The Official Klout Blog

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Klout wants to reward you for what you’re already doing online — connecting with other people over things that you care about. With Klout Perks, we try to hook you up with opportunities that are most relevant to your interests and influence. That said, there are some Perks everyone can appreciate.

Enter BeardHead. Male, female, bearded or barefaced, everyone can enjoy this opportunity to don a cozy knit cap with accompanying face cozy (that most suspiciously looks like a beard). Last year, Klout ran a perk to get your very own BeardHead.

And if this idea hasn’t grown on you yet, take a look at this photo where Klout employees get their BeardHeads on!

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Klout loves giving Perks to its influencers, and our latest one is pretty darn cool.

Alright, so picture this: You’re at a business dinner. Or better yet, you’re at a business conference. You and a hundred other people are vying for the business or network of another conference member. Everyone within earshot is handing that person a business card with hopes of winning their partnership, but then you hand them yours.

Game over. You have business cards crafted by MOO, and they are attention grabbers.

If you’ve never seen MOO’s business cards, they are a sight to behold. They are customizable, always fresh and stand out in bowl of same-ol’, same-ol’ cards.

Klout wants to arm you with some of the slickest business cards around. MOO is offering 50 free business cards to all new Klout users or any current user who has never claimed a Perk. If you qualify, you can claim your sweet new cards right here.

Now get out there and build your rolodex!

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We would like to congratulate Jory Caron for being crowned the T-Mobile Social King of CES. Jory influenced his way to the top with a total of 395 +K for the topic CES2012. This not only earns him the crown, but social bragging rights and a fantastic T-Mobile 4G Prize Pack, including a Samsung Galaxy S II with a year of service, a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and a T-Mobile 4G Mobile HotSpot.*

Since Jory accomplished such an awesome achievement, we asked him a couple questions.

What special influential powers did it take to be crowned the T-Mobile Social King? Did your YouTube help at all?
My viewers are awesome and so when I asked them to help me out a lot of them did… I love them… best viewers ever.

How does it feel to be the T-Mobile Social King of CES2012?
Feels pretty cool, I don’t ever do things like this where I directly win something… I usually use it to help friends or charities but it was nice for once to win something for me.

Congratulations Jory!

Thank you to all who participated, we are excited to see who might step up next year at CES.

To see official rules please visit http://bit.ly/xv84HE.

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Klout is ecstatic to announce our partnership with 2DaysInSeattle.com and Seattle’s Convention and Visitor Bureau! SCVB thinks their city is great and are willing to prove it by providing 30 influencers plus one guest each with free travel to Seattle, hotel accommodations, and $500 to spend on whatever they want in the city! Influencers are also granted the option to check out the brand new Gauguin exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum for free. The 30 lucky influencers will get to spend their 2 days in Seattle on February 4th, 11th or 18th. All eligible recipients need to be people who live in Portland, Vancouver and San Francisco and are influential in travel & tourism, art, culture, food & wine.

This is a very exciting Perk because this is the first time people are being rewarded with such an extensive travel package just for being influential! We can’t wait to see these influencers journey to Seattle, follow their adventures on www.2DaysInSeattle.com and by using the hashtag #2DaysInSeattle!

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We would like to formally introduce our small team of three to our wonderful influencers! Please meet the account management Klout Perks team..

We are the elves behind Santa’s Klout Perk workshop!

When Klout partners with a company to run a Perk, we are the ones who create the user experience, monitor responses across social networks, coordinate Perk arrival, ensure your satisfaction, answer questions you may have and deliver updates to our clients. As our Perks program grows, so does our influencer base. We love our users and want you to have the best possible experience with Klout Perks. So here are a few quick Perk tips:

1. You have the power!

All Perks are optional. If you participate in a Perk, we do not require that you share or tweet about the experience. You can say you love it, hate it, or say nothing at all. You earned the reward for having influence – the rest is up to you.

We NEVER give away any of your private information to the companies we partner with. For more information check out our Klout and Your Data. Perks are not about giving outside companies our users’ data; they are about our users leveraging their influence to receive unique experiences or products.

2. Receiving Klout Perks

Perks are given out based on score, location and topical influence. As for our international users, Klout only has employees in NY and SF so it is currently hard for us to execute campaigns in other countries but we hope to grow our team out and implement many more international Perks in the near future! Just be sure to update your Klout profile, including your postal code and email address so that you can be eligible for Perks in your area.

You can now add your own topics to your Klout account. If you are missing out on a Perk you really feel is relevant to what you talk about most, you can add the topic to your page, earn enough +K’s from your friends, and then you can redeem the Perk!

We don’t measure your real life influence. For example, we applaud the fact that you volunteer at an animal shelter and have a rescued dog at home, but we have no way of knowing that. If we have a Perk offering a free puppy to pet influencers (which would be totally sweet, but impossible) we will only know your love of animals by what your audience is reacting to online. That is how topics are decided.

We hope these tips help give you a better idea about what Perks are all about. The Account Management team has the best job of all at Klout – sharing great products with amazing influencers! Thank you for your continued support as we make our Perks program even better. We are here to help, so if you ever have any questions or feedback about Perks please let us know by tweeting to us @KloutPerks or email help@klout.com. Now get out there and start influencing!

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We are happy to support our first non-profit art organization through the Perks program. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is the fifth oldest orchestra in the country. The CSO is dedicated to enriching culture in the community and delighting audiences with high quality musical performances from world-renown artists. Influencers in the Cincinnati area will have the chance to experience the Live Wire concert featuring a Grammy-award winning ensemble for free! The CSO will also take influencers “behind the curtain” to learn more about the orchestra and meet the musicians afterwards.

We’re amazed at how quickly this program filled up. This lets us know that Klout users are interested in experiencing the arts and we hope to bring more opportunities to do so in the future.

For more information about the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, visit their website or follow them on Twitter at @CincySymphony.

How do you use your Klout to support the arts? What other programs would you like to see in the arts?

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Do you have a favorite children’s boutique or bakery that you can’t stop telling your friends about? Or a farmers’ market that has the juiciest apples? We are pleased to announce our partnership with American Express in efforts to support our favorite small businesses on Small Business Saturday®, 11/26. We offered two thousand lucky Klout influencers a $25 American Express gift card to shop small!

American Express is the founding partner of Small Business Saturday—a day dedicated to supporting the small businesses that fuel local economies and invigorate our communities. ­With almost 2.5 million Facebook supporters, plus a coalition of small business advocacy groups and public officials, Small Business Saturday is a part of a growing initiative that’s helping millions of small businesses across the nation.

Joe shops small, do you? Get out there this Saturday and let’s help fuel our local communities! To learn more, visit the Small Business Saturday Facebook page and follow @ShopSmall on Twitter.

Check out other great Klout Perks! Also, to learn more about how we choose people for Perks, see How to get Klout Perks.

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We’re excited to announce that Microsoft is giving away 500 new Windows Phones through Klout Perks! This Perk starts today with 100 influencers in New York City who will get a chance to play with the lastest Windows Phone release. On top of that, they get VIP passes to an exclusive launch event with a special performance by Matt & Kim! Soon after, this promotion will continue in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

“These events are going to be off the hook” said Molly O’Donnell, Director of Influencer Marketing for Windows Phone. She followed by saying “Our strategic partnership with Klout is proof that Windows Phone understands it takes a community to give your brand, well… Klout! Which is why we wanted to give Klout Perks members the chance to experience the phones for themselves to see all the cool and innovative ways that Windows Phone puts people first.”

Top influencers are trusted by their audience to share their real opinions and more and more brands are recognizing this power. Klout Perks is quickly becoming the best way to launch new products. The latest release of Windows Phone is the most exciting yet and we can’t wait to hear what our influencers think. Check out this Klout Perk and see if you qualify!