Seth Stevenson’s April 24^th post on Wired.com got a lot people talking about Klout–again. “What is Klout and why do we care?” they wondered, their words flying across the social networks and microblogs of the web. Stevenson’s post started by telling the story of a guy interviewing for a VP position in a Toronto marketing agency who lost out to another candidate with a higher Klout score.

What is Klout?

What is a Klout score? What does your Klout score mean? Not so surprisingly, even after multitudes of blog posts and Twitter comments, video clips and traditional media mentions, most of the world doesn’t yet know what Klout is, what their Klout score means, or why they should care.

Klout is an online personal influence measurement tool. Using proprietary algorithms, Klout calculates the value of your participation in social networks, like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Foursquare, and awards you a numerical score based on your activity. Klout scores range from 0 -100 with 100 being the most influential. The average score is 20. Scores above 50 rank in the 95^th percentile.

Marketers, public relations professionals and customer service teams are using Klout, and other personal influence measurement tools, to quickly and easily identify people who are considered highly influential. Some public relations firms are using Klout scores as part of their crisis management planning. Human resource departments are beginning to factor a job candidate’s personal influence score as part of the hiring process. The tool can act as shortcut in finding influential people online–if they are active in social networks.

Klout also contracts with brands to run campaigns targeting influencers and offering Klout Perks, free stuff designed to excite the influencer and encourage online word of mouth activity. Klout perks vary depending on the brand’s campaign objective and desired user demographics.

Klout has inspired both praise and passionate criticism.

Well known marketer and blogger, Mark Schaefer, has written Return on Influence, a book devoted to the topic of measuring online influence. He speaks highly of the tool and sees it as the preeminent online influence measurement tool. The Klout website showcases successful campaigns run by Audi and Disney and includes Nike, Virgin America, Subway and Fox as among brands leveraging the Klout Perks feature.

The four year old company has been taken to task for privacy issues, marketing to minors, creating false profiles, secrecy about the algorithms used to create Klout scores and the ease with which the system can be gamed. Whether your Klout score accurately reflects your ability to influence others has been challenged, as has the fact that Klout scores change from day to day depending on the level of your social network activity.

Each of these concerns are valid and some of them prompted a mass exodus from Klout last year, with thousands deleting their Klout profiles in protest.

So why do we care about Klout? Because it isn’t going away.

For better or for worse, Klout is here to stay and is evolving to meet new market demands. Klout is just one of a growing number of online influence measurement tools. Other tools to measure personal influence online include PeerIndex, Kred, MlBast, Traakr, Tweetlevel and TunkRank and more. Understanding the trends of influence measurement and influence marketing is important for marketing and public relations professionals today. You need to be able to identify and build relationships with influencers for your business or clients. You have to know which tools are most useful for discovering and measuring influence. You must understand the difference between Personal Influence and Contextual Influence – and why it matters.

Need more information?

Tonia Reis, of the Realtime Report, an online resource for people managing social, mobile and realtime business, has published The Realtime Report’s Guide to Influence Measurement Tools. This 59 page report is packed with valuable information that will help you get up to speed quickly and provide a framework to understand the larger picture of influence measurement and the tools that are being developed to address growing demand. The Realtime Report’s Guide to Influence Measurement Tools is available for free download right now (I bought mine!) so get your copy quickly. You’ll find it an invaluable resource.
Looking for a giggle in the influence measurement department? Visit Klouchebag.com and run your Twitter ID to determine your level of “asshattery”. According to site developer, Tom Scott, the site uses a proprietary algorithm to measure how much of an asshat you are on Twitter using the ARSE rating system. Anger: profanity and rage. Retweets: “please RT”s, no or constant retweeting, and old-style. Social Apps: every useless checkin on foursquare or its horrible brethren. And English Usage: if you use EXCLAMATION MARKS OMG!!! or no capitals at all, this’ll be quite high.

I scored 44. I guess I retweet too much and use too many exclamation points. Note to self…

And your Klout score? Well, it doesn’t hurt to know what yours is, but I wouldn’t spend too much time worrying about it. You’ve got bigger fish to fry. For now.

Still looking for information about Klout? Watch the WSJ video below. H/t to Ike Pigott for including the video in his post about Klout.

So, is this latest revision a game changer or not?

The new Timeline layout offers organizations a chance to make a stunning first impression with the cover photo at the top of the page. However, the space measuring 851 x 315 pixels, can not include:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it on socialmusic.com”
• Contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, References to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”

Given these new restrictions, you will want to think carefully about how best to use this real estate to interest prospects and new visitors to your page. It is important to note that most of your fans will not visit the Facebook page and will interact with it from their news feeds or by clicking an ad placed near their news feeds. However, Facebook pages come up in search, so having a compelling presence is important.

Timeline also provides a format that allows brands to tell a more complete and detailed story and to highlight achievements over the years like new product introductions, awards or other business milestones. You have the opportunity to highlight posts to your wall now, with a new pinning function, that allows you to “pin” an update to the top of the page for seen days. You can also highlight an update and make it larger and more noticeable.

The customized applications companies have used in the past have been moved to the upper right hand side of the page, which will make them harder for fans to find and will probably decrease usage. You will now be able to customize the application image to reflect something that your particular audience might find more compelling.

Timeline offers you a wealth of data about how your competitors are using Facebook now. You can easily access your competitors’ insights and determine how many fans they have, the number of new “likes” they have received, how many fans are talking about them, which posts were most popular and other data. Problem is, your competitors will now also be able to access your information as well.

The new Timeline features will go live for all pages on March 30, 2012. This means that you have 25 days to think through how to make the most of the new opportunities and minimize any losses your company may experience due to the revisions. We have several recommendations for you as you move forward with the Timeline feature for your page:

• Read the  revised terms of use for Facebook pages and know what you can and cannot do.
• Use my friend Shelly Kramer’s checklist for converting to Timeline, which also includes several valuable resources.
• Read my friend, and Facebook expert, Brian Carter’s post on allfacebook.com, The 7 Biggest Fan Page Marketing Mistakes. The information he shares is invaluable and will help you plan your Facebook activities, which may well include investing in Facebook advertising to help promote your page to fans and prospects.
• If you are unfamiliar with the concept of Edgerank, Facebook’s algorithm for deciding what information makes it into your fans’ news feeds, read my friend Kami Watson Huyse’s recent post. This post will help you understand what types of content have proven effective in increasing user engagement.

So will Timeline be a game changer for your brand? It depends. It’s really up to you. And the clock is ticking…

Need help updating your Facebook page and developing a content strategy for your updates by March 30^th? Thinking about running Facebook ads but unsure how to get started? We can help. Give us a call at 419.740.1262 or shoot us an email at info@allenmireles.com. We’re happy to help you get this done–and done right–in time for the big March 30^th deadline.

Building your brand’s presence in a social network, without thoughtfully reading the Terms of Use first, can be harmful. Operating in violation of the terms of service leaves you vulnerable. Your organization could have its page removed, you, or your company or client, might even be legally liable for something like copyright infringement.

Case in point. Facebook announced its new Timeline for Pages feature yesterday and the news was shared with great enthusiasm. Brands are working feverishly now to reformat Facebook Pages to feature the Timeline cover images and to understand what they gain and what they lose in the revised format.

Less widely discussed are the revised terms of use, which provide a list of specific actions that are now outlawed on Facebook pages. For instance, on the cover, you can’t include price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it on socialmusic.com or references to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features. You can’t include calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.” Use of any of these constitute a violation of the revised terms of use and your page could be summarily removed by Facebook. It has happened before. It will happen again.

Or consider the hot new social network, Pinterest, which has been the subject of much controversy recently. Pinterest’s terms of use state that we, the users, are giving up the copyright of any materials that we share on the site. The terms of service say that: “By making available any Member Content through the Site, Application or Services, you hereby grant to Cold Brew Labs a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, royalty-free license, with the right to sublicense, to use, copy, adapt, modify, distribute, license, sell, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, transmit, stream, broadcast, access, view, and otherwise exploit such Member Content only on, through or by means of the Site, Application or Services.” Uh oh.

The terms of use go on to say that :”YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SITE, APPLICATION, SERVICES AND SITE CONTENT REMAINS WITH YOU.” The entire paragraph. In caps. So that you cannot miss what you are agreeing to. If you read it.

Pinterest also includes language that reads: “YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT, BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SITE, APPLICATION OR SERVICES OR BY POSTING ANY MEMBER CONTENT ON THE SITE, APPLICATION OR THROUGH THE SERVICES, YOU ARE INDICATING THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTAND AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS, WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE REGISTERED WITH THE SITE AND APPLICATION. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, THEN YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO ACCESS OR USE THE SITE, APPLICATION, SERVICES OR SITE CONTENT.

If you accept or agree to these Terms on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent and warrant that you have the authority to bind that company or other legal entity to these Terms and, in such event, “you” and “your” will refer and apply to that company or other legal entity.”

These may be risks that you, your company or your client are willing to take. And, if you read the terms of use and made a conscious decision to move forward, more power to you. If you didn’t though, are you ready for the possible consequences?

ALWAYS. Always. Take the time to read the words of the terms of service before you start. The language is often confusing to the average bear, which doesn’t help, but you must know what is allowed and what is not. If you don’t you may well regret it.

Do you need any help establishing a professional presence using social media? Or with the integration of social media tools into your existing marketing plan? Give us a call at 419.740.1262 or shoot us an email at info@allenmireles.com. We will be happy to help you figure out your next move. (And where it fits in to your overall marketing program.)

“I had harbored a theory—shared by others— that Facebook didn’t work. But I tested that theory and found profits instead.”

STOP YOUR SEARCH! Brian Carter’s The Like Economy is just the book you have been looking for. And here’s why.

As a society we appear to have zipped through the “social media is just a fad” stage of development and run full tilt into the “just jump into it” phase. Today brands and organizations are falling all over themselves to use social media for marketing purposes, often without really understanding how to do so effectively.

What is a recipe for disaster? Using social media for marketing purposes without a clear understanding of:

• What you are doing
• Why you are doing what you are doing
• Who you hope to do it with
• How the social media tool you are attempting to use actually works
• How you will know you have been successful

Yet every day another organization gamely jumps into the social media arena and begins “sharing”; updating feverishly in the hopes of attracting more sales, more leads, more brand recognition, more…whatever.

Nowhere is this more prevalent than on Facebook, one of the largest social networks in the world with more than 800 million active users. Facebook looks easy and many organizations jump into it without knowing what they are trying to accomplish, only to abandon the effort, convinced that Facebook just doesn’t work for marketing.

Yet Facebook, used strategically and with expert guidance, can be an extremely effective addition to the digital marketing mix. The Like Economy provides that expert guidance. This book takes you by the hand and guides you through the process of using Facebook for marketing. It is ideal for the “marketing newbie” as well as the seasoned marketer or brand manager who is hoping to add successful Facebook marketing tactics to an overall program.

Author, Brian Carter is respected as one of the elite internet marketing experts in the world. His hands-on business experience, cutting edge insights, background in improv and stand up comedy culminate in a speaker and trainer who leaves every audience not only entertained, but armed with powerful strategies and tactics. Carter is the bestselling author of The Like Economy and co-author of Facebook Marketing. He also wrote an ebook called How To Get More Fans on Facebook.

With The Like Economy you get into the nuts and bolts of running Facebook ad campaigns; everything from understanding the power of Facebook advertising to identifying the type of ad to run, creating and testing the ads and understanding the ad reports Facebook generates. But you get so much more. The Like Economy addresses:

• The power of positive marketing
• Making the case for Facebook marketing
• How Facebook fits into your business and other marketing efforts
• Five ways to achieve profits with Facebook
• How not to fall on your face
• How to continuously get better results
• Going beyond benefits to arouse your fans desire for what you offer
• Setting up your Facebook page to get more fans and sales
• How to capitalize on the most powerful marketing tool
• Capturing qualified prospects as fans and group members
• How to get more likes and comments
• Achieving other corporate goals on Facebook
• Analyzing your Facebook results
• Sales and influence tactics for increased Facebook profits
• Principles for success

At this point I should disclose that I have been a member of Brian Carter’s Fanreach course and Fanreach Facebook group for more than a year. I consider him a friend. Brian has taught me things about using Facebook effectively that I have been able to translate into measurable results for my clients and for my own business. It is because I have learned from Brian Carter, and proven that what I have learned works, that I have been so eager to read “The Like Economy” (affiliate link). I recommend it highly and am certain you will find it a essential tool in your marketing toolbox.

To your Facebook marketing success!