Written by ContentPowered.com
Klout is the online presence measurement system that has taken the Internet by storm. However, there are a few ways in which Klout measures online presence that are unique to Facebook. Ever since Klout added functionality to include Facebook accounts and Facebook pages, there have been questions about how Klout measures online presence with a Facebook account.
There are a few ways to use all of this information. For some users, the information can signal a new method for publicizing content. For other users, they will become aware of the fact that they are not hitting their readership targets. Still others will realize that they actually have more influence than they thought. In any and all of these cases, the user must understand the most important ways in which Klout measures internet influence. Understanding and using these paradigms wisely can help to increase the internet influence of a small business, individual, band or public figure.
Paradigm Number One: The Most Important Page
People who have a Facebook account and a Facebook page will not have their influence score changed by both pages. Klout is very clear that they only take into account one page or another. Therefore, the person who has a Facebook account but has not added a Facebook page will have only their Facebook account counted on their Klout score.
Once a user adds a Facebook page, the Facebook page will be counted rather than the Facebook account. For those who are concerned about their Klout score, the question must be asked: Is it better to have a Facebook account or page counted on Klout?
Typically, the bump that people get from a Facebook page on Klout is about seven points. Of course, a person with an extremely Facebook page could have a bump that is much larger, but it is clear that having a Facebook page does more for a Klout score than a Facebook account. This should be carefully considered when people are using Facebook for publicity.
Paradigm Number Two: Responsiveness
This is a very important part of the measurement process at Klout. Most people had a social media influence even a couple years ago if they have a few million followers on Twitter. Everyone remembers the games Ashton Kutcher played to make sure he had the most followers on Twitter. However, that is not enough to impress Klout.
Klout goes much farther to measure how the public and followers respond to what the page is producing. This means that page traffic is counted along with page activity. For example, a post on a Facebook page that gets a thousand comments is more valuable to Klout than a person who has a Facebook page with lots of followers but not activity.
The emphasis on increased activity is in an effort to make sure that people are running pages that are truly interactive. There has always been a great concern that bots and people other than the page owner are posting on the page. When the public is responding to posts and engaging the owner of the page in dialogue, the Klout score goes up. When the page simply has man followers but never causes anyone to respond, there is no reason for the Klout score to go up.
This is a direct influence of social media platforms like Tumblr and Twitter where interaction is so very important.
Therefore, a Facebook page owner must consider how they are going to get people to respond to their posts and keep their page active. After all, an inactive page on Facebook looks just as useless as a non-existent page to Klout.
Paradigm Number Three: Outreach
Every day in the news, there is a story about a business treating its users badly. Therefore, Klout takes into account how the owner of the page responds to their fans and followers. This is an important distinction. Yes, it is fantastic to have a million fans who all make comments on posts on Facebook pages. However, the person who owns a Facebook page that is not very good at responding to their fans is going to reduce their Klout score significantly. While this not seem like a big deal, it is worth considering what this part of a Klout score says to people who check up on these things.
Every person who has their Klout score negatively affected by their own abuse of fans or their own terrible posting habits is going to show that they are not necessarily fan-friendly. This could go all the way down to someone who is applying for a job. If someone fancies their social media activities as profitable, a potential employer could read a Klout score and see that this person is rude to their followers and cannot keep up with responding to their fans.
This could adversely affect someone’s ability to get a job, get signed with a major label, win an acting audition or be put into a role that would garner them any kind of spotlight. In today’s economy, people can check up on all the things that are done online, and when Klout takes into account interaction with fans, they find the people who are abusive of their fans and the people who are not.
How Does This Affect Social Media Influence?
When social media influence is combined into a Klout score, it is just one measurement of social media influence, but it is an influence score that is valued by businesses all over the world. There are stories of jobs in online marketing requiring a minimum Klout score that is set down by the company.
Using Klout can be an extremely useful tool when companies are trying to figure out how their products and brands are perceived all over the world. However, companies have to think critically about how their influence is measured. When companies are being measured, they must consider if they have a Facebook page or personal account. A page tends to be more useful for a Klout score, but a highly-read Facebook account can be beneficial to a Klout score.
Also, the company just thinks about how much response they get to the things that they are posting. Klout scores are measured by how much response a company gets from their fans. Negative and positive posts are taken into account to ensure that the company is being given a fair score.
Finally, every company or individual has a duty to be kind and responsive to their fans. When the responsiveness is deemed appropriate, the Klout score for a page can rise. However, people who are abusive to their fans or who are not responsive on their pages are going to find that their Klout score will go down slowly over time.
While a Klout score is not the only thing that helps to determine influence on the internet, it is one of the most popular measurement tools online. Keeping an eye on Klout when managing a personal account or fan page on Facebook helps to ensure that the influence of every single page is at its peak. Using this information properly will change the way businesses and public figures use their social media influence on a daily basis.
