Want to work with brands? Then you need to raise your Klout score and get on our new British Mum Bloggers have Klout index. Liz Jarvis, who blogs at The Mum Blog, shares her top 11 tips for upping your online influence.
I was very excited to see BMB’s new British Mum Bloggers Have Klout index and not just because I’m on it *cough*.
In my day job, and as a blogger, I work with a lot of big brands who use social media campaigns. When they’re trying to decide which blogs to work with, they rely on different independently-sourced criteria to establish reach, including wikio, but Klout is becoming increasingly important as a measure of online influence, including Twitter and Facebook.
The good news is it’s easy to improve/increase your Klout score. Here are my top tips.
1. You need to tweet more than once a day, and preferably fairly often. Seems obvious, but you’d be surprised by how many people on twitter think one tweet a day on what they’ve just eaten will suffice. OK admittedly I’m a twitter addict (although NOT a #neglectfulmum) but I do realise that it’s about keeping the conversation going. Which leads me to...
2. Twitter is not a soliloquy, or a blog, or an opportunity to tweet relentless marketing messages. It is a conversation. So your tweets need to be engaging, but you don’t need to share every minutiae. Be yourself. Give them the teeth, the smile, the whole personality.
3. Replies are a very good way to gage whether your tweets are interesting or not. If you continually tweet but no one replies, chances are you need to up the interest ante. #True.
4. Retweets make a huge difference to your Klout score, because they show engagement and influence. So if other tweeps retweet your tweets (still with me?), this all counts. If I want a tweet to be RT’d, I put it at the end of the tweet. With a ‘please’ in front of it.
5. Tweeting with high profile tweeps boosts your score. Call me a social media whore, but I’m not ashamed to admit I frequently tweet with celebs and other well known tweeps. I enjoy it. And it boosts my score #bonus.
6. It’s NOT about the number of followers you have. Say you have 3000 followers (and you’re certain they’re all actual people , not bots), but they rarely RT your tweets, or reply to you, or mention you or acknowledge your existence. Then your Klout score will be lower than someone with fewer followers who constantly gets RT’d and mentioned.
7. Use Tweetdeck. I honestly don’t understand how anyone can function on twitter without it.
8. Be relevant, topical. Use hashtags, start a trend.
9. Don’t just RT everyone else’s tweets all the time, without sharing anything yourself.
10. Add your Facebook account to Klout. Now.
11. Remember it’s supposed to be fun. Take the above tips as friendly advice, but don’t treat twitter like work or a chore.
*Liz blogs at The Mum Blog. Her current Klout score is 67, but that might drop quite a bit during half-term.
