7 Ways to Measure Your Success on LinkedIn
Metrics, data, analytics - oh my! Knowing your numbers on LinkedIn can feel pretty darn complicated. Before investing your time and resources, it's important to figure out exactly what your return on investment should be.
When you don't know exactly which numbers matter, which measurement tools to use, and when to adjust your approach on LinkedIn -- it can feel like you're rolling the dice.
We all know that numbers drive strategy. It's pointless to collect data that you're never going to use.
My question to you: do you have 5 minutes per week to look at your numbers?
I'm serious -- that's all it takes.
In this episode of Mondays with Mindi we will get to the bottom of the LinkedIn metrics that matter!
I'll share the seven essential metrics you should be tracking, give a sneak peek of my favorite LinkedIn metrics tool, and share my easy-to-use DIY spreadsheet.
What questions do YOU have about LinkedIn ROI? Go ahead and post yours below.👇🏽
You Cannot Improve What You Do Not Measure
Who has the time to measure their LinkedIn activity?
I don’t know about you, but I really don’t enjoy looking at the numbers sometimes.
When it comes to LinkedIn, should you simply wing it? Well, you could.
But if you’re being strategic about how and why you’re using LinkedIn, you might want to check your numbers occasionally. If you don’t...
You may go “all in” on LinkedIn and have nothing to show for it - very frustrating
Could see something is working, but you don’t what or how to replicate that success
Maybe you have no idea what good sales and metrics benchmarks even are for your LinkedIn
You might not even know you COULD track your personal LinkedIn profile performance
Let’s figure out how to get your LinkedIn metrics dialed in - we’ll talk about which numbers matter, which measurement tools to use, and when to adjust your approach on LinkedIn
You can stop rolling the dice.
And, the best part is it only takes a few minutes per week to do.
Testing Tactics One at a Time
So I’m taking a psychological research class this semester, and we were just having an engaging discussion in class about the importance of setting appropriate experiments and parameters.
When you approach an experiment, you are looking to manipulate one independent variable (i.e. the cause) and then measure the dependent variable (i.e. the effect) You don’t start manipulating a bunch of variables and hoping you get the result.
Why not? Well, you won’t know exactly which of those variables actually caused the change… if anything changed at all.
So approaching LinkedIn a bit like a researcher is a good best practice.
Instead, too many people jump into LinkedIn headfirst and start googling all sorts of tips and tricks from LinkedIn gurus.
With all that enthusiasm, they throw together a mishmash of tactics that promise to “generate thousands of inbound leads” or “turn your LinkedIn profile into a prospecting machine having 30 sales calls per month”
(Okay, how many of you actually WANT to have 30 sales calls per month?!)
Anyhow, with all of that LinkedIn activity, it’s easy to get caught up in the vanity metrics and not really KNOW what’s working for you on LinkedIn.
So, you generate all of this NOISE on LinkedIn…
BUT, does that turn into tangible business for you?
Is it helping you to scale your impact?
To grow your LinkedIn network strategically with the right people?
Or, are you just spinning your wheels on LinkedIn and hoping for the best.
That’s what most people do.
But YOU’RE not most people.
We’ve all heard the phrase, “you cannot improve what you are not measuring”
This applies to LinkedIn, too.
Looking at Your Numbers is NOT a Time Suck
Did you know that savvy LinkedIn users (whom you all admire) don’t spend a TON of time looking at their numbers?
Why? They only pay attention to the numbers that matter most, the metrics that move the needle for their business.
They know exactly what these numbers are
They understand which levers to pull to change the numbers
They use a nifty tool to break down all the data for them in layman’s terms
So there’s not a secret to the numbers or how to track them
It’s more a process of building it into a workflow once you understand which metrics you should track.
Simple, right?
7 Important LinkedIn Profile Numbers to Track
So what are the seven metrics that you should be tracking for your personal profile?
I’m going to pull up my SHIELD Analytics app - this is the secret weapon
Using SHIELD does not go against any rules inside the LinkedIn user agreement - it’s safe - it’s not spammy and it doesn’t cause any issues in using LinkedIn
LinkedIn Profile Views - Marketing
What it is: Your Views are the total number of views your LinkedIn profile has received in a specific time period.
This means people have not ONLY seen something of yours in their LinkedIn news feed, they have actually looked at your profile.
THAT’S HUGE.
Too many people assume this is a vanity metric, but it’s not.
What it’s telling you: If this number is consistent or going up, it’s telling you that your keywords, your posts, your profile are getting attention, piquing interest and getting people to learn more.
If this number is going down, you may have just switched something on your LinkedIn profile or are simply not getting the right people to pay attention.
Try looking at your LinkedIn profile headline - [see my video for how to fix it in five minutes]
You can dive deeper with a paid LinkedIn account to see WHO is actually viewing your profile, but watching this number is a good idea.
2. Engagement Rate - Marketing
What it is: Your engagement rate is calculated as the views-to-like/comment/share ratio for a specific time period.
In a nutshell, this tells you how people are engaging with your posts on LinkedIn.
It’s one of the most important marketing metrics to pay attention to from a marketing perspective.
A good industry benchmark to shoot for is between 1-3% here.
Mine is definitely outside that range because I have a smaller, more strategic network who’s pretty engaged with my content.
What it’s telling you: Whether or not your content is valuable to your LinkedIn audience and connections. Is it worth sharing? Liking? Commenting?
3. # of Followers - Marketing Metrics
What it is: how many people are either following you or connected to you. It totals your followers AND your connections
Obviously, you want to see this number go up over time UNLESS you are doing some “LinkedIn connections clean up” where you’ll see this number go down initially
When you continue to post valuable content and strategically build your LinkedIn network, this number will organically grow over time
What it’s telling you: How many people are in your LinkedIn audience and likely to see your posts in their feed. Most of these will likely be LinkedIn connections unless you get into the Influencer range with your network size.
Keep growing your LinkedIn network with the right people, and you cannot go wrong here.
4. # of New Connections - Sales Metric
What it is: how many people did you connect with on LinkedIn within a certain time frame, which includes both inbound (received) and outbound (sent by you) connection invitations.
This should be trending upward, and it’s critical to ABC (always be connecting)!
For those of you who are into list building or growing an audience, this is how it’s done on LinkedIn.
What it’s telling you: How many people you are accepting connections from or sending connections to that are accepted.
A good rule of thumb - if you’re taking a strategic approach - is adding about 10-20 people to your network per week.
5. Connection Acceptance Rate - Sales Metric
What it is: calculated as the connections sent-to-connections accepted ratio for a specific time period.
In other words, you send 100 connections over a month, and 60 of them are accepted. That gives you a 60% connection acceptance rate.
For most people who are actively prospecting, this rate can vary dramatically. If you’re consistently getting below 25% in an industry that is pretty active on LinkedIn, you need to rethink your connection invitation.
I like to see around a 30-40% connection acceptance rate for my clients who are actively prospecting.
Those who are simply getting connected and growing their network with non-prospects - around 50-75% connection acceptance rate is good.
What it’s telling you: how good your connection request is! If it’s not getting people to accept, you’re either sending them a poorly written connection invitation or reaching out to the wrong people.
6. Connection to Conversion Rate - Sales Metric
What it is: calculated as the number of connections who agree to have a conversation with you or “convert” to whatever your ask is. This can vary depending on what your LinkedIn connection strategy is.
For example, most of my clients are looking to have a conversation with their new connections, which will hopefully lead to new business opportunities.
Others are simply asking a question, or trying to get the new connection engaged in a two-way conversation that is more along the lines of “getting to know you”
A good connection to conversion rate is around 40% - this means that 40% of the new connections are agreeing to a conversation or taking action on whatever your conversion event is.
What it’s telling you: how well aligned your messaging is with your target audience and their wants, needs, desires.
If what your “ask” is seems like a no-brainer to them or obviously advantageous, they will be more likely to “convert.”
7. # Opportunities - Sales Metric
What it is: how many sales opportunities did you identify on LinkedIn from new connections or old connections that resurfaced during a given time period.
It’s that simple.
If you’re not seeing opportunities on a regular basis (at least monthly) in LinkedIn, something is off! You need to figure out exactly what it is (and I’m happy to help if you ever need to troubleshoot), but when you have a healthy LinkedIn program and strategic network, you can expect both inbound and outbound opportunities to surface each month.
What it’s telling you: whether or not you’re using LinkedIn effectively for business
If you want more opportunities, you need to be doing the right combination of things on LinkedIn. Sometimes it can be tricky to figure out which levers to pull here to get more opportunities, but getting some advice from an experienced LinkedIn sales & marketing expert or a savvy friend can help.
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So there you have it, my top seven metrics to pay attention to on LinkedIn to know if your sales and marketing program is working.
How are you doing? Areas that you see for improvement? When’s the next time you’re going to look at your metrics?
If you’re struggling to figure out what to do next, that’s okay. Post a question below or shoot me a direct message to discuss!
If you want to go deeper with your marketing analytics, I do recommend an affordable tool called SHIELD (shieldapp.ai) that will help you get the LinkedIn metrics I showed today for your profile.
AND, I have my own nerdy spreadsheet to help you keep track of your sales and marketing metrics, check out mindirosser.com/metrics to get direct download access.
I’ll see you next week on Mondays with Mindi! Feel free to leave questions or comments below - and my inbox is open if you want to message me directly! :)👇
