LinkedIn afficionado, Richard van der Blom, just published his annual LinkedIn algorithm report and said
“Although impact of S.S.I. score is declining, members with a score of 70 currently still reach up to 25% more reach”.
Richard van der Blom
According to this, my score tells me I am on the right path.
The metrics I’m really interested in are the conversations and meetings that happen as a result of my LinkedIn activity, and ditto for my clients – this is what I care about.
Social Selling – What is it?
The wonderful Tim Hughes talks about the misunderstanding that is social selling, with people believing that it is to sell on social.
“All these pitches that you get on social are not social selling, they are spam. The other thing you need to know about social selling is that this isn’t about “putting out some videos” or “putting flowers on your profile” or “going viral”. It is about driving revenue for your business using social media. This is about you winning business from the competition and having a competitive advantage.”
Tim Hughes
Define your ROI
I was asked a couple of years back what the ROI of social media is and I remember turning the question around and asking how it was defined by the company when writing its SM strategy. It turned out they didn’t have one and therefore hadn’t considered the question – and this is not unusual.
So, what do we want our social media strategy to achieve?
- Is it to raise awareness of brand with a new audience and keep the brand front of mind? As well as to keep your existing audience interested.
- Is it to collect the names of new contacts relevant to, and interested in your offering, as a result of LinkedIn messages?
- Is it to measure success of your earned media efforts and share of voice?
- Is it to increase the percentage of website traffic that comes from social media posts?
- Is it to increase your followers?
- Does all of this lead to sales – is the fact that there is an awareness of your brand and its offering give you a competitive advantage?
It’s an interesting conversation and it’s really only since the covid years that people, who wouldn’t normally have given social the time of day, appreciate and acknowledge the value of building relationships on LinkedIn – and other digital platforms – and what a powerful networking forum it can be.
Define your Social Media metrics
It’s critical to track and measure the impact of our contributions on social media platforms and to connect metrics to business outcomes. Building a brand means customers will start coming to you and because they’ve been following you, they feel they already know you.
As with anything, it’s the time, consideration and consistency you bring to it.
“To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want.”
Charlie Munger
LinkedIn SSI defined
I’ll break the four components down, as described in the Index above:
- Establish your professional brand: Complete your profile with the customer in mind. Become a thought-leader by publishing meaningful posts.
- Find the right people: Identify better prospects in less time using efficient search and research tools.
- Engage with insights: Discover and share conversation-worthy updates to create and grow relationships.
- Build relationships: Strengthen your network by finding and establishing trust with decision makers.
Get in touch if you would like to discuss a differentiation strategy for your brand on LinkedIn.