As most of you know I am heavily involved in most things in social media. I was an early adopter of Foursquare, HootSuite and Klout. I am constantly checking in when I am out and about and love how it fosters discussions. Due to how often I discuss coffee and/or am meeting at Starbucks, I even made Brian Solis’ blog post about “the top 100 most connected people within the group mentioning Starbucks” back in February. Check out number 90. :-)
The fact that I discuss coffee and Starbucks so frequently has resulted in being constantly jabbed by friends and followers. It has also become an incredible connection point to build closer relationships with many people simply because we have this love in common. This common connection leads to conversation, which leads to relationships, which leads to discussing business. This is social media at its core.
This weekend after church, I took the kids to Subway. As usual I checked in on Foursquare, which pushes my checkins out to Facebook and Twitter automatically. This started some fun conversations both on Facebook and Twitter as it often does. But something carried over to the next morning, that I found incredibly powerful and I thought it should be shared with you.
Monday morning Klout sent me a tweet from their @KloutPerks account. (See pic to the left) What do you think the chances of me getting a “Perk” for Subway, the day AFTER I recently visited? Slim to none in my opinion. Clearly Klout is doing something incredibly smart and effective, that transcends the social media check-in marketing we are all familiar with.
By having access to my Twitter account when I signed up for Klout, and using their algorithm to analyze my posts and content, they are able to discern the topics I am influential about. More importantly, they are also able to track various places I check-in to, my social media content, as well as brands I tweet about, then use this data to provide promotions for brands. The ability for a brand to target influencers based on their interest in a brand AND also tie their follower counts and Klout score into that data is beyond brilliant. Major brands can generate buzz through those people who can generate the largest reach and reward them for doing so.
This not only represents an incredible tool for larger brands, but a very interesting additional revenue model for Klout. I believe we will continue to see more of this from Klout as it is a far more effective marketing solution over the standard location-based coupon scenario.
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Great Article. I have just started using KLout and my score is still 14 so far. But i found it really interesting tool to measure the way how we interact in the social media world.
So as a KLout “Observer” i see this article as a proof that i can progress easily to a good influencer ! :)
Ayoub.
http://blog.ayoubhabchi.info
Really hate to burst your bubble, but I received the same promo from Subway via the Zmags Twitter account and I dont think my company checked-in there since it is not a person. I thought it was bogus so I ignored it. Not sure of the connection between Klout, FourSquare, Subway and this KloutPerk but I have a funny feeling it was a mass tweet to people with a certain Klout score. But I love the idea here…
Though I am sure they did send the Subway offer to many different data points Christina, based on what I have seen, read and heard, I am fairly confident that the basis for my post is correct. Like any database marketing, you have your highest targeted prospect group and other less targeted prospects that enable you to have a large enough universe of records. But I appreciate the input and bubble bursting attempt! ;-)
Robert
Let’s chalk it up to a funny coincidence then, shall we? Just wished I had redeemed that thing. Looked like a scam to me and $10 at Subway is like 2 foot longs :)
I received the promo too! I signed up for it and am looking forward to their new guac. product Subway is promoting! ;) I’m sure I’ll be tweeting my experience.
Right on Tara! We goin together? :-)
I have what I suppose is a respectable Klout score but I do wonder whether, in certain circumstances, Klout Perks might prove to be quite divisive and potentially counter-productive for the organisations sending out offers or products.
I’ll give you a good example – the blogging niche that I’m in is full of people who actually know each other well: London-based bloggers who blog about London events, theatre, food etc, and I constantly bump into subsets of the wider group at just about every event I attend.
I can imagine a situation where X, Y and Z receive a perk relating to a particular London-focused campaign but A, B and C don’t. Good luck trying to get them to say positive things about your London offering when they feel like they’ve been left out of the cold…
Do you see the potential problem here, because I certainly do!
I hear what you are saying. You may not like my view on this, but here goes…
Nobody deserves anything. If someone or a brand decides to give something to someone, it is their choice to do so. I for one would never shout “no fair” in any situation where someone received something I did not. I would be happy for them that they received something from a brand that thought it valuable to give or is testing something for a broader campaign. Too many people in the world today gripe because they don’t have something someone else does, or that someone was given something they didn’t receive. What a sad day it is if perks, test vehicles or niche marketing went the way of political correctness, thereby loosing control from giver to complainer.
This is my humble opinion. Let’s all play nice and gratefully accept something given and be happy for others when they receive something we did not.
Appreciate the input and certainly is something (based on today’s entitlement society) that brands (unfortunately) may have to consider. Sad but true…
Robert
Robert,
Your statement “Too many people in the world today gripe because they don’t have something someone else does, or that someone was given something they didn’t receive.” really struck a chord. Entitlement and political correctness can certainly threaten to ruin a good thing.
Excellent post!
Thank you,
Carol
Thank you so much Carol. I appreciate your thoughts and kudos! :-)
In my professional business I accept no perks for obvious reasons.
Just the other day I was offered a brand new, large screen lcd to close a deal before month end.
What you see as brilliant marketing I see as business as usual :)
Thanx for the input Peter.
What you may see as business as usual isn’t. Brands can reach more than one person and do it through the social graph where influence, discussion and buzz can be created and captured, with the technology discussed in my post. I think they are truly two different things.
The marketing platform Klout displayed and enables for brands within this venue is brilliant in my humble opinion and reaches well beyond the one on one reach of back room deals. :-)
Robert
Robert, Groupon really should hook this specific movement, “The Influence Matrix” :-)
You wrote: “The ability for a brand to target influencers based on their interest in a brand AND also tie their follower counts and Klout score into that data is…”
An aligned correlation: Check this real-time McD’s Interactive Gaming “Smart Outdoor” space promo test in Stockholm that appears to work with hooking space/people & a coupon: http://youtu.be/7u0ij9D5S4Yhttp://youtu.be/7u0ij9D5S4Y The coupon delivery occurs towards the end of the piece. Note Swedish McD’s staffing.
I write about a related topic which I refer to as the accelerated evolution of “Smart-Space: here: http://imonad.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/smart-space-is-coming-and-coming-fast/ (Don’t hate me for the (atop your-Brand) dovetail plug. :-))
I think these are all very different technologies and market space elements John, cool, nonetheless! Thanx for sharing. :-)
Robert
Here are 3 suggestions on how Klout can improve Perks:
http://admajoremblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-is-klout-perks.html
Thanks!