What is the Social Selling Index and how can it help to generate more leads?Part 2/2

Consider increasing your Social Selling Index as an investment in your professional network and trustful, long-term relationship building. This is the strongest foundation you can have to generate massively more opportunities and leads in a sustainable way.

That's how we finished part 1 (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/what-social-selling-index-how-can-help-generate-more-leads-simone) of this Article all about Social Selling Index.

In this second part, we will cover specific measures and activities which will immediately impact your SSI.

Before we go into the details, please always consider this basic rule:

In order to build your professional brand on LinkedIn and make sure you reach the "right" people, it's important that you have clarity about how you want to position yourself and who your target audience is. It's not about making everybody happy it's about reaching your target audience and building trustful long-term relationships.

5 Hacks that will immediately improve your SSI:

1. Create and maintain a meaningful LinkedIn profile.

Make sure you have a fully completed LinkedIn profile that is professional but also authentic. Add additional profile sections to it (e.g. Info, Highlights, etc.) Get your skills confirmed and get recommendations, these are very valuable not "only" for SSI. Invest time for your Headline and make sure it's crystal clear for your target audience. Together with the header and profile picture, these are the first things that your profile visitors will see, make an impact you only got 3 seconds!

?? A complete profile will improve your SSI and give you a solid foundation for the next steps.

2. Networking: Quality over Quantity

Regularly reach out for new contacts, and use the search box to find new interesting contacts. In the search box, you can search for people, companies, posts, and many other criteria.?However, sending contact requests randomly and without a strategy is not advisable. Prioritize quality over quantity. Always add a personalized text to your invitation requests and increase the probability that your invitations will be accepted. When you receive invitations evaluate if the person is interesting to you and could add value?

?? Use the Search field to find new interesting contacts

?? Invite new people into your network, the higher the acceptance rate the better your SSI.

3. More Visibility through valuable contributions

A high Social Selling Index is directly related to the way you present yourself on LinkedIn. Valuable posts and posts that provide relevant value to your target audience play a big role. It's not about promoting what a great expert you are but sharing helpful content with your network. Make sure you post regularly instead of randomly.

?? Insightful and helpful post for your target audience

?? regular instead of random posts

4. Engagement with your network.

Give likes and comments on other people's posts. Show genuine interest and always remain authentic. This gives you visibility and credibility at the same time. In addition, it makes it easier to get closer to your target audience and spark a conversation. Maybe this one conversation can lead to a great opportunity? Who knows? It's not different from face 2 face.

?? Increase your visibility and SSI through Reactions and Comments and spark new conversations.

5. Join groups

Research for groups that are relevant to your expertise and join them. Discuss actively in the group, post regularly, and share valuable contributions also within the group. Important follow the group guidelines and don't join a group to sell your products or services. Show genuine interest in building relationships.

?? Hack: Group members can send each other direct messages without being directly connected.

Extra tip: Sales Navigator

LinkedIn's paid Sales Navigator tool includes extremely useful features like lead referrals, InMails, and CRM syncing. So using Sales Navigator adds additional SSI points. Conversely, this means that it is impossible to reach a Social Selling Index of 100 on LinkedIn without Premium Membership and Sales Navigator. In any case, I recommend aiming for 70, which is a very good score that can be achieved even without Premium.?

Conclusion

The SSI value alone will not get you new customers. What you should really focus on at the end of the day is not a high Social Selling Index, but promising business leads. The score should rather be an indicator of your social selling activities and a motivator to unlock your massive potential. And yes, at the end of the day, this will also lead to more leads, more opportunities, and more sales.

?=================================================================

If you found this Newsletter valuable, here is what you can do:

?? Leave a Like or Comment

?? Subscribe to this Newsletter

?? Hit the ?? on my profile to not miss any updates about Social Selling with LinkedIn.

?? Send me a private message or Email to find out how we can unlock the LinkedIn potential for your team.

=================================================================

About Me:

I'm Patrick Simone ??, LinkedIn & Sales Navigator Trainer and Social Selling Coach and I’m also Digital Sales Lecturer at Swiss Marketing Academy and DHBW.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/patricksimone/

I ?? to work with Sales professionals and sales teams and show them how to accelerate sales success and efficiency with the power of LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and other Digital Selling Tools ??

Probably it's because I have worked for more than 20 years in global companies many years as a Sales + Marketing Leader before I decided to take a leap and exchange my successful corporate career and 9 to 5 job with a 24/7 job of building my own company. BTW: Best Decision ever ??

#adessodigital #socialselling #leadership #salesification