Don't let anyone tell you that they're a specialist or "expert" without checking out what their Klout score is. It is an independent 3rd Party that monitors personalized algorithms to assess "clickability" to confirm what a following likes about what is shared.
Klout also evaluates what topics are aligned with you. If you are lucky, they will also show what areas others consider you an expert on. It can evolve based on what you share (i.e. for a while, I was considered an expert on Calgary, my home town).
Klout.com defines your score out of 100 to determine where you land among the clutter of zillions of other personal brands world wide. [ YES, among the "realDonaldTrump" ]. See TWOPCHARTS image below on who reigns supreme on Twitter .... for now. It evolves quickly and indicates what social media storm is brewing.
I've used Klout as part of reporting when I helped a leading sales author [ best-selling on AMAZON ] launch his social media efforts. It identified where he was when we got started [ 17% ] and where he sat after 3 months of launching/increasing his online profiles and brand recognition via Klout [ 32% ].
If you are flogging yourself as an expert on something, it would help to determine what others consider your expertise on: what topics you share that interest the majority?
There are other sites that monitor your influence and help to track progress. Like golf, focus on your own score. If you are competing, writing or a brand in a specific area, ensure that you are considered a topic expert in that area.
Alternatively, if you want to be known as an expert, you can always look up who you admire or consider to be one to see how you compare. Likewise, if you are hiring someone who says they are an expert on something, you can check them out for free.
Similar to Klout, KRED authenticates your influence by assigning a score - where you sit as far as influence out of 1000 and Outreach out of 12.
Both Klout and KRED create badges for your blog or website that fluctuates and updates frequently. They also allow you to vote on other brands or personalities that you endorse as having expertise. Endorsements are a nice form of recognition towards others who have helped you by allowing you to share what area of expertise you think they may have based on the topics that you find valuable.
It is easy to sign up: you can authorize by linking either Twitter or Facebook profiles. Since my following on Twitter is more active and larger, I tend to go with that. However, looking at my blog numbers, it shows that my Facebook friends are more actively engaged with what I post.
Quality matters over followers ~ how clickable is your content?
In the world of social media, engagement is what matters, not necessarily the number of followers but the consistency by which people click. Engagement is really about responsiveness. Most brands fall into the habit of posting information relating to themselves, their promotions or contests. Acknowledgement goes a far greater distance when you reply to posts/shares/tweets directly. If someone is advocating for you, it is REALLY important that at minimum you thank them. Again, many brands fall into the trap of posting but not responding. Likely because of constraints on what they authorize or limit responses.
The lesson in all this is that if you think social media is just about posting your own "stuff" you may be misguided. I've seen tech companies announce outages and directly respond to inquiries ... they are more unique than the average, smart enough to know how to interact with users, customers. My guess is that some brands are more diligent with whom they assign the responsibility to.
Another measurement service:
TWOPCHARTS gives you a lot of information by just looking up a user profile to show the top tweets, top mentions, top of anything (note the average Twopscore is 7.01 where mine is 9.67).
Like most anything else: results matter. Likewise, numbers can tell a story. Deciphering data is a calling. Monitoring your brand online is a responsibility.
Use the tools available that underscore and showcase your influence before you assume bragging rights!
Your online reputation is your personal responsibility. Monitoring it bespeaks wisdom and social media savvy.
