Research suggests that 25% of all followers in influencer accounts are usually fake. Mega influencers are the biggest culprits, with superstars like Ariana Grande having 70 million + fake followers according to a study (which is approximately 20% of her following). However, micro-influencers also have fake followers.
So, how do marketers who are planning to spend more on influencer marketing in the future (due to its proven effectiveness) workaround fake followers and get a higher return on their investment? We’ll find out this below, but let’s first define and discuss some important terms and aspects related to fake followers.
What’s Fake Followers, and Why People Buy Fake Followers?
The term fake followers encompass followers who aren’t actual people operating one social media account for organic/authentic purposes. Social media profiles created for mass-following campaigns qualify as fake followers. The same applies to inactive profiles that don’t engage organically with your content.
Fake followers are bought by influencers to increase their following as macro and mega influencers (with 100,000 to millions of followers) tend to earn more. They also help to increase engagement i.e., likes and comments, which brands consider when choosing influencers. Fake followers are created by unscrupulous individuals or bots (automated programs) for profit.
How to Spot Fake Followers: Factors to Consider
If you are a marketer keen on getting the most value for your money during influencer marketing campaigns, you must be able to spot fake followers in the profiles of potential influencers you are planning to hire. There are several basic factors to consider. They include;
Engagement rate: This is arguably the simplest and fastest way of telling if an influencer has fake followers or not. If you check an influencer with, say, 5 million subscribers but has only 1,000 likes on average for their posts, their following is probably composed of fakes. The best average engagement rate is 1-5% for influencers, which means an influencer with 5 million followers better to have at least 1% engagement (50,000 likes) per post.
Sudden spike in followers: This is another factor to consider. Gaining followers organically takes time. A sudden spike in thousands of followers with no justification (viral post/story) is another red flag.
Spam comments: You should also pay attention to their comments section. While spam comments are inevitable, they shouldn’t be more than organic comments from real people. Most importantly, comments shouldn’t be excessive and sound generic and similar.
Use a fake follower checker (automated tool): You can save effort and time using fake follower checkers to automatically scan profiles and deliver instant fake follower results. There are many such tools available today. The most notable include;
Fake Followers Checkers to Try
Fake follower apps or checkers may work differently given differences in features. However, most analyze profiles data like audiences, likes, comments, engagement rates, and monitor campaigns to determine if a given social media profile has fake followers or not and to what extent. Here are some leading apps that will help you perform a fake follower check on leading social media platforms.
1. Modash
Modash is a free Instagram fake follower checker. You can try it for free and then pay for advanced features. The tool analyzes Instagram influencer metrics like engagement rate, follower count, popular content, and more to uncover the number of fake followers and other related information.
The tool lets markers upgrade their influencer marketing game by uncovering influencers, their location, audiences, fake followers, and other metrics.
2. Hypeauditor
This is another free Instagram fake follower checker to consider. The tool offers an audience quality score which includes metrics like followers and engagement rate. Users also get marketing tools to help them in their influencer marketing campaigns.
You can find Instagram influencers, search them by location, estimate earned media value for different influencers, potential earnings for sponsored posts, and more.
3. Grin
Grin is described as a YouTube/TikTok fake influencer and credibility tool. You can use Grin to identify fake influencers on leading influencer platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram (coming soon). Just insert the username and click “check”.
Try Grin for free to identify fake followers. You’ll also enjoy other benefits like tools for managing influencer marketing campaigns all in a single place. Grin has a Chrome extension and learning center, among other useful influencer marketing resources to use.
4. Inbeat
Inbeat is yet another Instagram fake follower app in this list. You simply need to provide a username to do an audience audit and identify fake, suspect, and dormant followers. The app has notable features like a premium engagement rate tool that identifies influencers with the best ROI.
Other tools include a collaboration cost calculator that evaluates cost of influencer collaborations and an ad mockup generator for generating ad mockups. Inbeat also has a learning center for influencer marketers
5. Followeraudit
This fake follower checker stands out for those interested in performing a fake followers check Twitter. All you need is the username of a respective influencer to check fake followers. This Twiiter fack follower tool tracks followers, unfollowers, performs a follower analysis, track follower growth, and more using AI.
For instance, you can get an audit report with multiple accounts for comparison. Followeraudit has customization options for different metrics, and you also get real-time notifications/alerts.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is arguably one of the best online marketing methods currently. However, the rising number of fake followers compromises the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Luckily, we’ve discussed easy ways to spot fake followers and provided five fake follower apps you can use to detect fake followers fast and easily.
FAQs About Fake Follower Checkers
What’s the Best Fake Follower Detector App?
It depends. Different apps may serve different social media platforms differently. You should settle for an app that is highly reviewed and works for the social media platform you are interested in.
What’s Ghost Followers?
This is another term for fake inactive Instagram followers who simply follow a profile and never visit again or engage (comment or like future posts).
Should I Work with Influencers Who Have Fake Followers?
No! Especially if the fake followers are over 25% of their followers and appear to have been acquired deliberately. While genuine profiles can have fake followers who want to market their own products/services in comment sections or perform other unscrupulous activities, the number of fake followers shouldn’t be beyond the industry average. It’s actually better to look for micro and nano influencers with organic/real followers only.