We rely on metrics to determine the value influencers can deliver, but can they falsely inflate their worth?

Follower fluffers

Social media personalities can buff the appearance of their audience with shady methods like fake followers. Every marketer needs to be able to spot the warning signs.

A report entitled ‘Fighting Follower Fraud’ from CreatorIQ and Fullscreen Media gives hints on how to spot follower fraud.

Red flags

The report identifies factors to look for in influencers’ audience stats: location spread, engagement rates and growth patterns.

Location spread: a sensible geographic distribution of audience will often be centred in their home market. If not, ask why.

Engagement rates: are the engagement rates at or above what’s expected for any given platform? Very low engagement could signal fakes.

Growth patterns: do follower acquisition trends seem natural? If not, find the cause of peaks and troughs.

Be sensible

You could perhaps sum all this up with one question: ‘How well does the influencers content justify the trends?’

Whether it’s your cup of tea or not, some aspect of ‘quality’ should be evident in what the influencer does.

A content creator worthy of your marketing spend should demonstrate how what they do translates into the metrics that matter most.

What do you reckon is the most reliable metric to evaluate an influencers worth?

Copy Transmission is a Melbourne-based agency :: Better Brands. Loud & Clear.