Improve Your Social Media 'Klout'

Are you using social media to help market your online ecommerce business? If so, you can keep track of how effective your social media account is by using 'Klout.'

Klout is a great website that rates your social media network, giving it an overall score out of 100 which you can then use to determine how influential your social media account is. With over 100 million social media accounts using Klout, it is a great tool to see how you can help improve your social media growth.

So, if you have checked your Klout score and found that it is lower than you would like, how can you improve your score?

Your Klout score is determined by three different categories; "True Reach," "Amplification" and "Network."

True Reach - Basically how many people act on something that you post. This could involve someone opening up a link that you have posted or someone sharing or retweeting your post for others to see. The more people you have that do this, the greater your Klout score will increase. When running your business, you must ensure your online store has some form of social commerce, allowing you to share content from your site to your social media pages.

Amplification - While 'True Reach'  measures how many people act on something you post, 'Amplification' measures how many other people act on this once it has been retweeted or shared. For example, you post an article on your Twitter account which is then retweeted by someone who is following you. People who are then following the retweeter then decide they themselves want to retweet it to allow followers of their Twitter account to read it. This will result in your amplification score going up. The more people that do this, the greater increase in your Klout score. 

Network - Out of the three categories, this is the easiest way to greatly increase your Klout score. If you have a number of different social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, use the Klout website to link them all together. The more social media accounts you have linked, the more socially active you appear to the Klout program. This will result in your social media account receiving a significant jump in score.

The average Klout score for a user is around 20, anything above that and you will be well on your way to being influential in social media. If you are looking to become one of the most influential, you should be looking to achieve a score of over 70. However, to achieve this type of score you must have thousands of twitter posts, millions of followers and a whole host of people who constantly retweet and share your content. This level of influence is usually only achieved by celebrities and worldwide brands 'eBay' that has a score of 79.

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What eBay's 'Like' and 'Want' Buttons Could Do For Your Business?

eBay are currently experimenting on their website by adding 'Like,' 'Want' and other social media buttons to some of their stores. 

If this becomes a standard feature across all eBay stores, how could this potential new feature impact your business?

Well, the obvious positive straight away is the ability to create greater interaction levels between your eBay store and Facebook. Having your customers 'Like' or 'Want' a particular product on your eBay store will provide two glaring positives. Firstly, it is great advertising! If someone likes or wants one of your products, the item will be added to their eBay listings and gives them the option to share with friends via Facebook. The notification including the product itself will then instantly appear on this person's Facebook news feed. This will mean that all of their friends will be able to see your product. Secondly, it will also provide a direct link to the product within your eBay store. That type of direct traffic is great not only for attracting customers, but also increasing your websites search engine ranking. Secondly, having a number of buyers 'Like' a particular product gives you an added indication of which items are currently popular with the wider public.

For those who run not only an eBay store, but also a Facebook store, this could be a fantastic way to increase your following within Facebook. If one of your items are posted on a persons wall, one of their friends may then look to see if they can find a fan page or store within Facebook that is linked to your eBay store. The main reason for this would be to see if your store currently has any news, sales or offers advertised on the Facebook page.

However, some store owners believe that this addition is a waste of time and one which would of been better spent improving levels of communication between the buyer and sell. The possible button additions have also been met with mixed views by eBay buyers. Some believe they are a great addition, allowing people to keep track of what they like, while others think it is somewhat an invasion of their privacy as others should not be able to see what products they like. 

While the positives of these buttons in the eyes of the seller are clear to see, time will tell as to whether it is something that eBay will integrate across all of their stores.