Do you want to boost your brand’s or e-commerce’s Instagram visibility through influencer marketing? Would you like to forge genuine partnerships with Instagram influencers? Pay close attention to the credibility of your future partners’ audiences!
Indeed, in Instagram influencer marketing, numbers are everything. The temptation to buy Instagram followers quickly is therefore very strong.
But what are the major risks for e-tailers and brands? How do you spot fake influencers?
An expert in affiliation and influencer marketing, Casaneo helps you, through this comprehensive guide, to understand thereal impact of buying Instagram followers on your marketing performance.
Why buy Instagram followers?
Before condemning or applauding, it’s important to understand. Behind the purchase of Instagram followers often lies a need for recognition or legitimacy in an ultra-competitive environment.
Here are the most common motivations for buying fake Instagram followers, especially from content creators…, but also from some brands.
Creating the illusion of rapid growth
Some Instagram accounts want to create an illusion right from the start. An Instagram account with 100,000 followers often makes more of an impression than one with 5,000, even though the latter generates far more real interactions. Buying Instagram followers therefore makes it possible to quickly display a “large community”, creating a snowball effect.
Increase perceived influence
More Instagram followers = more credibility? This is often the reasoning. It’s a common psychological shortcut: “If they’re followed, they’re good”. So buying Instagram followers is a way of forcing this perception a little, to look influential, legitimate, credible.
An assumed progression in the algorithm
Some people think that the Instagram algorithm favors accounts with lots of followers. In reality, the algorithm mainly looks at real engagement (likes, comments, shares, time spent). So it’s better to have a small, active account than a big, hollow one.
Competitive pressure
When your competitors’ Instagram influencers post impressive numbers, it can be tempting to follow suit. Buying Instgram followers then becomes a way of “not falling behind”, of staying in the race.
How can you spot if an influencer has bought fake Instagram followers?
Underneath the surface of a popular Instagram account, a profile can hide a lot of grey areas. For your brand or online store, it’s important to know how to read between the lines of the statistics.
Here are the main clues that can alert you to an inflated Instagram audience.
Instagram engagement rate: your best fake detector
Come across an Instagram influencer with 100,000 followers, but only 300 likes per post? Beware!
How can you tell if it’s an Instagram growth strategy? The engagement rate is one of the most reliable indicators.
To calculate it: take the average number of likes + comments, divide by the number of subscribers, then multiply by 100.
A healthy Instagram account usually displays :
- 3 to 6% for micro-influencers
- 1 to 3% for larger accounts
If this rate is less than 1%, you’re looking at an account with fake Instagram followers.
Tips: Use tools like HypeAuditor to get these figures in a few clicks, even without access to account insights.
Suspicious Instagram growth spikes
A smooth, steady, organic growth curve is often a good sign. Conversely, a sudden, sharp rise in the number of followers, especially without associated virality (no buzz videos, collaborations or massive contests), may indicate a purchase of Instagram followers.
Ditto for sawtooth curves, followed by sharp drops. It happens that some subscribers disappear after Instagram’s automatic purges.
Tip: Always ask for screenshots or exports of growth statistics if you’re unsure. A good influencer has nothing to hide.
Suspicious or implausible Instagram followers
Also take a closer look at who’s following the Instagram influencer. Do you land on accounts with weird usernames, no profile pictures, zero posts or no followers in return? These are very clear clues.
Tip: Check out a few subscriber profiles at random. If you come across a slew of empty or inactive accounts, something is wrong.
An inconsistent Instagram audience demographic
A French designer with a highly engaged community in France, but 70% of subscribers in the Philippines or Mexico? There’s a catch. It’s true that some influencers on Instagram don’t give access to all their data.
Nevertheless, some are happy to share their audience breakdown: by country, age, gender. This provides valuable clues. Take a closer look at these profiles if you want to avoid the dangers of buying Instagram followers.
Tip: Ask for a screenshot of your audience demographics before you enter into any paid partnership. This data is difficult to falsify, unlike raw numbers.
Hollow or irrelevant Instagram comments
We mentioned above the importance of engagement and, above all, the quality of comments. Are most of them of the “Nice pic” or “Wow” type? Are there lots of emojis without context? Do the comments not correspond to the published content? This is often a sign of automated or paid interaction.
Tip: Quickly scan a few publications to analyze the tone of the comments. Real subscribers react with natural phrases, context and sometimes even… criticism.
How to detect fake Instagram followers on the influencer side?
Beyond followers, we also need to look at the overall behavior of the influencer’s Instagram account. Real influencers leave visible traces of their authenticity.
Here are a few concrete benchmarks to check whether a profile is trustworthy.
Check out the account history, which speaks volumes about its credibility.
Some Instagram followers don’t react to any posts, never comment or watch stories? Chances are they’re inactive… or just plain wrong. These are the famous “ghost followers”. They artificially inflate the counter without ever interacting.
Tips: To track the history of an Instagram account, use tools like Social Blade or Noxinfluencer to see the evolution of the number of followers. Steady growth = a good sign!
Compare Instagram followers and subscriptions
An unbalanced ratio (100,000 followers, but only follows 50 people) can be suspicious. Conversely, some people follow thousands of accounts in order to get subscribers… It’s a safe bet that this is a rush of fake Instagram accounts.
Tip: Pay attention to balance. A good subscriber/subscription ratio is often a reflection of healthy, organic growth, without manipulation of the figures.
Evaluate content consistency on Instagram
How do you recognize the brand of a true Instagram influencer? The latter has a well-constructed feed, with a recognizable aesthetic, regular topics (fashion, beauty, home, sports…) and a clear editorial line.
Does the account look like a catch-all (selfies, blurry photos, questionable quotes)? Maybe it’s a fake Instagram profile or an artificially inflated account with no real content strategy.
Tip: Quickly scan the last 9 to 12 publications. Does everything fit together? Does the content make you want to know more? If it lacks soul or logic, move on.
Evaluate the consistency of post performance
You see a post with 15,000 likes followed by another with only 300, with no particular event or change in style? It’s completely inconsistent. Engagement rates need to stay within the same range, even if some variations are natural.
Tip: Check the average engagement (likes, comments) on several recent posts.
Check the verification
We all know that little blue Instagram “tick” that catches the eye and inspires confidence. It means that Instagram considers this account authentic and of public interest. But beware: the badge is not absolute proof of legitimacy. Some dubious accounts still manage to obtain it. It’s an indicator, not a guarantee.
Tip: Think of the badge as a bonus, but never base your judgment solely on this icon. Always analyze content, engagement and history.
What impact do fake followers have on the Instagram algorithm?
When you buy Instagram followers, you also run the risk of alienating the platform itself. And when Instagram punishes, visibility takes a hit.
Let’s take a look at possible algorithmic sanctions and warning signals.
Instagram’s official policies
It goes without saying that Instagram strictly prohibits the purchase of followers, likes or comments. In the event of non-compliance, the platform may decide to :
- Delete content
- Restrict the scope of an account
- Hang it up.
Clearly, buying subscribers is playing with fire, especially when you represent a brand or aspire to serious partnerships.
Regular purges
To deal with the purchase of fake subscribers on the capetorme, Instagram regularly conducts “purges” of inactive, bots or suspicious accounts. The result: influencers who have artificially inflated their audience see their subscriber numbers melt like snow in the sun overnight.
Algorithmic penalties
Instagram’s algorithm doesn’t like inconsistencies. When it detects suspicious engagement or a non-qualitative subscriber base, it silently penalizes. The account’s content will then be less well distributed, less promoted. It will have less chance of reaching a truly interested audience. This is the boomerang effect of digital cheats.
Account restrictions
Instagram also actively restricts accounts with activity deemed suspicious: shadowban, disabled hashtags, feature limitations, even temporary suspension. And, as mentioned above, this happens without warning. For an influencer or brand, this means invisible campaigns, posts that fall flat and a loss of credibility that’s hard to make up for.
Buying Instagram followers: what impact on your influencer campaign?
Obviously, collaborating with influencers who have bought Instagram followers will have a huge impact on an influencer campaign. When the audience is wrong, influencer marketing campaigns on Instagram collapse like a house of cards.
Here’s why prevention is better than cure.
A wasted budget
Buying visibility that doesn’t convert is throwing your budget out the window. When a brand pays an Instagram influencer with inflated followers, they’re often talking to… bots. No real engagement, no clicks and even fewer sales.
Return on investment is close to nil, even if the raw figures may impress at first glance.
A damaged brand image
Remember that today’s consumers are attentive, even suspicious. A brand that collaborates with a suspect influencer risks being equated with unethical practices.
Worse still, some followers publicly denounce brands that associate themselves with “fake” designers. And on Instagram, a brand’s image can be tarnished in just a few hours.
False PKIs
When the subscriber base is artificially inflated, all the data obviously becomes skewed. Engagement rates, reach, clicks, conversions… everything is skewed.
The result? Marketing decisions made on the wrong basis, poorly calibrated campaigns and difficulty in measuring what really works.
Transparency problems
In addition to key performance indicators, trust also pays the price. In influencer marketing, the brand-influencer relationship is based on mutual trust. But an influencer who inflates his figures betrays this trust from the outset.
This can not only affect the current campaign, but also weaken relationships with other partners, and even tarnish the overall image of your marketing strategy on Instagram.
Are there any solutions for verifying followers on Instagram?
Yes, you don’t have to go it alone to avoid influencers who have bought followers on Instagram. There are tools and experts to help you unearth genuine profiles.
Audit tools and platforms
We’ve already mentioned some platforms that can help you analyze the reliability of an Instagram account. Examples include HypeAuditor, Modash and NotJustAnalytics. These platforms scrutinize an Instagram account (subscriber/engagement ratio, audience provenance, suspicious growth spikes…).
With the data collected, you can already get an initial idea of the seriousness of the profile. But beware: no solution is infallible. A well-disguised fake account can slip through the net.
So never be satisfied with just one tool.
- Cross-reference data
- View published content
- Read the comments
- Observe the evolution of the account over time.
The human eye remains your best ally.
Casaneo’s expertise
Instead of wasting time sorting the good from the bad Instagram influencers, why not use a network that’s already been filtered? Casaneo, a specialist in affiliation and influencer marketing for over 10 years, offers turnkey support.
Each influencer in the network is audited beforehand: history, actual performance, quality of audience, compatibility with brand values…
The result? Effective campaigns, with no nasty surprises.
The benefits? You save time, minimize risk and, above all, maximize your return on investment from the very first collaboration.
Focus on authenticity, not appearance
Buying Instagram followers may seem seductive. But behind the mass effect lies a loss of meaning, impact and trust. For your brand or e-commerce business, whatever its size, it’s important to focus on authenticity, real engagement and solid partnerships. Real growth is the kind that creates value for both parties, not just numbers.
Join us and build lasting, authentic partnerships on Instagram.
