How to Spot Fake Instagram Likes
Instagram is one of the hottest social network at the moment, with users loving the perks of the photo-sharing platform. As Instagram grows, so does the competition on the platform. This increased competition makes it harder for brands and marketers to expand their presence. Given that engagement is an integral part of Instagram success, a lot of users are turning to aggressive measures, like fake Instagram likes, to beef up their presence.
While there are those providers who offer a genuine way to boost your engagements on Instagram, there are scammers who provide low-quality services that can only hurt your reputation. This guide will allow you to spot fake Instagram likes, and make better decisions.
A sudden and substantial influx of likes
Let’s face it, nobody gets 200,000 likes within the first 10 minutes of posting – unless you’re a superstar like Justin Bieber. The truth is, likes rarely come in by the thousands within seconds of posting a photo unless they’re fake. To be one of those rare exceptions that have their Instagram likes strategy on point enough to get an enormous amount of likes within seconds, you need to have:
- Popularity established via social proof
- Extraordinary content
- An impeccable marketing strategy
If you see that mediocre-looking content from a not-so-popular source is getting thousands of likes almost instantly, that’s a clear sign of fake likes. Instagram users are very discerning when it comes to the content they like, so if a less-than-spectacular post becomes strangely popular, you have good reasons to doubt the authenticity of the engagement.
Image credit: Whisper
It’s important to note that public accounts don’t have control over who likes their posts – anyone can purchase likes for anyone else. That’s why you shouldn’t be quick to judge if you see any suspicious activity happening on an account. If an account that used to receive 50-100 likes suddenly receives 5,000-10,000 likes on their posts, chances are good that those likes are fake.
Engagement and followers don’t match up
Engagement and followers must correspond on Instagram. When these two are disproportionate, there are two possible scenarios that might have taken place:
- When an account has a large following but receives low engagements, that account might have purchased low-quality followers.
- When an account has a small following but receives high engagements, that account might have purchased Instagram likes.
Organically grown Instagram accounts can be easily detected by their naturally-looking profiles and healthy follower-to-engagement balance. For instance, let’s look at this account:
FunForLouis has over 1.4 million Instagram followers. Most of the engagement he receives on his posts varies from 20-60 thousand likes. This kind of proportion between his likes and followers is completely normal. Now, what if instead of receiving 20-60 thousand likes, FunForLouis only received 500-1000 likes with 1.4 million followers? Wouldn’t that kind of engagement be deemed suspicious and unreliable? Always mind the gap between these two vital elements – followers and likes. There must be a decent level of correlation between the two.
If you’re considering buying Instagram likes to strengthen your social proof, think about spending a bit more to buy other vital social signals, such as followers, Instagram comments, and Story video views as well. This will make your efforts appear even more organic, strengthen your social credibility, and increase the visibility of all your posts.
Anonymous followers
You can recognize fake likes by finding out where they come from. A little bit of detective work can go a long way here. Click on the like button and it will give you a list of the accounts that have liked the post. If most of the users who liked the post have questionable profiles and no profile pictures, then they are most likely fake.
Less-than-reputable providers spawn thousands upon thousands of fake, suspicious-looking accounts. They then use those accounts to send likes and comments to their customers. A user who actively likes other posts while neglecting to set up their own account is a tell-tale sign.
This is the type of user that provides likes that are sold for cheap. This doesn’t mean that all bought likes are of poor quality like this. In fact, the quality of the services varies depending on the provider. High-quality providers offer high-quality services. Low-quality providers offer low-quality services – just like any other industry.
There are hundreds of cheap providers out there, but they are also companies who sell high-quality social signals for reasonable prices. If you’re trying to strengthen your presence on a platform like Instagram, high-quality likes are the only way to go. Low-quality providers can be quite risky, especially for brands and businesses.
Few posts, tons of likes
If someone doesn’t have a lot of posts but manages to rack up a hefty amount of likes, chances are they’re using fake accounts to boost their popularity. Remember, Instagram users are very cautious when it comes to content they like. The content they like represents their style and who they are. This means that if a post is less-than-relevant, or just doesn’t seem Insta-worthy, but still manages to gain thousands of likes, something doesn’t quite add up.
Low-quality likes usually have little to no impact on your marketing campaign. They won’t impress people checking out your target audience, and can even backfire if people notice they are fake. If you want to exploit the marketing benefits and actually grow your Instagram account, high-quality likes from reputable providers are needed.
InstaSpam
Cheap likes have an equally annoying partner in crime – spammy comments. This is a cheap ploy to give the impression that a certain post has massive engagement, and they’re also sometimes a by-product of the low-quality users you might end up buying.
Spam comments are not hard to spot:
- They are irrelevant to the posts
- They tag several users at a time
- They ask for a follow
Even the King gets spammers on his relatively clean account:
Going with a cheaper provider could leave you with spammy comments asking for follows like these, or even worse. You even run the risk of turning your account into a hub for spammers, because they can then target your real followers and spam them too. Your real followers will quickly figure out that you’re sending them a lot of crap and could unfollow you.
Buying cheap Instagram likes is the real problem
Buying likes is an efficient way to grow your Instagram account without struggling too much with your organic growth. When choosing a provider, don’t let the price be the only determining factor. There are many important variables when it comes to the pricing of Instagram boosting services, so be sure to choose wisely:
- Customer service: Quality providers offer multiple ways for users to communicate with their customer service. They respond promptly and offer to resolve any concerns. Low-quality providers offer sloppy customer service that is less than helpful.
- Guarantees: Quality providers offer a no-drop guarantee and have a decent refund policy. Low-quality providers offer no such guarantees.
- Website quality: A sloppy website is never a good sign. Quality providers always try to leave a positive impression and have well-designed websites that are user-friendly.
- Good reviews: Quality providers usually have positive reviews from their former clients on their sites. Low-quality providers don’t offer such a feature.
If you’re considering buying Instagram likes to strengthen your campaign, be sure to check out our list of the top Instagram likes providers. We actually experiment with these providers, putting their services to the test to help you make a well-informed decision for your campaign.
Date: December 28, 2016 / Categories: Buy Instagram Likes, Marketing, Providers, / Author: Mariko
