In the eyes of any dropshipper, forming a relationship with an influential person or group can only be beneficial. Despite several attempts to purge them in the past, influencer fraud is on the rise again. In order to land a partnership with a brand, many influencers will resort to buying followers and showcasing fake influencer engagement.
Worldwide, millions of dollars have been lost due to influencer fraud, which has been a problem for marketers and businesses. It’s a shame that scams like this have popped up even in casinos with Book of Ra-style slot machines. As a last resort, influencers may resort to using bolts to increase the number of people who follow them.
Your company is doomed if it ever crosses paths with such influencers. You could lose a lot of money before you realize that you’re paying too much for fake followers. The worst part is that if you fall for these con artists’ schemes, there is nothing you can do about it. But there are several ways to spot the red flags and avoid the influencers who use their numbers to their advantage.
This article will teach you how to prevent influencer fraud from occurring on your online store.
Consider Fewer Followers
Most well-known brands have fallen victim to these con artists because of their fixed belief in the significance of numbers. The presence of a mega-influencer with a large number of followers does not ensure widespread distribution of your marketing material. If you only consider influencers with over a million followers and disregard those with less, you’re more likely to fall victim to fraud.
However, the most genuine accounts tend to have a smaller number of followers, so you should prioritize developing connections with those. The individuality of the viewer is more important than the ability to impress a large number of people. Your dropshipping business only needs a limited customer base because this guarantees greater accessibility and higher-quality data.
Don’t discount the influence of non-famous people who have less than 10,000 followers each. Rather than being inflated by the number of followers they have, these influencers have more to offer in terms of genuine content. In order to achieve the high influencer engagement rates they do, they have had to earn their audience’s trust and put in a lot of effort.
Technology can Protect you from Influencer Fraud
Any online shop that hasn’t modernized in light of the rise of influencer marketing may not be able to compete in the future. For an example of how technology can be used to improve a product, consider the free ten euros offered at some online casinos. For the sake of effective marketing, there are a number of tools available to brands for determining the credibility of their preferred influencers. As an added bonus, these technologies will allow them to verify the genuineness of the comments and likes.
In addition to gauging the genuineness of an influencer’s fan base, newer technologies can delve more deeply into the metrics that matter most. The techs include features that can detect fake accounts. They do this by looking for indicators such as an unexpected increase in one’s number of followers, or the presence of comments and likes that don’t appear to have been generated by real people.
Watch out for the Red Flags
To hide these fake influencers, you don’t need the assistance of a professional anymore. Several red flags indicate that the influencer is only using their large following to attract you, rather than any actual useful information. If an influencer suddenly sees a significant increase in the number of their followers, it’s a red flag for marketers.
Similar comments in different posts are another red flag for fraud because they are indicative of automated accounts. It’s not uncommon to see the same people comment in sequential order across multiple posts. This indicates that they are making use of an automated system to create and comment under a variety of fictitious usernames. It’s also difficult to determine the geographic distribution of the audience, given that the comments all appear to originate in the same place. Some followers, but with an abnormally high number of likes and comments, is another red flag for fake engagement.
Don’t Ignore the Vetting Process
You can’t afford to be sloppy when picking employees to help you promote your store. Your ideal influencers need to go through rigorous vetting and verification processes, which should include checking out their social media profiles. Investigate the influencer’s backstory and audience to see if they mesh with the values of your private label.
Learn who your influencers are by utilizing marketing tools. There is a wealth of information about influencers and their audiences that can be gleaned from these platforms. The amount of new and lost followers should be tracked. Finally, evaluate their influence and level of engagement with their fanbase.
Conclusion
E-commerce promotion and brand awareness have benefited greatly from influencer marketing’s continued rise in prominence. But if you give in to the lure of fraudsters with fake followers and bot-generated comments, that might not be the case for your own brand. If you want to see greater success from your influencer marketing initiatives, it’s time to adopt data-driven research strategies.
However, this is not the end of the story; you still need to be wary of influencer fraud and the dropshipping suppliers you choose to fulfill your orders. More specifically, if you’ve decided to put money into creating your own Private Label Brand.
Many Chinese suppliers, and particularly AliExpress sellers, can let you down in various ways. For instance, the products you sold to your client might look completely different in real life, might be shipped with the slowest shipping method available even if you paid for the fastest, and so on.
Finding a reliable supplier who can take care of details like private label packaging and getting your logo imprinted on products is essential. If there are any issues with your products or shipping, they will immediately get in touch with you.