How to Spot a Fake Social Media Influencer
It’s no secret that a lot of companies want to experiment with influencer marketing. It’s also not a secret that not a lot of companies have the budget to support full-time (or even halftime) headcount to support a solid influencer marketing strategy.
Ipso facto... a lot of marketers who have never vetted influencers before are being asked to vet influencers on behalf of their company in spite of the fact that they don't know where to start or what to look for.
If this sounds like you, here are 3 tips to avoid wasting your money on "influencer" partnerships that will never move the needle for your brand:
TIP 1: FOLLOWERS-TO-ENGAGEMENT RATIO
FOLLOWERS-TO-ENGAGEMENT RATIO
If the "influencer" in question touts a high follower count, but regularly pulls in just as many likes, comments, shares, and saves as your next-door neighbor's blurry cat pics, back away slowly.
Assuming an average Instagram engagement rate of 2-3.5%, we'd expect to see total engagement counts between 9,700 and 17,000 per post for an account with 488,000 followers - a far cry from what we see in the post examples to the left.
TIP 2: FOLLOWER PULSE CHECK
FOLLOWER PULSE CHECK
If the engagement numbers look off, but you're still not QUITE sure, scroll through their list of followers and check for large numbers of accounts that look like the examples above. These accounts will have:
Low Post Count
Low Follower Count
High Following Count
These are age-old signs of fake/bot accounts. These accounts exist to allow short-sighted aspiring "influencers" to buy their follower count vs. building it the hard way.
TIP 3: COMMENT QUALITY
COMMENT QUALITY
As a final checkpoint, take the time to review comments left on your potential influencer's posts. Ask yourself:
Do these comments make sense?
Are they applicable to the content posted?
Are they generic/vague (e.g., "Nice" or "cool")?
Do they appear to be spam?
If the answer is "yes" to a large number of the comments you see, it's likely that they're buying comments to inflate their engagement count.
Again, back away... but do it quickly this time.
Remember… you can do this! But if all else fails, pop me an email. :)
