Evaluating Influencer Authenticity and Engagement

As social media continues to become one of the most popular methods of connection, more and more influencers are popping up and gaining a following. This is great for brands because it creates more options when finding influencers for campaigns but there also are higher instances of fraudulent influencers with the influx of new creators. Brands must have a process in place to vet influencers before signing them onto a campaign. Glancing at a follower count or a certain aesthetic doesn’t cut it when finding influencers anymore. Let’s dive into how to gauge influencer authenticity and audience engagement with the content.

Fraudulent Influencers

Before we get into influencer assessment, let’s talk about fraudulent influencers. With an influx of influencers appearing on TikTok and Instagram, there are a lot of accounts that aren’t legitimate which is problematic when building campaigns. According to Invesp, up to 20% of mid-level influencers are likely to be fraudulent. That’s not an insignificant amount of influencers and it’s important to spend time researching the influencers you’re going to work with. So how do you differentiate real influencers from fake accounts? Here are some tips:

• Engagement rate - Look at their engagement rate. Does it match with their follower count?

• Transparency - Have a conversation with them. Are they open about their work as an influencer?

• Growth - Track their growth. Is their following and engagement growing in unusual ways?

• Bots - Take a look at their followers. Are there large amounts of bots following and interacting with the content?

Vetting influencers is time-consuming but is crucial when building your campaign. The influencers you choose to work with will be representing your brand and you want to make sure that they align with your brand values and mission. 

Followers and Engagement

Along with detecting fraudulent influencers, you can also evaluate authenticity through researching the influencer’s followers and engagement rate. According to Tunuiti, the average to high engagement rate is between 1% and 6%. When going through influencer selection, it’s important to look at their engagement rate, especially in comparison to their following. Not all engagement and follow rates will look the same. Below is a rough breakdown of the average engagement rates for the different types of influencers. 

• Nano-Influencers (1k-10k): 4.39%

• Micro-Influencers (10k-100k): 6%

• Macro-Influencers (100k-1M): 1.3%

• Mega-Influencers/Celebrities (1M+): 1.97%

If you come across influencers fitting within these follower ranges but have noticably lower engagement rates, they might not perform the best in your campaign. The goal of a campaign is to connect with an audience through an influencer (as well as connecting with the influencer) and if the influencer doesn’t have a strong connection with the audience, the campaign won’t be as successful as possible. 

In addition to engagement rate, your team should consider looking into what content receives the highest engagement when crafting your strategy. If an audience connects with day-in-the-life videos, it might be smart to incorporate the product into that style of content. Before creating the content, research what does well for the influencer so that your campaign performs well.

Feedback, Reviews, and Past Collaborations

Another way to look into influencer authenticity is by talking to their followers. Through polls, forums, or comment sections, you can learn a lot about an influencer and their standing in the social media space. Part of this process will be looking into their past posts and reviewing the comment sections to see what their audience has to say. While you’re taking a look at their profile, take note of the quality of their posts. This will assist in determining the authenticity of a creator. 

You can also gather feedback from other influencers or brands who have collaborated with the influencer you are interested in. Look into past content collaborations and see how they performed with another influencer’s audience. Seeing how they worked with a brand in the past will also provide clarity on how they operate within a campaign. 

• Did their demeanor align with brand values? 

• How did their audience engagement do with a brand collaboration?

• What did the quality of the content look like? 

• Does the content incorporate well into their feed?

Those are a few questions you can ask during this stage of research. By diving into the past you will learn a lot about an influencer and can better anticipate how the campaign will go. 

Going With Your Gut

Your team can go through all of the right steps of influencer selection and still have content that doesn’t perform that well. On the other side of the coin, by strictly following these guidelines you may miss a diamond in the rough. Of course, if anything glaring is present when researching the influencer then it is probably better to find someone else but sometimes influencers haven’t found their best collaboration yet and you’ll find that they will perform well for your brand. At the end of the day, you’re working with other people and not just a profile so there is room for positive surprises. Trust your gut and learn from each collaboration to make each influencer selection stage the best that it can be. If you’re having trouble searching for influencers, reach out to our team at CEG and we can help find the right match for your brand.