6. What is a good LinkedIn SSI score

What is the LinkedIn SSI Score?

The LinkedIn Social Selling Index Score is a metric used to assess how effectively you are using social media to influence your sales.

1. The score is a value from 1 to 100
2. The measurement is done daily

More concretely, what does that mean?

A high social selling index means that you have a positive influence that leads people to naturally buy the products you represent.

Be careful, you are not a good salesman. You are a good sales influencer.

In other words, you carry a well-established brand, target the right audience, with relevant non-commercial content, and create strong relationships.

How to access your LinkedIn SSI Score?

To access your LinkedIn SSI Score, click the button below.

And this is what it looks like.

We find several outstanding metrics:

1. SSI Score out of 100
2. The Industry SSI rank percentage
3. The SSI Network rank percentage
4. The score of people in my industry
5. The score of people in my network

The SSI score therefore also makes it possible to compare yourself with your industry, and with your network.

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OK,

But how is this mysterious score out of 100 calculated?

How is the SSI score calculated?

The SSI score is calculated by adding the sum of 4 key elements.

Each key element is scored out of 25.

1. Establish your professional brand
2. Find the right people
3. Engage with insights
4. Build relationships

But what does each subcategory mean?

Establish your professional brand

This score evaluates how established your personal brand is on LinkedIn.

It is calculated based on 2 criteria:

1. The completeness of your LinkedIn profile
2. Published articles and their relevance

The completeness of your LinkedIn profile

Remember to fill out your LinkedIn profile correctly:

1. Profile picture
2. Title
3. Profile picture
4. LinkedIn URL
5. Skills
6. Jobs
7. Educations

Also remember to ask your connections to endorse your skills: it helps.

Published articles and their relevance

How many articles have you published this month? — and how many new followers you have earned from these articles.

Yes, a good article is one that brings in followers.

The profile of Bill Gates is a good example:

1. 1 article published per day (at least)
2. 35 millions followers

A model of influence to follow.

Find the right people

The second challenge is to find the right people.

Here LinkedIn measures your use of LinkedIn to search people.

This score is based on 3 criteria:

1. People searches
2. Profile views
3. Days of activity

People searches

Use the LinkedIn search engine to discover people, companies and job opportunities.

With the standard LinkedIn plan, remember to use all the advanced filters:

1. Localisation
2. Friends with (new!)
3. Follower of (new!)
4. Geographical location
5. Business
6. School
7. Industry
8. Keywords

There is plenty to do.

Profile views

This measures the number of views of your profile.

Want to see how many people have viewed your profile? Click here.

Days of activity

This data will reward your diligence on LinkedIn.

The more you use LinkedIn, the more your score increases.

Use LinkedIn every day!

Engage with insights

This score measures your engagement on LinkedIn.

3 criteria are used:

1. Reactions to your posts — likes, comments, shares
2. Messages sent and response frequencies
3. Number of groups joined and activities within groups

Reactions to your posts

Write posts that get reactions!

The more movement, the better.

Messages sent and response frequencies

Do you leave all your messages unread, and sometimes respond several weeks later?

Avoid this!

Reply to all your messages and quickly.

The higher the response rate the best.

Number of groups joined and activities within groups

Think of joining as many groups as possible, and participate actively.

Be careful, you must not confuse quantity and quality.

Join groups in which you have a sincere interest. You will gain authenticity, and your message will be received with even more impact.

You can use LinkedIn groups search tool to fetch the relevant groups.

Build relationships

Finally, the LinkedIn SSI score values your ability to build useful relationships.

Here 2 metrics to consider:

1. The number of connections
2. The acceptance rate of your connections

The number of connections

LinkedIn values the size of your professional network.

The more you have, the better.

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So, just add lots of people?

No, it's more complicated than that.

The acceptance rate of your requests

Here too, LinkedIn favors quality over quantity.

It’s not enough to add everything and anything. Most people need to accept your connection requests.

The more relevant the requests, the higher your score.

So remember to ensure that:

1. The relationship created is relevant
2. You have mutual connections
3. A meeting or an exchange preceded the connection request

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We now know how the LinkedIn SSI Score is constructed.

But how to improve it quickly?

How to improve your LinkedIn SSI Score quickly?

10 tips to quickly optimize your LinkedIn SSI Score

1. Complete your LinkedIn profile: fill in all the fields (image, title, jobs) and ask your friends to obtain skill endorsements
2. Publish relevant articles: publish articles that correspond to who you are, and to the audience you are addressing, at least once a week
3. Do some LinkedIn research: people, jobs, companies — use the search tool
4. Spread your URL LinkedIn to maximize the number of people who visit your profile
5. Log in regularly on LinkedIn, ideally once a day
6. Make impactful posts to maximize the number of likes and shares: utilize social media post templates to improve engagement on LinkedIn, spark conversation and establish yourself as an expert
7. Reply to all your comments to encourage people to comment on your posts in return
8. Respond to messages quickly
9. Join groups and participate by posting useful information
10. Request connections with people you are genuinely interested in and with whom a mutually positive relationship is expected

Last thing.

It can be tempting to play on quantity: massive profile addition, articles published every 10 hours written with Chat GPT, spam in the comments section.

Avoid this pitfall: favor authenticity and quality.

Deploy a clear social selling strategy, with regular social selling activities.

And become a valuable social selling leader.

Why have a high LinkedIn SSI Score?

After all, it's just a number on a board.

Why care?

We identified 5 reasons to care about LinkedIn SSI Score:

1. Visibility and increased credibility
2. Hiring opportunities
3. Lead generation
4. Professional growth
5. Talent attraction

Visibility and increased credibility

The LinkedIn SSI score is a reflection of a widely consulted profile

You transmit serious information, read with interest and enthusiasm. You are an esteemed thought leader and a powerful decision-maker.

Hiring Opportunities

Your network is vast and you build sincere and mutually positive relationships.

This can lead to serious hiring opportunities, and maximize your income.

Lead generation

Are you a sales professional or a business manager?

A high LinkedIn SSI score means that your influence enables you to indirectly generate a high volume of inbound leads.

Boost your sales opportunities.

Attract potential customers organically on social media platforms.

Personal growth

Sharing relevant content regularly, committing in groups and collaborating with experts: all this requires keeping up to date.

You have to learn every day, and stay in touch with the latest trends in your industry.

It makes you personally and professionally grow faster.

Talent attraction

A strong presence on LinkedIn can attract the interest of potential employees.

Make what you build shine, and recruit the best talent.

A high SSI Score means you're a valued recruiter.

What is a good LinkedIn SSI Score?

There is no absolute good SSI Score.

It all depends on the industry you are in.

Some examples, as of 04/26/2024 to reach the top 1% depending on your industry:

1. Construction: 65+
2. Education administration: 55+
3. Advertising service: 65+
4. Online media: 70+
5. Business consulting: 70+

To find out, look at the Top Industry SSI Rank value on your LinkedIn SSI Score.

FAQ

What does SSI mean on LinkedIn?

SSI is the acronym for Social Selling Index. This is a metric used on LinkedIn to assess how effectively you are using the social network to influence your sales.

How do I get my LinkedIn SSI Score?

Click on this link: https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi.

How often is my LinkedIn SSI Score updated?

Your LinkedIn SSI Score is updated every day.

Is the LinkedIn SSI Score free?

Previously, it was only given to holders of a LinkedIn Premium or LinkedIn Sales Navigator account.

Today, it's free. Everyone has free access.

Who can see my LinkedIn SSI Score?

You are the only one to see your LinkedIn SSI Score.

When was the LinkedIn SSI Score created?

The Social Selling Index was developed in 2014, to measure the impact of LinkedIn on the sales volumes of platform users.