Posts tagged how do I raise my klout score
Does +K affect your Klout score? (and other juicy Klout nuggets!)
Jul 10th
I’ve been wondering about this new +K function on Klout — an ability to reward people for their “influence” on certain subjects. In fact I thought the development was somewhat disturbing because it seems to invite people to game the system.
I know a lot of people hate the idea of being rated on Klout but I am sincerely impressed by the way the young company is pursuing a disciplined and rigorous approach to creating a constantly-improving approximation for influence. It’s far from perfect, but I give them props for focusing on the right thing — improving their algorithms by investing millions of dollars in technology and PhD-level resources.
So why in the world would they open themselves up to be gamed with this new +K thing? I am already seeing people ASK to be awarded +K points in hopes of raising their score as they seek valuable new Klout Perks.
Well, as it turns out, the +K designation is fairly meaningless at this point. I asked Klout co-founder Joe Fernandez about this innovation and here is his answer:
“The +K award does not affect your Klout score,” he said. “We put it out for a few reasons – to drive engagement and to help build-out our models around topics.”
Joe compared it to a personal “like” button to reward somebody for a job well done. “If I came to Knoxville and you recommended a restaurant to me and I went there, I should be able to give you a +K to acknowledge that. Or if I’m sitting at a conference and listening to a panel where somebody is making amazing points I never thought of – I should be able to give them a +K and reward them. That’s the idea.”
Joe did not discount the possibility that +K points could play a role in assessing influence. “We would not dismiss the possibility that it might be factored in some day, but the integrity of the score is so important so we would have to take baby steps. When we put the +K feature out, we didn’t even know if anybody would use it or what would happen. We’re analyzing the data now. Everything we look at is user-generated content, no different than a re-Tweet. We have to just be smart as to how we include +K– if it ever gets included at all.”
Here are a couple more Klout score nuggets I learned from Joe:
Influence of multiple platforms –While Klout is only connected to a few social media platforms today, it may be integrated with dozens in the next few months. Being spread thin across these networks does not necessarily help your Klout score. “As far as somebody being on three social networks versus 50, we’re network agnostic,” Joe said. “So if you’re just on Yelp or Twitter or Facebook, you could have a higher score than somebody who has a little influence but on more social networks.”
The factors of influence — Klout’s official blog names 35 different factors being considered when weighing on influence but that list is already climbing as the company learns more about the nature of online influence. “We are constantly adding factors,” Fernandez said. “I’m guessing we’re over 50 now. Our science team of 10 people — that’s their job every day to refine that and make it better. As we moved from Twitter to other networks, we would have these debates internally about is a Facebook Like equivalent to a Twitter RT … sort of like a currency exchange question! We came to the conclusion that all of these networks are different so every network must have its own ground-up influence algorithm. We have another algorithm that combines the scores for you — not generically for everybody. So, if your most effective platform is Facebook, it will take up the bulk of your scoring and everything else is added in. I think the algorithm will be hundreds of data points or thousands at some point. It’s infinite complexity.”
Artificial connections — I asked Joe about the issue I raised on {grow} last week — how people seem to be using a strategy of trying to artificially connect with people with high Klout scores to improve their own scores. He said that gaming the system this way is difficult: “While much of the score is based on how influential the people are that are interacting with you, it would be really hard to manipulate the score unless you get a bunch of people trying to do it at the same time you are. But they would put their audience (and their score) at risk by helping you with that effort. So, we don’t see anything happening like that on a mass scale but we have a whole team monitoring for that sort of thing, including people with past experience at Google who have already lived through that sort of thing!”
Klout has a big challenge ahead — continue to refine its model, manage growth in a smart way (quadrupling its staff this year) and take advantage of monetization opportunities like Klout Perks. But I do sense it’s gaining traction and they have more or less owned the buzz in this space.
What do you think about Klout? Interested? Obssessed? Or a non-event?
On Twitter, no one can hear you scream
Mar 8th
I had the strangest call from Charlie Sheen yesterday.
“OK man, I’ve got 2 MILLION freaking people following me on Twitter and my Klout score still sucks. Ya gotta help me!”
“Charlie,” I calmly replied, “Klout scores really don’t tell you much of anything. Don’t worry about it.”
“But Mark,” he stammered, “This is all about WINNING my friend. And I am NOT WINNING if I have a Klout score lower than you. That is just pathetic. My tiger blood is raging here. What do I do???”
Sadly, this type of celebrity Twitter rant has become (yawn) routine for me. And every bit of that conversation is absolutely true, except the part about Charlie Sheen calling me.
Well, I do get requests from folks asking for Twitter help every day … usually to re-tweet a notable blog post or perhaps in support of a charity. I’m glad to help where I can but I’ll let you in on a little secret: It doesn’t work.
Some people look at the number of followers I have and a relatively high Klout score and imagine that I can be their gateway to social influence. I’ve been around long enough to know that these factors do not translate into influence at all. Even when I ask people to take action on something I really believe in, typically very little action occurs. This is not a matter of being humble or gracious. It is simply the truth. When I tweet something, it rarely results in tangible action.
Sorry, there is little true influence on Twitter
This phenomenon was also noted in Tom Webster’s fine Brand Savant blog. (It seems like I am quoting him a lot lately!) In an extraordinary measure, he personally contacted every Klout-infested A-list blogger he could think of to help him with a New Zealand earthquake charity appeal.
Tom calculated that the “reach” of his message easily exceeding 600,000. Out of that number, his appeal received 389 clicks and 10 submissions to his cause. Tom admits there were some complications that could have depressed the number but he pithily states that this conversion rate — compliments of some of the world’s greatest Twitter “influencers” — was significantly lower than what would be expected from a random pop-up ad.
In a post on the Networked Nature of Twitter by Megan Garber, she reported that actress Alyssa Milano — with a Klout score of 84 — sent out a tweet to her nearly 1.2 million followers: a link to the Amazon page of a book called Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks & How They Shape Our Lives.
Can you imagine the influence of a tweet from one of Twitter’s biggest stars? Wouldn’t that really help the author’s career?! Well, the impact was zero. Literally zero. Not one additional book sale resulted from the tweet.
I’ve also had my blog posts tweeted by Alyssa and other Twitterati, and while it definitely sends a short-term spike in page views, it has never resulted in any measurable difference in new blog subscribers. In fact, after Guy Kawasaki tweeted my post five times in 24 hours, my blog reader subscriptions went down.
For those swooning over Twitter-derived influence scores like Klout, this should be a wake-up call. It’s true. On Twitter, no one can hear you scream.
But blogs are another matter …
Marketers should be looking for influence in blog communities. That is where the real magic is happening. Tom Webster made an insightful point in his post — The people who finally took action on his request were strong connections nurtured through his blog-oriented relationships.
I have had the same experience. I KNOW I can move my blog community to action and they can move me to action, too. The connections built through a blog community are extremely strong compared to the weak ties on Twitter.
Curiously, blog activity is not accounted for on most of the popular social scoring measures. In fact, Klout is only looking at those weak Twitter ties right now. One measure that seems to at least take a crack at blog influence is Post Rank. Post Rank is one of the milestones used by AdAge to rate the world’s marketing blogs. What does it really measure? Nobody knows for sure … it is certainly an amalgam of tweets, comments and other forms of online engagement taking place between the blogger and the community. I actually hired a CPA to try to de-tangle the formula for this article and she couldn’t do it!
Nevertheless, if you buy into the notion that blogs nurture strong connections that lead to influence, wouldn’t this elevate a measure like Top Rank ahead of something like Klout?
I think REAL influence is taking place in the smaller, stronger groups found in passionate blog communities. I plucked out the top-rated bloggers via Post Rank and yeah, these people certainly exhibit thought leadership and influence on their communities and beyond.
By explanation — most blogs on the AdAge Power 150 are run by companies, have a staff of bloggers, or aggregated content. I left them off. So while Brian Clark is most associated with Copyblogger, his name is left off because the site is populated by a staff of writers.
Another observation as I looked at this list — there were a few names I did not recognize. How do those names stack up for you?
Any way, something to think about. Does this make sense to you? Are you forming strong ties in blog communities, on Twitter, Facebook or elsewhere? What form of online engagement influences YOU?
Ascent of the social media climbers: Klout goes mainstream
Feb 18th
I’ve never done this before, but today I’m reprinting an entire article from another publication on {grow}. Why? Because this excellent piece from Boston Globe reporter Beth Teitell represents one of the first times the concept of social scoring systems like Klout have jumped into the mainstream media. I think this is significant.
I started writing about social scoring a few months ago, predicting that this trend would become mainstream and that we need to be aware of and embrace these systems as marketing professionals — whether we love them or hate them. Here is Beth’s fine article:
Ascent of the social-media climbers
Klout score? Learn it or, as Monte would say, be judged. Klout.com is one of a number of new status-measuring tools aimed at making social networking more like high school than it already is. Sites such as Klout and PeerIndex.net take public information from Twitter, and sometimes Facebook and LinkedIn, to determine a person’s influence on social media. Anyone can check her score or a rival’s by going to one of the sites and putting in her Twitter handle.
The companies use secret algorithms that go beyond simple numbers of followers — which can be bought in bulk — or friends or fans, and count retweets, the number of links clicked, and even how influential one’s followers are, among other indicators.
“A credit score for your reputation,’’ is how Dave Wieneke, director of digital marketing at Sokolove Law, in Boston, describes the Klout score.
Although many don’t know enough to worry about their Klout scores, for those keeping track, it can be one more ego boost or slap. “There’s a lot of emotion around this,’’ said Mark Schaefer, author of the “Tao of Twitter: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Characters at a Time.’’ “Generally it comes from people who have a low Klout score.’’
Garth Holsinger, vice president of global sales and business development at the San Francisco-based Klout, sees the desperation on a daily basis. “People call and say, ‘I work in social media, and I’m going to lose my job if my score doesn’t rise.’ We get celebrity managers asking how they can get their clients’ scores higher. We get people who are literally crying because their Klout score went down.’’
The stakes may only rise, Klout-wise. The company, which was founded in 2008, recently raised $8.5 million in new funding and said it plans to measure influence in more social networks — and beyond, to capture industry leaders who don’t bother tweeting or friending people.
Schaefer, an adjunct professor of marketing at Rutgers University, said the new score-keeping tools create a “disturbing’’ social media caste system that he dislikes. But, he adds, “from a marketer’s standpoint, they’re a dream.’’
Indeed, the Klout score has already jumped from the online world into the real one. As Advertising Age wrote in September: “Need a Reservation? That Could Depend on How Big You are on Twitter (Really).’’
During the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas hosted an event with free food and chair massages for guests with good Klout scores. When Disney debuted the movie “Tangled,’’ it asked Klout to find 500 mothers for exclusive Klout screenings and sent their children a “Tangled’’ kit with merchandise.
Holsinger said the company has 40 similar promotions waiting to launch, including one for the new BlackBerry tablet PlayBook: “We’re giving those to 100 super-high-scoring people before they come out.’’
The companies that partner with Klout are paying customers, Holsinger said. “About 1,500 companies use our data.’’
Of course, no one enjoys being kept behind the virtual velvet rope. When the corporate sponsors of a holiday party hosted by social media entrepreneur Peter Shankman invited many guests based on Klout scores, the snubbed were not happy. Shankman expected “whiners,’’ he wrote on his blog, and he did get complaints. “They’re stomping their little feet.’’ If they want to be seen as more influential, he said later, “they need to post more interesting, more engaging things.’’
Even as the low scorers complain about unfairness, Augie Ray, a senior analyst with Forrester Research, predicts an increase in both the number of firms doing social measuring and the number of places where one’s ranking will matter.
“Companies have always provided different levels of service, depending on how much money a customer spends, or how recently they’ve bought something,’’ he said. “Now we’re seeing a change where an individual’s level of influence also has to be taken into account. There’s a lot of buzz about whether it’s fair or not, but I don’t know how much fair has to do with it. A company can afford to anger a customer with a Klout score of 15 but probably can’t anger someone with a Klout score of 95.’’
Indeed, with more hotels interested in Klout scores, Holsinger said the new question upon check-in will not be: “May we have your e-mail address?’’ but rather: “What’s your Twitter name?’’ “If your score is 60 or above, they will upgrade you.’’
But even those who criticize the measuring sites as imperfect still want a good score. Wieneke, who blogs about the future of digital marketing, has serious privacy concerns about giving Klout access to his Facebook and LinkedIn accounts but he’s tempted to allow access in hopes that it will raise his score by providing a fuller picture of his influence.
“Ten points would be pretty nice,’’ he said, speculating on a potential boost. “It counts as social proof.’’
The question of gaming the system or raising one’s score legitimately is the Twitter user’s version of an author trying to raise his Amazon ranking. Beyond buying followers, some people ask friends to retweet their tweets, or follow people just so they’ll be followed back.
Azeem Azhar, chief operating officer of the London-based PeerIndex, regularly hears from users eager to do better, with competition a big motivator. “How come I got a score of 35 and my friend got 45?’’ a user will write as he asks for tips.
“The advice is always the same,’’ Azhar said. “The system is designed to reward good behaviors that suggest you are building your social capital. Those are, do others share or retweet your tweets? Another signal is how many people try and start conversations with me?’’
Perhaps the best thing about having a high Klout score is that it allows one to be blasé. That’s the approach taken by Internet marketing guru Chris Brogan, coauthor of the bestselling “Trust Agents’’ — and a man with 170,000 Twitter followers.
Brogan has one of the highest Klout scores in Boston — 76.4, only about two-tenths of a point behind Shaquille O’Neal. When he meets someone who’s impressed by that score, he feels bad for the person, he said. “I’d rather be measured by something other than a set of numbers a software company thought of one day.’’
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