How to Spot Fake Followers on Instagram: 4 Ways to Check Them

Whether you are looking to strengthen your brand’s reputation or to expand your market reach, influencers can do it all., Imagine spending thousands of dollars in marketing through an influencer with fake followers on Instagram. While the money you invest in such influencers will be lost, consumer trust will be impacted negatively. In this guide, we will discuss how to spot unauthentic audiences to ensure the influencer of your choice is real. 

Key Highlights

• Research conducted by Statista concluded that 58.5% of Instagram influencers engaged in fraudulent activities to increase their followers and engagement rates. 
• Influencers buy fake Instagram followers to artificially increase their audience size, increasing their chances of being approached by brands for collaboration.
• To spot fake followers on Instagram, conduct an audience audit, monitor engagement rates, and monitor the influencer’s social media presence.
• The influencers you choose must become your brand partners and advocates. Ensure you work with influencers with no fake Instagram followers for a positive return on investment. 

Why Checking Fake Instagram Followers Is Essential? 

Fake followers on Instagram are bots or automated accounts that do not belong to real people. Fake followers are only meant to boost an influencer’s audience count. This is by bringing generic comments and fake likes with no authentic engagement. 

Research conducted by Statista concluded that 58.5% of Instagram influencers engaged in fraudulent activities to increase those following them and engagement rates. 

Prevalence of Influencers With Fake Instagram Followers (Source: Statista, 2024)

Partnering with influencers with fake followers does not generate a meaningful impact on your brand since the audience is not real. Additionally, if your target audience suspects that your brand is linked to influencer fraud, then your brand’s reputation is adversely affected. Therefore, it is important to understand how to tell an unauthentic audience when selecting the best influencer for your brand. 

Why Influencers Buy Fake Followers

Influencers buy fake followers to artificially increase their audience size. Consequently, this increases their chances of being approached by brands for collaboration. A detailed discussion about why people buy unauthentic audience is provided below:

1. To create the perception that an influencer is popular 

Buying fake followers helps a user create the illusion that they have a wide audience. According to Forbes, accounts with more followers appear more credible at first glance. This increases the influencer’s chances of securing brand partnerships. 

2. To show that the account is growing 

Brands are likely to collaborate with influencers whose Instagram accounts show continuous follower growth since it implies they have a wider audience reach. However, brands should learn how to spot fake users to avoid wasting money on the wrong influencer. Authentic users engage with content, post comments, and share posts which promote the brand. 

3. To boost their ego

Fake Instagram followers make the user feel more popular and important. While this gives them a boost given more real users join the list, there is no audience engagement. They just appear successful on Instagram which validates their ego. 

4 Ways to Spot Fake Followers on Instagram 

The simple guide below will help you see unauthentic influencers on Instagram. 

1. Conduct a Followers’ Audit

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Conducting a followers audit entails analyzing a user’s audience to identify automated users or bots. Use the following steps to confirm whether they are real:

1. Analyze the follower list: The first step to auditing Instagram followers is looking for Instagram accounts with generic images or no profile picture. If an influencer has many users who have never posted and have no profile pictures, they are fake. Genuine Instagram accounts have a normal mix of pictures, audience, and those they follow. 
2. Check out followers’ usernames: If a username consists of random numbers and letters, there are high chances it’s an unauthentic user account. Real users select their preferred usernames when opening their accounts. 
3. Analyze the engagement of the followers: One of the major tips to tell fake followers on Instagram is to analyze their engagement rate. Unauthentic users do not like, share, or comment on the influencer’s posts. Identify whether the reactions to an influencer’s posts match up with the number of users following them. 
4. Compare the number of followers to the number following: An influencer should have a loyal community. Therefore, if he/she has many accounts following thousands of other users and minimal audience, there are chances such users are fake.  
5. Use tools like Instagram bot checkers or IG Audit: These tools help automate the process of checking automated followers. They also provide detailed reports on the same. 
6. Analyze comments on different posts to check generic responses: Responses that do not sound organic when reading them are most likely bot accounts. 

Auditing followers helps brands to ensure the authenticity of an influencer’s audience before collaborating with them. 

2. Analyze Engagement Rates 

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Instagrammer Mosseri Explains Why Engagement Rate is Important 

Instagram engagement rate is one of the key strategies used to spot fake followers in Instagram. It communicates about the performance of the influencer’s posts. How do you analyze user engagement rates on Instagram? The guide below shows how you do it. 

1. Compare the number of followers to comments and likes: An account with fake followers does not present increased engagement activities as the number of users grows.
2. Analyze engagement consistency: Identify abnormal changes in follower engagements. Disproportionate increase in comments or likes indicates they are purchased. 
3. Check comments for authenticity and relevance: Look out for generic comments like “Amazing picture”, “Great post”, “Love this!”. Such comments lack a personal touch and are irrelevant to the original post. 
4. Calculate the engagement rate: To calculate the engagement rate, you require two details: total users following the influencer and total interaction. Follow the steps below:

How to Calculate Follower Engagement Rate on Instagram

• Go to the Instagram insights page
• Select the date range; from hours to years, you want to track
• Click on “Interactions” in the overview section
• Scroll down to the “By interaction” section and sum up the total interactions for your posts. 

Engagement rate= (Total interactions/Total followers) x100%

5. Utilize tools like Modash.io and Inbeat.co: These tools have calculators to analyze the engagement rate. Check for discrepancies between the interaction rate and the follower count. 

3. Analyze Comments by the Influencer’s Followers

A user’s account can reveal their audience. Another tip on how to spot fake followers on Instagram is to analyze users’ comments using the tips below:

1. Search for generic comments: As stated above, fake followers post generic remarks like “Amazing post” and “Nice post”. Such posts lack personal touch and can apply to any post. 
2. Look for repetitive comments: If there are multiple repetitive comments, then there are high chances those following are not real Instagram users. 
3. Monitor meaningful interactions: Real Instagram followers usually engage their influencers in meaningful conversations. If there are personalized interactions, it is highly likely that there are fake users following the influencer. 
4. Seek out irrelevant comments: Another key tip on how to tell fake Instagram followers is to check the comments sections. If the comments by the followers are not relevant to the post, then they are an artificial audience. 
5. Assess comment-to-like ratio: If the number of likes is very high compared to the number of comments, this suggests that they are artificial bots. 

4. Monitor the Influencer’s Presence on Other Social Media Platforms

Another method to check fake Instagram followers is checking the influencer’s engagement rates on other social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter). Monitoring an influencer’s presence helps in understanding their reach on social media. The following are tips on how to do it:

1. Monitor the consistency in posts, niches, and interactions: Influencers who have fake followers lack consistency in the content they post across various networks. 
2. Scan the influencer’s profile:  Tools such as Modash and Upfluence show whether followers engage with the influencer’s content similarly across different platforms. 
3. Look out for genuine interactions: Check whether the interactions; posts, comments, and likes are natural. Your preference should be quality over quantity. 
4. Assess followers versus engagement rates: If the influencer has a high following but low engagement rates on different platforms, there is a high likelihood that they are fake. 

Assessing the influencer’s presence on other social media platforms is another effective way to check fake followers on Instagram. This entails checking out for their interactions and engagement rates. 

How to Find the Right Influencer for Your Brand 

Have you found out your preferred influencer has fake Instagram followers, or do you want to find the best match for your brand? Well, this simple and easy-to-follow guide will help you in your influencer search. 

1. Define your campaign goals and requirements: Before conducting an influencer search, outline your desired marketing outcomes. Consider the questions below in coming up with your goals and criteria to discover Instagram influencers:

• What type of influencers do you need? 
• What is the desired outcome? Do you want to increase sales, traffic, and awareness, or to create engagement? 
• What is the expected return on investment (ROI), timeline, and budget?
• What is the preferred influencer’s niche, audience size, engagement, reach, and quality? 

2. List influencers whose content aligns with the goals and criteria identified above: Analyze the influencer’s reach and niche and Instagram followers characteristics like target sex, location, purchase patterns, and age. 

3. Compute the engagement rate of the influencers on Instagram: After identifying possible influencers you can work with, assess their content and engagement rate. Use the formula: Engagement rate= (Total interactions/Total followers) x 100%

4. Check for fake followers: The discussion above outlines how to spot fake followers on Instagram. Consider factors like engagement rate, their profiles, and the influencer’s presence on other social media platforms. Use tools like Modash.io and Inbeat.co.

5. Collaborate with the selected influencer: Partner with your selected influencer to boost your presence on Instagram or other social media platforms. When collaborating with the influencer:

• Maintain effective communication
• Ensure your brand is authentic, transparent, and accommodating to new audiences. 
• Maintain strong content with an effective call to action to ensure you remain visible to the desired audience.
• Supplement Instagram influencer marketing with social proof. 

The influencers you choose must become your brand partners and advocates. Ensure you work with influencers with no fake Instagram followers for a positive return on investment. 

Conclusion

Understanding how to spot fake followers on Instagram is important in protecting your brand’s reputation. In this article, we have discussed simple steps to check for fake Instagram users. Don’t just rush to collaborate with an influencer because of their numbers, assess whether they have an unauthentic audience. This preserves your reputation and credibility on Instagram and other social media platforms. 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does Instagram allow influencers to buy fake followers?

Instagram wants a spam-free environment in which only human users engage with one’s posts. The social media platform considers buying fake followers spammy behavior and a user’s account can be banned for the same. 

2. What should I do if I spot fake Instagram followers on an influencer’s page?

Using the guide above can help you tell unauthentic users. If you identify an influencer with artificial followers, report the profile to Instagram.

3. Are there tools to detect fake followers on Instagram? 

Yes, as discussed above, there are many tools to check unauthentic followers. The tools include Modash, Upfluence, and Hypeauditor, among others. 

4. Do fake Instagram followers affect my brand’s reputation?

Yes, fake followers negatively affect your brand's reputation, authenticity, and trust. Using an influencer with an automated audience makes your audience feel cheated. 

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