This week at The Blogger Programme, influencer fraud has come to our attention! When everyone’s feed is saturated with influencers living the high life and travelling to exotic destinations, it's pretty easy to understand why more and more people aspire to be part of the equation. The term 'influencer' has now diversified and is not only reserved to the few. But with this sudden, intense thirst for online fame also comes dishonest practices and fraud. So what does fraud look like in the influencer marketing world, and how is it best to handle it?
What is influencer fraud?
We talk about fraudulent activity on social media when an influencer deliberately and artificially increases their key performance indicators like followers, engagement, or content. With the number of Instagram sponsored posts predicted to reach a total of 21.7 million this year (Mediakix, 2017), social media is definitely cashing in and the competition is getting tougher every day. Inflating your follower count could therefore seem like a quick fix to achieve recognition! It is estimated that 9.8% of Instagram influencers with a minimum of 5000 followers are involved in some kind of fraudulent behaviour. It might not be a threatening amount, but being aware of it will help you make more informed decisions when choosing influencers to work with for your brand.
How do you spot the signs?
There are two main types of recognisable influencer marketing fraud:
- Engagement fraud: a significant increase in engagement on sponsored content compared to organic posts, and unrelated or strange comments also help you detect that bots or fake accounts have been paid to engage with the content.
- Follower fraud: a rapid gain or loss of followers with an unusually low engagement compared to the number of followers, and a large presence of seemingly inactive accounts within the audience.
How do you find authentic influencers?
We recently posted a blog on how to detect fake followers, and explained how we have a thorough vetting process to ensure all the influencers we select and work with are genuine. This way, you can simply scroll through all the influencers on our database and refine the search by your brands requirements, not worrying that any will have artificially increased their following. Building authentic partnerships with influencers who have a genuine following and engagement is incredibly important to ensure you see a ROI on your campaign. At The Blogger Programme, we can take this hard work and time consuming process out of your hands and into ours, providing you with the very best, tailor picked influencers for your brand and campaign.
If you would like to get in touch please email brands@thebloggerprogramme.com
TBP x
