Happy 2015! I hope this is a prosperous New Year for everyone. Over the past several years, I have been a huge supporter of Klout. However, during the past 6 months or so, I have come to the conclusion that the Klout score is not nearly as an important as I once believed. Now, I have to say there is still some significance when it comes to your score- so don’t start ignoring it completely. Especially for those in any marketing field. Potential clients, or employers will take your Klout score into consideration before hiring. All I am saying is that the score only shows you a very small fraction of how influential you really are online. I am going to outline 3 reasons to be less concerned about your Klout score.
1. It is still very easy to game Klout. For the longest time, I believed that Klout was making an effort to squash gamers. However, after conducting some recent experiments, unfortunately I was wrong. If you buy engagement of any kind, your score will increase. How influential is someone who has a need to purchase engagement for the purpose of increasing his or her Klout score? Someone who is truly influential online would not have any need to do that. That being said, I would consider someone who is sharing excellent quality and engaging content with a Klout score of 72 a lot more influential than someone who has a score of 81 and shares nothing but irrelevant content while buying engagement.
2. Many people become too attached to their scores in a very unhealthy way. I admit I was in that position once upon a time. If I was extremely interactive and sharing good quality content, yet my score kept falling- it was quite frustrating. Increasing your social media activity is necessary when it comes to you wanting to create a stronger online presence. However, don’t make increasing your Klout score the sole purpose of becoming more interactive on your networks. Delivering value is a much better reason.
3. Klout wants to stay mysterious. My friend T Scott Clendaniel who is a marketer and data scientist studied the Klout algorithm. He discovered some of their secrets. However, they still are doing a great job by remaining as cryptic as possible. They had given off the impression that they were a lot more transparent than they were prior to their huge algorithm change in 2012. The truth is, they are only revealing some elements on how the score is calculated. My advice to you is to not even try to figure out how they are calculating your score. If it goes up, then great. If it goes down, don’t stress. Just stay active on your networks regardless.
I am not telling you to deactivate your Klout account. Your score is still being looked at. I am just saying that it is best to remain detached from your score. Concern yourself more with creating good quality content, and sharing it on your social networks. Be interactive with others, and share what others are sharing too on your platforms. That in itself will create the engagement that you want, and the online presence you are aiming to achieve. By doing that, there is no reason that your score will not be decent anyway.
Hello Miriam,
I completely agree. When I first learned about Klout I was hooked and loved the perks. I did realize that it may not be completely accurate. So then I paid no mind to it. I recently checked it and it has increased about 15 points. Does it mean much to me? Not really. I know I provide quality content and that’s all that matters.
Thanks for sharing,
Lillian
You have the right attitude Lillian. It is easy to get hooked initially, however now, there are more important things to focus on rather than just the Klout score.
Hi Miriam, I really don’t know what to say because what you are writing about is completely out of my realm of knowledge.
I wish you well.
Thanks for stopping by Carol. When you have a moment, check some of my previous posts on Klout. I wish you well too.
Thanks for this, Miriam. I never really bothered with my Klout score, and I’m glad to hear that it’s not that bad of me to do so. I just couldn’t get my head around it, and have only heard of one site that really bothers about it for writing.
I do recommend creating a strong online presence to help your business stand out in a good way, but Klout is not worth too much the worry. Thanks for the comment!
Hi Miriam, until now I never knew what the KLOUT score even is (never heard of it). Good to know I don’t need to worry about it.
Klout is here to say however, it’s not anything to stress over really!
I admit it! i don’t know enough about Klout! thank you for highlighting this. I am now going to read up on it!
You are welcome Steve!
I’m not saying I obsess over my score daily but I do use it as a measurement overview of my social marketing efforts. Basically, because I manage several online social media accounts for various personal and work related projects, I use it as an indicator for where I need to engage more and where I’m doing ok. If you only were managing a personal blog and a single account then obsessing over your score would be bad but I think as far as knowing which accounts need my attention, Klout helps me make that decision quicker. SO, as I do agree with you that it shouldn’t be the holy grail of engagement it is nice to know. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Jermaine, I do the same thing! Have a great day.
Hi Miriam,
I had forgotten that Klout even existed. A few years ago I really got into it and worked on increasing my score. When I saw that people were taking it very seriously, I stopped paying attention to it all together.
Thanks Rachel, and it is very easy to get overly concerned about your score. The limit needs to be set somewhere, especially since Klout is not completely accurate on their calculations anyway.