How Do You Audit Instagram Influencers?

Partnering with influencers can significantly boost your marketing campaigns, especially when leveraging an influencer search tool. However, it’s crucial to watch out for fake influencers who use bots and fake accounts to inflate their metrics. Collaborating with these counterfeit influencers can waste both time and money, potentially harming your brand’s reputation.

This is where an influencer audit becomes indispensable. By conducting a thorough audit, you can differentiate genuine influencers from fraudulent ones, ensuring your campaigns are executed with reliable and effective partners. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the essential steps of conducting an Instagram influencer audit, helping you maximize your marketing efforts with authentic and impactful influencer collaborations.

What Is The Purpose Of An Instagram Audit?

The primary purpose of an Instagram audit is to determine whether an influencer is real and a suitable candidate for brand partnerships. That’s why the main focus is often to audit Instagram followers of influencers. Fake influencers often have red flags in their follower lists, such as empty accounts with no posts or followers. An Instagram audit for fake followers will help find these accounts quickly. 

They can go even deeper than just determining whether an influencer is real, though. Thorough Instagram audits will help marketers decide which influencers are most likely to be impactful as part of an influencer marketing campaign. 

What Is Included In An Instagram Influencer Audit?

Generally, an Instagram audit takes into account several different factors, including:

• Follower count
• Checks for fake followers
• Engagement rate (and check for unusual engagement)
• Activity over time
• Growth over time
• Previous brand partnerships and promotions

By evaluating all of these different factors, an Instagram influencer audit should give you a good idea of the quality of an influencer account. You probably shouldn’t partner with an influencer if you discover red flags during the audit.  

How To Do An Influencer Audit

You can complete an Instagram audit yourself or with the help of Instagram audit tools. To complete a manual audit, follow these steps:

1. Open the Instagram account you want to audit.
2. Scroll through the account’s followers to look for any red flags. Note accounts with usernames that are only numbers, have no profile pictures or posts, or don’t have any of their own followers. 
3. Scroll through the account’s posts to see how often they post content and what percentage is branded content. 
4. Check the engagement rate on the account’s posts compared to the follower count. A vast disparity is a red flag. 
5. Check the comments on posts for excessive spam. 

To complete an audit with an Instagram audit tool, you typically input the account’s username or handle. The tool will then return results about the likelihood that it’s a fake account with some relevant details. The best Instagram audit tool will help you find reliable, trustworthy influencers to work with. 

What Are The Five Audit Checklist Items?

There’s a lot to consider when you’re evaluating an influencer. To keep you on the right track, use these five key points as an Instagram audit checklist:

1. Does the account have a significant number of suspicious followers?
2. Does the account post irregularly, with a high percentage of branded content?
3. Does the account receive disproportional engagement relative to followers?
4. Are the comments sections on the account full of spam?
5. Did the account experience a sudden rise in followers? 

If the answer to these questions is “yes,” you’re very likely dealing with a fake influencer. 

Red Flags in an Instagram Influencer Audit

When conducting an Instagram influencer audit, some red flags are particularly critical to watch for. Here are the five most important ones, along with detailed explanations:

1. Inconsistent Follower Growth

• Genuine influencers typically experience steady follower growth over time. Sudden spikes or drops in follower count can indicate the purchase of followers or other manipulative tactics. Use tools like Social Blade to track follower growth trends and identify any unusual patterns. Consistent growth indicates organic audience development, whereas abrupt changes suggest artificial inflation.

2. High Number of Followers but Low Engagement

• An influencer with a large following but low engagement (likes, comments, shares) may have a significant number of inactive or fake followers. The engagement rate should be proportional to the follower count. For instance, influencers with fewer followers often have higher engagement rates. Calculate the engagement rate by dividing the total engagement (likes + comments) by the number of followers and multiply by 100 to get a percentage. This metric is crucial because it reflects the influencer’s ability to engage their audience genuinely.

3. Suspicious Engagement Patterns

• Look for repetitive or generic comments like “Great post!” or “Nice pic!” These can be signs of automated comments or engagement pods. Genuine engagement typically includes more personalized and varied comments. Tools like HypeAuditor can help detect these patterns. Authentic engagement shows that followers are genuinely interested in the content and are not just artificially boosting numbers.

4. Overly Promotional Content

• If an influencer’s feed is saturated with sponsored posts, it may indicate they are more focused on monetizing their account than providing value to their audience. This can lead to follower fatigue and decreased engagement. Balance between sponsored and organic content is essential for maintaining audience trust. Influencers who maintain this balance tend to have a more loyal and engaged following.

5. Disproportionate Engagement Relative to Followers

• Compare the engagement rate to the follower count. A vast disparity (e.g., an account with millions of followers but only a few hundred likes per post) is a red flag. This could indicate fake followers or engagement manipulation. Consistent and proportionate engagement is a strong indicator of an influencer’s true reach and influence.

By focusing on these five critical red flags, you can more effectively identify genuine influencers who will bring real value to your marketing campaigns, ensuring that your collaborations are both authentic and impactful.

How Much Does An Instagram Audit Cost?

Instagram audits range in price. You can complete an audit of any Instagram account yourself manually or using free online tools, but this strategy has some drawbacks. For one thing, doing so can be time-consuming. If you have to go through each account’s follower list, likes, and comments to look for red flags, you will waste a lot of time. 

Free online tools can speed this process up somewhat. For example, these tools may immediately tell you how many suspicious followers a certain account has, so you don’t have to scroll through them. 

Still, these free tools generally don’t offer as many features or in-depth reviews as paid services like Lionize. These services will generally look into influencers before they can enter the company’s influencer database. In other words, the influencers these services recommend are pre-vetted—the company guarantees that they are real, high-quality influencers. You can work with these influencers with the peace of mind that you’re investing in the right brand partners. 

How Much Does Instagram Charge For An Audit?

Instagram does not directly offer account audits, meaning you cannot pay Instagram for more information on a specific account. If you want to audit an Instagram account, you must do so yourself or with the help of an external marketing company or tool. 

How Lionize Helps You Find the Right Influencers

You don’t have to worry about conducting Instagram audits when you work with Lionize. This innovative influencer marketing platform admits only the best, most reliable influencers: no bots or fake accounts in sight. Contact Lionize to learn more about launching your successful influencer marketing campaign.