Influencer marketing spending has increased to upwards of $8.5 billion this year around the world. The industry has a projected forecast of $10 billion by 2020, according to research done by Mediakix.
For that reason, in July 2019, a global study by New York-based cyber-security company CHEQ, and the University of Baltimore, Merrick School of Business found almost 16% or $1.3 billion in losses because of the use of fake influencers.
Roberto Cavazos, the author of the Cheq report and a professor at Merrick School of Business, stated, influencer marketing is an exciting and fast-growing sector but, it has the potential for fraud in many sectors.
With marketing budgets increasing for influencer campaigns, the rise of fake influencers will continue to grow. As a result, any marketing team can fall prey to these dishonest types. But the smaller brands will suffer the most while the fake influencer capitalizing on the deception.
Who are Fake Influencers?
Fake influencers are people who post on social media and have a high follower count. Their accounts look like any other influencer account. The main difference is their followers are NOT REAL people.
They are not legitimate influencers. They appear popular. The scammer has created a false influence. These fake influencers bought followers, likes, comments, and video views. Their audience contains bots, inactive, and fake social media accounts. Legitimate influencers may have some fake followers, but fake influencers have a higher percentage of these false accounts. You have to know the difference.
Fake Influence Partnership
The purpose of using the services of an influencer is to increase brand awareness, build trust and credibility to an unfamiliar audience in the most organic way.
An influencer’s reach is the actual number of people that will have the opportunity to see a post. When an account is full of bogus followers, there is no meaningful influence on a real audience. Worst of all, campaigns involving these types of influencers will have little to no metrics with the overall performance outcome will be terrible.
Consequently, using fake influencers will damage a brand’s reputation in the eyes of the consumer if the fake influencer is exposed. Moreover, it creates a waste of money, strategy, and efforts from a marketing team. Be aware and be careful not to fall victim to fake Instagram influencers. Before collaborating with any influencer, extensive research is mandatory. Your team must know the procedures to weed out the fakes.
ysp Digital protects clients against deceptive influencers with fake followers. We verify every influencer with our four-part influencer authentication process.
With our verification, we only collaborate with vetted influencers who can organically build brand awareness and increase exposure for our clients. The quality of an audience is the vehicle for successful influencer campaign. Learn more info@yspdigital.com or call 818-527-2233. We are happy to help.
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