| | APRIL 20219has enforced brands to engage with content creators and influencers on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest and others. This is because influencers have become opinion makers who can slip a brand into a consumer's consideration set, resulting in gradual increase in the share of influencer marketing within their digital ad spends.However, one of the biggest challenges for brands is the fake followers some influencers have. Organizations are competing with each other to engage with authentic and effective influencers. This growing competition has increased the demand for micro and macro influencers. But this growing demand has made it difficult for brands to identify authentic influencers with a large number of followers. Today, many influencers use fake followers through bots to show their popularity and attract big brands. According to Mediakix's survey, an influencer marketing agency, big brands have come across 50 percent of influencers with fake followers. Another survey by Sway Ops, an anti-fraud company, reveals that one day's Instagram posts had 50 percent fake followers.Surprisingly, yet another survey by White Ops/ANA revealed that the global losses due to bot frauds were estimated to be $7.2 billion in 2016. Hence organizations are adopting auditing tools to identify fake accounts by scanning influencers' account and show the data of authentic and fake followers.Indeed these steps will help brands spend on authentic marketing influencers and gain more profit in terms of brand presence, brand loyalty and RoI.
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