How Does Klout Measure Your Business’s Score?
Online influence is a growing factor when it comes to attracting new customers and connecting with the right influencers in your niche. Thankfully there are tools online that help build an authentic brand image and provide public data on a user’s credibility and impact.
One such service, Klout, now owned by Lithium Technologies since 2014, provides a rating score of 0 to 100 based on a number of factors including published works, social media connections and activity, and whether a business or person has an established Wikipedia page. But much of Klout’s unique algorithm has been kept under wraps until recently.
Lithium published a new report in an October press release on how scores are currently being calculated. Currently there are 750 million users who are being measured with 45 billion daily interactions online along with 3,600 other public actions. “Individuals can gauge their full social footprint,” the report states, “and brands can take advantage of this huge swath of data to better understand and engage customers in a personalized way.”
In a separate report on Klout data Lithium has outlined the benefits of social measurement including:
● Getting to know your customers’ preferences
● Engaging with high-level influencers in your niche
● Using Topics to identify experts and identify customer interests
● Find related leads through other networks
As the company continues to evolve and shift with a stronger emphasis on mobile marketing your business can take advantage of building your influence and using the Klout tool to find better connections and leads.
Here are a few points from the report on exactly how influence is measured for brands and businesses:
● Determine which social networks to connect carefully – While it is tempting to connect all of your active social networks on Klout it’s important to note that the report reveals each one has different API restrictions set up for access, which could directly impact your score. Such is the case with LinkedIn, whereas Twitter and Facebook allow for more data measurement:
Klout will measure the quality of your interactions based on a user’s score and online influence. The higher the number the larger the impact, like this example from a recent quote on my @SusanGilbert Twitter account:
Quality content is also a factor in determining influence, which appears prominently on a user’s profile like this profile for luxury travel and marketing specialist, Ann Tran:
● Real-time influence – It’s important to note that the Klout report shows that both online and offline public interactions count toward an individual or business’s score. Their Perk program, which was used a Beta program, tracked user response rates and reactions to offers from large companies in this graph:
Additionally, the status of users also revealed impact on influence in their study of ATP Tennis Player Ranking verus Forbes Most Powerful Women Ranking:
Anything that is made known to the public such as a highly ranked published book on Amazon, news articles, press releases, media interviews, ect. can all have an impact on your business’s score.
When it comes to calculating a Klout score for your business it’s good to understand their basic methods, which are subject to change as social media continues to become more people-driven as seen in the recent updates to Google Plus. While Klout has it’s naysayers and isn’t perfect, social measurement is a great way to not only find out the authentic influence of an individual or company, but also helps you qualify leads. As a trusted brand it’s important to understand exactly how your company is being perceived as well in order to establish a credible reputation that stands above the rest.
Susan Gilbert
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