If you’re here to read another pro or con Klout rant, then please go somewhere else. I consider Mark Schaefer’s blog series to be the definitive take on the whole Klout business.
I like Klout, and I use Klout. If you fall into this camp, please continue.
Did you know that Klout has lists? You may have ignored them. And I wouldn’t blame you one bit. See, we’ve been trained to think that lists are useless. You can thank our Twitter over-lords for that. However, I’ve found a couple of great reasons to build a Klout list or two or in my case, three.
It’s pretty easy to build a list. You’ll just need to know your target’s Twitter handle. There is one drawback to Klout Lists – they only work for folks that have connected their Twitter account to their profile. I found a few influencers who only had Facebook connected. I couldn’t’ find a way to add them to a list.
Reason #1 – Get Your Influence Network’s Attention
Flattery works. If it doesn’t, then you probably don’t care about Klout anyway. If you add someone to a list, they will see that, and odds are they might consider thanking you for it. Maybe even with a +K. Or maybe not. I mean, there’s a lot of folks out there and I doubt the celebrity types really care. But seeing a daily barrage of incoming +K’s…
Reason #2 – Make it Easy for You to give out +K’s
I want to reward my networks. I have built these into my ‘lists.’ So I have a list for work, one for my hobbies like blogging, and another for fellow co-workers that I want to see do well. So each morning when I get my +K ration filled, I go to my list and walk down the list and give out a +K to each person.
Using the main Klout pages can be frustrating. It’s hard to pull up a profiles unless you remember their Twitter handle. If you rely on going into your influencer network, then you aren’t guaranteed to find the folks you really want to.
I use the lists as my homework reminder sheet. Except, this is homework I don’t mind doing. I can open the list, which is just 2 clicks from the main page, then go down the list and +K whoever is eligible for one at that moment. I’m lazy, and if I can spend 10 minutes once to save me 30 seconds multiple times a week, I’ll invest that time in a heartbeat.
Reason #3 – You are more likely to be added to a list.
It can’t be a bad thing. Maybe you are on someone’s homework list now too!
If you liked this article, how about a little +K for Klout? Sorry, there’s no -K out there yet.
