As social media continues to grow in popularity, influencers have become an integral part of many advertising campaigns. Social media influencers serve as a way for brands to reach millions of people through posts, stories, and other digital content. However, with the rise of influencer marketing has come an increase in influencer fraud. It’s fake followers, likes, comments, and bots that deceive brands and consumers. In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the dangers of influencer fraud for consumers and provide tips on how to spot and avoid it.

What is Influencer Fraud? 🤔📈❌

Influencer fraud occurs when a social media influencer artificially inflates their metrics, such as followers or engagement, to appear more influential than they are. This practice includes buying fake followers or using bots to generate automated engagements on posts to make it appear as if there’s a lot of organic interest in that account. The ultimate goal of influencer fraud is to deceive brands who are looking to partner with influencers to get better business deals and higher pay rates.

How Does it Affect Consumers? 🧐🛍️💸

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like influencer fraud has a direct impact on consumers. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. When brands partner with influencers with fake followers and engagement, they’re paying for a fraudulent audience. This ultimately affects customers by driving up prices of products. Businesses pass along the added costs to the customers, leaving them with a lower sense of value.

Moreover, consumers can suffer by paying for products or services based on recommendations from falsely influential people. Under these circumstances, it makes it difficult to make informed purchasing decisions. Consumers could end up purchasing something that could cause harm to themselves or have their needs go unfulfilled. Therefore, the impact on the purse of the regular customer is an indirect consequence of influencer fraud.

How to Avoid Influencer Fraud as a Consumer 🕵️‍♀️💡✅

The following steps will help you avoid influencer fraud and ensure that you’re only supporting genuine influencers in your purchases:

  • Look Beyond Follower Count - High numbers of followers do not always mean high engagement, and the same could go the other way. It’s important to look for genuine followers who are actively engaging with influencers.

  • Check Engagement - Calculate the number of likes and comments they get relative to the number of followers. A high number of followers doesn’t always imply that they’re genuine.

  • Review Their Content - Frauds often repeat posts, comments, or similar content. Look around for fresh, relevant content before selecting influencers to invest in.

  • Do Your Research - Use influencer search engines or tools that can give you deeper insights about their past performance, their engagements, and their audience’s interests.

  • Trust Your Instincts - If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Many brand influencers with fraudulent followers may lure customers with incentives or discounts that seem too good to be real.

A magnifying glass searching for influencer fraud

Conclusion 💻🎯🏃‍♀️

In conclusion, influencer fraud is not just about deceiving brands, but it’s about deceiving consumers too. Consumers must remain vigilant when choosing to purchase products based on an influencer’s recommendation, as a fraudulent audience could lead to unwanted product results.

Always check for authentic engagement by calculating audience metrics, find fresh and relevant content and finally trust your instincts. As consumers, avoiding influencer fraud can help you make more informed decisions when buying online. Remember, there are genuinely influential people who are willing to partner with brands that will provide the best results while maintaining transparency and honesty.

An illustration of a detective running towards Influencer fraud, which is also shown as a wall with a magnifying glass embedded in it.