Homebuilders with Klout and What’s Klout…

6/1/11 UPDATE:Klout scores change constantly as the activity in social media is dynamic. I checked back on the Builders in this post 60 days later to see if anything had changed. It had for the positive. Updates shown in orange. ————

In my on-going experiments in social media, I’ve become slightly addicted to  Klout  – the service that measures social web influence based off of twitter and Facebook activity.    Klout analyzes Reach with true Followers/Likes, Engagement with Retweets, Comments, Mentions etc. and Content with topic, frequency  to decide how high your Klout score is. (Range: 1 to 100 with higher being better). 

On the fun side – you can easily check out how you rank, how your friends rank and how your competitors rank. KloutPerks add to the experience with the potential to get Free Stuff for being an Influencer. (When I looked into it a Klout Score of 53-70 got some OC locals a sneak Free Movie Preview of a Matt Damon film. My Score…29 to 30 (46)- so goes the dream. ) 

On the business side –  a Klout Score is a simple metric to track  social influence on the web.  With Klout, a business can see if they are improving over time. However, this is purely quantitative and  popularity doesn’t always equal real influence. So, take this with “a grain of salt” and a quick look. Note: if you don’t have goals and a strategy in social media – you may grow your influence in a meaningless fashion for your business. A wasted effort.

For brands that want to “get the word out” on a product, KloutPerks offers an interesting vehicle that follows a Code of Ethics for all Influencers to help maintain authenticity. Consider reaching specific influencers by known geography, interest, and sphere of influence.  (See how this applies to the building industry?  ;)  KloutPerks reminds me of “Tryvertising” – but MORE.

Klout Influence Matrix 

The Klout Influence Matrix can be used as a framework to bring intention to what you are doing in social media and insight into the dynamics of the social space. 

The matrix shows how people act in social media, by summarizing approaches into 16 profiles. If you understand the Influence Profile that that fits your brand strategy, you can tailor your actions towards achieving it. Act with intention in the social space and you’ll move towards goals.   For a larger version of the matrix – click here.

So…Who’s got Klout in the Building Industry…

Reality: As of today everyone is learning how the social web fits with the building industry and after reviewing a pool of the top 10 public homebuilders in the US and the JDPowers top 20 in Southern California…no one appears to be getting a Free Movie Preview yet.

The Top 4 Homebuilders with Klout:

• #1 @Lennar scores 50 & is a “Thought Leader”. Lennar has jumped into the social space with both feet and is going strong. (49. Lennar’s reach is expanded by their divisions: @LennarAtlanta scores 53) 
• #2 @PardeeHomes scores 45 and is a “Specialist”. Pardee is engaging and innovative these days. (44)  
• #3 @PulteHomes scored 34 and is a “Specialist”. (31) 
• #4 @DRHorton  also reached 34,  as “An Explorer” . (40 – up 18%)  

A couple private engaging homebuilders that I’ve come across:  @CharterHomes scores 39 -“An Explorer” (49 – up 26%)  and @LGIHomes scores 35 -“Specialist” (40 – up 14%).  Another of my industry favs is  @ValleyCrest scoring 48 – a supposed “Dabbler” (52 – up 8%). For planned communities,  the best  so far… @ValenciaSoCal scoring 25– a “Feeder” (41 – up 64%!) . 

KEY POINTS:  1) the Social Web is a HUGE part of communication today and the  Building Industry overall needs to engage more. Do you have a real strategy & brand personality for the social space?  Or did you throw up a FB page? 

Note: After writing this and nosing around shamelessly in everyone’s Klout profile, my addiction to Klout has subsided…slightly. Also, Klout is going to be adding LinkedIn actions to their analysis.