4. @writingjunkie
Four elements of SSI
Source: https://business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions/social-selling/the-social-selling-index
5. @writingjunkie
LinkedIn: what you should know
1. LinkedIn sends nearly 4X more people to your homepage
than Twitter & Facebook
2. The most in-demand content is industry insights
3. Avoid evenings, late afternoons & weekends
4. Post at least 20X per month
5. A single status update reaches 20% of your followers
6. Help your employees help you
7. Learn & optimize from your engagement percentage
Source: https://blog.bufferapp.com/7-vital-statistics-to-help-with-your-linkedin-marketing-strategy by Kevan Lee, posted March 24, 2014
Let’s start with the basics:
Photo – have one and make sure it’s professional! You can get 14x more profile views – people want to see the people they’re connecting with
Headline – this should be who you are, not your title (save that for your Experience section)
URL – customize it – takes 2 seconds and looks so much nicer than the auto generated URL… and use it – business cards, email signatures, etc.
Summary – include key words so you can be found in search
Social selling leverages your professional brand to fill your pipeline with the right people, insights and relationships
The social selling index is a measurement of your (or your company’s) use of LinkedIn as a social selling tool
The leaders in SSI by industry are Technology – Software, Professional Services and Media & Entertainment
Why should you care about social selling?
Marketing ROI – you can actually measure this, which makes selling social easier
The four elements are:
Establish your professional brand
Aim for a complete profile – you want to be an all-star
Add rich multimedia content (i.e., SlideShare)
Post & interact with content (long form posts)
Generate endorsements (endorse your connections, they’ll often reciprocate)
Find the right people
Use the search function on LinkedIn
Take advantage of warm introductions
Look for commonalities – join groups to find likeminded people
Watch who’s viewed your profile and engage when appropriate
Engage with insights
Post content that can position you as a thought leader
Stay tuned to LinkedIn Pulse for industry trends and data and share with your audience
Leave thoughtful, constructive comments on content shared by your connections
When connecting on LinkedIn – always customize your request or InMail
Build relationships
Grow your connections – connect right after meeting while it’s still fresh
Engage with decision makers and senior level people where possible
Connect with your colleagues and use those connections to establish relationships with senior people in your org
Cultivate relationships by staying engaged – comment, like or share – reach out occasionally
LinkedIn sends nearly 4X more people to your homepage than Twitter & Facebook
The most in-demand content is industry insights
Avoid evenings, late afternoons & weekends
Post at least 20X per month
A single status update reaches 20% of your followers
Help your employees help you – employee advocacy is a big thing right now
Learn & optimize from your engagement percentage
First – get reading. Look at top posts (click on Pulse, top posts) and see what makes a post engaging
Your long-form posts should share your professional expertise.
Write about challenges you've faced, opportunities you've seized, or important trends in your industry.
Keep your writing focused. Avoid covering too many topics in the same long-form post.
Keep your voice authentic.
Publish whenever you have something valuable to share with LinkedIn members. In general, the more long-form posts you publish, the more credibility you will build, and the stronger your professional profile will become.
There are no limits on word count, but the long-form posts that are best received are more than three paragraphs.
Upload pictures, videos, presentations, and documents to add to your content. It helps bring your insights to life and is a good way to showcase concrete examples of your experience.
Always have someone review and edit your posts!
INSIGHT
Search Trends:
Google volumes • Opportunities
Listening:
Trending topics • Social conversation • News
Communities of Interest:
Travel • Family • Wellness • Finance • Giving
Audience Learnings:
Content Scorecard • Advisor feedback • Sales feedback • Audience Surveys
CREATION
Internal Authors:
Thought leaders • Brand teams • Product teams
Topics:
Knowledge • Audience Interests • Products
Formats:
Live event • 1st person opinion • Market response • Interviews • Infographics • Video / Images • Whitepapers • Webcasts
Sources:
Repurpose existing • Curate • Create original
DISTRIBUTION
Owned:
Brand channels • JohnHancock.com • Manulife.com • JohnHancock social • Manulife social • Email • Individuals • Executives • Thought Leaders • Sales people
Earned: (sharing)
Advisors • Employees • Influencers • Media
Paid:
Ads • Placements • Sponsored content
METRICS
Scorecards:
Content Performance tracking • Reach / Engagement / Business Impact • Feedback • Surveys
Reach – potential # of people we can reach (connections, followers)
Engagement – how do people interact with our content? Comments, likes, shares
Content Publishing – we measure content shared that we’ve created as a brand, content prepared by third parties and content created by our employees
Business Value – by creating and sharing content internally, how much money do we save? Instead of each area creating their own content
Case Study
We looked at insights from our audience – what was trending
We created content based on those trends
We distributed the content digitally
Then we measured and our results were positive