A Marketer’s job is all about influencing others. And when it comes to measuring influence, you simply can’t ignore Klout – undoubtedly the Internet’s most happening social media influence metric service that measures how many people you influence (“True Reach”), how much you influence them (“Amplification”), and how much they influence others (“Network”).
Though Klout has been around for almost 4 years, it’s been in the news off-late for bringing about large-scale changes – an overhaul to its scoring model with insights to help people understand changes in your influence. Though there are several other social influence measurement services on the Internet, Klout has leaped in popularity thanks largely to sponsored freebies called Klout Perks. Eligibility for a particular Perk is based upon the user’s Klout score, topics of influence, and/or geographic location. Perks include products, services, “experiences” (like invitations to special events and test drives of a new car), and discounts.
If you haven’t heard about Klout, you should perhaps go and check it out first. If you are a marketer and a Klout user, should you worry about your Klout score? Let’s try and dig deeper into the various aspects of your Klout score calculation.
A measure of influence
There’ve been mixed reactions over the way in which Klout calculates the overall score and how it measures your overall influence. While some experts believe that Klout mistakenly uses the number of fans or followers and shares or retweets as being indicative of influence, others believe it’s hard to find a please-all algorithm to calculate a marketer’s measure of influence.
Though Klout doesn’t reveal its algorithm in public, it’s believed that the overall influence score is calculated based on a number of factors including how much a user’s content is “shared” and “commented” on. Further, you are considered to be influential when your actions induce your friends/followers to behave like you, e.g., buying a new product, in choosing a brand over another etc.
Rewards
Though perks are a key part of its ecosystem, Klout is much more than merely being a reward system. A number of companies offer freebies such as iTunes card, Macy’s gift card and other such rewards as Klout Perks primarily to get publicity and potentially new customers. It’s a win-win situation for all parties – companies get attention, marketers get eyeballs, people get free things and Klout takes the credit for putting it all together.
Hiring
Klout is fast emerging as a valuable hiring tool for companies. Employers asking candidates about their Klout score is no longer an unexpected interview question. As a candidate, you can’t be sure if your prospect employer uses Klout or not. Therefore, if possible, you (marketers included) should try and maintain a high Klout score.
A lot of companies even include Klout score as a metric for conducting employee performance reviews, thereby making it a crucial factor which affects people’s livelihoods.
Do you actively monitor your Klout score? Do you think it’s a good metric to evaluate a social marketer’s influence? Please share your opinion by leaving a comment.
I would love to weigh something positive about klout but in the time the I have been using it it has become less and less valuable to my daily tweet. About the only aspect of klout that I even find useful is giving +k’s but that is because I find it a very handy way of uping my social engagement see The Rules of Social Media Engagement (http://bit.ly/oqxn9B).
As for employers using klout scores as a basis of hiring well it just another example of what is wrong with business today. Granted this is just one man’s perspective but over all I no longer find klout relevant.
cheers,
Mikel
http://jafdip.com
Unfortunately for Klout, many users are beginning to hold your view related the relevance of its score, hence, the title of this article. Deeper analysis of the Klout score algorithm reveals they are more or less trying harder to appeal to its enterprise user base. As I briefly mentioned in response to @twitter-108190753:disqus , perks are directed more toward frequent social platform users, mistaking frequency for engagement.
As for employers, don’t have to blame them much. They’re acting inline with what someone told them is cool right now and they believed it.
Douglas,
After I read your article, I checked out your Klout score. You have a 54. I have a 46. There are two things about those previous two sentences that I disagree with.
First, if people looked at these numbers, they would think that we aren’t very influential. That obviously isn’t fair because it is a number… We work so hard at networking and in the end, our work is summed up in one number. I personally don’t like that. Do you?
Second, our numbers show that we were almost equal in terms of “influence.” How in the world is that even remotely possible? You are brilliant marketer, a best selling author and a phenomenal speaker. Do you know what I am? A little known SM marketer who lives in College Station, TX who has very limited influence… I find it to be a dis-service to you when Klout claims that you have slightly more influence than me… Sure, that may boost my ego some but then I realize that I don’t even compare to your influence and to say that I am influential is a flat out lie.
Please try to focus on what you do best and I will continue to listen/read:)
When it comes to the Klout score algorithm Thanks for your great words , I’m humbled by them , unfortunately the amount of time spent on social platform has a big sway on sum. This is also, IMO, its greatest weakness as it can easily be manipulated by savvy users.
Thanks for your great words Peter, I’m humbled by them.
When it comes to the Klout score algorithm @twitter-108190753:disqus , unfortunately the amount of time spent on social platforms has a big sway on sum digit. This is also, IMO, its greatest weakness as it can easily be manipulated by savvy users.
Thanks for your great words Peter, I’m humbled by them.
Interestingly I have a Klout score of 54 as well and it used to be 59 before the new Klout algorithm changes were implemented. Who am I? I’m actually a college student in Boston with a mere 400 Twitter followers.
It’s interesting because my Klout score is higher than my boss at the agency I intern at, as well as our VP of digital. Klout doesn’t factor in your followers or following. My Klout score has been so high because I keep a small pool of reasonably engaged networks. Why Klout doesn’t measure follower size is a bit of a puzzle to me.
Great post Douglas! I’m actually writing a story on Klout for The Next Great Generation (http://www.thenextgreatgeneration.com, we get posted on HuffPo). If anyone here would like to add their two cents I have open ears at hnmurakami@gmail.com.
Douglas, I have been studying this a lot for more than a year and despite the emotion, the turmoil and the controversy, it is an important trend. I wrote a blog post about why (too complicated to include here!) that your readers might enjoy. I think it provides a much different view of what is really going on … http://www.businessesgrow.com/2011/09/12/why-klout-matters-a-lot/
Thanks for the great post!
I really enjoyed your take on the subject Mark. Especially, how you covered the major influence catalysts; those are what would-be influencers should focus on and not a sum digit representation of what influence is or should be.
I encourage anyone reading this to checkout Mark’s post. Great take on the subject as well.
I’ve never liked the results as an application Klout have to be taken into account.
-Apparently is twitter based only.
– Those who are really busy working on social media just do not have time to be tweeting all day, even automatically or anyway.
– Funny, if it is, and nothing more. I can not imagine a CEO asking for your Klout score, is laughable!
” Those who are really busy working on social media just do not have time to be tweeting all day, even automatically or anyway.”
That’s what I’m saying! My boss wouldn’t be happy if I spent all day working on my personal Twitter brand – I’m dealing with social a lot, every day, but my Klout score doesn’t take into account the corporate accounts I manage. I’d hope any potential employer would understand that …
I’m pretty aware of my Klout score, but I would be pretty dismayed to be
asked for it in an interview. That, to me, actually goes totally
against the entire point of being active in social. It is about creating
relationships, conversation, interacting with HUMANS. Basing my success
solely on an algorithm is counter-intuitive to that agenda.
Klout
is awesome in many respects, but there are many reasons that someone
would have a lower score and still be a good social networker.
Do you think Klout is going to consolidate ad a reference?
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