If you pay attention to social media marketing, you have probably heard about Klout and wondered what it is. Here’s everything you need to know about the social media marketing tool, including why you should be using it.

What is Klout?

Klout is a social media marketing tool that analyzes who your brand influences and who influences your brand on social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and more. Klout’s main goal is to let you know how much influence the content you’re posting is having on your online community.

How does it work?

Klout rates your content on a scale of 1-100, 100 being the best. It gives you a list of people whom you influence and people who influence you the most. Once it gives you a Klout score, it breaks it down for you with graphs that tell you how much impact your information is making on your social community. It lets you know whether your scores are good or bad, whether you’re more influential or less than the average person as well as your “Klout Style,” which describes how you interact with your following.

So why is this information important?

Having a better understanding of who you’re influencing and how much impact your content is making on your online community can help you create the content you want and in turn, the online reputation you want for your brand. It’s always useful to know how you are impacting your audience (i.e. your customers), so you can be sure that the social media path you are taking is the right one or whether you need to turn around and reevaluate your options. Find out how much Klout you have; get started here!