Makes sense . A pack of gum, or even ten for that matter might not make an influencer feel special, but $250 to spend on concerts from Live Nation? Not too shabby. Not everybody gets 250 clams though. Like the Klout Perk mentioned in yesterday’s post from Rent the Runway, they are offering different levels of reward based on Klout.  The Trident perk takes a different angle however, rewarding influencers not by all up Klout score but the ranking on their brand page.  Here’s the breakdown: The top 10 influencers get $250. The top 100 get $100. The top 1,000 get $35.

I LOVE the idea of brand pages because it allows a company to identify and converse with a core group of people who care about their brand on a continuing basis. I DON’T like the fact the top influencers are based on the number of +K an individual has in that topic. I’d prefer Klout’s algorithm to make the call on who is influential rather than “real” people clicking buttons.  Take for example the #1 influencer on Trident’s brand page, PR Girl Atlanta. She’s real hot, but I’m not sure if she’s real. Or a girl. Or cares about gum. “She” does however tweet a ton and have a boatload of followers but as you can see from her Klout profile her main goal on Klout is to get +Ks in Trident (yes, I gave her one…). Maybe that does make her a true brand advocate? The jury will remain out on that one for now. Ohhh, the mystery.

In my opinion Klout should give brands the option to sort influencers on their brand page by science (their algorithm), not gaming (+K). While this may limit the number of active Klout users on the list it wouldn’t be at the expense of quality.

What do you think? (I realize the comment function is currently broke on the site so asking that question here is pointless. But you can hit me up on Twitter @gknutson)

Best,

Garth Knutson