Is Klout important for my business? Is it an effective way of measuring my success on social media? Or is it simply a waste of your time and effort?

The following thoughts about Klout are my own. I have had a few discussions with several of my friends on the value of Klout. I am adding to what I previously blogged about Klout influence versus audience. Many say that Klout is a waste of your time and energy. But if this is true, why is Klout still coming up in conversations? Why won’t that sucker simply die?

I see and understand the frustrations of my friends with Klout. Saul Colt said that Klout was a measurement of your audience and not your influence. Influence is a hard thing to measure. Klout is more of a tool that measures how your audience responds to what you are saying. It does have some use in measuring your effect on those around you. But you must take this all with a grain of salt, because these numbers can be manipulated. People play games to improve their Klout score.

So this end I understand why @brightwhite Jeff White tweeted: “klout is just ridiculous and pointless”. Jeff also tweeted “but it’s incredibly inward facing–it gets nothing done in the real world. it’s for the fishbowl only”. I see Jeff’s frustration with Klout. Klout can be a journey into “selfish promotion” in the land of “Look at Me”. Keep in mind though that everything on the Internet can be like this.

But can Klout be a good thing? Yes it can. Here are ways that I think Klout can be useful:

  1. To give you a general indication of how others are handling your social media, i.e., retweets, mentions and sharing of your material
  2. To genuinely promote great people with great skills to others.

It’s this second one that I see great value in. I have been involved with a couple of networking groups. Referring one another to others is useful for helping customers find good businesses to work with. When I send out a Klout +K, I always try to tell people “why” I am sending it. I see Klout as a way to recommend people who are doing great work.

I do not get my self worked up to much if my Klout goes up and down. Klout rises and fall like the tide. It is not the “be all and end all”; just simply a tool that measures. What Jeff White valued more than anything was engagement. He’s right; engagement is tops on social media. Maybe we can use Klout in our engagement with others, by putting others first. How would that be? Maybe we can recommend great businesses to others by sending them some +K.

To that end, I see Klout very useful. It’s never wrong to recommend a business to others. I plan to give Jeff White some +K. Jeff has a great business: http://kulapartners.com/ . I have had lunch with Jeff. He certainly is worth bragging about to others. I see sending a little +K Jeff’s way as a good thing. That would make Klout useful.

In summary, Klout is a double edged sword. It can be “me focused” or “others focused”. You get to make Klout what you want it to be. After all, haven’t we heard enough about us. Let’s make it about others. It has never hurt me to promote another business. What comes around goes around. So Klout can be important for your business, if you make it important for others.

If you have any questions on this point, use my Contact page to send me a message.

“If you need social media training, consulting or a social media speaker (Truro, Halifax, Dartmouth or throughout Nova Scotia), call me today at 902-956-2600 or use the Contact page to get started. I am available on Skype: jeff.brown.alpha”