Article Recommendation: How Fake Instagram Followers Are Impacting Social Media Marketing

There is no denying that influencer marketing is a powerful way to make the most of word-of-mouth marketing for your business. However, as with every other form of marketing that has come before, some bad actors can have a detrimental effect on this tactic for everyone involved.

Exploiting the system is nothing new. In most cases, whole business models crop up and revolve around bad marketing tactics. When direct mail marketing saw results, along came address list sales. Telemarketers turned the populace against them with unrelenting calls at all hours of the day. Email marketing was a phenomenal way to reach the right audience—until the dreaded address list sales began anew. Then there was SEO, which was an easy way for people to get found, until keyword stuffing and blackhat tactics cropped up.    

The same is true for influencer marketing. If there’s money to be made, people will find shady ways to earn it. Fake social media followers may seem to be a great idea to help a fledgling influencer build an audience. Who does it hurt?

As it turns out, fake follower lists can cause a world of problems. This article outlines those issues in detail and gives real, actionable tips to help you avoid working with the wrong influencers.

Read it here: Everything You Need to Know About Instagram Bots