For a long time I was hesitant to write this, but it has now become necessary. Especially since the New York Magazine published THIS STORY.Â
Influencer Marketing is one of the most valuable tools restaurants have to promote their businesses without breaking the bank. When done in conjunction with a restaurant’s own efforts, the ROI can greatly exceed any other form of traditional media.
Because of the value, there have been many “Fake Influencers” popping up to grab free meals, sponsorships or just to boost their own ego. They buy fake followers from online services ( Not done through Instagram ) to boost their numbers, and generally these fake followers are based in Brazil, South East Asia or Pakistan.
While I have built my platform Taste of Massachusetts large enough for Fake Influencers to not affect me, I know many excellent Influencers with fewer than 10,000 followers who do not get invites and yet they have a much more solid and REAL FOLLOWING than any of the phonies.
With that in mind, here are a few ways to make sure you do not get fooled by the fakers.
1 Ask to see an Influencer’s Insights Page on Instagram, real time in person, not a screen shot.
Real accounts are not afraid to show you who their followers are. Their following will reflect their content if they are not buying followers. It should be relatively local and mostly in the US, unless they have experience as a world traveler.
NOTE: Many fashion followers have great real followings of people in New York, LA etc. They are less local than most foodies, but their following is real.
2 Look at their Page: How many Posts vs How many followers? Use Socialblade.com
Usually a small number of posts attached to a large following is a warning sign. But sometimes that can be deceiving as well. Regardless, you want to see accounts with even steady growth. You can use pages like Socialblade.com to see the last two months activity and ask about anything that doesn’t look right.
NOTE: Sometimes an influencer will get featured on a large page or a “shout out” and it can result in getting a bump in following.
3 Know how “Bots” work.
“Bots” are programs that get an account fake followers and fake likes. This makes a page look good, but it is very deceptive. Generally they create big bumps in following, or consistent growth of more than 100 followers every day, without any content being posted, or they generate thousands of likes on a photo for an account with a relatively small following.
NOTE: As the platform evolves, so do those being deceptive.
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These are just three things to look for, and truth be told, most Influencers are honest good people who love their moms and are kind to puppies. Regardless, know that in addition to exposure, Influencers can be just as valuable as a resource to create content for you to use on your pages. That is a resource they provide that is often overlooked.
