How Much Klout Have You Got?

The honest answer, as I have been informed, is not very much!! Well, that is according to Klout.com, the growing website that informs you of your overall online influence. They take into account a few different factors, including: ‘over 25 variables to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score.’ The reason I was a little disappointed is that your score will range from 0-100 and my ranking came out at 5, which is why I was not best pleased!

But it got me thinking as to how accurate it would be, as it’s a free application and I would like to see if I am not the only one with a lowly score, whilst trying to work out how I can improve my ranking. So I’ve taken a few people I follow on Twitter that either work in or are related to SEO or Social Media.

Daniel Bianchini (@dainelbianchini)

Matt Sawyer (@mattuk)

Paddy Moogan (@paddymoogan)

Jamil Kassam (@jamilkassam)

Jeremy Fransden (@jeremyfrandsen)

Kelvin Newman (@kelvinnewman )

Lee Davies (@UKSEOSpecialist)

Shaun Anderson (@Hobo_Web)

John Chow (@JohnChow)

Rhiannon Cassin (@Rhiannon6C)

The top two scores in my random 10 list are Shaun Anderson (@Hobo_Web) and John Chow (@JohnChow) who come from completely different backgrounds. Now I’m sure Shaun would not mind me saying that he lives in a less glamorous location than John, (Scotland and Vancouver respectively) where Shaun writes and comments on the world of SEO, whilst John has made a profession out of his blog and now ‘trades’ his techniques of doing the same.

What I found interesting is that although John had a reach to over 33,000 people, whilst Shaun just 633, they had the same Klout score. This brought to my attention the difference in being followed for the sake of it, compared to being a true influencer. Shaun was described by klout,

‘within your area of expertise your opinion is second to none.’

Whilst John was described as,

‘You are a thought leader in your industry. Your followers rely on you, not only to share the relevant news, but to give your opinion on the issues.’

For me, although I cannot take it away from John that he has worked extremely hard to amass the followers and revenue he has, I feel Shaun builds his followers by providing valuable and relevant information and opinions. This is the key element of a successful social media campaign or policy, which is why although Shaun has 52,421 less followers than John, he is still making the same sort of impact on the online community.

To be truly inspirational and influential online it is imperative that you interact with your community, sharing valuable information but also being the source of useful insights of the areas you and your community are interested in. By keeping active online you are staying relevant, whilst sharing and publishing work you are adding value to your community and yourself.

As free applications go however, Klout.com is pretty dam good! For the people I looked at, it is very reflective of their profile. Obviously, if you don’t believe me, try it out for yourself and look at any of my lists klout score.

Notes: Now, I did not pick these people for any reason other than random selection and I was very interested to see what results I was given from Klout.com. As was stated, your Klout score is dependent on many factors, including interaction, engagement, reach etc and although my score is very low, it has given me some inspiration on how to increase my score.
I purposely did not choose people such as @randfish or @mattcutts as this would not give me a true comparison for the purpose of this post. Should you feel there would be better means of comparison, I would like to know your thoughts, so add them in the comments.