Fake Followers: the ethical dilemma
As the impact of social media influencers rises so does the question of their eligibility.
The modern marketing era and in conjunction with the exponential increase of the prevalence of social media now is beginning to lead on the ability of major viral figures to generate word of mouth and create a buzz around a brand or a specific product. Take Kylie Jenner’s Instragram profile which with over 110 million followers has an enormous reach and high levels of engagement; can charge companies hundreds of thousands of dollars to have the privilege of using her to promote.
This viralability as mentioned in a previous article of mine, is a huge selling point for brands looking to social media for promotional purchases. Partnering with top intragrammers is one of the best ways to increase visibility and gain access to large and/or untapped audiences As such individuals are beginning to catch unto this need and are manipulating their own perceived influence by purchasing fake followers to exaggerate how many will see their posts, thus becoming more attractive to brands.
This idea reinforces the influx of the influence economy, the market if you will; for likes, follows or shares.
Most people would say that they would never purchase inorganic followers or likes however when presented with a further financial intensive face a difficult ethical and moral dilemma. See there is nothing illegal with buying followers, sites are everywhere and even though Instagram doesn’t endorse it themselves it is an ongoing and consistent theme within the community.
I mean for influencers its the perfect way to perhaps achieve a certain follower threshold or attempt to increase their own engagement levels yet simultaneously presents a substantial issue for any pursuing brands. In detail both social reach and engagement with real-life consumers are crucial to the success influencer marketing campaigns, working with an Instagrammer who has artificially inflated his or her vanity metrics and/or deceptively boosted their status as an influencer can result in subpar ROIs and campaign engagement.
As an article by the Huffington Post points out: "These [fake] followers won’t be reposting any of the user’s content, initiating a conversation, or favoriting tweets and posts. To the public, the account will appear to be popular, which is good enough for interested buyers."
So how does one curb the influence of fake followers? The best way is simply to manually have a look at the posts engagement levels. Are they getting substantially less likes and comments than their number of followers would suggest? If so; its likely they are utilising a method of fake followers.
Although its not always that easy and sites are constantly improving the legibility of such fake followers, making it harder to identify and easier to purchase. Therefore should we simply let social media influencers continue to attempt to pave a way for themselves with fake followers or are the interests of businesses more vital to long term ecnomical success?
An interesting shower thought, would love to hear your own opinions in the comments section!