Extend Your Social Reach

Clearly, over time there will be new entrants, and existing players will refine tools and algorithms.  Until these measures come closer to assessing factors such as trust or strength of relationships, they will fall short of the mark.

Although these metrics still do not adequately capture all aspects of influence, you should care about their scores.  Those with higher influence scores are simply more likely to have their tweets or posts viewed by more people.

Here are three action steps to consider:

1. Determine what your Klout, Kred or PeerIndex scores are.  These metrics are free, and it could be valuable to understand how influential you are perceived to be. If you are dissatisfied with these scores, you can develop a plan to improve them.

2. Find out how influential your competitors are perceived to be. Scores are generally not private, so this information should not be that difficult to obtain.  If they are rated much better than you are and you are concerned, simply assess what they are doing that you are not, and plan accordingly.

3. Understand which of your best customers have high scores and figure out how to engage with these individuals to your best advantage.  Having influential folks write good things about your business can be very beneficial!

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  Please contact me on Twitter @dccTips, or on Facebook at dccUpdate. Or, email me at AndreaG@dccInsights.com.  And  visit my Web site,  or my blog.