Your LinkedIn® Social Selling Index ReveaIs “The Keys To The Kingdom”

Hack #1: Messaging – LinkedIn’s Most Powerful Tool

Really??? What’s so new and exciting about messaging?

The vast majority of people don’t think of LinkedIn’s messaging the way they do on Facebook. People don’t sit around all day long and message each other back and forth on LinkedIn like they do on Facebook. And that’s a good thing for you.

Because when you do use LinkedIn messaging, you stand out from the crowd.

And unlike on Facebook, bots and automation are strictly prohibited. In the LinkedIn User Agreement, under section 8. LinkedIn “Dos and Don’ts”, it clearly states…

8.2. Don’ts

**You agree that you will not:**

m. Use bots or other automated methods to access the Services, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages;

So, isn’t that pretty antiquated?

I mean really… This is 2018 and LinkedIn doesn’t allow bots and automation!

I agree. It’s a bit of a pain (#1stWorldProblem). But LinkedIn has bent over backwards to do everything possible to eliminate spamming. Consequently, with so many fewer messages coming at you everyday, the ones you do get, get your full attention.

If you do take the time to send messages, the percentage of people responding to those messages is VERY high.

Hack #2: Know Your Social Selling Index

Check out LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index (https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi)

and see how you rank compared to other people in your Industry and other people in your Network.

You can see in the image below that I’m in the top 1% for both my Industry and my Network. You want to target being at least in the top 10%.

The Social Selling Index measures how effective you are in four different categories:

Establishing your professional brand
Finding the right people
Engaging with insights
Building relationships

My index is 80 out of 100 in these four areas combined.

People in my Industry have an average SSI of 12.

People in my Network have an average SSI of 35.

Your Social Selling Index is updated daily.

If you want to know how to increase your Social Selling Index quickly you can get more information here.

Consistency Is The Key!

LinkedIn wants to see consist daily activity on a Monday thru Friday basis.

If you invite 125 people to connect with you, respond to all of your messages, send “Thanks for connecting messages”, and go through your notifications on Monday, then don’t invite anyone to connect with you, or send any messages on Tuesday – Friday, then hit it again on Saturday and/or Sunday, this will have a negative impact on your SSI.

Here’s a six-week graph of my SSI. CONSISTENT. FLAT. BORING. Just the way LinkedIn likes it.

Your Social Selling Index plays a significant role in how LinkedIn’s algorithm will work for or against you.

The higher you rank, the more people will see your posts, articles and videos.

LinkedIn will also serve your profile to more people the higher your index is. Your profile will be seen by more people, and more frequently, in the “Recommended for you” section. LinkedIn also sends out emails recommending possible connections, so you’ll show up in more people’s inboxes.

Your SSI will also affect the number of people you can invite to connect with you before reaching the “commercial limit” each month.

The Key To Raising Your SSI

Do these things everyday, Monday – Friday.

Invite a relatively consistent number of people to connect
Message all new connections with a “thanks for connecting” message
Respond to other messages
Endorse your connections
Send Happy Birthday messages
Send Congrats on Your Work Anniversary messages
Send Congrats on Your New Position messages
Create at least on post, video, or article
Join groups and post & comment in groups

Hack #3: Privacy & Communications Settings – The Key to Your Visibility

Many people aren’t aware of, or don’t know how to set their privacy settings on LinkedIn for optimal visibility to their prospects.

If your Privacy Settings aren’t set up correctly you may be keeping people from seeing you and messaging you.

From your profile click on the dropdown menu under “Me”. Then click on “Settings & Privacy”

Go through each setting on the page below to be sure that the people you want can see you, and your contact information, your posts, etc. both on and off LinkedIn. (To learn more check out this free webinar.)