Klout新推品牌评分服务

    Klout近日推出全新企业仪表板，提供细化信息，帮助企业了解自身品牌在哪个社交网站最具人气、在哪个网站最不具吸引力。

    社交影响力分析网站Klout致力于衡量用户在自身社交网络中的影响力，现在它开始争取企业用户。这家2008年于旧金山成立的初创企业目前推出了企业版Klout（Klout for Business），即一个旨在帮助各大品牌了解自身在线受众的门户网站。

    日前，Klout发布了针对企业的免费分析工具，帮助各公司了解自己的粉丝和追随者的影响力，自己的品牌与哪个社交网站最有共鸣，又与哪个最格格不入，自己应该多利用哪个社交网络，关于自身品牌的什么话题最受欢迎，以及哪个“时刻”——比如Tweet或Facebook上的一条更新——最受关注。

    Klout将于一季度末推出新功能群组。Klout群组和Facebook群组有些类似。不过，前者的成员范围要窄得多，仅包括Twitter和Instagram等社交网站上最具影响力的人物。借助这项功能，公司能大体了解自己在哪个社交网站上特别具有影响力。这项功能的价格将根据公司而有所变化。Klout目前最大的收入来源是Klout奖励。顾名思义，这个奖励计划鼓励社交网站上的知名人士积极分享有关各大品牌的信息。Klout首席执行官乔•费尔南德斯告诉《财富》（Fortune）杂志，一旦群组功能步入正轨，将有望在明年成为Klout的支柱业务。

    Klout还准备了第三项业务。它计划推出多种工具，帮助各大品牌与社交大号互动，或是直接对他们给予激励。这些工具涵盖了从投票调查到精准奖励的多种功能。今年的西南偏南音乐节（South by Southwest）期间，太阳马戏团（Cirque du Soleil）和Klout就向那些亲临音乐节，同时下载了该移动应用程序的用户发放了各种奖品。

    效果究竟如何？目前还不得而知。Klout是一家备受争议的公司。诞生伊始，人们就竞相热议，在高速发展的社交网络圈，制定一套影响力评分标准究竟有无必要。随后，大家的注意力转移到Klout的打分上。因为人们不认可Klout评分方法，质疑它在暗箱操作。（确实，奥巴马总统的分数竟然要低于科技界名人罗伯特•斯科布。这怎么可能？）迫于压力，Klout在去年年底对评分系统进行了大幅调整，分数计算更加精确，打分过程也更加透明。大家的怨气终于稍稍平息。

    此后，Klout慢慢成熟，并深得消费者的认可，一定程度上是因为它与微软必应（Bing）搜索引擎的合作伙伴关系。Klout的收入在去年增长了两倍，并有望在今年实现年入千万美元。但有一个小问题。Klout负责业务拓展和平台的副总裁马特•汤姆森表示：“有位朋友对我说，他遇见过的首席市场官没人不知道Klout，所以我们的品牌认知度很高。但是，没有哪位首席市场官清楚，Klout究竟为品牌做了什么贡献。”而Klout日前的宣告正是为了解决这一问题。

    Klout's new business dashboard, rolling out today, will offer a granular using at which social networks brands are seeing the most (and least) traction.

    Klout, the analytics startup that aims to measure users' influence across their social networks, is going after businesses. The San Francisco-based venture, which launched in 2008, is launching Klout for Business, a portal intended to be used by big-name brands to better understand their online audiences.

    Today, Klout is making available a free analytics dashboard for companies with features that allow them to learn how influential their fans and followers are, which social networks the brand resonates most (or least) with, which social networks they should use more, which topics about the brand are most popular, and which "moments"—a Tweet or Facebook (FB) update, for example—get the most attention.

    Later this spring, the company will also introduce a Groups feature. Klout Groups will operate somewhat similarly to Facebook Groups, although they will only include the most influential people on social networks like Twitter and Instagram. The feature will allow companies to know, broadly, in which social networks members are particularly influential. Pricing will vary on a case by case basis. Klout currently draws the lion's share of its revenues from Klout Perks, a rewards program that encourages social media influencers to share information about brands. Klout CEO Joe Fernandez told Fortune he expects these to flip next year once Groups get off the ground.

    The third part of Klout's business strategy will include tools so brands can interact and engage directly with their influencers, from polls to targeted perks. At this year's South by Southwest, Cirque du Soleil and Klout provided users who downloaded the mobile app and were at the festival various prizes.

    Will it work? That remains to be seen. Klout is no stranger to controversy. The company's very launch generated much discussion of the importance of measuring influence on the growing social Web. Later, controversy then shifted to Klout scores themselves. Because outsiders were unsure of how scores were achieved, they questioned their validity. (Indeed, at one point, President Obama ranked lower than tech influencer Robert Scoble. Wait, what?) That issue was allayed thanks a major redesign late last year that offered a more accurate calculation of scores as well as transparency into how they are measured.

    Since then, Klout has matured and gained more acceptance among consumers, thanks in part to a partnership with Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing search engine. The company tripled revenue last year and expects to make in the low double-digit millions this year. There's a hitch, however. "A friend came in and told me that 10 out of 10 CMO's [chief marketing officers] that I talk to know what Klout is—so we have brand recognition—but 0 out of 10 know you do anything for brands," says Matt Thomson, Klout's VP of Business Development and Platform. Today's announcements are intended to address this.