Social Media

Bye Bye Bots: Why Genuine Engagement is Key

by Nikki Volpicelli Posted On July 24th, 2017 | 2:03pm EST

The inner workings of the social influencer system remain a mystery to most, like an elite online social club that only reveals its secrets to the initiated. But, one thing is for sure: the likes, the comments, the follows, many of them are about as real as the posed and filtered #vacation selfie your co-worker posted whilst sitting right next to you. That is to say, many influencers have a bot problem.

In case you’re not familiar, botting services essentially take the reigns of a social account, liking and commenting on a large number of posts based on selected keywords. Because much of the Instagram world follows a “like for like” or “follow for follow” mentality, the more love you throw out, the more you get back. And that’s why these bots work. They don’t have to be real, they just have to produce comments, hearts and the like. For that reason, many social influencers pay for services like these to increase their numbers, thus becoming more appealing to brands looking to sponsor them.

For those brands, this is a very, very bad. The purpose of influencer marketing is to do just that—influence people. Utilize a genuine trendsetter’s engaged audience to get your name and product out on a wider scale. If you’re working with an influencer who gained a large “following” by buying bots, then you’re not getting what you paid for. Bots can’t be influenced, they can’t buy your product, and they can only “like” you by the click of a button. 

To cut down on the clutter, Instagram recently asked popular botting site Instagress to leave. That said, the supply and demand of botting services like this particularly popular one make it so that as soon as the platform cracks down on one service, another pops up.

Before investing in a social influencer, do your research. Ask yourself:

Is your influencer’s follower list full of incomplete accounts?
Do you see a lack of a profile image, auto-crafted handles, no posts of their own, etc.? If they’re not sharing their own moments with friends, they might not be alive to make them in the first place.

When you scroll through the comments on your influencer’s post, do they look legit?
Are they cohesive sentences, or do the words look like they’ve been patched together by a robot? If so, they probably were.

Before you spend real dollars on an influencer marketing program, ask yourself these questions. Be up front about your needs and goals—if you can, provide your influencer with a roadmap of goals you’d like to hit during your time together, and see if your social influencer feels confident in their ability to deliver. Investing in a social influencer can be a great asset for a brand; offering authenticity and siphoning a dedicated audience straight to your product or service. Don’t rule out influencer marketing—just know how to spot a fake.

At City/Studio, we create high-quality campaigns for every platform to ensure you’re getting real results—and reaching your real audience. See how our work develops content strategies that go beyond the norm.