Ultimate guide on how to spot fake influencers

Who is a fake influencer?

A fake social media influencer is someone who pretends to have a huge following and influence, but in reality, they’re just trying to make a quick buck. They might post pictures of themselves living the glamorous life or promoting products that they don’t actually use. Unfortunately for them, their followers can easily spot these attempts. After all, if something looks too good to be true on social media, it probably is.

We all know the world of social media influencers is growing rapidly, but how can you tell who’s a real deal and who’s just faking it?

4 indicators of fake influencers

• Their followers don't engage with them. If influencers have suspiciously high following, yet their posts receive too little likes or comments – this could be a sign that the numbers were bought rather than earned organically.

• They fake their fabulous lifestyle. Fake influencers lack authenticity and can go as far as hiring professional photographers for staged shoots with expensive props and clothes, without disclosing what’s really going on behind the scenes! They add fake geolocations, use Photoshop, and “polish” their social media feeds to act cool.

• They fabricate partnerships with brands. Such influencers often post sponsored content, pretending to have real collaborations with big brands. They seem too focused on pushing items without sharing anything else about their personal lives.

• They experience a consistent decline in the large number of subscribers. With real influencers, the outflow of a new audience will be small. But if there is a jump in followers followed by a decline and a return to previous figures – it was likely a purchase of bots, and the outflow occurred after the payment was canceled.

How much do fake followers cost?

The Famoid.com service offers to buy followers for TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Famoid.com charges $15.95 for 1,000 Instagram bots. The same price applies to TikTok. Likes and views are sold separately.

YouTube regularly checks every view on every video. If they detect a FAKE view on a video, it will be removed immediately, and that video will lose some views, and the count will drop. However, if you buy YouTube views from Famoid, you’ll never encounter this situation because all the views are from completely real accounts. This is how Famoid guarantees quality.

Fake followers aren’t just for those who dream of becoming an influencer. A-list model Kylie Jenner tops the list of ”The biggest fake influencers on social media.” She has 329 million followers on Instagram. In comparison, TikTok star Khaby Lame has just under 70 million followers on Instagram. Does that mean Kylie Jenner is more successful? Absolutely not. 40% of Kylie Jenner’s followers are fake, writes Forbes in referencing the HypeAuditor’s report.

However, her profile has a high engagement rate (ER) of 3.5%. That’s a lot. Usually, the millionaire influencers have an ER of less than 1.5%. Perhaps, Kylie Jenner’s real audience really likes her, or maybe she spends money on subscribers and interactions on social networks.

Justin Bieber certainly does not care. His Instagram has 220 million followers and an engagement rate of 0.37%. This is very low and can be explained by the fact that he has 37% fake followers.

Is it easy to become a fake influencer?

Dominique Druckman knows the answer for sure. She became famous thanks to the HBO documentary “Fake Famous.” Here’s what The New Yorker writes about her period of life before the film: “Dominique, an affable aspiring actress from Miami Beach, who works at Lululemon while she waits for her big break.”

Director Nick Bilton explains that the filmmakers took random people and made fake influencers through simple tricks, including buying bots. After the movie was released, Dominique probably felt like a real star. And her influence on social media is only growing. She has over 300,000 Instagram followers. But how many of these are bots? We haven’t checked.

How not to be deceived by fake influencers?

Check the stories of those with whom you are going to partner with. If a person has hundreds of thousands of followers but Google doesn’t know them, there should be a reason for doubt.

And one more piece of advice: do not be meslead by the follower’s numbers. Instead, look first at the influencer’s expertise and engagement rate.

That is the reason why brands pay a lot of attention to micro and nano-influencers. Their relatively small audience is easily compensated by the high level of followers’ engagement.