LinkedIn has always been an essential piece of one’s professional online brand. Recognizing this, Klout, the startup that measures influence on Facebook and Twitter, recently announced the addition of LinkedIn.
Is clout important?
Klout believes that everyone who creates content has an influence, whether you’re on the “A-list” or not. Using their tool, they hope to help these individuals understand and leverage that influence online.
“As with every network we measure on Klout, we assess your ability to drive action. Similar to our Facebook and Twitter scores, we analyze who you’re influencing, how you’re influencing them and how much influence they have. Again, we’ve placed a heavy emphasis on quality not quantity – so collecting connections won’t necessarily increase a user’s score.” – Ash Rust on Klout’s blog
Your overall online influence depends on:
- True reach – The size of your engaged audience. Klout looks at individual relationships and determines whether the individual has seen your content, shared it or acted upon it.
- Amplification probability – The likelihood that your content will be acted upon. Are folks clicking on your content, sharing it, etc.?
- Network influence – The influence level of your engaged audience. Are those people sharing your content and interacting with you influential as well?
Mentioned in the announcement blog post, additional connections will not necessarily influence your score. So, how do you increase your influence on LinkedIn?
Increase your influence
Here are some of my suggestions:
Share relevant, interesting content. Most people realize the benefit of sharing content across Twitter, but why not LinkedIn, too? Post articles and news that your network might enjoy and share with others.
Join groups and engage in conversation. Share content related to the group to spark conversation. Monitor conversations threads to determine how you can help those individuals looking for advice.
Monitor LinkedIn Answers. Spend a few minutes each day looking at recent questions posted on LinkedIn Answers from your network. Browse questions posted related to your industry. Provide advice, tips or share relevant content to help others with their inquiries.
