Klout新推品牌評分服務
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近日推出全新企業儀表板，提供細化信息，幫助企業瞭解自身品牌在哪個社交網站最具人氣、在哪個網站最不具吸引力。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.
社交影響力分析網站Klout致力於衡量用戶在自身社交網絡中的影響力，現在它開始爭取企業用戶。這家2008年於舊金山成立的初創企業目前推出了企業版Klout（Klout for Business），即一個旨在幫助各大品牌瞭解自身在線受衆的門戶網站。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.
日前，Klout發佈了針對企業的免費分析工具，幫助各公司瞭解自己的粉絲和追隨者的影響力，自己的品牌與哪個社交網站最有共鳴，又與哪個最格格不入，自己應該多利用哪個社交網絡，關於自身品牌的什麼話題最受歡迎，以及哪個“時刻”——比如Tweet或Facebook上的一條更新——最受關注。
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.
Klout將於一季度末推出新功能羣組。Klout羣組和Facebook羣組有些類似。不過，前者的成員範圍要窄得多，僅包括Twitter和Instagram等社交網站上最具影響力的人物。藉助這項功能，公司能大體瞭解自己在哪個社交網站上特別具有影響力。這項功能的價格將根據公司而有所變化。Klout目前最大的收入來源是Klout獎勵。顧名思義，這個獎勵計劃鼓勵社交網站上的知名人士積極分享有關各大品牌的信息。Klout首席執行官喬?費爾南德斯告訴《財富》（Fortune）雜誌，一旦羣組功能步入正軌，將有望在明年成爲Klout的支柱業務。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.
Klout還準備了第三項業務。它計劃推出多種工具，幫助各大品牌與社交大號互動，或是直接對他們給予激勵。這些工具涵蓋了從投票調查到精準獎勵的多種功能。今年的西南偏南音樂節（South by Southwest）期間，太陽馬戲團（Cirque du Soleil）和Klout就向那些親臨音樂節，同時下載了該移動應用程序的用戶發放了各種獎品。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.
效果究竟如何？目前還不得而知。Klout是一家備受爭議的公司。誕生伊始，人們就競相熱議，在高速發展的社交網絡圈，制定一套影響力評分標準究竟有無必要。隨後，大家的注意力轉移到Klout的打分上。因爲人們不認可Klout評分方法，質疑它在暗箱操作。（確實，奧巴馬總統的分數竟然要低於科技界名人羅伯特?斯科布。這怎麼可能？）迫於壓力，Klout在去年年底對評分系統進行了大幅調整，分數計算更加精確，打分過程也更加透明。大家的怨氣終於稍稍平息。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.
此後，Klout慢慢成熟，並深得消費者的認可，一定程度上是因爲它與微軟必應（Bing）搜索引擎的合作伙伴關係。Klout的收入在去年增長了兩倍，並有望在今年實現年入千萬美元。但有一個小問題。Klout負責業務拓展和平臺的副總裁馬特?湯姆森表示：“有位朋友對我說，他遇見過的首席市場官沒人不知道Klout，所以我們的品牌認知度很高。但是，沒有哪位首席市場官清楚，Klout究竟爲品牌做了什麼貢獻。”而Klout日前的宣告正是爲了解決這一問題。
