Does Your Klout Score Really Matter?
Colleen Fielder | @yogirlcfield
If you felt anxious as soon as you read “Klout Score,” take a deep breath. It’s not as scary as it sounds. A Klout Score is a specific number anywhere from 1–100 that expresses your influence. Your influence refers to your presence on social media. For instance, if you post a tweet and many people respond, odds are you have influence. Celebrities and political figures have influence and as a result have a high Klout Score.
Klout.com launched in 2009 and received its fair share of critics. Some questioned its methods, saying the score was meaningless, but within the last few years, Klout has grown in popularity. Gina Carr (Klout Score 78), an entrepreneur and the author of “Klout Matters: How To Engage Customers […]” said this in an interview with Business News Daily:
“Klout matters today for those who are influencers or those who want to be influential. This is particularly true for people like authors, professional speakers, actors, marketing professionals and other thought leaders. It is particularly important today for people in marketing for any enterprise. Decisions today are made based on influence, and Klout provides a good way to quantify the amount of influence a person has online.”
It’s important to note that Gina believes those focused on a tighter audience don’t necessarily need to bother with their Klout Score. Klout is most needed when trying to reach a wide audience.
So how is it calculated? It’s a pretty intense algorithm that combines your influence on all your social platforms. Specifically on Facebook, the number of likes, comments, wall posts and friends will build your score. Instagram is based on followers, likes, comments and the number of photos you’ve posted. Twitter is followers, retweets and mentions. LinkedIn is connections, recommendations and comments. The list goes on.
The more networks you add into your Klout Score algorithm, the more accurate it will be. Just because someone has a large amount of followers or friends doesn’t necessarily relate to a high score. It’s engagement that matters. Klout.com allows you to connect all your social networks and will calculate your score. Don’t have the score you wanted? Don’t stress! This isn’t a credit score. Your Klout Score can improve simply by interacting with others and with small changes to your content. Find others with a high Klout Score and start talking! Examine your followers. What interests them? What do they care about? Find a happy medium between creating and sharing content that excites you as well as your followers.
If this hasn’t already been made clear, your Klout Score MATTERS. It can help you get hired because it shows knowledge and authority concerning your content. It is becoming standard for employers to check an applicant's Klout Score, especially for any kind of social media position. More importantly, it helps you simply to engage with your consumer. These days, a strong understanding of social media as well as the ability to connect with others through social media is an extremely valuable and necessary skill.
So what are you waiting for? Get calculating! Or rather have klout.com do it for you. That’s too much math.