The Dirty Secret Behind Most Influencer Engagement
If you’re building an audience online, there’s something you need to know. Something that might change how you look at social media entirely. Most people have no idea how much of what they see online is fake.
And I don’t mean filters on photos or people pretending their lives are perfect. I mean the actual numbers: the followers, the likes, the comments. A huge percentage of it is bought and paid for. And once you start growing your own audience, you’re going to get approached to do the same thing. I want you to be prepared for that moment, because it’s coming.
How Big Is This Problem?
The numbers on this might surprise you. According to HypeAuditor’s 2024 report, 55% of Instagram influencers have engaged in some form of fraudulent activity. That’s more than half. We’re talking about purchasing followers, buying likes, participating in engagement pods, and other tactics to artificially inflate their numbers.
The bigger the account, the worse it gets. Among mega-influencers with more than one million followers, 58.5% were involved in fraudulent activities to inflate their engagement and follower figures.
One in four influencers has engaged in fraudulent activity to attract brand deals. Approximately 45% of Instagram accounts following influencers are either fake or inactive. And up to 40% of Instagram comments on sponsored posts are generated by bots.
This is an industry. Brands were projected to lose over $2 billion to influencer fraud in 2025 alone because they’re paying for audiences that don’t actually exist.
The Marketplace
There’s a whole marketplace for this, and it’s shockingly easy to access. Followers are available starting at a few dollars for a thousand. You can inflate your follower count overnight. Some services sell “high quality” followers that look more real, while others sell cheap followers that are obviously bots. Either way, you’re paying for numbers that mean nothing.
Likes are sold per-post or on subscription. Some services offer “automatic likes” that hit every post you publish within minutes, making it look like you have an engaged audience waiting for your content.
Comments are for sale too. And not just generic ones. Some services let you write custom comments so they don’t all say “Amazing!” with a heart emoji. You can make it look like people are having real conversations on your posts.
And then there are engagement pods. These are groups of people who agree to like and comment on each other’s content. Some are small groups of 15-20 people in a group chat, but others are massive. The IG Engagement Space group on Telegram has over 73,000 members.
The way pods work is simple. You post something, drop the link in the group, and everyone goes and engages with it. Then when they post, you do the same for them. The goal is to trick the algorithm into thinking your content is popular so it gets shown to more people. This is happening at scale, every day, on every platform.
Why You Need to Know This
I’m telling you this because understanding it will protect you in two ways. First, it will save you from the comparison trap. When you’re posting consistently and only getting a handful of likes while someone else seems to be blowing up overnight, you need to know that comparison might not be fair. You might be comparing your real engagement to their purchased engagement. And that comparison will discourage you from keeping going when you’re actually doing the right thing.
Second, it prepares you for what’s coming. As your account grows, you will start getting approached.
The DMs Are Coming
Once you hit a certain threshold, the DMs start coming. Services offering to grow your followers, invitations to join engagement pods, offers for “Instagram growth packages” or “TikTok boost services.”
Some of them will be obvious spam, but others will look professional and legitimate. A few will even come from people you’ve actually interacted with who want you to join their pod.
And in that moment, you’re going to be tempted. Especially if your growth has been slow, you see others around you growing faster, and you’re tired of putting in work without seeing the results you want. I need you to understand right now why you’re going to say no.
Why You Say No
The algorithm catches on. Instagram and TikTok have gotten much better at detecting fake engagement and penalizing accounts for it. In August 2024, the Federal Trade Commission banned fake online reviews and inflated social media influence. The platforms are actively cracking down. What might give you a short-term boost can tank your account long-term.
Your real audience can tell. People notice when something feels off, like an account with 50,000 followers that only gets 30 genuine comments or engagement that feels hollow. It damages trust before you’ve even had a chance to build it.
It doesn’t convert to anything real. Fake followers don’t buy your products, open your emails, or tell their friends about you. They’re just a number on a screen. You can have 100,000 followers and still make zero dollars if none of them are real.
And you’ll know. Every time you look at your numbers or someone compliments your growth, you’ll know they’re not real. That kind of foundation eats at you. It’s not something you can build on with confidence.
Real Growth
Real growth is slower. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Building an authentic audience takes time, consistency, and patience.
But real growth compounds. Real followers actually engage with your content, which leads to real relationships, which leads to real sales and real impact. When someone follows you because they genuinely found value in what you shared, they stick around. They open your emails, buy what you’re selling, and tell their friends about you. That’s worth more than any inflated follower count, and it’s the only kind of growth that lasts.
Building Something You’re Proud Of
I care about this because I believe we’re accountable for how we build. The means matter. And building an audience through deception, even when it feels like everyone else is doing it, is still deception.
Scripture is clear that whatever we do, we’re to do it as unto the Lord. That includes our marketing, how we show up online, and how we treat the people who trust us with their attention.
Building with integrity means the business you show people is the business you actually have. Your numbers are your real numbers. When someone engages with you, they’re engaging with a real person who actually created that content and actually cares about the response.
So when those DMs come, and they will, you’ll know what to do. Delete them and keep building the right way. It’s slower, but it’s real. And real is the only thing that lasts.
If you’re building an online business and want to do it the right way, I’m writing about this every week. Subscribe to get the next article.