How to Identify Fake Influencers

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Brands are committing a large portion of their budget to digital marketing, especially influencer marketing. The reason is simple. Consumers now spend solid time on their mobile devices, and a good marketing strategy is to locate consumers where they are.

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As the users of social media keep growing, social influencers are finding an opportunity to build and engage a pool of strong social following, that is, the audience as well as establish trust with them so they can influence their purchasing decisions. Thus, they build a personal relationship that will help brands engage with consumers in a more human and authentic way.

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However, there have always been several cases of pseudo-influencers with fake profiles. Brands partner with them with the hope of getting a good return on investment. Unknown to those brands, these fake influencers have only grown their following through fraudulent means and delivered no real results.

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Brands, therefore, need to be aware of tell-tale signs that help them quickly spot fake influencers when they see them. Otherwise, they can have their reputation damaged. In this article, we’ll be discussing who fake influencers are, their negative impact, and how to identify them.

Who are fake influencers?

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Simply put, fake influencers are social media users who appear like real influencers with real followings. They also post high-quality images. However, they are differentiated by their following, which is mostly marked by fake accounts and bots, manipulation of engagement numbers, and the like.

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According to statistics by Invesp, about 24% of influencers have falsely manipulated their engagement numbers. As a way of proving how easy it was to become a fake social influencer, Mediakix experimented by creating two fake Instagram influencers - @calibeachirl310 and @wanderingggirl. These accounts, though now deleted, exposed how people with the intention to fraud unsuspecting brands create fake accounts of non-existing persons and buy followers.

How fake influencers affect brands

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With the many benefits of influencer marketing, an increasing number of brands are considering leveraging their social following to sell their products or services. However, it is quite unfortunate that many of them end up partnering with fake influencers, which has far-reaching consequences for them.

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Apart from the damage caused to a brand marketing budget, fake influencers can also impact a brand’s reputation negatively. When consumers discover that a brand partnered with an influencer that turned out to be fake, they will doubt such a brand’s credibility. This can break the trust they have in the brand and make them withdraw from following such a brand. The good news is that this issue has been on the decline, especially with data-driven and tech-based solutions.

How to identify fake influencers

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The success of an influencer marketing campaign lies in the ability of a brand to identify and collaborate with the right influencers. At the same time, as influencers dominate the digital marketing industry, it becomes difficult to find the right ones. However, we’ve come up with tips that can help brands identify fake influencers before leveraging their power. Let’s quickly dive into them!

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1. A sudden spike in followers

The growth pattern of followers of an influencer is a major metric to determine the authenticity or otherwise of a social account.

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Usually, social accounts can gain consistent new followers. However, it is not to the point of having a sudden and dramatic increase overnight. Imagine having a social account gain 5,000 new followers in just a day. You do not need any more signs to know it is a fake account. With a few dollars, these influencers can buy fake followers.

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Growing a large following isn’t as easy as people would expect. It takes time and continued effort. The results are only seen with time, month after month. Of course, famous celebrities are an exception. Fake influencers aren’t smart. They are always in a hurry to establish themselves and gain partnerships. 

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2. A huge following but low engagement

Engagement is what increases the reach. The more engaging content pieces are, the more community the influencer attracts and the more their message spreads.

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Another red flag in identifying a fake influencer is when you have an influencer with a huge following but with likes and/or comments that are disproportionate to the number of followers. There is a myth about the social following. Many brands believe that their success is based on the number of followers an influencer has.

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However, it is worth pointing out that a huge following isn’t what makes an effective influencer. The truth is that engagement surpasses following. An influencer with a small following can have very high engagement while an influencer with a huge following may not have a commensurate engagement rate or quality.

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3. Low-quality engagement

What are their fans saying or asking? What do their comments suggest? Does the influencer answer their fan questions? If yes, how well do they answer them?

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Remember how engagement rate serves as a great factor in determining the effectiveness and authenticity of an influencer marketing effort. There is more to it. Hard work needs to be done in checking out how an influencer engages with their fans. A good way to go about this is to skim through their post comments.

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Consider an influencer content piece where you have a lot of comments, most of which are emojis, one or two-word comments, or generic comments that are unrelated to the post. All of these are usually suggestive of comments made by bots or fake followers.

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4. Limited presence over the Internet

Normally, real influencers will get mentioned by other influencers and brands.

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Though influencers typically focus on a particular social platform, say YouTube, to acquire a strong following, it is common to find them participating in events and/or collaborating with brands and getting mentioned by other influencers. However, in a situation where followers look out for them on other social platforms but find no sign of them being mentioned in posts or stories, such an influencer becomes suspicious. 

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Usually, followers may do this in a bid to get value from them everywhere they can find them. At the same time, it is a way of determining their authenticity. In other words, the inability to find an influencer’s name elsewhere could be an indication that their presence on one social platform could be artificial rather than organic.

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5. Non-verified accounts

Read the influencer’s bio and check their names across social networks.

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Popular sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram offer verified badges to celebrities and influencer accounts. The verification is a way of confirming the authenticity of such accounts after a series of reviews must have been conducted. The badges are visible enough for everyone to see, usually next to the verified account name.

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In some cases, some influencers may be real but without the verification badges. In fact, it is not all real influencers that have these badges – or are entitled to them. We, therefore, recommend that you check the influencer’s bio across social networks to see their consistency in the follower count, comments, likes, and type of content they post. This is because fake influencers would not ordinarily create accounts on multiple social media platforms.

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6. Low-quality content

Fake influencers simply repeat content and have no personality attached to the comments on the content.

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One of the things that qualify individuals as influencers is their ability to consistently create and publish authentic and engaging content. Most of the time, they follow a calendar that spells out their post schedule and frequency. It is almost impossible for them to publish unrelated content or content outside of their schedule.

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Apart from this, they also have a tone of voice that sets them apart from others. It is this specific ‘tone’ that makes them unique and earns them their audience. In other words, they post consistent, high-quality content that positions them as industry experts and thought leaders.

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Fake influencers, on the other hand, pay little or no attention to content quality, post frequency, and the need to publish content pieces that are related to the personality of the account owner or the goal they seek to achieve.

Conclusion

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It is common to discover how many people want to exploit any big trend. As you would expect, influencer marketing is one of them. Partnering with the right influencers offers huge benefits to brands, which may range from increased awareness, traffic, and conversions. However, brands need to be sure that they are pitching their tent with the right influencer and that’s why we’ve come up with red flags that help them to set apart fake influencers from the real ones.

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Therefore, be sure that the follower growth of such an influencer has been consistent; check the quality of their content and engagement; and check if the names are popular across the Internet. Vlingoffers an effective solution for brands that seek quality influencer services that will help them gain a huge return on investment in their digital marketing efforts. We help you connect with trending YouTubers, irrespective of your marketing budgets and niches.

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