Free Instagram Influencer Fake Follower Checker & Scanner Tool
Use our free Instagram influencer analytics tool to analyse influencers. Access fake follower %, engagement rate, audience demographics and much more.
What is The impact of Fake Followers on ROI -
Our Research Report
If you are looking to work with an influencer to promote your product or service you probably came across this page to analyse if the influencer has fake followers to make sure that you achieve the desired ROI. It is probably intuitive enough that fake followers have a negative effect on ROI but how significant is the effect really? This is a question we long asked our selves which is why our data scientists analysed 10,325 commercial influencer posts to compute the correlation of fake followers on conversions and thus ROI.
Impact of Fake Followers on Conversions & ROI
To visualise the results of our study better we categorised the 10,325 influencers into the following 3 segments.
- HP: high performing influencers: >10 conversions
- MP: medium performing influencers: 3 - 10 conversions
- GP: low performing influencers: <3 conversions
The chart on the right shows the % of real followers based on these 3 categories clearly showing a correlation between performance and fake followers. The median % of fake followers for high performing influencers was 21.5%, followed by medium performing influencers with 24.7% and low performing influencers with 27.4%. Influencers whose audience credibility was above the median score of 73.17% saw enhanced conversion rates. Making fake followers and important metric to analyse. If you are interested in which other metrics correlate with conversions access our full research report for free below.
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Which other metrics impact ROI?
1. Follower Growth
Based on our research where we analysed the performance of 10,325 influencers which made a commercial post one of the metrics which showed the strongest correlation to ROI is follower / audience growth. This is also clearly visible in the chart on the left where high performing influencer with over 10 conversions per post had a median follower growth rate of 3.2% VS medium performing influencers with 3 - 10 conversions per post with a follower growth rate of 1.0% and low performing influencers with 2 or less conversions even having a negative follower growth rate.
This intuitively also makes sense as social media platforms in this case Meta reward high quality content and active influencers with good content typically experience a growth in followers whilst inactive influencers or influencers with low quality or negative content will experience a decline in their audience size / followers.
2. Engagement Rate
Engagement rate is probably one of the metrics which is most frequently mentioned when talking about influencers. But does it rally correlate with ROI? We long had the hypothesis that demographics could impact this as we saw that older demographics naturally engaged less on social media compared to younger audiences while highe disposable income leads to higher sales. To provide you with a data backed answer to this question we analysed 10,325 commercial influencer posts. The result: High performing influencers ( > 10 conversions / post ) had an median engagement rate of 1.2% followed by medium performing influencers ( 3 - 9 conversions / post ) with 0.8% and low performing influencers ( < 3 conversions / post ) with 0.7%. When looking at total engagements the difference is more clearly visible (see charts below). However with total engagements we think that the leading metric is audience size. Remember correlation doesn't imply causation. To avoid comparing apples with oranges looking at engagement rate as a metric is often better than looking at total engagements (due to the dependency on audience size which we will analyse in the next section).
3. Audience / Follower Size
The ongoing discussion on whether micro and nano influencers are more effective compared to macro and mega influencers is something we analysed as well. The median follower size of high performing influencers ( > 10 conversions / post ) is 119.2K, followed by medium performing influencers ( 3 - 9 conversions / post ) with 59.7K followers and low performing influencers ( < 3 conversions / post ) with 38.1K followers, indicating that size does matter in this case. The research revealed that influencers with follower counts exceeding the 75th percentile (over 96,731 followers) yielded better results.
The discussion if micro and nano influencers are more effective is however not that easy to answer. The underlying argument is that micro and nano influencers are often less expensive to work with. In order to analyse the actual impact on ROI you would need to take the budgets into account when working with influencers.
4. Verified Accounts
An interesting metric to analyse when looking to improve your influencer ROI is the blue verified check mark on Instagram. Our research showed that high performing influencers ( > 10 conversions / post ) had an verified account in 61.1% of the times, followed by medium performing influencers ( 3 - 9 conversions / post ) with 34.4% being verified and low performing influencers ( 0 - 2 conversions / post ) being verified in only 26.7% of the times.
When looking at this metric we would like to refer again to the saying: correlation doesn't imply causation as larger accounts often tend to be verified more frequently. The underlying metric which is actually causing the increase in conversions could be audience size instead.
How Does Influencer Hero Use this to Improve rOI?
Within our influencer discovery tool where you can find influencer using detailed filters our data scientists have blended all the metrics from above into an conversion enhancing filter which our merchants can use to identify influencers which are more likely to perform well. It is important to still do the analysis and add the required filters but using this conversion enhancing filter helps to shortlist potential high performing influencers.
How to detect fake followers on Instagram
Detecting fake followers on Instagram is essential for understanding the genuine engagement and reach of an account, whether you're assessing the value of a potential collaboration or seeking to clean up your own follower list. Here are the top ways to identify fake followers:
1. Low engagement rates
Compare the account's number of followers to the level of engagement (likes, comments, shares). A significantly low engagement rate could indicate a high number of fake followers, as these accounts typically do not interact with content.
2. Quality of Comments
Look at the comments on the posts. Generic, irrelevant comments, or repeated use of emojis without any real context might be from bot accounts or paid services meant to boost interactions artificially.
3. Not having a profile picture
Click on some of the followers or browse through the followers of an influencer to see if a lot of followers don't have a profile picture. A high amount of followers without a profile picture can indicate a large amount of fake followers.
4. Number of posts
If a lot of the followers don't have any posts or a very small number of posts it could be an indicator that the influencer might have purchased fake followers. Providers which sell followers often don't put a lot effort into creating the account and not having any posts could mean that it is a fake account.
5. Skewed following to followers ratio
Example: following thousands but with very few followers. This can be another indicator that the followers are fake. Bot accounts often follow a larger number of accounts but have a very small number of followers.
6. Sudden Follower Growth
A sudden, unexplainable spike in followers can be a red flag. Authentic growth typically occurs gradually or follows a noticeable trend aligned with account activity (e.g., viral content, media features).
7. Consistency Across Posts
Look for consistency in engagement across posts. An account with genuine followers will likely have a relatively consistent engagement rate across their content. Wide fluctuations (beyond the impact of viral content) can indicate manipulation.
8. Bio and Profile Completeness
Fake or bot accounts often have incomplete bios, lack personal information, or use stock images as profile photos. A genuine account usually has a fleshed-out bio, a real profile picture, and a cohesive feed.
9. Account Privacy and Activity
Many fake accounts are set to private to avoid detection, making it harder to immediately spot their lack of genuine content. Additionally, an account with extremely high activity (posting too frequently or liking/commenting far more than typical user behavior) might also be suspect.
10. Check Followers Engagement
Genuine followers are more likely to have a history of varied interactions on Instagram. Fake accounts often have little to no such history, or their activity is repetitive and not specific to the content they are supposedly engaging with.
How Influencer Hero can guarantee authentic influencer partnerships
Influencer Hero's search and discovery tool allows you access detailed reports of each influencer analysing the % fake followers as well as mass followers. As an influencer marketer it is crucial to understand the real audience an influencer could reach through a brand partnership. Beside fake followers we also analyse mass followers which are account which follow >1500 accounts. These people are difficult to reach due to the large number of account they follow and should also be taken into consideration when forecasting reach.
Free Instagram Fake Follower Auditing Tool
The Influencer Hero Fake Follower checker and scanner tool is the best free tool to analyse a variety of important data points for influencer marketing. With our free Instagram fake follower tool you can analyse the following data points:
- Analyse and check fake followers
- Calculate and analyse engagement rate
- View the influencers audience growth
- Analyse the audience location
- Analyse the audience gender split (% female & male followers)
- Analyse the audience age distribution
- Forecast estimated sales and EMV (Earned Media Value)
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FAQ & Competitor Comparison
A fake follower generally refers to any profile established for reasons aside from authentic Instagram engagement. These accounts might be set up to artificially boost likes or follower counts, to spam other users, or to gather data from other Instagram profiles. These followers are not part of your genuine audience base.
Numerous indicators, such as incomplete profile details, comments that are irrelevant or resemble spam, and atypical patterns of engagement, can signal the presence of fake followers. Influencer Hero's Tool is based on an academic model developed by Phd computer science students from ETH Zurich university in Switzerland. The tool is able to detect fake followers with 99% accuracy.
Each profile is unique. It's common for profiles with a substantial follower base to exhibit a greater percentage of this irregularity compared to those with fewer followers. Generally, a rate exceeding 25% might indicate potential fraudulent activity.
Every influencer possesses a certain number of fake followers. The key is to concentrate on the count of genuine followers within your desired audience. Discovering that an influencer has 25% fake followers doesn't provide a complete picture. Consider a scenario where the influencer has half a million followers, and 75% of those align with your specified city, age range, and gender – coupled with a strong engagement rate.
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"It is like Google and ChatGPT combined, but for influencers"
Find influencers based on country, state or city and filter based on audience data E.g. Find influencers with >60% followers in the UK or London etc.
Filter influencers based on gender, age, ethnicity and much more or filter based on their audience. E.g. find influencers with >65% female following.
Searching for influencers based on content has never been easier. Simply type in an ideal influencer profile and receive a list of thousands of similar profiles.
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Identify fake followers and mass followers to get a better understanding of your reachability for sponsored posts
Analyse gender split, age distribution, location (country, state, city) and much more
Access recent sponsored posts and analyse the performance KPI's e.g. likes, comments.
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