We don’t want to sound like a broken record, but the significance of detailed and advanced analytics can’t be overstated – especially in the incredibly competitive world of social selling. 

While we talk a lot about tracking analytics, we want to explain today how ReadyForSocial collects essential data and gets critical insights from these numbers to drive results. 

Why analytics matter in B2B social selling

Analytics play a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of social selling strategies, providing sales teams with indispensable insights into their performance, engagement levels, and return on investment (ROI). According to a study by LinkedIn, 89% of top-performing B2B sales professionals cite analytics as crucial for understanding customer needs and preferences. These metrics offer a window into the effectiveness of various tactics deployed by sales teams, shedding light on which strategies resonate most with prospects and drive meaningful interactions. 

By leveraging analytics, sales teams can pinpoint areas of strength and weakness in their social selling efforts, enabling them to refine their approach and allocate resources more effectively. This data-driven approach enhances engagement and conversion rates and ensures that sales teams are equipped to adapt to evolving market dynamics and customer preferences.

What key performance indicators matter most for social selling

Several key performance indicators (KPIs) are crucial for measuring the effectiveness of social selling efforts, especially on LinkedIn. Some critical KPIs include:

1. Engagement rate: The engagement rate measures the level of interaction with your content, such as likes, comments, and shares. A higher engagement rate indicates that your content resonates with your audience and drives conversations.
2. Reach and impressions: These metrics quantify the number of people who have seen your content (impressions) and the unique individuals reached by your posts. Tracking reach and impressions provides insights into the visibility of your content and its potential impact.
3. Click-through rate (CTR): CTR measures the percentage of people who clicked on a link or call-to-action in the posts your sales team shares. It indicates the effectiveness of your content in driving traffic to your website or landing pages.
4. Content performance: Analyzing the performance of specific content pieces, such as blog posts, articles, or videos, provides insights into which types of content resonate best with your target audience and drive the most engagement.
5. Network size: A larger network provides sales professionals with a broader reach and access to a larger pool of potential prospects and decision-makers. A sizable network allows salespeople to expand their reach and visibility, increasing the likelihood of engaging with relevant prospects and generating leads. A larger network also enhances credibility and authority within the industry, as it signifies a strong professional presence and influence. However, quality matters just as much, if not more. It’s essential to focus on building meaningful connections with individuals who are genuinely interested in your products or services and are likely to engage with your content. 
6. Competitive insights: Monitoring competitors’ social selling activities, such as content strategy, engagement levels, and market positioning, provides valuable benchmarking data and informs strategic decision-making.

Individual analytics for sales members

Individual analytics empower sales professionals to measure the impact of their social selling activities. Metrics such as engagements, shares, reach, and profile views offer valuable feedback on the effectiveness of their content and engagement strategies. By tracking these metrics, sales members can identify patterns, optimize their approach, and tailor their outreach to better resonate with their target audience.

ReadyForSocial’s personalized analytics offers comprehensive insights into each salesperson’s social selling performance on LinkedIn and other social media channels. This tool allows users to track various metrics to measure their outreach and engagement levels. 

Users can discover how much content they share each week and the size of the audience they reach. They can also monitor the new connections they acquire, providing valuable insights into their networking efforts. 

These statistics, visible inside every user’s RFS account, also help understand the engagement each post receives, including the number of clicks and click-through rates to the shared articles. Additionally, personal analytics identify which posts get the most attention, empowering your sales professionals to tailor their individual content mix for maximum impact. 

Users can also see their RFS score inside their account. The RFS score measures their relative gains and successes compared to their entire team. It is based on user activity (number of posts), user following (size and dynamic), generated engagement on social media, and three incentive metrics — number of LinkedIn followers updated in RFS, likes on X (formerly Twitter) and retweets through the RFS app, and share through the RFS app.

Team analytics for your entire company

Team analytics serve as a comprehensive dashboard that offers a panoramic view of social selling performance within an organization. According to research by CSO Insights, teams that leverage analytics effectively are 33% more likely to be high performers in their industry. These analytics encompass various metrics, including collective engagement levels, content performance, and the overall impact on key performance indicators (KPIs). 

The RFS team sends weekly and monthly reports to each client that offer a deep dive into their teams’ analytics. The reports help you understand your team’s overall performance, top players, and top-performing content. More importantly, they show a comparison to previous weeks and months, enabling you to see trends and adjust your content strategy accordingly to reach your desired social media results.

By monitoring these analytics, sales leaders gain valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of their social selling initiatives, enabling them to make informed decisions and strategic adjustments. Identifying top performers allows organizations to leverage their success as benchmarks for best practices while pinpointing improvement areas and providing targeted coaching and training where necessary. Moreover, team analytics facilitate alignment across departments, ensuring everyone works toward common goals and objectives.

RFS analytics vs. LinkedIn analytics

According to a Forrester report, organizations that invest in advanced analytics tools experience a 20% increase in sales. ReadyForSocial distinguishes itself by offering robust analytics capabilities that are finely tuned to the nuances of social selling and adhere to international data compliance and protection standards.

Using the LinkedIn API, RFS gives users visibility into their social selling efforts, allowing for comprehensive insights beyond surface-level metrics. Unlike generic analytics tools, which may lack specificity and relevance to social selling, RFS analytics are tailored to the unique needs of B2B sales teams, offering deeper granularity and actionable insights that drive tangible results. This specialization is crucial, as research by Aberdeen Group reveals that companies using advanced analytics in their sales processes achieve 58% higher quota attainment. 

Additional reports and analytics by RFS

In addition to personalized and team analytics, ReadyForSocial offers reporting tools to further enhance your social selling strategy. 

• Benchmark reports provide valuable insights by comparing your performance metrics with industry peers, offering valuable benchmarks for improvement. 
• Our team can also generate reports for specific time frames, such as quarterly or yearly, allowing you to track progress over time and identify trends. 
• User reports provide detailed insights into individual sales team member’s performance, facilitating targeted coaching and training initiatives. 
• Content reports, so-called post preview reports, offer a comprehensive overview of your content mix, including used wording, voices, hashtags, links, and publications. 

With ReadyForSocial’s extensive reporting capabilities, you can gain deeper insights into your social selling efforts and drive success in your B2B sales endeavors.

Are you ready to use data to your advantage?

Analytics are the cornerstone of effective social selling in B2B. With ReadyForSocial, sales teams have the tools they need to harness the power of analytics and drive results that propel their business forward.

According to a McKinsey study, companies that leverage analytics extensively are more than twice as likely to generate above-average profits as those that do not. 

Contact us if you would like to learn more about our analytics and how they can help your team outperform the competition.