Klout is a tool that seeks to measure and quantify your online influence and determine your “social media reach.” Klout measures the size of your network and how people interact with the content you create. Scores range from 1 to 100: If your score is a 1 you’re probably a kindergarten kid though i doubt that too, you might be born yet or you are my great grand mother , and if your score is 100 you’re probably from Bieberville.
Achieving a high Klout score also is not an end in itself. Your Klout score is just a tool you can use to gauge, in a directionally accurate way, the success of your social media marketing efforts.
Here’s why you should care about Klout–and how to get more of it
Klout offers some guidance for raising your score, but most of the tips are generic enough that they could apply to gaining Twitter followers or increasing your page views on Facebook. Read on for more advanced tips designed to help you stay on course with a legitimate Klout campaign.
Schedule posts; Tools like Hootsuite and buffer are great for scheduling posts in advance. You can spend a few hours a month planning a few announcements, one time deals for a product and random thoughts that appear on regular basis. The benefit is that you can make Twitter feed or Facebook page stay active even when you are out of town or busy with other projects.
Engage with Klout Kings; Find Klout users with high rankings and then engage them in discussions. Re-tweets mentions from high profile Klout users can help raise your own score but you have to be genuine, target them with the right topics.
Understand the ratios; While engaging with other well-connected users is important, Klout seems to rate you higher when you engage in a legitimate way rather than just doing “pass bys” with a few select users. Chatting with highly ranked Klout users does make sense, yet it’s also critical to engage with those who re-tweet what you say and to post replies to their tweets. Klout is most interested in the percentage amount you engage with the followers you do have on a regular basis rather than just sending a few posts to a select group of followers.
Hand out your +Ks; Some Klout users don’t realize how important it is to hand out your +K to other users. When you do, other users will eventually return the favor. Start by searching for the phrase “I gave +K about…” on Twitter and the topic you want to search. Once you find users who have handed out +K routinely, find their profile on Klout.com. Check their achievements to see if they have given out a bevy of +K awards, and return the favor. You can expect those users to send you a +K as well.
Go photographic; Twitter is mostly about posting short comments, but a photo reaps more rewards. There’s a reason why Twitter tried to buy Instagram and Facebook made a lucrative offer. Sites like Tumblr and Pinterest prove that people are looking for information visually and they will click on pictures they like. Today, a picture is worth a thousand clicks.
Focus on the quality not quantity; Although many Facebook friends, YouTube subscribers and Twitter followers look good to the unfamiliar eye, large numbers don’t truly mean anything if your audience is not engaged by your actions. Stay away from reciprocal following on Twitter or the popular “Sub4Sub” request on YouTube. Instead, use your time to communicate great content and participate in the community.
Please do not forget to Connect your social accounts to Klout; This is the easiest part. Once you sign up with Klout, you’ll be guided through the process of connecting your Twitter and Facebook accounts first. From there, you can also connect any accounts you have with LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare, Instagram, Tumblr,Blogger.
Information from webtrends
