As humans and marketers we have a constant need to validate what we do. We look for metrics and tools to analyze our progress and effectiveness. Whether professionally or personally, we want to be better - better than we were last week, better than our competitor, better than expected.

And this is why Klout is so popular. Klout allows us to compare ourselves to others as well as mark our progress over time.

In all fairness, there is a lot of debate about the algorithms and metrics that Klout uses to achieve it's rankings. But we all still talk about it and we all still check our scores. How much clout you believe Klout has, may vary, but we still know our score.

If you have a Twitter account, you have a Klout score. If you don't know your score, go to Klout's website and login with your Twitter account. Then you can add any other social media accounts you manage - Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, or Foursquare. It might take a day or so to fully analyze your score but once done, you'll be able to regularly track your score.

Klout is measured on a scale from 0 to 100 with 100 being the most powerfully influential on social media.

So, what's in a number? What is good and what is bad? Why does it matter?

According to Klout's website, the average score is 40. And anyone with a score of 63 or higher is in the top 5% of social media influencers.

So, why do these scores matter?

Well, if you were looking for a social media manager or someone to help grow your online strategy, would you hire someone with a score of 23 or a score of 70? If you are looking to reach new customers would you want to have more influence than your competitors? If you wanted to partner with another company, would you want to partner with one with no social influence, or a significant social influence?

Once you are signed in to Klout, you can search for others and check their scores. Check out your own company's score and see how it stacks up against your competitors. When you're looking to hire a new social media administrator, check their score and don't be afraid to ask them to validate their score.

But what if your score is low and you want to raise it? The most important thing is to be active and engaging on social media. The more mentions you receive on Twitter, the more followers you have on each site, the more engagement you have on each post - each of these factors will help to increase your Klout score. You can also give others a +K (Klout) on a certain topic, and they can likewise do the same for you. The more +K's you receive, the more this will help bump up your score.

But I don't recommend chasing a score. While you should want to increase your score, don't set unrealistic goals and don't attempt to reach it using ill-fated methods. The more you interact and the more you engage, the more your score will increase. But if you don't have time to manage 5 social media platforms, don't go out and try to just to increase your Klout score.

Remember to focus on what you can manage. And as you gain control on one platform, you can introduce another. And as you gain more followers, engage with them as frequently as possible. Maintain your blog posting schedule and encourage shares as best you can. All of these will reward you in an increased social influence (and a higher Klout score) over time.

And, no Klout is not the only ranking tool out there. You can also check out your score on Kred, PROskore, and Twylah.

While these scores may not be definitive, they do provide a good gauge of social influence. Use them cautiously, but use them.