Like it or not, Klout has emerged from the storms of criticism it endured in its early days – when Justin Bieber had a perfect 100 Klout score compared to U.S. President Barack Obama’s paltry 58 – to become a widely used tool for digital marketers, consumers and even those looking for a date.
One example of the turnaround comes from Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch. “Klout has been one of my go-to punchlines for some time now,” says Arrington, who added, “I’ve changed my mind. So much so that CrunchFund has now invested in Klout, and we’re big believers in what they’re doing.”
The turnaround means it’s increasingly important to pay attention to your Klout score and do what you can to maximize it.
Here are five tips that’ll help:
1. Post Shareable Content
Klout tells you that this is the best way to increase your score. As the social web’s self-proclaimed “Standard of Influence”, Klout gauges much of that influence by how many re-tweets, “Likes” or comments on your Facebook your content receives.
Bonus Tip:
Shareable content is more than good content. It needs to be properly packaged. For example, on Twitter, it means keeping your Tweets to 120 characters or less so it’s easy to retweet your post without the message being truncated. And imaginative headlines will get attention wherever you post your content.
2. Post Regularly and Frequently
Although Klout denies that frequency is a major factor, its algorithm is heavily influenced by Twitter, which is a platform that fosters frequent (daily) posting.
3. Interact With Others
Klout considers the number of online conversations you have as an indication of your influence.
4. …Especially With Those Who Have High Scores
Your content becomes even more influential when its retweeted by someone with a high Klout score.
5. Connect on More Social Networks
Klout accumulates your score across the following networks: Twitter, Facebook Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Foursquare and Klout itself. The more of these networks you participate in, the higher your score will be.
There are still those who turn-up their noses to Klout and who hate the idea of trying to measure online influence. But no one can deny that the idea is evolving and is more likely to continue to do so than it is to go away.
