Ninety percent of influencers reach less than half of their audience and 30 percent of influencers showed fraud levels for engagement purchasing in 4Q19 campaigns, according to research from Sylo that analyzed over 5000 influencers’ social media accounts. Among the highlights of the report, “Growing Levels of Influencer Fraud Swindling Ad Dollars”:
- Metrics produced through scraping, such as “Fake Followers” or “Bot Percentages,” were not indicative of influencer fraud activity, and were inaccurate by as much as 129 percent.
- “Fake Follower” rate of 23 percent was within the normal range, implying that a typical influencer purchases nearly-a-quarter of their audience.
- Influencer network (scraped) engagement and impressions were off by an average of 55 percent and 48 percent, respectively, from verified data.
- Thirty percent of influencers generate flags for engagement purchasing; this is a higher rate than previous reports and could support Instagram hiding likes would exacerbate the problem.
- Marketers can reduce influencer fees by up to 60 percent by paying for reach, not follower counts.
- Close to 90 percent of influencers reach less than half of their audience; while more than 50 percent of influencers reach less than 25 percent of their audience.
