SYSTEM AND METHOD TO DETERMINE A COMPANY ACCOUNT INTEREST SCORE OR SALES LEAD INTEREST SCORE

1 . A method for deriving an account interest score for a potential account of an organization, the method comprising:

for a product or service provided by the organization, receiving a first individual interest score of a first user and a second individual interest score of a second user;

using member-provided employment information included in member profile information of a social networking service, determining that the first user and the second user are both current employees of a company representing the potential account of the organization;

generating, using at least one computer processor, the account interest score for the potential account, for the product or service, based on combining the first individual interest score and the second individual interest score, the first individual interest score being weighted to reflect a seniority level of the first user and the second individual interest score being weighted to reflect the seniority level of the second user, the respective seniority levels derived based on information included in the respective member profiles of the first user and the second user as maintained by the social networking service; and

identifying the account as a lead based on determining that the account interest score exceeds some threshold.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving of the first individual interest score comprises:

receiving input data that pertains to an interaction by the first user with an item of digital content related to the product or service;

identifying, based on the input data, a type of interaction by the first user with the item of digital content, the type of interaction being one of a plurality of types of interaction;

receiving an interaction score for the type of interaction by the first user and an interaction count that identifies a number of times the first user engaged in the type of interaction with the item of digital content during a pre-determined period of time; and

generating the first individual interest score of the first user for the product or service based on one or more interaction scores and one or more interaction counts for one or more types of interaction by the first user, including the interaction score and the interaction count.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

producing a first weighted interaction score by assigning a first weight to the interaction score based on the type of interaction by the first user; and wherein

the generating of the first individual interest score is based on the first weighted interaction score.

4 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

producing a first weighted interaction score by assigning a first weight to the interaction score based on a type of item of digital content; and wherein

the generating of the first individual interest score is based on the first weighted interaction score.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a level of purchasing influence of the first user for the product or service within the account based on information extracted from account data or the social graph data maintained by a social networking service;

producing a first weighted individual interest score by assigning a first weight to the first individual interest score based on the level of purchasing influence of the first user; and wherein

the generating of the account interest score is based on the first weighted individual interest score.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating of the account interest score comprises:

assigning the first individual interest score to a first group of individual interest scores based on the first individual interest score falling within a first range of individual interest scores and the second individual interest score to a second group of individual interest scores based on the second individual interest score falling within a second range of individual interest scores, the second range being different from the first range;

determining a first group weighted score of the first group based on aggregating individual interest scores of the first group and assigning a first weight to a resulting first group aggregate score;

determining a second group weighted score of the second group based on aggregating individual interest scores of the second group and assigning a second weight to a resulting second group aggregate score; and

determining an account interest score based on aggregating the first group weighted score with the second group weighted score.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein

the first individual interest score being weighted based on assigning a first weight to the first individual interest score to reflect a seniority of the first user at the company representing the potential account of the organization; wherein

the second individual interest score being weighted based on assigning a second weight to the second individual interest score to reflect a seniority level of the second user at the company representing the potential account of the organization; and wherein

the generating of the account interest score is based on aggregating the first weighted individual interest score and the second weighted individual interest score.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

producing a first weighted individual interest score by assigning a first weight to the first individual interest score based on a job title of the first user;

producing a second weighted individual interest score by assigning a second weight to the second individual interest score based on a job title of the second user; and wherein

the generating of the account interest score is based on aggregating the first weighted individual interest score and the second weighted individual interest score.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

re-calculating the first individual interest score based on an indication of an increased interest of the first user in the product or service; and

re-generating the account interest score based on the re-calculated first individual interest score.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

identifying the indication of an increased interest of the first user in the product or service based on determining that a plurality of interactions by the first user with one or more items of digital content related to the product or service over a pre-determined period of time exceeds an interaction frequency threshold score.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining one or more indicia of an account's propensity to purchase the product or service based on at least one of company profile data, social graph data, or behavioral data maintained by a social networking service for the entity represented by the account; and

producing a weighted account interest score by assigning a weight to the account interest score based on the one or more indicia of the account's propensity to purchase the product or service.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying the account as a buying candidate based on determining that the account interest score exceeds a buyer threshold score.

13 . (canceled)

14 . A system for deriving an account interest score for a potential account of an organization, the system comprising:

a computer memory including a database; and

a server including at least one computer processor configured to implement:

an account membership module configured to determine, using member-provided employment information included in member profile information of a social networking service that a first user and a second user are both current employees of a company representing the potential account of the organization; and

an account score module configured to

receive, for a product or service provided by the organization, a first individual interest score of the first user and a second individual interest score of the second user,

generate the account interest score for the potential account, for the product or service, based on combining the first individual interest score and the second individual interest score, the first individual interest score being weighted to reflect a seniority level of the first user and the second individual interest score being weighted to reflect the seniority level of the second user, the respective seniority levels derived based on information included in the respective member profiles of the first user and the second user as maintained by the social networking service, and

identify the account as a lead based on determining that the account interest score exceeds some threshold.

15 . The system of claim 14 , further comprising:

an activity tracking module configured to receive input data that pertains to an interaction by the first user with an item of digital content related to the product or service;

an identification module configured to identify, based on the input data, a type of interaction by the first user with the item of digital content, the type of interaction being one of a plurality of types of interaction; and

an individual score module configured to

receive an interaction score for the type of interaction by the first user and an interaction count that identifies a number of times the first user engaged in the type of interaction with the item of digital content during a pre-determined period of time, and

generate the first individual interest score of the first user for the product or service based on one or more interaction scores and one or more interaction counts for one or more types of interaction by the first user, including the interaction score and the interaction count.

16 . The system of claim 15 , further comprising:

a weight module configured to produce a first weighted interaction score by assigning a first weight to the interaction score based on the type of interaction by the first user; and

wherein the generating of the first individual interest score is based on the first weighted interaction score.

17 . The system of claim 15 , further comprising:

a weight module configured to produce a first weighted interaction score by assigning a first weight to the interaction score based on a type of item of digital content; and

wherein the generating of the first individual interest score is based on the first weighted interaction score.

18 . The system of claim 14 , wherein

the account membership module is further configured to determine a level of purchasing influence of the first user for the product or service within the account based on information extracted from account data or the social graph data maintained by a social networking service; further comprising:

a weight module configured to produce a first weighted individual interest score by assigning a first weight to the first individual interest score based on the level of purchasing influence of the first user; and wherein

the generating of the account interest score is based on the first weighted individual interest score.

19 . The system of claim 14 , further comprising:

a grouping module configured to assign the first individual interest score to a first group of individual interest scores based on the first individual interest score falling within a first range of individual interest scores and the second individual interest score to a second group of individual interest scores based on the second individual interest score falling within a second range of individual interest scores, the second range being different from the first range;

a group score module configured to

determine a first group weighted score of the first group based on aggregating individual interest scores of the first group and assigning a first weight to a resulting first group aggregate score and

determine a second group weighted score of the second group based on aggregating individual interest scores of the second group and assigning a second weight to a resulting second group aggregate score; and wherein

the account score module is further configured to determine the account interest score based on aggregating the first group weighted score with the second group weighted score.

20 . The system of claim 14 , wherein

the weight module is further configured to

weight the first individual interest score based on assigning a first weight to the first individual interest score to reflect a seniority of the first user at the company representing the potential account of the organization and

weight the second individual interest score based on assigning a second weight to the second individual interest score to reflect a seniority of the second user at the company representing the potential account of the organization; and

the generating of the account interest score is based on aggregating the first weighted individual interest score and the second weighted individual interest score.

21 . The system of claim 14 , wherein

the weight module is further configured to

produce a first weighted individual interest score by assigning a first weight to the first individual interest score based on a job title of the first user and

produce a second weighted individual interest score by assigning a second weight to the second individual interest score based on a job title of the second user; and

the generating of the account interest score is based on aggregating the first weighted individual interest score and the second weighted individual interest score.

22 . The system of claim 14 , wherein

the individual score module is further configured to re-calculate the first individual interest score based on an indication of an increased interest of the first user in the product or service; and

the account score module is further configured to re-generate the account interest score based on the re-calculated first individual interest score.

23 . The system of claim 22 , wherein

the individual score module is further configured to identify the indication of an increased interest of the first user in the product or service based on determining that a plurality of interactions by the first user with one or more items of digital content related to the product or service over a pre-determined period of time exceeds an interaction frequency threshold score.

24 . The system of claim 14 , wherein

the account membership module is further configured to determine one or more indicia of an account's propensity to purchase the product or service based on at least one of company profile data, social graph data, or behavioral data maintained by a social networking service for the entity represented by the account; and

the weight module is further configured to produce a weighted account interest score by assigning a weight to the account interest score based on the one or more indicia of the account's propensity to purchase the product or service.

25 . The system of claim 14 , wherein

the account score module is further configured to identify the account as a buying candidate based on determining that the account interest score exceeds a buyer threshold score.

26 . (canceled)

27 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium for deriving an account interest score for a potential account of an organization, the non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when implemented by one or more processors, perform the following operations:

for a product or service provided by the organization, receiving a first individual interest score of a first user and a second individual interest score of a second user;

using member-provided employment information included in member profile information of a social networking service, determining that the first user and the second user are both current employees of a company representing the potential account of the organization;

generating the account interest score for the potential account, for the product or service, based on combining the first individual interest score and the second individual interest score, the first individual interest score being weighted to reflect a seniority level of the first user and the second individual interest score being weighted to reflect the seniority level of the second user, the respective seniority levels derived based on information included in the respective member profiles of the first user and the second user as maintained by the social networking service; and

identifying the account as a lead based on determining that the account interest score exceeds some threshold.