How to spot a fake social media influencer
While we as consumers are on social media we can easily be swayed by the opinions of people that we enjoy following. It is a great way to learn about new and interesting products that you may not have seen. Personally, I use this a lot to find and discover items that I have never heard of previously.
It is, therefore, no surprise that brands and businesses of all sizes have been embracing this thing called influencer marketing. However, just like anything else you need to look at all aspects and ensure that you are not caught out. Influencer fraud is on the rise!
Social Media Influencer – According to Pixlee, a Social Media Influencer is a user on social media who has established credibility in a specific industry. A social media influencer has access to a large audience and can persuade others by virtue of their authenticity and reach. resources. Discover Brand Influencers to Expand Social Reach.
How to spot a fake
By all appearances, a fake influencer will seem like a real influencer. They will have high-quality images and a high number of followers.
However, these followers are more likely to be fake accounts and bots which is not a real audience that you can get your business in front of. Creating fake accounts is a business in itself and you have to be smart about your analysis of an influencer.
- Look for an unusual follower to engagement ratio
- Are the comments actually relevant to the post or are they just emojis with little to no relevance? There should be a mix of both.
- Are the comments very generic like, ‘great pic’ or ‘nice’ or ‘amazing shot’ – these tend to be bots, just like the emoji comments.
- Does each post have varying engagements or are they all very similar?
- Are the same people commenting on every image?
- View various influencers to see if there are any similarities.
- Note that engagement rates tend to fall when the following is extremely large. This does not alone mean that anyone is fake.
- Every account will have fake followers but you want the percentage to be very small. Use IG Audit to check your own account or someone you are considering to choose.
78% is a great result!
The cost
Naturally, this varies, product, money, time and more can all be impacted. Money that could be better spent elsewhere to grow your business.
Your reputation can also be impacted as you may break the existing trust that you have. People just have to learn that you teamed up with a fake influencer and your credibility can be damaged.
What you can do
- Take the time to learn about the influencer that you would like to use.
- Follow them and see what they are up to
- Check on their comments
- Check their other platforms
- When they promote something – get in touch with that company and see if you can gain some insights.
- Ask the influencer for previous results
If you need help marketing your business contact Kelly @ My Sassy Business
Make sure to subscribe for weekly blogs direct to your inbox.
[gravityform id=”2″ title=”true” description=”true”]
