Fake it ’til you make it, or so the saying goes. But buying fake Instagram and Twitter followers is cheating, and you will eventually get caught for it.
During the last New Zealand Fashion Week, I did research on some of the so-called fashion bloggers. Most had a staggering number of fake followers on Instagram and Twitter. Fake fashion bloggers criticize me more than most. It could be because they lack any real style or the fact that they arrogantly prance around these industry events, taking selfies and posting to their tens of thousands of fake followers. They aren’t adding any real value if they don’t have real influence.
Fake Instagram and Twitter followers, by my definition, are fake or dead accounts, and also real accounts of users in countries that do not have any profile influencer value. Both types of followers are easy to buy.
It’s no use having tens of thousands of followers if they don’t make sense. The value of someone’s social reach should be measured by their engagement, not the total number of followers they have. Quality not quantity!
DETECT FAKE FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM AND TWITTER
Look at how engaged the user’s followers are. Are your followers commenting and liking the posts? Are their followers part of the cohort you are targeting?
There are a few ways to tell if someone has fake followers.
A SUDDEN INCREASE IN FOLLOWERS
Unless you’re Lorde and have risen to stardom in a very short time, an unusual increase in followers can only be the result of a buying spree.
LOW INTERACTION WITH FOLLOWERS
I have seen Instagram accounts with over forty thousand followers, but each of their posts only gets about 100 likes. The low engagement rate shows that your influence on your followers is very low, and most likely they have paid for most of your followers.
FOLLOWERS WITHOUT PROFILE PHOTOS
Another clear indication is the followers without activity in the account or profile photo. These accounts are ‘dead accounts’.
CHECKING FOR FAKE FOLLOWERS ON INSTAGRAM AND TWITTER
More and more tools are coming out to help you see through fakes. Here are a few that I have found:
https://fakers.statuspeople.com/
http://twittercounter.com/
Don’t be tempted to buy followers. They bring you no value and they will get you!
Fake followers are easy to buy and very difficult to remove.
Increasing your social reach should be part of your marketing strategy. Feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss how to increase your social reach in a meaningful way.
