Sometimes, numbers lie.
Would you buy something recommended to you on Instagram by a ‘hip’ beauty blogger with 100,000 followers? There’s a chance.
What about a beauty blogger with 200 followers? Slimmer.
Now, what about if most of those 100,000 followers, were fake?
It’s 2019 and a time where some people’s job title can fully become ‘content creator.’ That’s fine. What is concerning, however, is that it seems some influencers are so about the numbers and titles that they forget to actually influence.
Is it time to start calling people out on inauthentic online behaviour and to stop supporting this ‘wannabe influencer’ culture we are living in? And why in the first place, are people buying followers?
In November of 2017, one of my favourite makeup YouTubers, Chloe Morello, came out with a video explaining the concept of social media fraud.
She spoke about the fact that some beauty bloggers are simply buying their way to online popularity. Specifically, on Instagram and YouTube.
This is her video below.
In 17-ish minutes, she revealed to millions of loyal followers to beauty guru platforms that some of what they are seeing, might be fake.
She explained that some of her fellow peers in the beauty blogging industry (whom she did not name), are purchasing followers, likes, comments, views, and other forms of misleading engagement.
Essentially, she said that these bloggers are heavily relying on numbers to give them an attractive ‘influencer’ status.
Has buying followers to ignite popularity become part of their job, and why are people doing nothing about it?
As a technologically-savvy content creator this wasn’t new to me, but to many people this came as a big surprise. Suddenly a video wasn’t about ‘beauty secrets’ but rather ‘secrets about beauty (bloggers).’
A viewer of Morello’s video tweeted:
Internet browsers were shocked to learn that the most work some beauty bloggers are putting into growing their platforms, is a click of a button.
All of a sudden, and after one post, their pages have 6,000 extra followers and 2,000 extra ‘likes.’
So let’s ask again: Has the internet become a place where bloggers are finding satisfaction in being a popular, selfie-posting ‘influencer’ rather than actually being influential?
But sometimes, numbers sell.
It was disappointing to find out that these bloggers are choosing to pay money in return for fake numbers.
This fake ‘influencer’ status may turn into brand deals, exotic overseas trips, invitations to cool events, and hundreds and thousands of free products and services.
On top of that, it includes brands pouring money into paying these bloggers for sponsored posts and expensive collaborations.
Even Forbes has raised the issue of inauthentic influencer marketing. Read their article below.
Suddenly, you might be seeing random beauty bloggers near you, promoting things like teeth whiteners and hair vitamins.
You then might purchase what they have suggested, using the influencer’s affiliate code, and this influencer goes home with money in his or her pocket.
And most of the time, we don’t even notice.
We’re in 2019. There are millions of us on social media. Some of us are real, some of us are generated robots (a.k.a. ‘bots’). Some of us see and scroll, and some of us scroll and troll.
Some of us have been on these social networking sites from the beginning, and for some of us, it’s just the beginning.
How often are we actually looking into the accounts we follow and questioning the legitimacy they hold? Probably not very often.
So how, among the social media cluster and noise, do we detect which of the accounts we follow, are genuine?
Easy.
Number 1: IG Audit
One very simple way to detect any unauthenticity on your feed is to simply plug Instagram usernames into the little search box using this link.
Assuming the profiles are set to ‘Public’ (anyone can see and engage with posts), results will show up within 15 seconds.
Embedded and used with permission. By: ityinkblots.
Results will show the user’s average vs. expected ‘likes’ and ‘comments,’ and provide a number titled ‘Estimated Real Followers.’
Real followers exclude bots and inactive or spam accounts.
If you are finding that someone’s Instagram account falls below the 60 or 50 percent mark, chances are him or her are either: buying followers, using bots, or happen to be followed by many inactive or spam accounts.
The last judgement, is up to you.
Number 2: Social Blade
The mother-ship of social media analytics and statistics, here you can track any social media user’s online growth. Searchable sites include YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more.
Typically, a beauty blogger’s growth will fluctuate. Some posts will receive more likes & comments and attract more followers, while others will flop or won’t be seen by many.
This is normal and even expected.
Once on Social Blade however, if you see an influencer’s followers increase in ‘chunks’ (i.e. sudden boosts on the graph), rather than over time, chances are they are buying followers.
Responses to this issue continuously grows:
But luckily, over time, the truth comes out.
Numbers mean very little when the impact of the engagement is missing. Beauty bloggers growing their platforms using fake number will eventually be faded out.
This is because Instagram is always shutting down and suing companies selling fake engagement. They are also constantly filtering out unused, inactive, robotic, and spam accounts.
Additionally, marketers, small businesses, and big corporations will eventually pull out of deals with inauthentic beauty bloggers.
If you are a marketer, you can find out more about fake influencers here.
And the same goes for us: the actual followers of these accounts; the fans; the potential consumers and clients.
As we come to learn how to detect these social media ‘fakers’ we will start clicking those ‘unfollow’ buttons and stop innocently and unknowingly supporting bloggers who have potentially bought their influence.
Because it may be easy for them to ‘fake it,’ but through shortcutting their way to online popularity, they will never actually ‘make it.’
References:
Brown, V. (2017, November 17). Australian beauty Youtuber Chloe Morello hits out at fake followers during 17 minute exposé video. News.com.au. Available from: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/face-body/australian-beauty-blogger-chloe-morello-hits-out-at-fake-followers-during-17-minute-expos-video/news-story/b51aacf9b05a1cbcc2d29d980f97f055
Schaefer, M. (2018, January 29). Social Proof and the Business Case for Buying Fake Followers. Blog Post. Retreieved from: https://businessesgrow.com/2018/01/29/fake-followers/