LinkedIn Metrics that Matter

In 1988, an Australian woman called Leisa Campbell took the world by storm. She was an Australian body builder from Victoria. She won Miss Australia, Miss World and Miss Universe. Leisa travelled the world, competing and living in Europe and the US. She was before her time and even by today’s standards is still considered one of, if not the, best body builders in the world.

When she was training, many things were measured that still are now, such as skin folds, fat percentage and weight. However, Leisa said she focused on something not all competitors valued. It was a diary of how she felt each day. She kept notes on her body’s reaction to foods, sleep and training. Today, as a personal trainer for more than 25 years, she asks her clients to keep a diary as well. She says people pay too much attention to a whole lot of metrics that don’t have enough leverage. She says they are the results, not the metrics that matter.

In his book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg calls habits such as Leisa’s diary, keystone habits. These are every-day habits or leverage points that create big results.

Your LinkedIn profile is the same. It’s easy to focus on the various LinkedIn metrics available to you, such as:

the All-Star rating
the new SSI (Social Selling Index)
your profile’s ranking
the number of people who have viewed your profile and taken action.

These metrics are designed to motivate you to undertake more activities and stay on the site for longer.

In isolation, these metrics appear valuable you might tend to spend a lot of time trying to achieve an All-Star rating and an SSI score of 100%. However these aren’t the metrics that matter. There are a number of other keystone metrics that create the best results on LinkedIn such as:

Why these metrics matter

Search engine optimisation: It’s important that you are easily found. LinkedIn is a search engine and there is someone out there trying to find you. Make it easy for them!
First four seconds: When someone lands on your profile, you only have four seconds to “wow” them. If you don’t, it will take a lot of work to impress them and motivate them to want to work with you.
Original thought leadership and curation: Your original thoughts are what connections want to buy from you. Equally you can’t be writing so much original content that it becomes self-promoting. Getting the balance right is key.
What action people take when looking at your profile: When people look at your profile, they should feel compelled to connect with you. If you have enough of the right content, the right connections and the right information for your first four seconds, people will be more likely to connect with you. This metric is important to review, however, it depends on the context of the views. For example, if you have a smaller amount of views but a high amount of clicks through to your profile, this is a good sign. It’s all relative to what you’re putting out there. This is the area of your profile that tells you this:

Effective scripts to connect with ideal clients: Clients don’t just magically appear. With effective scripting, you can maximise your chances of engaging with the right people. With the wrong scripting, you will repel them!

Your metrics need to move potential clients into your sales meetings. If you focus on likes and comments, then you’re simply not encouraging them to become clients. Make it easy for people to work with you by focusing on the metrics that matter. As Peter Drucker, world-leading management consultant, once said: “What’s measured improves.”

Love to know your thoughts...

LinkedIn Metrics that Matter