You might have seen or heard that your LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI) scores have dropped anywhere between 20 and 40 points.

(If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, click here for your own SSI score.)

Yes, SSI scores are supposed to be a great indicator of how effectively you’re using LinkedIn as a professional business communications tool… that’s what I’ve been telling my clients anyways…

• The orange component, (Establish your professional brand) is based primarily on your profile.
• The purple component (Find the right people) is based on your search activity and how many profiles you visit and connections requests you send.
• The green component (Engage with insights) is based on the information you share in your posts, DM’s and comments.
• The blue component (Build relationships) is based on how you grow your connected network with relevant people.

Since 2019 I have monitored my own score, and that of my coaching clients, on a weekly basis and often see the scores rise or fall unexpectedly, by up to 5 points in either direction.

I have NEVER seen the scores landslide like they have recently.

This tells me a few things:

1. It’s probably an engineering / algorithmic glitch at LinkedIn and will course-correct pretty soon.
2. It’s not as reliable an indicator as I had previously believed and we must take other metrics into account if we wish to track our progress on the platform (profile views, profile appearances, follower growth etc)

A brand new metric: Profile Appearances

This is something that recently popped up when I was going through my profile analytics.

I clicked on “search appearances” and was surprised by what I saw.

Click here for your own profile appearances analytics.

What I found fascinating is “Where you appeared” when I checked my own stats:

My comments got me seen twice as much as publishing my own posts!

This metric isn’t available to everyone yet apparently, but is in a roll-out phase. Do you have access yet?

In conclusion, we can see that metrics are iffy, and you shouldn’t obsess over them.

Rather concentrate on activities that move the needle and help you achieve your desired outcomes on LinkedIn.

I have 4 pieces of advice for you as we move into 2025:

• Make sure your profile is well put together and the info you share is clear.
• Connect with new people all the time, but pick these people carefully and make sure they’re relevant.
• Post something helpful and authentic at least once a week (re-posts don’t count) and you’ll find yourself in the top 1% of content creators on LinkedIn.
• Comment as much as possible on other people’s posts, and you’ll be noticed by people not yet part of your connected network.

If you share my vision of the incredible potential of the LinkedIn platform, and would like to use it more effectively in 2025 to achieve the professional outcomes you’re after, get in touch.

We can work together 1:1 or I can coach your entire team to become better employee advocates.

Let’s set up a call and I’ll give you some ideas, even if we never work together.

You in?

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