Fake Influencers are, unfortunately, a real part of social media. Influencers often use fraudulent practices to make their influence seem bigger than it is by buying followers, using Instagram pods, fake or stolen content, or bots.
Many Influencers purchase followers to boost their numbers. For a set price, you can purchase bot-followers. But the followers are not authentic.
So, how can you spot a fake Instagram account?
- Do the influencer’s followers have spammy names and minimal activity on their pages (no pictures, no posts, no followers)? Have their accounts sat dormant for years? Such accounts are likely fake followers.
- Fake influencers often steal other peoples content and photos and then post it as their own without attributing to the original poster.
- Fake influencers usually have a high number of followers, but their engagement rates are low. That is because purchasing followers is cheap, but purchasing engagement is much more expensive. You can easily spot an unbalanced follower-to-engagement ratio by comparing engagement rates with follower rates on at least 10 of the influencer’s posts.
- Do the comments on the influencer’s posts seem nonsensical? Bot engagement responses are nonspecific and vague. Real engagement from real users is typically specific to the content that’s posted.
- Most Instagram influencers have had a gradual rise in influence, followers, and engagement. If an Instagram influencer has had a sudden, significant jump in followers it’s possible that they bought those followers.
- Look at the quality of an influencer’s content or the number of posts the influencer has. Is there a lack of photos or posts but still thousands of Instagram followers? The likelihood of an influencer’s having thousands of followers with few posts and unengaging content is slim.
Fabianca is a Bahrain based digital marketing specialist. For a FREE 30 minute digital strategy session for your business visit Fabianca.com or call +973 36 188 100.