What is Klout Score, and How Can My Business Benefit From It?

While social media is still an evolving web of technologies, social scientists and engineers are already figuring out ways to measure it. We’ve told you about the importance of measuring your EdgeRank  on Facebook in order to make sure more people are seeing your posts. However, a marketing tool called your “Klout Score” helps to determine the strength of your overall web presence.

Using data from social networks in which you participate, Klout measures your True Reach, or the number of actual people who are utilizing the information you put out into cyberspace via Facebook, Twitter, and more. For example, when you post something interesting on a social network, your true reach score measures how many people “retweet” or share that information and/or respond to it.

Your Amplification Score measures how much of an impact you have on people using social networks (like Facebook) and the likelihood that these individuals will be dynamically engaged by your social media activity. It quantifies the probability that your friends, follower, connections, etc. will take action regarding your messages (likes, comments, @messages, etc.).

Network Score calculates the influence of the people in your “True Reach.” If other top social media users are engaged in your activity and taking action based on your tweets or posts, your Network Score will be higher. For example, celebrities often reply to and retweet each other’s Twitter posts, increasing the Network Score of both parties since so many fans generally follow famous people.

This measure of the number of people following you, how much you influence them, and how influential your followers all come together to form your Klout Score, a number between 1 and 100. A score of 100 is the most influential and has only been reached by one person—Justin Bieber. Klout Scoring claims to help users learn to leverage their influence and discover reputable sources of information on social networks.

For businesses, finding out your Klout Score and how to maximize it based on your social media marketing goals and client interests can help to amplify your online presence. You can also tailor what you post to be the most useful to your clients and help increase your number of followers.

Klout Score is calculated by a specific algorithm, but there are plenty of tips published as to how to increase yours. Here are some of McCauley Services’ Klout tips: Because Klout Score measures how many people are interacting with you, start a discussion so social media users will feel compelled to get involved. Also, you can engage with top influencers. This is sort of like the theory of popularity in high school, the more you hang out with the cool kids, the cooler you seem. The same goes for your Klout Score, the more you interact with higher scoring social media users, the higher your score.

While looking into your Klout Score is helpful, it’s important to realize that it’s just one piece of a larger marketing strategy. At McCauley Marketing Services, we help our clients formulate a comprehensive marketing plan involving social media, website design, print ads, and more. For more information, peruse our website and check us out on Facebook and Twitter.