How to Detect Inauthentic Followers on Instagram

How to Detect Inauthentic Followers on Instagram

With social media being a part of our everyday life, it is easy to get caught up in having a continuous stream of new followers. It might seem like the more followers means the more likes, which leads to more engagement, however, this is not always the case. While getting more followers may seem like an accomplishment, it is important to ensure that your followers are not comprised of bot accounts. This is because it is very easy for brands to detect inauthentic followers, whether it be from engagement is extremely low or extremely high. While it is important to have a high engagement on your posts, having an engagement that is too high makes it clear to brands that you have either purchased your followers or that the majority of your followers are from bot accounts. The most important thing with influencer marketing is ensuring that genuine influencers are sharing a brand’s message. Keep reading to find out how to check if your followers are authentic.

Track engagement rates

The industry standard for engagement rates is between 1%-3%, with nano and micro-influencers falling at a higher engagement rate, and macro and celebrity influencers having a smaller engagement rate. When engagement rates start to fall around 0.5%, this is when it can be deduced that there are bot accounts following that influencer. Engagement rates are an easy way to tell if an influencer has purchased followers or if they have bot accounts following them.

Keep an eye out for spikes in followers

On social media, it is normal for accounts to grow in followers, and in some cases lose followers. What is important to keep an eye out for is if your account has a giant spike in followers overnight. While not all spikes are unnatural, such as if you had a video go viral or if you were featured on a TV or radio show, it is important to keep an eye on this when it happens at irregular times. When accounts have a drastic spike in followers and then plateaus, it is most likely that the influencer is purchasing followers.

Look for patterns

It has become easier for brands to detect influencers with inauthentic followers, and another method in determining whether an influencer’s followers are authentic or not comes from detecting patterns. If an influencer consistently gets the same number of likes and comments, give or take a few, no matter what they are posting, it is likely that they have purchased followers or are being followed by bot accounts. A natural feed will have rises and falls in likes per post, as some content are filler photos, which are less likely to receive high engagement.

Check the follower accounts

If you are suspicious of an account and are unsure if it is a bot account that is following you, keep an eye out for these key features:

• The username has multiple numbers or a random combination of numbers
• They do not have a profile picture
• They have either no followers or very few but follow hundreds to thousands of accounts
• They have a very limited number of posts or none at all
• They have a lot of activity for a few days, and then activity falls off
• The bio is empty, copied, or has unclear information with a lot of unnecessary emoticons
• They are continuously posting spam-like or irrelevant comments

Influencer marketing has become widely popular with brands, and ensuring your profile meets all of the right requirements, you are guaranteed to have multiple collaborations. Brands lookout for certain characteristics when selecting their influencers, so while having aesthetic content that is being consistently posted is important, the other parts of your account must be strong as well. This means consistently checking to ensure that all of your followers are authentic and that you are not paying to increase your follower count. Once your profile is optimized, brands are more likely to want to collaborate on campaigns with you. Now that you know how to create the perfect account, why wait to start your influencer journey? Sign up on Embold for exclusive campaign opportunities by clicking here or by visiting: https://app.embold.co/signup

Originally published at https://embold.co on January 31, 2022.