What is LinkedIn’s Social Selling Index

I have been asked a few times now about LinkedIn's Social Selling Index (SSI) and how it compares to the online brand assessment so I thought I would share with you the differences between the two.

If you've never heard of LinkedIn's SSI, you can learn more HERE .

LinkedIn's Social Selling Index

LinkedIn developed the Social Selling Index by identifying top performing sales professionals within LinkedIn. They analyzed their LinkedIn usage habits and determined how they use LinkedIn to drive successful outcomes.

The proprietary algorithm LinkedIn uses is based on the social selling activities of these professionals and “connecting the dots” between those activities and their success.

The SSI is a number, calculated by the algorithm, between zero and one-hundred. The number updates daily based on your activities within LinkedIn.

Since I've been paying attention, my score has been as high as 75 and as low as 65. Here's my current index score.

Components of the Social Selling Index

The colors on the circle above represent the four areas measured by the algorithm and as I mentioned earlier is based solely on your activities within LinkedIn. The algorithm takes into account the following items/activities.

Establishing your professional brand – Completeness of your LinkedIn profile
Finding the right people – Using the search functions within LinkedIn
Engaging with Insights – How often you post, share or comment on content within LinkedIn
Building relationships – How you are growing your connections within LinkedIn

Each category has a total of 25 points. The algorithm assigns a point total to each category based on your activities.

What's the point?

This is the big question. From my standpoint, I see no practical application for the index. I'm pretty sure no one reading this will buy the personal branding blueprint because my SSI is 69.

From LinkedIn's standpoint, I think the goal of the SSI index is to get LinkedIn users, you and I, more engaged with LinkedIn. Why? Because like all other social platforms, the more active you are on the platform the better it is for LinkedIn.

After all, more active users attract more advertisers. I think it also increases the chances that we will see the benefits of the platform and upgrade our accounts to a paying tier.

To their credit, LinkedIn doesn't even hide this fact. If you look at the bottom of your SSI page they tell you the fastest path to higher SSI is to get Sales Navigator.

The Sales Navigator tool starts at $59.99 a month.

So to sum, the SSI metric is base don your activities within LinkedIn. It looks at nothing else. Unlike the online brand assessment.

The Online Brand Assessment

I created the online brand assessment (OBA) after three years of reading, learning, buying courses and application. I used the principles in the assessment to go from page three in Google search results to owning page one.

The OBA will help you establish and raise your online visibility.

The assessment looks at your online presence holistically. It takes into account how you appear online to others overall regardless of platform, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, it doesn't matter.

As an example, since LinkedIn is only a portion of your overall online presence it accounts for only a portion of your online brand assessment score.

Improve your OBA score and you will increase your online visibility. People will find you when they search for you, hiring managers, recruiters, potential boyfriends and girlfriends for example.

Improve your LinkedIn SSI score and you will be using LinkedIn a lot more than you are today.

Which could be a good thing, I think.

If you haven't taken the OBA yet, enter your name and email address below and get started.