LinkedIn SSI Score: What does it mean and how to boost it?

What does the LinkedIn SSI score represent? SSI stands for ‘Social Selling Index,’ and it measures the strength of your presence and sales prospects on LinkedIn.

In general, LinkedIn is an excellent tool for expanding your business connections, amplifying your outreach, and establishing yourself as a leader in your field. A high SSI score makes it simpler than ever to connect with the appropriate individuals.

This guide will show you how to elevate your SSI score and distinguish yourself in your industry.

What is a LinkedIn SSI score?

The Social Selling Index (SSI) measures your effectiveness at creating a professional brand, connecting with the right individuals, interacting with valuable content or insights, and building relationships. This metric is refreshed on a daily basis.

How can I check my LinkedIn SSI score?

1. Log into your LinkedIn account.
2. Visit the Social Selling Index page to check your SSI score.
3. The higher your score, the more successful your LinkedIn presence and sales opportunities will be.

How does my LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI) score gets calculated?

The Social Selling Index on LinkedIn measures an individual’s ability to sell and promote their brand, rated on a scale of 0-100. It considers four main components, each valued at 25 points:

1. Professional brand: Does your LinkedIn profile showcase you as a thought leader, attracting your desired audience?
2. Strong network: Are you forming meaningful connections with the right individuals?
3. Engagement with insights: Are you sharing posts that initiate discussions and foster relationships, evident through your data?
4. Relationship building: Do you send connection requests and interact with key social selling figures and decision makers?

A higher index score indicates better sales outcomes and an enhanced LinkedIn presence. Let’s delve deeper into the specifics of the LinkedIn Social Selling Index.

Ad 1. Professional brand

Your professional reputation is primarily determined by your LinkedIn profile and the quality of your content.

Here’s a brief checklist to enhance your professional brand:

• Completed profile: Ensure that your profile is fully filled out, current, and tailored to appeal to your target audience.
• Media variety: Incorporate different types of media, such as blog excerpts or videos, into your profile.
• Header image: Utilize a header image that reflects your personal brand.
• Recommendations: Obtain endorsements to demonstrate the value you provide.
• Long-form content and followers: Produce substantial posts that provide genuine value to your specific field and attract followers.

Ad 2. Strong network

Utilizing LinkedIn effectively is determined by how you conduct your search for and interact with potential leads.

A helpful tip is to keep in mind that utilizing a Sales Navigator account can make it easier to pinpoint prospects, as it gives you the option to fine-tune your search using various advanced filters.

Key aspects of finding the right contacts include:

• Utilizing advanced lead and account searches: Use specific filters to narrow down a list of relevant individuals you can engage with. Quality is more important than quantity.
• Monitoring prospecting and inbound profile views: How many potential leads have viewed your profile? The more interest you receive, the better. This indicates your credibility.
• Saving leads: Keeping track of the quality and quantity of potential leads you save. It’s important to only connect with individuals who align with your business.
• Days Active: How frequently you are active online and engage with the appropriate individuals.

Ad 3. Engagement with insights

Interacting with insights on LinkedIn will help you determine which important activities to focus on or enhance. For instance, it’s essential to regularly review:

• Engagement levels: Pay attention to the interactions, such as shares and comments, that indicate the quality of your posts. This feedback can guide your future content creation.
• Response rates to messages: Take the time to evaluate how effective your messages are in sparking meaningful conversations. It’s crucial to reply promptly and engage actively.
• Participation in groups: Assess how effectively you’re interacting within groups that are relevant to your industry. Being active in the right groups can boost your credibility.
• Profile views: Monitor how frequently your profile shows up in search results and update it regularly to avoid irrelevant matches. This can help ensure your profile is well-optimized.

Ad 4. Relationship building

This demonstrates how you are establishing connections within your specific area of expertise. There are various factors that play a role in this:

• Connections and VP+ connections: The level of your connections, such as industry leaders, individuals making critical decisions, and profiles of account executives. It is important to ensure that these connections are within the relevant industry.
• Internal connections: Individuals within your organization whom you are connected with.
• Acceptance rates for connection requests: The extent to which individuals accept your requests to connect. This indicates that you are focused on engaging with meaningful individuals rather than simply expanding your network.

Why should I care about a high Social Selling Index score?

Achieving a high SSI score on LinkedIn can distinguish you by forming connections and creating a strong professional image. This can help increase credibility on the platform, leading to greater visibility for your content and potential business opportunities.

People who excel in social selling are more likely to meet their sales targets by 51%.

What LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI) should sales professionals aim for?

Instead of fixating on a specific social selling index (SSI), individuals should assess their current score and work towards enhancing it over time.

LinkedIn continuously evaluates profiles against those of peers, so rather than striving for a set SSI score, it is more effective to consistently strive to boost personal metrics.

Dr. Michael Thiemann stated in an SSI guide,

“My SSI score is currently 64 out of 100 (now it’s 69). Similar to entrepreneurship, improving on LinkedIn is an ongoing process of learning and development.”

How can I leverage automation to grow my LinkedIn network and improve my SSI score?

Enhancing your LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI) demands a sustained commitment. Balancing the time needed to cultivate connections and engage in social selling tasks may be difficult, but using automation tools can be beneficial.

Salesloop.io is a tool that can help automate aspects of growing your LinkedIn network and potentially improve your Social Selling Index (SSI) score. Here’s a breakdown of how it might achieve this:

Growing your Network:

• Automated Connection Requests: Salesloop.io allows you to set up campaigns that automatically send connection requests to targeted profiles based on filters like industry, job title, or location. This can save you time compared to sending requests manually.
• Personalized Messages: While Salesloop.io might offer templates, true personalization requires human effort. You can potentially use templates as a starting point and personalize them further before sending.

Boosting SSI Score (Potentially):

• Increased Network Size: A larger, relevant network can contribute to a higher SSI score. However, the quality of connections matters more than just quantity.

In a nutshell..

Improving your social selling index score takes time and effort. By regularly interacting with valuable information, expanding your professional connections, and posting engaging content, you can position yourself as a top social selling figure on LinkedIn and gradually boost your sales opportunities.

• Your SSI score reflects your sales skills on LinkedIn based on four factors: your professional image, your network, your engagement with insights, and your relationship-building efforts.
• After logging into your LinkedIn account, go to the Social Selling Index page to see your score.
• A higher SSI score will increase the credibility of your posts on LinkedIn, leading to a wider audience and more potential leads.
• Instead of aiming for a specific SSI score, focus on consistently improving your metrics as LinkedIn compares you to others in your field.
• To boost your SSI score, work on enhancing the four key areas that influence it. Engage with relevant individuals, connect with them, and share valuable insights to establish yourself as an authority.
• For instance, you can utilize LinkedIn automation tools to automatically follow and connect with pertinent profiles.
• Looking to automate your LinkedIn outreach efforts? Try Salesloop’s free 14 days trial.