Can You Recognize a Fake Follower?

We know all social media is a lie. You can fake many things on Instagram- a vacation, a ring, a brand deal, a personality- so why not fake your follower count? Because fake followers will drain your engagement, hurt your credibility. You won't earn money using fake followers. You might end up with inappropriate comments on posts. This also means that your posts won't show up on Explore Pages or your real audience's newsfeeds. That's why it's advised to grow Instagram followers organically.

We are always told the negatives of buying fake followers, but do you know how to recognize one? No? Here are three tricks:

An account with Unusual Number of Followers

We admit, this sounds rather shady, but you need to be sure when dealing with potential spam threats on Instagram. Perhaps, the obvious sign to look for in a suspected bot account is their numbers. They may like and follow thousands of people but don't have many following them in return. They are most likely to have no posts at all. 

Snoop for Spam

While most petty bots are created only to follow accounts who pay for it, others are even more spammy. Their idea is to get you to sign up for fancy but improper deals or giveaways so they can take advantage of your information. These accounts commonly include big brand names in their handle or bio, such as "Amazon Prime Subscription Giveaway." But, of course, someone wanting to acquire only real followers on Instagram will host giveaways in a much legitimate way.

Use your best judgment- it shouldn't be difficult. 

Irrelevant and Clueless Comments

Some of the smarter bot accounts create comments to make them seem genuine. The problem is that these comments lack substance. For example, you might spot that an account continually comments 'nice pic dear' or 'good job.'

While these comments are technically engagement, they have no value to a brand hoping for an influencer to persuade their followers that its product will be suitable for them.

Similarly, some accounts leave irrelevant comments trying to sell something. Usually, these are poorly thought through and executed sales tricks. In other cases, they are encouraging you to leave contact information, so they steal your identity.

Conclusion