The New York Times recently published an interesting article on fake followers.It inspired me to share Socialtyze's process and technology for detecting real vs. fake influencers as well as identifying influencers who ramped their numbers with fake followers.Below are 7 steps to avoid getting duped by Influencer Marketing. These steps can be performed quickly and at scale with the right technology and team.

• Check the geographic location of the influencer’s followers. Fake accounts often have a large percentage coming from third world countries.

• Analyze the profiles and behavioral patterns of the influencer’s followers to assess age, gender, interests, occupation, hashtags, etc. There are often red flags and inconsistencies that come with fake followers.

• See if the avatars (i.e. profile pic) of the influencer’s followers have been set. Fake profiles often skip this step.

• Check the follower count of influencer’s followers. Fake profiles often have small followings. For example, you can check the % of followers who have less than 10 friends.

• Check how frequently the influencer’s followers post. Fake followers don't post much.

• Detect fake comments in the influencer’s posts. Most fake comments lack depth. They are short, generic and have little direct relevancy to the content.

• Confirm that the Influencer is verified by a major social network. I would not recommend requiring this step as a small percentage of accounts are verified (0.01% of Instagram accounts), but it is a nice check to include as part of the process.

If you'd like to see two actual case studies of how we detected fake accounts, see -From Fake News to Fake Followers - How Not To Get Burned with Influencer Marketing

Facebook announced this past Thursday that it is making yet another algorithm change to favor posts from friends and family over public posts from businesses, brands and media. Zuckerberg said that this decision is based on Facebook’s overall goal of creating more meaningful connections between people. He feels that if he does the right thing that it will be good for Facebook's business over the long term.While this seems like bad news for brands, I actually see it as another step in the evolution of marketing which Facebook has been at the forefront of for some time. Brands need to create content that connects with their customers. Content that tells stories, stimulates dialogue and offers value.Zuckerberg's Post announcing the change

In his post he says,“As we roll this out, you'll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard -- it should encourage meaningful interactions between people."He also continues to mention live video as another path to receive more exposure.“We've seen people interact way more around live videos than regular ones.”Facebook wants relevant content that people comment on and share. In other words, content that creates a dialogue between people will receive more algorithmic love.While many marketers are worried by this news, the bottom line is that organic reach of fans on Facebook is already tiny often averaging between 1% and 5% of the total fans. As a result, the real value in Facebook is not in the organic reach, it’s in the ability to “fish where the fish are”, i.e., target the right consumers with amplified ads. And, the ads that stimulate shares and dialogue between people will receive more organic reach. For example, a recent promoted post that we ran received a 500% bump in organic reach, as compared to the monthly average, due its high volume of comments and shares.In addition, Influencer Marketing has also become even more valuable. Advertisers will benefit by placing their messages in the hands of influencers who are naturally favored over brands in the News Feed.Here’s a quote from Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s Head of News Feed, who supports Zuckerberg's comments and the value of influencers.“Page posts that generate conversation between people will show higher in the News Feed. For example, live videos often lead to discussion among viewers on Facebook – in fact, live videos on average get six times as many interactions as regular videos. Many creators who post videos on Facebook prompt discussion among their followers, as do posts from celebrities.”In sum, this news is certainly nothing new. It's more of an acceleration of the same. While there will continue to be changes, here are some best practices that brands can exercise right now to get the most out of their Facebook marketing:• Focus on content that generates comments and shares as well as conversation between people• Run link posts as promoted only• Create more Facebook Live• Double down on Influencer marketing• Run amplification behind all posts – what’s the point of creating content few people see• Focus on quality of posts over quantityFor more details on this news, here are two of our favorite links:Video from Facebook’s Director of Product Management

Social Media Examiner’s Analysis of the Announcement

Influencer marketing has become one of the most powerful tools in marketing and many of the world’s biggest brands are finding unique ways to strategize around this new channel and navigate its integration into the broader marketing mix. In this Videonomics series, I talk to several top digital marketers about how influencers fit into their overall strategy and about some of the key learnings and best practices they’ve discovered along the way.Featured in the video are:

• Noah Mallin, Head of Social, North America, MEC
• Josh Messinger, Founder, VMA
• Adib Abrahim, Director of Digital, American Airlines
• Jason DaWayne Smith, Senior Partner, Director of Digital Investment, Mindshare
• Raakhi Agrawal, Head of Digital, Beverage Division, Nestle
• Michael Smith, Head of Digital, Gatorade
• Robin Bennefield, Senior Manager, Managing Editor, Marriott

Some of the key takeaways include:

• The power of mid-tier influencers and core subject matter experts
• Using data to connect the right people to the right time and place
• Partnering with people who have genuine passion about your brand
• Brands as publishers with vertically focused editorial
• Going beyond the influencer - understanding their audience
• Empowering your core customers and advocates through real world experiences

I just read an article from Mediakix entitled Are Fake Instagram Influencers Deceiving Brands? The company ran an experiment to see if it could create fake influencers that actually received solicitation from advertisers. Not surprisingly, it succeeded. They created two profiles featured below and received ad offers from a swimsuit company, a national food and beverage company, an alcohol brand and others.

Below are the fake accounts (CaliBeachGirl310 and Wandergggirl) that the company produced.

Kudos to Mediakix for running this test as it brings attention to a major issue with fake influencers as well as the manner in which many brands and agencies are managing their campaigns.To a buyer that lacks the proper tools and expertise, I can see how these influencers could look appealing –

Pretty pictures ✔️Decent Following ✔️Decent Engagement ✔️

Must be good to go, right?Actually, far from the truth. Why do brands and agencies hire influencers without looking at their followers? No one buys TV spots without assessing who is tuning in. Influencer Marketing is no different.By using technology that taps into the Instagram API, we can see the behavioral patterns of the followers with regard to where they live, what they like, tag, engage with and post. The data is extremely accurate and detailed in analyzing the followers.

Below are the demographics and psychographics of the followers for Calibeachgirl301. Some major red flags are:

• Location: 90% from Brazil, 45x the Instagram avg.
• Angola is >100x the Instagram avg.
• Ethnicity: 90% Portuguese, 43x the Instagram avg.
• Age/Occupation: 45% are younger than 18, yet 21% of them or 67x the Instagram avg. are “investors”

Another trick is to use fan technology to see precisely who is following these influencers. By connecting to the Instagram API once again, we can receive a list of the followers by largest following, most engaged, etc…Once these lists are pulled, it only takes a second to realize the influencers’ followers are fake.For example, below is a snapshot of some of these followers including a fake model who says “I live life for a living” (whatever that means).

I love the next fake fan DESATIVADO who has somehow acquired a following of 855 friends, yet he has not found the time to put up a post. I think he is too busy following and engaging in other accounts.

So, what should marketers do to build out the right influencer marketing strategy and avoid getting burned by these fake accounts?The answer is quite simple. They need to either build out an in-house team with deep expertise and a suite of influencer technology. Or, hire the right company. Influencer Marketing is a multibillion industry (eMarketer) and is arguably the fastest and hottest growing ad medium today. Selecting the right team and allocating the right budget is critical to capitalizing and understanding this new medium.For a more complete plan to selecting the right influencer marketing team for the remainder of 2017 and 2018, go to 2017attackplan.com for a powerful 10-step guide.

Social media has made video more important and popular than it has ever been in the digital space. In marketing, ads can garner tremendous traffic and success on these platforms or become infamously vilified by social audiences at lightning fast speeds. Gregor Ehrlich, social media and creative lead/executive producer for The Clorox Company is an expert at video curation and an outspoken leader on how brands can find success and avoid major pitfalls in social media and digital video. In this engaging road trip through Deer Valley, Utah at Mobilnomics 2017, he speaks with Socialtyze CEO, John Bohan about how brands can truly tell impactful stories while still delivering core messages.

Being ‘always on’ with consumers is an incredible challenge, but in a digital ecosystem where fragmentation is so fervent and focus can shift by the minute, brands need to find more creative ways to capture their audiences' attention in real time. Nestlé has been a pioneering CPG brand in the digital environment as it crusades for true consumer engagement and continues to reinvent strategies, push new initiatives, and create engaging content.Raakhi Agrawal, manager of digital strategy marketing for this iconic company, speaks with Socialtyze CEO, John Bohan about revolutionary ways in which Nestle is pushing into the mobile space, optimizing launches on social media, and using influencers to organically connect with audiences.

As one of the moderators for Mobilnomics 2017, Jason Smith is committed to helping marketers navigate the mobile space and create formless types of experiences that marry business outcomes with quality consumer experiences. As the senior partner and managing director of digital investment for Mindshare, he knows first hand the major brand pain points in digital and why they are craving a realistic playbook from creative marketers to balance practically with risk and innovation. In this discussion, Jason dissects the problems with the current connective tissue between brand outreach and consumer trust, why brand equity has never been more important, as well as first steps to turning confidence into loyalty even as brand marketers are tasked more with achieving short-term goals with long-term impacts.