I am positive that I had a blank look on my face when a recruiter asked me a few months ago what my Klout score was. Not only did I not know my Klout score, I actually had no idea what a Klout score was. He kindly explained to me that a Klout score measured online influence based on social media activity and that they didn’t like to work with freelance content marketing writers with a Klout Score less than 40.

As soon as I got home, I checked my Klout score and was shocked to see that my Klout score was a 12 out of 100. But I quickly realized that the main reason was that I hadn’t signed up on the site and connected all of my social media accounts to my name. Within a few keystrokes, my score was now a much more respectable 49. And over the past few months of simply continuing to use social media to make connections, I have steadily increased my score.

But as I find myself somewhat obsessively checking my score each day I have wrestle with the question of how important a Klout score is to landing content marketing writing gigs and how much attention should content marketing writers pay to their score.

Content marketing writing requires more thought leadership (more on this later this week) and expertise in a field, so brands care more about a Klout score than editors of consumer and trade publications. So, yes, I think that a Klout score is more important to content marketing writers than those writers focusing only on traditional journalism. But a high or low Klout score will most likely never be the only reason you land a great gig or lose out on a big content marketing project. However, I believe that it is possible that a very high or very low score could help or hurt you if an editor is on the fence.

Because social media shares are a prime goal of content marketing strategy, having a social media following and influence on the various networks is essential for content marketing writers. So, the factors that help increase your score are important for you to focus on and incorporate into your work day. Without a doubt writers, and especially content marketing writers, should make an effort to tweet thoughtful tweets, join the conversation with thought leaders on Twitter, develop a strong LinkedIn network, and share appropriate content on Facebook.

But these are tasks that you should do for the sake of developing the relationships, knowledge and influence that you need to do business in this social media focused work. If you focus on building your social media network and relationships in a meaningful way, then your Klout score should naturally increase.  But by trying to beat the system and artificially increase your number, then you are doing yourself a disservice in the long run.

So, yes, check your Klout score every few weeks. But don’t obsess about it. Heck, I had plenty of work as a content marketing writer when my Klout score was 12.