Will your social credibility be tied to your future professional success?

Depending on your role, the likely answer is yes.

If you're active on LinkedIn, as 80% of Americans are, have you ever checked your Social Selling Index? Your SSI is a proprietary metric developed by LinkedIn to measure "how effective you are at establishing your professional brand, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and building relationships." They position it as a tool to evaluate sales professionals.

But, in this post-Covid world where even those of us who never imagined we'd consider joining platforms like TikTok, I'm willing to argue that it's become a measure of relative professional credibility. 

Stick with me.

These are the ultimate qualities you want in anyone who works over, under, or side-by-side with you. These are creative people who find solutions and figure things out that other people don't. People like Cat Casey, Alex Su, Jenn McCarron, Jerry Bui, Colin Levy, and Kassi Burns (among a bunch of others). These folks are putting in WORK. And while they're having fun, making music, and cheeky videos, they're also producing thought-provoking content that adds value to the overall conversation. And that's the thing -- we follow them because they're fun, but we trust them because what they say and do is credible. And their assuredly high LinkedIn SSIs will assuredly demand higher salaries in their future roles (should they not retire from their current roles!). 

Explain that the SSI allows you to prove your credibility and expertise within your industry and of your ability to build a positive reputation among peers. If you're getting ready to change roles, checking your SSI can give you insights into your competitive landscape. Alongside your score, LinkedIn also tells you where your score ranks in your Industry and amongst your Peers. Pretty good intelligence in a job search, IMHO. And, if you're not satisfied with where it is now, you can start working on it before you start your job search.

Looking to make a change? Trying to get published as a though leader? Competing for speaking engagements? I say, #showthemyourSSI

How about asking candidates applying for certain senior roles to share their SSIs? After all, if they cannot network and build relationships, how likely are they to be successful in a senior role in 2023? Or, why not consider it with otherwise unknown candidates who might be on a growth path to an eventual leadership role? Not everyone needs a high score, but perhaps a professional credibility index has value for certain roles. After all, bad hires at this level are expensive.

Click on the Get Your Score button to see your score and rank. 

So what do you think. Will you #showmeyourSSI?