Well, in the last post I talked about the influencer in social media. I even went so far as to share a few tips to identify them. What I omitted was how to measure the degree of influence? With social media growing at such a rapid pace, businesses are grappling on how to measure the degree of influence any one individual actually has. What is an effective method of measuring one’s reach, audience persuasion and in essence clout? As a result of this need, a handful of organizations have evolved in attempting to provide metrics on how to measure just that.
Klout is such one company.
Klout is a company that provides social media metrics that measures a person’s influence across their social sites. It started by using data collected from individuals’ Twitter accounts however as of today, it has included a number of other social sites, namely: Facebook, Google Plus, Linkedin, YouTube, Foursquare, Flickr, Instagram, Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress and Last.fm. Individuals connect their accounts to Klout, then Klout assesses their activity and provides an overall rating from 1 (low clout/influence) to 100 (high clout/influence). This is perhaps the simple version of their approach (my mantra) however there is merit in understanding this rating in more detail and its implications.
The Klout Rating
The Klout rating is based on an algorithm related to:
- Network Reach: Your reach is the size of your engaged audience. It addresses the question of ” How far can your message reach?”
- Amplification: Your amplification is based on the level of “action” your message or information drives eg the level of retweets, likes, shares, comments to a post, article etc. It addresses the question of ”How much does your audience take action?”
- Network Influence: This measure addresses how “influential” is your engaged audience/connections or “How persuasive is your audience?”.
A combination of all these scores give you one rating known as your Klout Rating
What Influencer Type Are You?
In addition to the above rating, Klout also assigns a behavioral style based on how you interact with your audience ie your level of listening, participating, sharing, creating, how focused you are with your topics and the frequency of your shares. The categories or behavioural types are: Observer, Explorer, Dabbler, Conversationalist Activist, Socializer, Syndicater, Feeder, Thought leader, Specialist, Networker, Pundit, Curator, Broadcaster, Taste Maker and Celebrity.
What Topics Are You Influential About?
Klout also reports on the topics that you are influential about. After a period of time on Klout, Klout lists the topics where you have influence and you are added to a Klout topical list. Once your influential topics are listed, other Klout members can recognize this influence by giving you a “+K”. Collecting these “Ks” is another form of recognition. Below you can see my profile with my overall rating and other components are described.
Klout site as a Social Community.
What I don’t see is a sense of social community on the Klout site. So although it measures social activity on the internet, I don’t see a social presence on its site. There is very little there to help you improve your social media ability.
So What Does This All Mean To You? And Does It Really Matter?
Remember this rating is based on a mathematical algorithm. It is a useful tool that should be used as guide. The ratings still needs work. I will share the example of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Facebook below.
As I looked up those who are influential on the topic of Facebook, I was very surprised that the CEO had an overall rating of 57 and was definitely not the most influential regarding Facebook. This demonstrates that work is still required. The topics and ratings are not necessarily accurate. I (with my rating of 58) certainly do not have more influence than Mark Zuckerberg (with his rating of 57) and hence the assessments have a few flaws. In our society your level of influence and reach have always been assessed and like it or not are important levers. Having a way of measuring individual’s level of influence is a very valuable asset. Klout has recognized this and is feverishly striving to become the gold standard for measuring influence in social media. Klout’s excellent marketing strategies have paid off. Like a credit score or rating, it has become increasingly important to know your Klout rating especially as businesses increases its acceptance for the K-rating. Although it is still very early in its maturity and has yet to evolve to be truly effective, Klout’s increasing popularity cannot be ignored.
Here are 10 examples of how Klout ratings are being used:
- Free Flights for Top Influencers: Virgin America has partnered with Klout to extend free flights from Toronto to San Francisco or Las Vegas
- Personalized Social Media Promotions on Facebook pages that are customized to your Klout score. There is an App that will enable companies to deliver different pages of their Facebook depending on your Klout score. The term is called Fan-gating where your experience on the site is determined by your Klout score.
- Funny or Die access. Top Klout influencers can earn first access to Funny or Die content previews, products and exclusive events.
- The Klout Club at The Palms Hotel, LA. The Palm Hotel uses Klout scores to gauge discounts for hotel guest and exclusive amenities.
- Marriott Hotel discounts. The Marriot checks you in and checks your Klout score simultaneously to make a decision on whether they will give you an upgrade or not.
- Speakers. Some speakers are being selected for an event as a result of their high Klout score.
- Guest Bloggers. Similar to speakers, some guest bloggers are invited to blog as a result of their Klout rating.
- Subway Restaurant gift cards. The restaurant offers gift cards to those with high Klout ratings.
- Special Event Access.. As with the header image shown in this post, events are beginning to be catered to an audience with a certain Klout rating. In the case of Bal Harbour Shops Fashion event , you had to have a rating of at least 40 to get in.
- The Hiring Process. The recruitment sector is beginning to create a short list of candidates with a certain Klout score as it relates to the job opportunity.
So let me leave you with a last thought and consideration. Your Klout rating can be assessed without you joining Klout (as shown the example above). Your connections will be aware of your Klout ratings even if you are not part of the Klout membership. My advice is, like a credit rating, you should be aware of this score so that you know what information is out on the internet regarding your perceived influence. I would use the ratings as “directional” ie providing a gauge on an individual’s presence in the social media arena. However, I would also do the research to acquire additional context for that influence. Without a doubt, one should keep an eye on the evolution of Klout particularly as it influences the way marketers are beginning to think about their audience.
Wow! A little longer than I had intended. Thank you for popping by. If you enjoyed this post, you can help my Klout rating by going into action: like, share and/or comment. Cheers!
Shirley
Cartoon used with permission of Cartoonist.
Related articles
- Klout grows beyond influence score, adds Topic Pages (venturebeat.com)
- Twitter’s value as a marketing tool to have us spread word is unclear. (Columbus Dispatch)
- Is Klout a good judge of your social media influence? (socialexaminer.com)
- Can Klout really measure influence? (socialfresh.com)
- Klout’s New Topic Pages Reveal Content Influencers (mashable.com)
- 6 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2011 (mashable.com)
- Facebook Pages Can Now be Personalized Based on Klout Score (mashable.com)
- Klout Can Now Het you Exclusives at Funny or Die (mashable.com)
- 5 Masterminds Redefining Social Media Marketing (mashable.com)
- Your Klout Score: Why you need to care now (B2C.com)
- Klout and Recruitment ( careerbuilder.com)
- Klout: your online medium has a message about you (thehashtagger.wordpress.com)
- Your Klout Score: Why You Need to Care Now (shanecrombie.com)
