Influencer advertising is a financially rewarding market, expected to reach $39.33 billion by 2025. Among one of the best concerns for marketers investing in influencer partnerships, however, is whether an influencer’s audience is real or fake. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, influencer fraud has increased to 59.8% in 2024. So, do influencers possess fake followers? Short answer: yes, some do. So here’s how you know if an influencer’s numbers are real or not:
1. Engagement Rate: Sense-Making Numbers
Possessing high follower counts is worthless if engagement is remarkably low.
Average engagement rates for real influencers:
Instagram: 2% to 5%
TikTok: 4% to 18%
YouTube: 2% to 6%
Red Flag: If an influencer has 100K followers but is unable to receive even 1,000 likes or comments, their following might not be real.
2. Strange Follower Growth Patterns Unlike Similar Influencers
Organic growth is steady and gradual, while sudden spikes indicate that they are buying followers. Unless one or more of their content has gone viral, which attracts genuine followers.
Check growth patterns using tools like Social Blade or HypeAuditor to spot influencers with fake followers by analyzing audience quality and real engagement.
3.Real vs. Fake Followers: Who Are They?
Real followers are more likely to be engaged, as they will like, comment, save or share contents with others.
They are also:
- Diverse. They can come from different gender, ages, locations and interests
- Have a genuine profile. They tend to have profile pictures to indicate their identity, posts and might even have links to their websites or other social media.
- Have gradual follower growth, which increase naturally over time
Meanwhile, fake followers are usually like ghosts, with no activities and nothing seems to be going on their profile.
Typically they are:
- Inactive or bot accounts
- Following way too many accounts that are suspicious as them
- Random strange usernames that use random numbers
- Have no profile picture or content posted
- Can be found in a large group, which caused the sudden spike in followers
To check, it can be done manually or using AI-powered tools (e.g., IG Audit, Modash) can help.
4. Meaningful vs. Generic Comments
Real engagement:
Followers make comments with opinions, questions, or feedback. They are usually unique, thoughtful discussions and conversation starters.
Generally, it is easy to spot as they are usually related to the content that they engage with.
Fake engagement:
Accounts that are fake usually leave very generic comments, and sometimes they don’t even fit with the content they interact with. Usually it is easy to detect since they are somewhat strange and questionable.
Not only that, they might even just fill the comments with only emojis, duplicating the same comments in the same posts. They are also typically low effort.
5. Audience Insights and Brand Response
If an influencer is actually influential, their followers will interact with sponsored posts. Unlike influencers who have fake followers, which have less interaction or none at all from their ‘ghost’ followers.
Check if brands continue to partner with them—singular sponsorships with no consistent or return partnerships might be due to ineffective marketing.
Final Thoughts
Not every influencer buys bots, but with nearly half of them doing some form of deception, being careful is important. Brands should check engagement, audience quality, and influencer reach before paying for the collaboration.
Using AI-based audit tools and manual checks can avoid companies throwing their budget down the drain on inflated numbers with little real influence.
Want to find influencers with real followers so that you can boost your business effectively?
