Courtesy of businessgrow.com

#1: Screenshots of Social Proof

If you have a social media strategy in place, then your Klout score can get pretty high. Klout will always assign a number to you, based on the ‘social influence’ they see you having. You can leverage this ever-changing number by snapping screenshots of it, when it’s particularly high – and then using these images in marketing materials and videos as social proof.

Tip! Post your high score on Pinterest to get comments about your brand from your fans, and from the Pinterest world at large.

#2: A Public Certification Program

If your company is in the technology field, in social media, SEO, web design or any number of other ‘modern’ industry choices,
then your Klout score will act as your badge of honor. It proves to your clients that you understand the online social landscape, and when they see who and how you influence people, they’ll feel comfortable giving their business to you.

Tip! Add a link to your Klout score on your email signature, on business cards – anywhere that will make it easy for your potential clients to see it, and check it out.

#3: Work on Improving Your Score

In the industry 50 is considered an elite Klout score, with above average coming in at 30, and 20 to be average. If you improve your Klout score, or work towards getting a really great score, you can unlock all sorts of opportunities. For example, having a high Klout score attracts media attention, and is a fast way to prove to a blogger or journalist, that you are an influencer in your niche.

Tip! Use your Klout score to land awesome interviews with bloggers and journalists to get your business more public exposure.

#4: Find Highly Engaging Influencers

Part of your social media strategy should be to invite ‘influencers’ in your niche to posts blogs and create content for your sites. Klout is a great way to find these people, as those with higher Klout scores are naturally more engaging or interactive online. It sure beats sending 50 emails to 50 different ‘experts’ and getting 3 replies.

Tip! Find 5 influencers with high Klout scores and get them to guest post on your blog. Their high scores mean that they’ll have large social networks, for more traffic!

Klout is an excellent platform to use, if it enhances your social profile online. Be careful though – if you’re going to promote your Klout score, make sure it’s always high. This means a dedicated social strategy with everyday posting and engagement.

How do you use Klout to leverage your business? Leave a tip for the SMM community, and begin your rise to social influence!

Courtesy of justincaseyouwerewondering.x.iabc.com

Klout? If you don’t know what Klout is just yet, it’s a social tool that tracks how influential you are across your social networks.

Fact #1: Automatically Increase Your Score

People who use Klout have a love-hate relationship with the social tool. On the one hand, it’s great to see who, how and why you’ve influenced people – and to get rewarded with a high score. On the other, if you go away for a while, or stop interacting on your networks as much as you should, your score will drop.

Perhaps this is why everyone is hesitant to add all of their networks to the tool. But if you do take the time to connect them with Klout, your score will automatically increase. Even if that score doesn’t last too long!

Fact #2: 90 Days or Bust

Klout is not as moody as you’d like to think. If your score drops, it’s because your interaction has decreased over a period of 90 days. That’s right! Klout gives you 90 days to stop daydreaming and get back to work. You don’t have to worry so much about your score plummeting if you haven’t been around for a day or two.

Fact #3: Focus on Engagement

Klout doesn’t care how many people you have on Twitter, or how massive your Facebook following has become. It only cares about interaction. Influence is measured by the amount of engagement you get from your fans, or with your fans. So, if you want an outstanding Klout score, focus on engagement.

Speak to people more often, start conversations, click, share and like! And work on ways to get your fans to interact with your content more often.

Fact #4: 10 Social Networks – All Judged Equally

Klout once again, doesn’t care about the ‘big 4.’ If you add all 10 social networks to Klout, you better be prepared to work hard on engaging all 10 communities. Klout doesn’t give more weight to Facebook or Twitter, because they’re the biggest. All networks are judged equally in the democratic republic of Klout.

Fact #5: Klout is Still a Mystery

As yet, Klout remains a mystery – like the Google search algorithm or the Facebook edgerank system. No one knows what exactly influences your Klout score. Obviously we know that interaction and engagement is key, but beyond that we’re flying blind. What we do know is that +K recommendations don’t affect your score!

I hope these tips help you achieve a better, longer lasting Klout score. While many marketers have become frustrated with the tool, it still holds value for influence measurement. You can target your influenced communities and work on forming solid relationships with people that care about your content. Even if you’re not into scores, this is enough reason to continue with your Klout account.

Do you think Klout is a great tool, or does it cause too much frustration? We’d like to hear your opinion on the Klout argument here!