CHAPTER 1

What Is a Klout Score?

Klout digs deep into social media to understand how peopleinfluence each other, so that everyone can discover and berecognized for how they influence the world.

—KLOUT WEBSITE

Klout is a system that has been devised, and continues to undergo regularrefinement, to analyze and measure the degree of a person's influence.

In sum, if your work relates to influencing others to take action, then youshould pay attention to Klout. Is it for everyone? Not quite. However, if youwork as a professional speaker, coach, consultant, facilitator, author,entertainer, blogger, podcaster, or in any other profession where you influenceothers, you need to pay attention to Klout. These thought leaders are people whohave always exerted a certain amount of influence over others. In the past one'sdegree of influence was always open to subjectivity. It still is today, evenwith the use of Klout.

However, the difference today is that Klout has been developed so that we canmore accurately measure what was only subjective before. By using sophisticatedcomputer algorithms, the people at Klout have been able to ascertain more ofwhat one's true influence is by looking at what happens with others over severaldifferent platforms and applications.

As an example, many people can say that Joe Speaker is very influential. But theimportant question is, "How does one know the true extent of influence that JoeSpeaker really exerts?" There are some who would say Joe is exceptionallyinfluential, whereas others would say Joe Speaker is not influential. In thepast, without Klout, it was a matter of opinion. People relied more on their"gut feeling."

Today it still is opinion because influence is very subjective even with themost sophisticated algorithms. Joe Speaker could be highly influential for onegroup of people and have zero influence over others.

Klout is a system by which you can more reliably gauge the accuracy ofinfluence, at least by certain measured criteria. We can still debate howinfluential Joe Speaker is among ourselves. However, when you can show that Joehas moved certain people to action on Facebook, on Twitter, and on otherplatforms, this indicates that Joe Speaker has a degree of influence that needsto be addressed.

Of course, if you are Joe Speaker and you feel that you have a lot of influence,you naturally want and expect your Klout Score to be high. Having been in theprofessional speaking community for over 30 years, we have yet to find a speakerwhose ego doesn't make the speaker feel that he or she deserves a higher score!Probably that is just the nature of strong-ego professional speakers!

But let's move the focus away from the individual speaker or influencer. If youare marketing a brand and are looking to connect with someone who is highlyinfluential in a given community, you want to make sure that there is a moreobjective way of measuring that person's influence. Just listening to two orthree people say, "Joe Speaker is highly influential" is not enough. If you'regoing to pay for an endorsement from Joe, you want to know that he cansignificantly influence people in a given market.

This is why Klout has emerged so prominently. There is a market that needs toknow who is more influential than others. With social media so prominent in ourworld today, many people want to find out more objectively who exerts the mostinfluence over others in a given field.

Of course, any measuring system is going to draw fire from those who are notrated as highly as they think they should be. It is also going to draw fire fromthose who like to be at the center of attention by complaining and being thesnarky outsider-attacker against any system that is very popular. Journalistsare particularly prone to do this. Terry has been a journalist for over 40 yearswriting for various publications—newspapers, magazines, and many blogs.Journalists by nature often try to find the "alternate point of view" in a givensituation. You might say that journalists just want to raise their own KloutScores, and a good way to do that is to gain attention by attacking the Kloutsystem.

All that is just to say that it's important to "follow the money" (as the then-anonymous"Deep Throat" told us during the Watergate era). When you hear strongcriticism of endorsement of a particular idea, it is always wise to "follow themoney" to find out what is really happening. Is someone complaining about a newsystem or product because he or she wasn't selected to participate? Is it "sourgrapes" because that person was turned down to serve in a particular position?

Klout is a system that attempts to help people understand who is mostinfluential in a given area. It has emerged and is successful because peopledesire this kind of objective rating.

Think of it like the FICO scores that were developed in the banking community tobetter determine who is creditworthy and who is not. FICO scores were developedby Fair Isaac Corporation to be a more objective way of determining loan-worthyapplicants.

A useful benefit of a FICO score can be that if yours is lower than you wantedit to be, you know specific tasks you can undertake to raise that score. Byundertaking the tasks that are required to raise your FICO score, you are doingwhat is important to be more creditworthy and be more financially sound.

The criticism that has been raised about the Klout Score is that it is not quitethe same as a FICO score or BMI. Regardless of what you think of about FICOscores or BMI, it is fairly well known what factors go into the calculation ofthe algorithm so you can address those to improve your own individual score.

We particularly like the metaphor of looking at your Klout Score like your BMI(body mass index). For instance, if you have a BMI score that you don't want,there are many specific steps you can take, which are well known. You know toabstain from certain foods, to consume various alternate foods, to engage in acertain level of exercise, and to do other activities under the supervision of acompetent healthcare professional. Calculating your Klout Score is very muchlike calculating your BMI.

In a video interview we did while writing this book, we spoke with one of thegurus in the world of branding, Bruce Turkel of Turkel Brands. Bruce and hiscompany work with companies like Bacardi, Miami Tourism, HBO, Jackson MemorialHospital, and many others. Before he even read this book, Bruce was using thesame metaphor of the Klout Score being like your BMI. (Great minds think alike.)Bruce said, "Social media is really the first time you've had free, democratizedaccess to distribution. With social media you can get your messages out in frontof people you want to reach, and people you haven't thought of reaching yet."You can view the entire educational video with Bruce athttp://KloutMatters.com/videos-and-more.

As medical professionals continue to refine and improve the quality of a BMIscore and as financial professionals tweak and modify the formulation for a FICOscore, we know that those active in the digital influence world are continuingto improve their analyzing and rating methodology. We're in the embryonic stagesof this area now. Those close to the industry like Joe Fernandez, CEO of Klout,and Andrew Grill, CEO of Klout's closest competitor, Kred, agree—we're justgetting started.

The industry is off to a good start, and a lot of very smart people are bringingsome sophisticated tools to bear on this important area of influence. It is anexciting playground to be in at this time in history!

Your Klout Score is going to be a reflection of the marketing and interactionwith customers that you do in the right way. We recommend that you do not focuson your Klout Score. Focus instead on doing those activities that are naturallyright for connecting with customers and making them "giddy with glee." Engagewith customers. If you focus on doing what your customers want and how you cansolve their problems, you will inevitably build your business. As you build yourbusiness, the natural outcome will be a higher and stronger Klout Score.

Engaging with customers is the key for success in the social media era. It hasalways been this way in business since rug traders operated in ancientMesopotamia millennia ago.

However, in the world of social media today, we find it is more important thanever. People want to know real individuals, real people at companies with whomthey are doing business. When employers are hiring someone for a thought leaderposition, they want to have someone who is influential. By engaging withcustomers and engaging with other key stakeholders, one's influence is naturallyraised.

In the same way, it could be said that to raise one's FICO score would requireengagement in certain healthy financial activities. For example, paying creditcard bills on time and in full can help to raise one's FICO score. Engaging inactivities that render you more creditworthy and financially stable makes a lotof sense. These are not open to question, nor is the solution enshrouded in anyesoteric mystery.

However, when it comes to determining one's Klout Score, a lot of esotericmystery enshrouds the process. Many people will try to raise their Klout Score,doing what they feel are the right activities, only to be disappointed becausethey see their Klout Score has actually gone down. Understandably, this is whymany people become very frustrated with their Klout Scores.

Klout is calculating over 12 billion data points in 400 key areas every day todetermine an individual's Klout Score. That is far more data points than areconsidered in either a FICO credit score or a BMI for health. That makes the"how do they calculate the score?" question difficult, if not impossible, toanswer. This parallels the development in the computer field known as big data,where massive amounts of information are collected, then analyzed to generatecause-and-effect relationships that were previously unrecognized.

Without mentioning any names, we both know people who became frustrated and"left the system" because their Klout Score wasn't what they wanted it to be.Their Klout Score went down when they tried to "behave" and do what isencouraged in the Klout system. Even if you disagree with their actions, one canunderstand why certain individuals would want to do the digital equivalent of"taking their bat and ball and going home."

Along these lines, many have expressed a desire to have a more open, visible,and transparent means of understanding how one's Klout Score is rated. To goback to our metaphors of BMI scores or FICO scores, it is fairly well known whatone needs to do to improve either of these measurements. However, raising one'sKlout Score often remains a rather elusive—and frustrating—experience.

The good people at Klout tell us that it is important to create compellingcontent to raise one's Klout Score. This is extraordinarily important. Andwithout giving away all of our book in the first chapter (you must promise tocontinue reading here), we have to agree! Creating compelling content in yourniche is one of the most important ways that you can raise your Klout Score. Itis sustainable. It is business savvy. It is the right thing to do.

Yet we have also found that merely creating compelling content is not enough, inand of itself, to create and maintain a higher Klout Score. Of course, that'swhy you need to keep reading this book!

It would be good for Klout to be more transparent in exposing what is in its"secret sauce." It would be nice to know that if one does X, Y, and Z, then onewould be able to raise one's Klout Score by a certain number of points. Weunderstand it is vastly complicated and requires a strong understanding ofquantitative analysis to decipher even the rudimentary basics of how the actualscore is calculated.

Unfortunately, if this formula were known and visible to people, it wouldencourage many to merely game the system. Many would try to get a higher KloutScore without performing the necessary tasks of engaging and connecting withcustomers properly.

We remember back in the early days of Internet marketing that many people woulduse certain tricks to try to get a higher Google ranking. People used trickslike putting keywords in the same color as the background of the page. Forexample, if the text was in black ink against a white background, these "SEOexperts" would encourage people to enter keywords liberally throughout their webpages all in the same white as the white background. This would make the textinvisible to the human eye, but machines would see it and give a higher SEOranking to the page. Many people at Internet conferences would giggle and elboweach other, thinking that they had discovered a magic "secret way" to boosttheir SEO ranking and to game the Google system.

What happened back then, and what usually happens with these types of schemes,is that Google found out what was happening and quickly put an end to it. Thinkabout it—the people at Google are not stupid. If their system is being abused,as they see it, they are going to try to stop such behavior.

Fast-forward to today. The people at Klout are going to behave in a similar wayif they feel that their system is being abused. From time to time, you're goingto read about "a cool new way to get a higher Klout Score" that is nothing morethan gaming the system. Google was always on the lookout for these types ofgaming systems, as is Klout today. When those trying to game the system arefound, dire consequences could happen to their Klout Score.

Yes, you might be able to boost your Klout Score a few points by using thelatest cool gizmo and trick that is in the marketplace. However, such a systemis not sustainable and does not help to build business in the long term.

And really, that's what it is all about. It is not about merely getting a higherKlout Score, but rather it is important and imperative to build a solid,sustainable business for the long term. It is our contention throughout thisbook that the emphasis of true thought leaders today should be on developing asustainable business model by providing compelling content and engaging withcustomers in a genuine, caring way.

Randy Gage is a professional speaker, author, and now successful social mediauser. He stresses that the term is social media. It is not selling media or spammedia but social. You have to get to know people as people in a genuine,authentic way where you connect with them as people. You can listen to aninterview we did with Randy Gage and learn more about how he has generatedmillions of dollars in revenue in the video that accompanies this book. It isavailable at http://KloutMatters.com/videos-and-more.

As we interviewed many successful social media users in preparing for this book,we discovered some very interesting patterns. They consistently emphasized beinggenuine and focused on helping others. This is basic material that you'll readabout in any selling book worth its salt. In the realm of social media it istaken to an even higher level because of the ubiquitous nature of social media.

Bob Burg, professional speaker and coauthor of The Go-Giver and EndlessReferrals, shared this with us in a video interview. He said that you need to"shift your focus from yourself to an 'other' focus." You have to think abouthow you can help other people. This is true in life, and it is even more evidentin social media as it can be monitored more clearly.

When Joe Fernandez developed Klout, he saw it as a way to find out who was mostinfluential in a given area. Now it is imperative to find ways to build andprove that a business holds a long-term position of influence.

Long-term influence is what most thought leaders know they need to build. Thisis essential to remain in business and in a position as a thought leader. Asudden burst of energy that gives a momentary "flash in the pan" doesn't make aperson a strong thought leader. True long-term influence requires ongoing andcontinually renewed effort to help others achieve their goals as you provideanswers to their problems.