


Published in Fraud Prevention
Image credit by Bermix Studio

Steven Lewis
Publisher, Editor-in-Chief, Foam
February 9, 2025
📢 How to Spot Fake Creator Engagement Before Signing Deals
Not all Creators have real engagement—here’s how to spot fake followers.
Creator marketing works—when it’s done right. But nothing drains a brand’s budget faster than partnering with a Creator who looks great on paper but has an audience full of bots, ghosts, and disengaged followers.
It’s not just small brands that fall for it. Even major corporations have poured millions into Creator partnerships that delivered nothing—because they didn’t check the engagement quality before signing the deal. The best talent managers don’t just look at surface-level numbers. They dig deeper to ensure a Creator’s engagement is real, valuable, and capable of driving actual results.
A Creator’s follower count means nothing without engagement. Accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers but barely any likes or comments are clear red flags. Healthy engagement rates vary by Creator size, with micro-Creators often seeing the highest levels of interaction. Checking engagement rate calculators and manually reviewing interactions across multiple posts helps confirm authenticity.
Comment sections reveal a lot. A high comment count is meaningless if those comments are generic, irrelevant, or repetitive. Genuine engagement includes thoughtful discussions, followers tagging friends naturally, and detailed feedback related to the Creator’s content. Reviewing several posts in a row can quickly reveal whether an audience is engaged or artificially inflated.
Instagram Stories provide another strong indicator of real engagement. Unlike regular posts, Stories are harder to fake. Creators with large follower counts but disproportionately low Story views or no interaction on polls and Q&As often signal artificially inflated numbers. Asking for Story insights provides a clearer picture of audience authenticity.
Follower growth timelines can also expose inauthenticity. Unnatural spikes in follower growth, sudden drops, or an audience that doesn’t align with the Creator’s niche and location suggest inorganic growth. A steady increase over time, with peaks during viral moments or major collaborations, is a sign of real audience development. Tools like Social Blade help track an account’s growth trends.
A cross-platform presence matters too. Creators with strong engagement on one platform but little to no interaction elsewhere may have artificially inflated numbers. A balanced presence across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter—where their audience consistently interacts—demonstrates genuine influence. Checking video performance and overall engagement trends across platforms helps verify authenticity.
Fake engagement doesn’t just waste marketing dollars—it damages brand trust and credibility. The most successful talent managers dig deeper, ask questions, and verify engagement before signing deals.
The talent managers who identify the fakes before signing the contract are the ones securing the most impactful brand deals—while everyone else wonders why their campaigns flopped.
Creator marketing works—when it’s done right. But nothing drains a brand’s budget faster than partnering with a Creator who looks great on paper but has an audience full of bots, ghosts, and disengaged followers.
It’s not just small brands that fall for it. Even major corporations have poured millions into Creator partnerships that delivered nothing—because they didn’t check the engagement quality before signing the deal. The best talent managers don’t just look at surface-level numbers. They dig deeper to ensure a Creator’s engagement is real, valuable, and capable of driving actual results.
A Creator’s follower count means nothing without engagement. Accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers but barely any likes or comments are clear red flags. Healthy engagement rates vary by Creator size, with micro-Creators often seeing the highest levels of interaction. Checking engagement rate calculators and manually reviewing interactions across multiple posts helps confirm authenticity.
Comment sections reveal a lot. A high comment count is meaningless if those comments are generic, irrelevant, or repetitive. Genuine engagement includes thoughtful discussions, followers tagging friends naturally, and detailed feedback related to the Creator’s content. Reviewing several posts in a row can quickly reveal whether an audience is engaged or artificially inflated.
Instagram Stories provide another strong indicator of real engagement. Unlike regular posts, Stories are harder to fake. Creators with large follower counts but disproportionately low Story views or no interaction on polls and Q&As often signal artificially inflated numbers. Asking for Story insights provides a clearer picture of audience authenticity.
Follower growth timelines can also expose inauthenticity. Unnatural spikes in follower growth, sudden drops, or an audience that doesn’t align with the Creator’s niche and location suggest inorganic growth. A steady increase over time, with peaks during viral moments or major collaborations, is a sign of real audience development. Tools like Social Blade help track an account’s growth trends.
A cross-platform presence matters too. Creators with strong engagement on one platform but little to no interaction elsewhere may have artificially inflated numbers. A balanced presence across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter—where their audience consistently interacts—demonstrates genuine influence. Checking video performance and overall engagement trends across platforms helps verify authenticity.
Fake engagement doesn’t just waste marketing dollars—it damages brand trust and credibility. The most successful talent managers dig deeper, ask questions, and verify engagement before signing deals.
The talent managers who identify the fakes before signing the contract are the ones securing the most impactful brand deals—while everyone else wonders why their campaigns flopped.
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