The Magic of Social Selling Index Revealed

Yesterday I was surprised -- and of course happy -- to find out that my LinkedIn account has appeared in the top 1% of my industry representatives, and that now I appear in the top 1% in the Network SSI. Well, until recently, I did not understand what it was all about; now I have given it some attention and realize that it is a great self-marketing tool. Let me share a few words about it here.

What is Social Selling Index?

Social Selling Index or SSI is LinkedIn’s way to measure how effective a person is at four parameters:

• Establishing his/her professional brand
• Finding the right people
• Engaging with insights
• Building relationships

In other words, a person's SSI reflects his/her social selling success. LinkedIn’s research claims that as a person’s social selling index rises, so does their success. Thus, the SSI is an important tool for professionals to measure how their efforts add up.

If your SSI grows, it is a good indicator that you are on the right track with developing your professional network.

For example, sales and business development professionals like me normally have an average SSI of 20, and the network rating of 48 out of 100; Mine has recently risen to 80 out of 100. Not bad, right? Well, to me it was really a pleasing piece of news, because I devoted quite a lot of attention to making the index grow.

So, what can (and should) you do to keep your SSI growing? Here are a few tips:

• reach out to people, make new connections regularly
• try to turn those connections into friendships or mutually beneficial collaboration
• respond to every request you receive
• reach out to others for unique quotes and insights
• create connections that last long
• share your knowledge and experience by posting articles and useful information
• share about your professional success, experiences and upcoming events
• use hashtags under your posts smartly (this can be a topic of a separate article, I believe); and
• putting it shortly: always COMMUNICATE on a positive note.