Klout Perks you won me over with a Weekend Getaway to @TerraneaResort #Terranea

Wow, I am awe right now and so incredibly grateful to be enjoying a relaxing weekend getaway only a couple hours from home at Terranea Resort. This vacation is all compliments of Klout. Even my journey up here was sponsored by Klout. For being an influencer in “Travel & Transportation” I was rewarded an @Amtrak gift card. I used it to get up to Irvine . I decided to upgrade to Business Class for only $10 more. What a great deal! Complimentary wine, snacks, roomy seats and a great view. When I arrive in Irvine, @ShannonSmith and @Hoda007 picked me up and together we all made our way over to paradise in LA!

I’ve talked about Klout before. I discussed how Klout can be a useful tool. I’ve also posted about Klout for businesses. Today I want to share my adventures of a Klout Perks weekend getaway! As soon as I checked in, I was greeted with a welcome glass of champagne. Then I headed to my room with a gorgeous ocean view.

 To give you guys an even better idea of how I’m spending my weekend, here’s a virtual  tour of my home for the weekend.

 

After getting settled, I stopped by their Asian restaurant, Bashi for a small snack. Before I knew it, it was time for the opening reception party. Terranea had many surprises in store for us. They rewarded each of us with a $200 room credit to use this weekend. They also announced a scavenger hunt/passport game to find the next Terranea Ambassador. The Ambassador receives a complimentary weekend stay + $200 credit one weekend a month for an entire year! Let the games begin because I am going to be the perfect Terranea Ambassador!

After the reception, I freshened up in my room and met up with some of the Klout crew for dinner at Nelson’s. Check out this Giant Pretzel that’s bigger than my head! Yes this pretzel is on our passport list.

Now I’m back in my room, lounging, relaxing, watching tv while blogging and getting ready for bed so I can wake up bright an early for a yoga class. I trust everyone is enjoying their weekend. I know I am. Stay tuned for more posts, tweets and updates on my weekend getaway at Terranea Resort.

A Word with the Marketing Nerd @stef_funny (Klout Perks for Businesses)

<Editor’s Note> I’m very excited to introduce you all to Stephanie Trinh aka @stef_funny!  She’s the newest member of my team here at Marketing Melodie. She’s an ambitious Business Marketing Student at SDSU, is filled with positive energy and is even a fellow marketing nerd! I’ll let Stephanie take it from here. HIT IT STEPHANIE! </Editor’s Note>

We all influence one another, the question is, how much of an influence are we? In 2008, a social media analytic website called Klout was founded to help us measure our level of influence on our audience. Klout gives each individual a score from 1 to 100, based on the individual’s ability to drive action through their social networks. Actions are considered as how many mentions and retweets you receive on Twitter; comments, wall-posts and likes on Facebook and so on for all the other social media networks that you are able to link Klout to. Klout also gives you an idea of the topics you are influential on, and if the people in your network agree with Klout, they can give you a +K.

Just recently, I discovered Klout Perks. By having a Klout account you are eligible for Klout Perks, but certain perks are targeted to specific users based on their score, influential topics, location and more. The perks consist of free or discounted products and/or services. From analyzing all the Klout Perks that have been offered, I’ve come up with three reasons companies may benefit from offering Klout Perks:

1. It’s great brand exposure.
As individuals are browsing through all the perks because their curiosity got the best of them, and whether or not they qualify for the perk, they are still being exposed to your brand. The best part is, your brand is getting a ton of impressions, but you don’t have to pay the CPI price!

2. It’s a viral opportunity for your business.
Some of the most influential individuals will be redeeming one of your sponsored packages. These individuals are the ones that are highly active in their social networks and will be telling their fans about the fun perks they’ve received through Klout, which means they will be talking about your brand!

3. You can use Klout to measure your outreach success!
Klout gives you a lot of insight in the digital world. See who you influence the most, whether it may be a competitor or a loyal fan. You can also see the topics you are influential on, and how your influence compares to your competitors.

Here is an example of how successful Popchip’s campaign went:

Popchips’ campaign was targeted towards healthy trendsetters. They offered a popchips sample kit, hoping that this would be shared and passed along to friends and family. Only 300 influencers were able to claim the perk but there was 14,819 tweets about the perk along with 46.7 million impressions of the perk.

Are you interested in getting your business involved with Klout? All you’ve got to do is contact Klout here then talk to us at Marketing Melodie and we’ll help you come up with  an effective marketing strategy on how to integrate Klout and digital tools.

You can connect with Stephanie on Twitter, Google+ and check out her blog, Marketing Nerd!

Klout Perks you won me over, now what else are you good for?

I admit I was very hesitant when I first heard about Klout. I thought “Why is the internet judging me and giving me a score that no one else cares about?” Nevertheless I registered myself and didn’t really pay attention to Klout for quite some time. Then all of a sudden I started hearing about people getting “perks” which came in the form of packages in the mail! Real snail mail! With electronic technology being so prevalent, getting something in the mail is such a nice treat.

I started to pay a little more attention to my Klout Score. My perspective was still that since I’ve never had anyone want to work with me because of my Klout score, in fact I’ve never even had a random person ask me what my score was; therefore I can’t justify my score having a strong influence over anything!

Recently, however I started to realize how Klout may be slowly but surely becoming a major player in the “Social Media Game”. They added more networks to their enigmatic algorithm (to this day I still can’t figure it out).  In fact just over a week ago my fellow San Diegan, web/tech friend, aka one of the most innovative, in-the-know ladies in tech, Jenn Van Grove aka @jbruin of Mashable wrote about how Klout Calculates Its 100 Millionth Score. Before I continue with my own insight on the benefits of Klout, I want to take a moment to say THANKS KLOUT for all the perks!

I’m not a big Subway fan, but I also can’t turn away a free sandwich with my $10 Subway card. In fact, it served me well for 2 sandwiches and prompted me to promote for Subway when I normally wouldn’t be talking about them!

I received a variety of Metromint water to try. I admit I still haven’t had a chance to enjoy them yet but they look so pretty in the package and it’s just fun to get stuff in the mail!

Is Klout trying to tell me that I stink? They’re sure not keeping it much of a Secret! Either way I’m stocked up on deodorant for the rest of the year, something I would buy anyway!

For the few times a year it sprinkles in San Diego, Klout and the Weather Channel have me covered! This is my favorite Klout Perk so far. As a San Diegan, buying an umbrella isn’t even on my list of things to ever buy so having an awesome umbrella like this is pretty cool!

Once again, thanks Klout for all the fun perks! I’m ever so grateful! I’ll now share a few of my own observations on how Klout is a useful tool.

1. Find Influencers- If you’re looking for new people to follow or want an glimpse of who has a strong voice on topics you’re interested in, simply click on the “Influencers” tab on the left side of your Klout profile. Click on different topics and a list of the top influencers for each topics will populate.

2. Share Influencers- Give back to your community and those who you’re learning from with +K’s! You’re allowed to give 5 +K’s each day. Along with the +K’s you can tweet out to your network “I gave (insert Twitter name) +K about Social Media on @klout….” this is still room here, I highly encourage you to include WHY you’re awarding this +K. Just like I want you to tell me Why should I follow you on #FollowFriday?, I want to know why I should care about the +K you just gave.  This makes your share much more valuable to your followers.

 

3. Marketing Opportunities for Brands- As evidenced by my Klout Perks, this is an extraordinary opportunity for brands to get their product in the hands of influencers. Not only will brands reach influencers, they’re also tapping into a population they know is extremely active on Social Media. Therefore, people who receive Klout Perks are more likely to share your brand with their network. This creates a great authentic and viral opportunity for your brand.

4. Measurement Opportunities for Marketers- Although measuring Social Media is still something Marketers are challenged with, Klout is one way we can demonstrate a set metric. For example, if I have a client interested in reaching out to people who have a strong voice in the Yoga community, I can search for top influencers on this topic with a Klout score higher than 50 and craft messages directed toward this group.

5. Klout Perks!- Of course I can’t leave this off since the perks inspired me to take a closer look at Klout in the first place. Make sure to periodically check the top right “Perks” tab on your profile to see what Klout Perks are available and which ones you qualify for!

Before I conclude by first blog post on Klout, I do want to say that I wish Klout had a vacation mode! My score drops significantly each weekend. I’m not as active on Social Media then since I’m out enjoying time with people I care about. It also drops when I’m on vacation since I’m not constantly updating! Anyone else want to see this feature? Aside from that, please share with me your own thoughts on Klout. Are there other benefits you’ve seen?