A few weeks ago I came across this interesting article on Twitter alerting me to Klout Perks. I’m not sure how familiar you might be with Klout, but it ranks you based on your social media activity. Not just on how many people follow you but also on how influential you are. It recently began to include your Facebook and LinkedIn profile’s to gauge your true Klout score – from 1 to 100.

Klout Perks

Klout Perks can earn you freebies, after all if you’re influential online getting access to something exclusive may encourage you to tweet or post a status update about it. Essentially the brand giving you the exclusive content (or freebie) in return for what could count as a promotional message – although the sentiment of that message is not controllable.

This Bundlepost explains how Klout have gone beyond the simple check-in, It’s author, Robert Caruso, was rewarded with a Klout Perk for Subway the day after he visited them. He explains;

“…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.”

In other words Klout Perks could deliver highly influential and targeted individuals for marketers to share exclusive content or information with. This is very similar to how bloggers often get promotional items in return for reviews, except Klout measures Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Klout Gets You Facebook Content

I’m sure you might be familiar with the ‘fan-gate’ or ‘reveal’ option for Facebook Pages, where you must click Like in order to access exclusive content on a tab. Today Involver announced they would use Klout data to fan-gate content on Facebook – klout-gating as it were. Only fans with a certain Klout score and above would be able to access the information. The first brand to use this is Audi USA’s Facebook Page. Depending on your Klout score you may be able to access a free ringtone or desktop image.

Will Klout-Gating be Useful?

Often with new developments like this on Facebook, brands rush to employ features that can often be a little gimmicky. While the concept of Klout-gating is good, not too many people, outside of marketers and social media types use Klout. Perhaps these are the people Audi want to reach in order to get them talking about their brand. But a desktop image or ringtone, as Audi offer in this case, will hardly set the social channels alight.

Involver’s paid for versions will offer greater customisation and this is where a Facebook Page could come into its own. For example the page of a Shopping Center with countless shops that could each be doing something of interest. However if I visit the page and all I see is a campaign for a ladies clothes shop i won’t be interested. But if Klout can determine I might be more interested in their tech products, male clothing or even a drinks deal then Klout-gating may be one of the best developments for Facebook marketing in some time. There’s tons of data online that could help brands target individuals better (as in the Subway example above). But there’s a few hurdles, such as lack of understanding what Klout is – and of course what if your product has a greater appeal than tech marketing types?