INFLUENCER FRAUD Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional
PRESENTED BY
WWW.LILIANRAJI.COM www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 1 TABLE OF CONTENT
3 Introduction
6 First of All, Why Bother? 10 The Rise of Influencer Fraud 12 Choose Your Resources Carefully
13 Identifying the Red Flags 1. Is Your Candidate Really Influencing Anyone? 2. Is Your Candidate a Ghost Whisperer? 3. Has Your Candidate Suddenly Become Really, Really Popular? 4. Is Your Candidate a Free Spirit?
19 Going Deeper 5. Are Your Candidates’ Followers People of Few Words? 6. Does Your Candidate Appear to Be a Rockstar to Many, Many Brands? 7. Is Your Candidate an International Influencer of Mystery? 8. Does Your Candidate Deal with Questionable People? 9. Is Your Candidate an Introvert?
26 Taking Down the Most Sophisticated Fraudsters 10. Is Your Candidate a Tease? 11. Is Your Candidate a Pod Person? 12. Does Your Candidate Suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder? 13. Does Your Candidate Think KPI Stands for “Keep Paying Influencer?”
35 A Different Kind of Influencer Fraud
37 About The Lilian Raji Agency
38 Appendix: The Influencer Marketing Toolkit 1. Before You Start... 2. The Creative Brief Part I 3. The Creative Brief Part II 4. The Basics: What You’re Looking for at First Glance 5. Time to Connect - Template I 6. Time to Connect - Template II 7. Influencer Profile 8. Sample Influencer Contract
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 2 INTRODUCTION
In March 2018, Points North Group released the study, “Brands Whose Instagram Sponsored Posts Had Highest Fake Follower % (>$10k Spend).” Ad Age subsequently published Study Of Influencer Spenders Finds Big Names, Lots Of Fake Followers, where the author noted,
“Pampers and Olay ranked No. 4 and 10, respectively, on the list of brands with the most fake followers among their paid influencers last month; Pampers with 32 percent and Olay with 19 percent. Topping the study’s list: Ritz-Carlton, with a whopping 78 percent of fake followers for its influencers.”
This was shocking to read, given the global scale and resources of these companies.
Points North Group also analyzed accounts of influencers chosen by a major cosmetic brand for their influencer marketing campaign. The results revealed the brand had wasted $600,000 on influencers whose accounts were composed primarily of fake followers -- bots without bodies or credit cards to act on the influencers’ endorsement of the brand.
The cosmetic brand was a victim of influencer fraud.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 3 The base formula for compensating influencers is roughly $100 per 1,000 followers. The greater the follower count, the more an influencer can charge. This gives incentive for fraudsters to inflate their follower counts, using deceptive and hard to recognize practices going beyond just buying fake followers.
Since the Ad Age article was first published, brands are now becoming wiser to the financial loss influencer fraud creates. Yet many still struggle with combatting this problem, especially when the most obvious measure of spotting fake followers – engagement ratio to follower count – gives way to much more sophisticated and complex methods, such as influencer pods and “botting.”
Over the next few pages, you’ll discover the many techniques influencer fraudsters use to swindle you out of your marketing dollars. You’ll also learn the process we use at The Lilian Raji Agency to vet influencers for our client projects, ensuring their marketing dollars aren’t scammed by the fakers, liars and the delusional.
While automation and apps are the way of the future, detecting influencer fraud still requires a human touch to get the most accurate results. We manually screen each influencer we recommend across a checklist of criteria designed to identify manipulative tactics. This e-book will teach you our process.
Despite assurances from expensive influencer marketing companies to provide pre- vetted influencer recommendations, we haven’t found one whose screening process is as comprehensive as ours.
In all fairness to these companies, we’re typically vetting an initial candidate list of about 250 potential influencers to narrow down to a final handful for a campaign. Influencer marketing companies, however, represent thousands of influencers and are limited by the sheer size of their inventory to perform the comprehensive deep dive you’re about to learn.
We still advocate using some influencer marketing agencies to create your initial list, as they’re beneficial in highlighting potentially good candidates you may otherwise never know. Thereafter, however, it’s up to you to ensure final candidates can legitimately deliver your ROI.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 4 In the appendix, I’ve included templates we use for our influencer marketing process, to go along with the 13-point checklist covered in this e-book for vetting influencers. I hope you find these templates as useful to you as they’ve been to our team.
Should you need an outside perspective on your influencer marketing strategy, or any other communications strategy, don’t hesitate to contact us.
The Lilian Raji Agency is structured to serve clients in one of two capacities:
In one capacity, you get our complete agency services, where, after deeply getting to know your business, we design and execute strategic marketing and public relations efforts to achieve your priorities. We do all the work; you get all the credit. This can be under an ongoing retainer or as a specific project, such as a product launch or an influencer marketing campaign.
In another capacity, we provide two decades of experience helping companies expand their U.S. presence in an advisory role. We spend multiple days in your headquarters, learning everything about your business under a strict NDA. With this comprehensive knowledge, we then work with you to design a strategic marketing and public relations plan tailored exclusively for you.
We can stop there, or you can bring us back to teach your team everything they need to know to execute the plan on their own, with us always on standby to answer questions, oversee implementation and provide resources and personal contacts.
However The Lilian Raji Agency may be able to help you, don’t hesitate to contact me directly at [email protected] or (646) 789-4427 ext 701.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 5 FIRST OF ALL, WHY BOTHER? The world is changing, and with it, how we reach our target customers. Where I once advocated communication strategies revolving mostly around media outreach, special events and maintaining an active Facebook presence, I now embrace the PESO model as the way forward. PESO is an acronym coined by the illustrious Gini Dietrich, which stands for Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned.
Influencer marketing incorporates all of this, where • You’ll sometimes pay an influencer to promote your brand. • In the course of promoting you, the influencer may use assets you own. • When an influencer discovers you by herself, she may share that discovery, along with your assets, with her followers. • And clearly, something you did earned that sharing. The ROI on influencer marketing is estimated at 11 times the value received from traditional advertising.
11
TapInfluence study with Nielsen Catalina Solutions, 2016
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 6 According to a Tomoson poll of marketing professionals, every dollar spent on influencer marketing yields a return of $6.50 in value.
71% of consumers use social media to help guide their purchasing decision. ---Hubspot
And for every CMO who lays awake at night, trying to figure out how to reach those pesky millennials, influencer marketing has become the golden ticket. 61% of young people aged 18 to 34 admit a social media influencer has affected their consumer decisions.
Have social media influencers in some way ever influenced your consimer buying decision? Influencer Marketing 2020 Report by Influencer Intelligence
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 7 The Influencer Marketing industry across all social media platforms is currently valued at around $2 billion. That number will jump to $10 billion by 2020.
SocialMediaToday.com
Of this $10 billion, $2.3 billion will be spent on Instagram influencers. For this reason, Instagram will be our exclusive focus in this book.
Statista
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 8 By the end of 2019, there’ll be an estimated 4.95 million Instagram sponsored posts. In 2016, there was only 1.26 million.
Statista
And as of June 2018, monthly Instagram users have exceeded 1 billion worldwide.
The highest concentration -- just over 10 percent of that value at 111 million users -- live in the United States. Brazil comes in second at 66 million, India third at 64 million and Indonesia fourth at 56 million.
Keep note of this as these latter three countries play a significant role in Influencer Fraud.
Statista
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 9 THE RISE OF INFLUENCER FRAUD
While no one is certain how many self-described influencers exist on Instagram, the astronomical income potential brings wannabe influencers to the platform daily.
Lured by established non-celebrity influencers such as Camila Coelho, who charges $10,750 per post for brands to have access to her 8 million followers, and Chiara Ferragni, who leads the category pack at a whopping $19,500 per post to her 17 million followers, an instant career as an influencer is now more desirable than becoming a doctor.
Also less desirable are the years mega influencers have spent building their acclaim. Chiara Ferragni started the fashion blog catapulting her into Insta-fame in 2009. Camila Coelho launched her YouTube channel in 2010, followed by her fashion blog in 2011.
In this age of perceived instant celebrity, influencer fraudsters aren’t interested in spending eight years building a reputation.
“The 6 Highest-Paid Fashion Bloggers on the Internet,” Harper’s Bazaar https://www.harpersbazaar.com.au/fashion/highest-paid-fashion-bloggers-17513
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 10 Image Credit: T-Mobile For those of us exasperated by the ascent of the Kardashian/Jenner clan, how surprising is it to consider Keeping Up with the Kardashians first aired in 2007? And Kim’s infamous videotape? That came out in 2003.
Let’s take a moment to acknowledge just how hard Kris Jenner has worked to keep her family relevant all of these years.
The new breed of so-called influencers are not here for the long game, however. They want status, and most expensive of all, your marketing dollars, right now.
According to data released in 2017 by anti-fraud company, Sway Ops,
“A single day’s worth of posts tagged #sponsored or #ad on Instagram contained over 50 percent fake engagements. Out of 118,007 comments, only 20,942 were not made by bot followers.”
Given the continued rise of Instagram since 2017, one can only imagine how much worse this data would be today.
Influencer fraudsters pay companies to pad their follower counts with fake followers and use bots to like their posts. The more sophisticated fraudsters engage a bot service to automatically follow Instagram accounts in hopes real people will follow them back. Soon after, the bot automatically unfollows the person. This keeps the follower to follow ratio low, making fraudsters look more popular than they really are.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 11 CHOOSE YOUR RESOURCES CAREFULLY
The only way to protect your brand is knowing what to look for when vetting potential influencers for your campaigns. And as mentioned earlier, you can’t entirely trust influencer marketing services to have done a thorough analysis.
Remember, you can’t automate or outsource the integrity of your brand to influencers you haven’t personally vetted.
A quick google search will turn up hundreds of influencer marketing services boasting thousands of influencer profiles. While many of these services use their own process to vet their recommended influencers, they often miss deceptive practices only recognizable through individual analysis.
Each service promises ease in identifying the best influencers for you, eliminating the grueling work of researching and vetting. They’ll tell you their “strict” policies on accepting influencers into their network and make you feel like you can trust their recommendations.
Don’t.
You still need to do the work of vetting candidates yourself. You risk your marketing dollars when you rely exclusively on these services instead of engaging your own personalized vetting process.
It’s your job to ensure your marketing dollars aren’t being wasted on someone who doesn’t respect that your investment in them is to reach a real audience willing and able to support your brand.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 12 IDENTIFYING THE RED FLAGS
Assuming you’ve got your initial candidate list ready, it’s time to learn how to identify red flags.
If you don’t already have a list, go to www.lilianraji.com/learn, where you’ll find several in- depth articles how to find influencers.
Now, time to begin weeding out the fakes, liars and the delusional.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 13 1. IS YOUR CANDIDATE REALLY INFLUENCING ANYONE? You can buy a thousand fake followers for the cost of one Starbucks Cinnamon Cloud Macchiato. Go without your daily addiction to the iced lemon loaf cake for one day, and you’ll have enough money to buy 250 likes for your posts.
This is how easy – and cheap – it is to commit influencer fraud.
When you’re making your initial candidates list, quickly scan your candidate’s account. How many followers does he have?
Now, look at five to ten of his posts, starting at about 20 posts in and working your way back to the most recent post. What are you seeing in terms of likes and comments?
You don’t need to click through to the post right now – we’ll cover that shortly. We’re just doing a quick scan to see if this person should be added to your list.
How many likes is he getting per post? How many comments?
For micro-influencers, we like to see the total number of likes equal at least five percent of total followers, and the total number of comments equal at least 10 percent of the like.
For influencers with 500,000 followers or more, look for likes to be one to five percent of total followers and comments to equal five to ten percent of likes.
If your candidate has 50,000 followers, yet only gets less than 100 likes per post and barely any comments, this is not an influencer.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 14 Image Credit: “The Sixth Sense,” Touchstone Pictures 2. IS YOUR CANDIDATE A GHOST WHISPERER? So your candidate has one million followers. Fantastic! Let’s look at her posts.
Hmm. Why does she get 50,000 likes per post when Beyoncé, with her 128 million followers, only gets a rough average of 5 million likes? How is your candidate getting an engagement rate of 5% while Queen Bey only averages 3.9%
Very simple: she’s bought her followers, likes and comments.
Remember: sacrificing a week’s worth of Starbucks can buy you 50,000 followers and as many likes and comments as you want.
Influencer fraudsters know this, and they’re willing to make the sacrifice to gain the return in scamming you out of your budget.
Another fraud red flag is the “influencer” whose average likes per post consistently come close to or exceeds their follower count.
An account with 6,000 followers should not receive more than 10 to 15 percent of follower likes per post. It just cannot happen. No one is that engaging.
Lastly, beware the accounts with an equal number of likes or comments across every post. While consistency can be a good thing, when it comes to influencer marketing, it’s a clear sign of fraud.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 15 3. HAS YOUR CANDIDATE SUDDENLY BECOME REALLY, REALLY POPULAR? Look at how many posts he’s created over the lifetime of his account. Now look at how many followers he has.
If your candidate only has 100 posts, yet has over 100,000 followers, chances are, you’re dealing with a faker. It takes a long time to build a genuine audience of 100,000 followers. 100 posts, no matter how cute or funny or beautifully crafted, aren’t going to do it.
Only time and sustained effort does a genuine influencer make. Don’t be fooled by the underachiever.
Having said that, there’s always the small possibility your candidate created a viral post, such as the case of the Instagram egg.
from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/13/style/egg-instagram-most-liked.html
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 16 This one act of asking people to simply like a post has since garnered the account 8.4 million followers, a New York Times article, and enough publicity to force a Kardashian/Jenner to respond by posting a video of her cracking a doppelganger egg on the sidewalk.
At the time of this writing, the Instagram egg account only has 33 posts.
So yes, it is possible your candidate did something legitimate to quickly earn a massive follower count.
But if he did, you’d know about it.
Google is your friend in these circumstances. Viral posts often make news.
Regardless of the Instagram egg’s new popularity, I would strongly advise against paying the account owner to post about your brand. His 8.4 million followers most likely aren’t looking for lifestyle advice from an egg.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 17 4. IS YOUR CANDIDATE A FREE SPIRIT? Look at the number of followers your candidate has to the number of accounts she follows.
Is she into more people than are into her?
The standard metric for follows to followers is one to five percent. If she’s following significantly more people than are following her, she’s most likely a fraud.
Here, she may be utilizing a social media etiquette of following people in hopes they follow back. This is a frequent attempt to boost follower counts. However, such followers are rarely ever engaged with the person’s posts. They only follow for the sake of their own follower count.
Another possibility is that you’re looking at a bot account. These accounts are created by the same people who want you to exchange your daily Starbucks habit for 1,000 or more followers.
Because of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter’s crackdown on fake accounts, our fake follower dealers have become more sophisticated. They now create fully fleshed out accounts, using stock photography for posts and adding generic details to the bio. The bolder ones duplicate an existing user’s entire account, down to the profile picture.
This has made it that much harder for social network sites to identify the real from the fake using machine learning. It’s also why you cannot be lax about doing your own complete analysis of your candidates’ accounts.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 18 GOING DEEPER
Depending on how many candidates are now left on your list, you’ll want to use a free service like IG Audit to scan the remainders before going deeper into your analysis. IG Audit is a tool developed by a former NASA scientist that analyzes a random selection of your candidate’s followers to determine if those followers exhibit signs of being fake. The tool then generates an estimated percentage of real followers in the account.
We love using this tool once we’ve done the surface scan and haven’t found blatant evidence of fake followers, as determined by the previous section. It takes about a minute to generate each report, so we typically save it for candidates who pass the initial scan.
Candidates whose report shows less than 60% real followers are immediately dismissed. We allow a 40% leeway because, as you can see with Beyonce’s scan, everybody gets fake followers. Bots follow real from https://igaudit.io/ people indiscriminately. If a report comes back 60% or above real followers, we’ll then continue vetting the candidate, taking a closer look at the candidate’s posts, followers, past brand relationships and metrics.
Never use IG Audit as a final indicator of whether you can trust your candidate. Instead, use the report as reason to keep a candidate on your list – for now.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 19 5. ARE YOUR CANDIDATE’S FOLLOWERS PEOPLE OF FEW WORDS?
Your candidate has a decent number of followers, lots of likes and comments. She looks like she gets a lot of engagement on her posts.
But does she really?
Click through to a post with many comments. What are you seeing?
An emoji by itself? A series of emojis? One- or two-word generic sentiments?
Does it even appear that anyone really cares about the content of the post?
If it doesn’t seem like your candidate’s followers are really invested in her content, you shouldn’t invest in her.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 20 #sponsored
6. DOES YOUR CANDIDATE APPEAR TO BE A ROCK STAR TO MANY, MANY BRANDS?
On the surface, it might look like a good thing that so many brands want to work with this candidate, as evidenced by a plethora of #sponsored or #ad hashtags throughout his posts. Surely, if all these brands want to work with him, he must have the good stuff, right?
#Wrong.
There are two things possibly going on, neither of which is good for you.
Either your candidate only cares about money and doesn’t do his own vetting of the brands he works with -- making his indiscriminate endorsements less trusted by those that follow him, and less likely for those followers to care about his endorsement of you.
Or, he’s lying.
Wannabe influencers have started adding #ad and #sponsored to brand-related posts in effort to draw your attention, although the “sponsoring” brand has probably never heard of them. These liars seem to believe if they can get you to believe they’re wanted by others, you’ll want them as well.
Don’t be fooled.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 21 Look at his #ad or #sponsored posts. What type of content are you seeing? What brands are associated with this content? If you’re familiar with the brand, do you believe the posted content seems representative of that brand?
How many sponsored posts has the brand allegedly done with your candidate? Only one?
Perhaps the brand didn’t actually sponsor the post, or the brand didn’t see any value in continuing with your candidate. Either way, not a good sign.
Are you seeing a discernible pattern with the sponsored posts? Are they all in one type of industry or are they varied across unrelated industries?
For instance, does he have a sponsored post one day for supplements and another day for auto parts? As a whole, do any of his alleged sponsorships make sense in relation to how he represents himself?
If you’re not feeling good about your answers to any of these questions, move on to your next candidate.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 22 Image Credit: “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,” New Line Cinema
7. IS YOUR CANDIDATE AN INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCER OF MYSTERY? The mystery being, why does she have so many followers from Brazil when nothing in her Instagram page suggests she’s ever left Nashville, Tennessee?
Remember I mentioned earlier that, after the U.S., the second largest number of Instagram users are in Brazil? Well, that’s because Brazil is home to many follower farms.
I once spent a month exploring Brazil, documenting my travels on Instagram along the way. Every day of my trip, my follower count notably jumped. When I reviewed the profiles of my new followers, however, I noticed their accounts were set up to sell fake followers.
Days after my U.S. return, my follower count dramatically decreased. Which, again, validates another earlier point: gaining legitimate followers is hard work!
But back to your candidate.
Take a look at who follows your candidate.
If more than three percent of her followers are in Brazil, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, or China -- countries rampant with follower farms -- and there’s no logical reason for this fandom from these foreign countries, then she most likely bought her followers.
Scan her account for any travel to these countries, just in case. I now have real followers from Brazil, along with many from other countries I’ve traveled. However, my Instagram account clearly demonstrates my extensive travel. Your candidate’s account should also reflect the same before giving her the benefit of the doubt.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 23 8. DOES YOUR CANDIDATE ASSOCIATE WITH QUESTIONABLE PEOPLE?
Fake follower dealers have upped their strategies since the New York Times article exposed their trade. For this reason, the fake followers they peddle look more legitimate than past accounts.
In the past, fake accounts were immediately recognizable through their nonsensical username and generic bio. Now, fake accounts are being made to duplicate existing accounts, stealing images from real accounts while using bots to simulate engagement. A simple glance is no longer enough to determine a real account from a fake one.
Let’s say you have a candidate with all the right stuff: high follower counts, a good ratio of follower to follows, even a fair amount of engagement, albeit of the one-word variety.
Now, take a look at who follows them.
We’ve already mentioned fake accounts have evolved significantly to be more fleshed out than in the past -- more pictures, their own followers, and even some engagement.
However, some fake accounts have gone a different direction. Rather than spend time creating the surface illusion of a real account, these accounts are marked private, where you have to request to follow them.
If many of your candidate’s followers have private accounts, it’s a safe bet that he’s bought his followers.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 24 Image credit: “The Descendents,” Fox Searchlight
9. IS YOUR CANDIDATE AN INTROVERT? The Instagram Egg aside, a true influencer will be posting constantly and regularly.
If your candidate only has a handful of posts, some of which appear to be stock photography, you’re most likely looking at another bot account. Or someone not really interested in investing in building a brand on Instagram.
In the case of the latter, you’ll see that they don’t respond to any comments made to their posts They don’t engage their followers, real or otherwise.
The candidates that make your list should have a mile-long history of posting. Those serious about their business as influencers will be posting, at the very minimum, once per day. They’ll have Instagram Stories, as well as highlight reels of their past Instagram Stories. And they’ll respond to everyone who comments on their posts, unless they’ve reached mega-influencer status. Any candidate with less than a million followers, you want to see them engaging with their followers by responding to comments.
It’s this type of dedication that demonstrates authenticity and builds real followers.
Stick with candidates committed to posting and responding to comments regularly.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 25 TAKING DOWN THE MOST SOPHISTICATED FRAUDSTERS
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 26 If you’ve made it this far in your vetting and still have a large list, you’ve either done an excellent job in selecting legitimate candidates, or some of your candidates belong to the elite group of influencer fraudsters who will go to any length to make their deceptions look real.
Some will argue the following techniques shouldn’t constitute fraud, especially since these techniques gain human followers.
However, as you’ll soon discover, these techniques are more about manipulation than trying to gain a true following of people who will respond favorably to your candidate’s endorsements.
Brands pay influencers because they believe getting in front of that influencer’s followers will result in a quantifiable outcome. The assumption is an influencer has amassed a grand following because people believe in and want to know about what the influencer shares.
This is the very definition of influence – the ability to persuade a person to act to one’s benefit.
Yet when a self-professed influencer has managed to amass a large following only by manipulation and not because these followers care about anything he has to say, where, then, is the influence?
And without influence, why should a brand pay for access to followers who have no true connection with the so-called influencer, and therefore, don’t care about who he endorses?
If a self-professed influencer engages in any of the following techniques to grow their follower count, then uses their follower count as basis to charge brands exorbitant fees, knowing none of these followers really care about anything they have to say, this person is engaging in fraud.
There’s no gray area.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 27 10. IS YOUR CANDIDATE A TEASE?
In another take on the following people to gain followers technique, a fraudster will employ a bot service to automatically follow hundreds of accounts daily. Many social media users are inclined to follow people who follow them.
A few days later, the bot will then unfollow these same accounts. Since Instagram doesn’t alert you to who unfollows you, the unfollowed account is non-the-wiser which follower they’ve lost. The fraudster then capitalizes on the false impression that more people are into him than he’s into them, reinforcing his con as an in-demand influencer.
Before you add a candidate to your short list, go over to Social Blade and add your candidate’s account name in the search bar.
Select the Instagram option and take a look at the “INSTAGRAM STATS SUMMARY / USER STATISTICS” graph.
What pattern are you seeing it? Does it reflect the aforementioned scenario of following and unfollowing in bulk?
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 28 In the above report, we can clearly see this “influencer” regularly following and unfollowing many accounts. This is not influence. Unfortunately, the account depicted in this report is of someone who currently has dozens of brand endorsements from major companies.
The problem with this practice is that the people following your candidate aren’t there because they believe in what he has to say. They’re there because they were tricked into following his account.
To be fair, this should not automatically disqualify your candidate, but it should give you pause. Why does he feel the need to inflate his follower count if his posts, and subsequently, brand endorsements, organically attract followers?
This is definitely an indicator you should do a deep dive into your candidate’s complete profile.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 29 Image Credit: Shout Factory TV
11. IS YOUR CANDIDATE A POD PERSON? Social media pods have made it difficult to discern legitimate influencers with real followers able to act to the benefit of your brand and fraudsters gaming the system to scam your marketing dollars.
Pods are a recent developments, designed to circumvent the obvious methods used to engage in influencer fraud.
A pod is a group of people who agree to like and engage with each other’s posts. The most determined fraudsters join multiple pods to increase the number of pod people liking their posts.
From a general vetting perspective, your candidate may appear to have a lot of real engagement and real followers since all pod members are real people. Pods function by the golden rule that all members must like and/or comment on each other’s posts.
However, what good does it do you if your candidate’s followers only follow her out of this pre-arranged agreement? What’s the likelihood that these pod people will act on your candidate’s recommendations when they’re only following her out of duty?
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 30 To know if you’re dealing with a pod person, select about 20 or 30 of your candidate’s posts. Who is either consistently liking or commenting on her posts? Are the comments generic or do they reflect genuine interest in the content? Make a list of these people.
Now, go to their Instagram accounts. Does your candidate consistently comment on these accounts? Are the comments generic or engaging?
If the answers seem doubtful of your candidate’s legitimacy, she’s most likely a reciprocator and not an influencer.
Many would argue pods don’t represent fraud, given the involvement of real people. However, the engagement metrics being created by this behavior, plus the increased follower count, paints an inauthentic picture of your candidate’s true influence.
When a so-called influencer uses these metrics to justify her rate, she’s doing so knowing full well the people her sponsored posts reach most likely won’t act on her endorsement in a way demonstrating value to your company. This is deceptive and clearly a mark of fraud.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 31 Image Credit: “Split,” Universal Pictures 12. DOES YOUR CANDIDATE SUFFER FROM MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER? Another tactic fraudsters use to skew their engagement numbers is to hijack a trending topic and use the hashtag to draw likes and followers.
For instance, say your candidate has been consistently posting about food for the past 100 posts. Suddenly, he posts about the latest sneaker release blowing up all over Instagram, using hashtags to appear in relevant feeds.
Thanks to the hashtag, sneakerheads will see this post and like, comment or otherwise engage with it. Presto! Your foodie is now a celebrated influencer in the realm of athletic wear. At least for the moment.
His engagement levels are boosted, his follower count increases, and then he returns to posting about food.
When he hands you his analytics report, all you see is a high engagement level. You don’t realize what created that attractive engagement number isn’t related to your interest in the candidate.
A body builder “influencer” hijacks the Instagram egg. Always take time to review your candidate’s entire content so you can find discrepancies like this. Yes, it takes time, but it will save you from wasting money on an “influencer” who can’t influence anyone.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 32 ONE FINAL CONSIDERATION...
13. DOES YOUR CANDIDATE THINK KPI STANDS FOR KEEP PAYING INFLUENCER?
The most deserving influencers we’ve worked with could clearly define their value to us. They treated their influencer status as a business and could rattle off what ROI they’ve delivered to past partners. They have a media kit that outlines their audience demographics and engagement rates. The best ones have case studies and client testimonials you can verify. They know their proverbial sh*t.
The rest of them, the delusional, believe they deserve your marketing dollars just by virtue of existing. They woke up one morning and said, “screw college, I’m going to be an influencer,” never factoring the years it takes to establish authenticity and amass a large following.
Authenticity begets influence, and authenticity is something that must be earned.
If your candidate doesn’t understand this, mail them a clue and continue your search.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 33 Business Profile Personal Profile
You can quickly verify how business-minded your candidate is by seeing if they have a business Instagram profile. A business profile offers analytics for impressions, reach, and follower information, which is further broken down by gender, age range, location and more.
A candidate worthy of your consideration will have this information readily available to you.
We only apply this rule to candidates who are seeking cash payments or have requests that will dip significantly into our client’s marketing budget. We’re less strict with influencers who otherwise pass our vetting process, but are clearly still getting started.
For them, we advocate only in-kind compensation. First see what they do with what they’re given, and if they consistently rise to your pre-determined metrics, then consider other forms of compensation.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 34 A DIFFERENT KIND OF INFLUENCER FRAUD
Before we conclude, I want to highlight an issue that came to light late last year.
According to Tech Crunch: Snap Inc. commissioned its public relations firm…to buy it an influencer marketing campaign on Instagram. The firm struck a deal with Grown-ish actor Luka Sabbat after he was seen cavorting with Kourtney Kardashian. Sabbat got paid $45,000 up front with the promise of another $15,000 to post himself donning Spectacles on Instagram.
He was contracted to make one Instagram feed post and three Stories posts with him wearing Specs, plus be photographed wearing them in public at Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks. He was supposed to add swipe-up-to-buy links to two of those Story posts, get all the posts pre-approved with PRC, and send it analytics metrics about their performance.
But Sabbat skipped out on two of the Stories, one of the swipe-ups, the photo shoots, the pre-approvals and the analytics.
The PR agency is now suing Luka Sabbat to recoup the $45,000 payment, in addition to another $45,000 in damages.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 35 There are so many painful lessons to be learned from this, including no one is really going to win when this plays out. Snap Inc insists it has nothing to do with the lawsuit, that the PR agency filed of their own accord. However, Snap’s association with the agency makes them look complicit. The agency itself looks bad, not only for putting their client under such a spotlight, but also because they didn’t do a better job of vetting the influencer before handing him $45,000.
As I was wrapping up this ebook, I discovered Luke Sabbat has yet again been sued for not delivering on his contractual agreement as an influencer.
According to Variety Magazine: Luka Sabbat, the 21-year-old actor and influencer, has been hit with another lawsuit for refusing to promote a brand on Instagram.
Konus, the streetwear brand, filed suit in L.A. Superior Court on Monday, alleging that Sabbat never followed through on an agreement to promote the company’s clothing line. Konus says it paid him $30,090 to participate in a photo shoot for the fall/winter 2017 season, and to post two images on Instagram. The suit says he never did so, and is seeking a total of $40,000 in damages. Although we’ve been focused on covering Influencer Fraud from the perspective of recognizing fraudsters before you’re scammed, please be mindful that influencers exist who may pass the vetting process, yet still run off with your cash.
Anti-fraud company Sway Ops has reported that more than 15 percent of influencers paid to do sponsored posts never follow through.
When it comes to negotiating a contract, avoid terms requiring you to pay the entirety of the agreement upfront. You can negotiate a deposit for a percentage of the contract value, but never more than 25 percent. Also, clearly stipulate milestones that must be reached before subsequent payments will be made. If your influencer won’t agree to this, find someone else who will. There is no shortage of them.
In working with legitimate influencers, the best creative process comes organically in letting them choose how they wish to represent your brand. However, never lose sight that most influencers aren’t trained businesspeople. Some eventually rise to the challenge, but most aren’t as invested in you as your money is in them.
I’ve added in the appendix templates from our Influencer Marketing Toolkit, which includes documents to develop a creative brief. This brief will help you determine the acceptable terms of your engagement with an influencer.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 36 WHO WE ARE At our core, we are problem solvers.
Clients come to The Lilian Raji Agency with their challenges and business goals. After becoming thoroughly acquainted with their brand identity, we then find, qualify, and execute an effective communication strategy that delivers their public relations and marketing desires — and sometimes more.
We deal in public perception. Do enough people know about your business plans to impact your long-term goals? How can we get more people to know about you in the way you want to be known? What can we do to persuade more people to act in a way that benefits your growth?
These are the problems we solve.
We’ve been asked how we differ from other PR agencies. What tools do we have in our toolbox to achieve results? We have the same tools as every other PR agency. What makes us different is how we use those tools. We are hands on, strategic, collaborative.
We’re in your office once a month – no matter where you’re located – because we want to know your business intimately, then design ever-evolving strategy that’s wrapped around your DNA.
We know the same journalists that every other PR person knows. But rather than rest on our laurels with relationships, we deep dive every journalist – whether we have an existing relationship or not -- beneficial to your objectives to understand what they like to write about. We then present your story to them in a manner they can’t resist.
We exist at the intersection of marketing, sales and PR, where we blend creative with data and bring your customers along on the brand journey.
This is the heartbeat of The Lilian Raji Agency. This is who we are.
(646) 789 - 4427 ext 701 | [email protected] | www.LILIANRAJI.com
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 37 APPENDIX
THE INFLUENCER MARKETING TOOLKIT
1. Before You Start... 2. The Creative Brief Part I 3. The Creative Brief Part II 4. The Basics: What You’re Looking for at First Glance 5. Time to Conect - Template I 6. Time to Connect - Template II 7. Influencer Profile 8. Sample Influencer Contract
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 38 the influencer marketing toolkit
BEFORE YOU START...
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? It’s important you get clear as to why you’re pursuing influencer marketing. Knowing what you ultimately want from your campaign before you begin will help you considerably as the progress continues. What are your goals for your influencer marketing efforts? What outcome do you want to see?
What results will make pursuing the campaign worthwhile?
WHO DO YOU WANT TO ATTRACT? You have more than one type of customer. Create a profile for each type of customer you have. Who are your target customers?
What does s/he do? How does she spend her days? What does he believe in? What are her values? What are his passion points?
When your target customer sees your work with the influencer, what stage would you like her to be in making a buying decision? Is he just looking for general information? Is she comparing choices? Or are they ready to buy?
Where do your target customers hang out online? Facebook? Pinterest? Instagram? YouTube? Twitter? Online forums? Blogs about your industry?
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 39 the influencer marketing toolkit
BEFORE YOU START...
WHO SHOULD YOU WORK WITH? Now that you know who your customer is, what type of influencer is going to attract their attention? Given what you now know about your customers, what type of influencer will appeal to them? What message will this influencer communicate that makes people like your target customer want to follower him or her?
Based on where you know your customer hangs out, what social platforms should your influencer use?
What’s the minimum number of followers the influencer should have in each of your select social platforms?
What’s the maximum number of followers should the influencer have? Why this number?
What key points about your company do you want the influencer to drive home with this campaign?
In reviewing the influencer’s posts, do they have a track record of hitting similar key points?
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 40 the influencer marketing toolkit THE CREATIVE BRIEF PART I The Creative Brief helps the influencer understand the parameters of your relationship. It creates a foundation that helps ensure both of you understand what is expected. Use these questions to help you and your team brainstorm what you want from the campaign. WHO DO YOU WANT TO REACH IN YOUR WORK WITH THE INFLUENCER?
WHAT STORY OR STORIES DO YOU WANT THE INFLUENCER TO TELL IN HIS OR HER PLATFORMS?
WHAT KIND OF CONTENT WILL BE MOST USEFUL IN YOUR CAMPAIGN? BLOG POSTS? ARTICLES? VIDEO? PHOTO SHOOTS?
WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR AUDIENCE TO TAKE AWAY FROM THE CONTENT?
WHERE WILL THE CONTENT BE PUBLISHED? WHICH PLATFORMS?
WHEN WOULD YOU LIKE TO START?
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 41 the influencer marketing toolkit
WILL THE CAMPAIGN BE FOR SINGLE POSTS, A PACKAGED NUMBER OF POSTS OR FOR A LONG- TERM STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP?
IF LONG TERM, HOW MANY WEEKS OR MONTHS?
IF SHORT TERM, WHAT WILL BE THE PARAMETERS?
WHAT IS THE TIMING FOR THE CONTENT? DAILY? WEEKLY? ON SPECIFIC DAYS AND TIMES? AT THE WILL OF THE INFLUENCER SO LONG AS QUANTITY/QUALITY/BRAND GUIDELINE REQUIREMENTS ARE MET?
WHAT SHOULD NEVER APPEAR IN YOUR CONTENT? VULGARITY? NUDITY? SLURS? OTHER COMPETITOR NAMES?
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 42 the influencer marketing toolkit
WILL THE INFLUENCER REQUIRE PRE-APPROVAL BEFORE POSTING CONTENT?
WHAT KIND OF PHOTOS WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THE INFLUENCER CREATE FOR YOU?
WHAT ASSETS WILL YOU PROVIDE? PRODUCT SAMPLES? MARKETING MATERIALS? PHOTOGRAPHY?
WHAT PHOTOS, HASHTAGS OR LINKS WOULD YOU LIKE FOR EACH POST?
WHAT ELSE SHOULD THE INFLUENCER KNOW?
WHAT ARE YOUR NON-NEGOTIABLES FOR THE RELATIONSHIP?
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 43 the influencer marketing toolkit THE CREATIVE BRIEF PART II
This is what you’ll provide the influencers you’d like to work with.
1. We’d like to work with you on… [name the social platform(s)]
2. Our target audience in our work with you is… [describe your target audience]
3. Ultimately, we want our audience to feel______from seeing your content.
4. We’d like you to share the following type of stories about us in your platforms… [list the type of messages you want communicated about your company]
5. We’d like you to produce content that includes… [Articles? Videos? Blogs? Posts? Photos?)
6. Our timeline to start working together is… [when the campaign will start]
7. We’d like to work with you on a [long term, short term, packaged deals, one off] deal.
8. We’d like the content to appear… [dates for posts to appear]
9. We’ll provide you the following assets… [products, photographs, videos, marketing materials, etc]. Let us know if there’s any other type of assets you’d like.
10. Your content must receive pre-approval from us, which will be given within __ days in advance of your scheduled post.
OR
10. You’ll have creative freedom to produce content without our prior approval as long as the content doesn’t contain… [list things that should never appear with your sponsored content]
11. Your content for us must include the following hashtags….
12. To stay FTC compliant, your content must also always include one of the following: #ads or #sponsored or #yourcompanyname_partner
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 44 the influencer marketing toolkit THE CHECKLIST The Basics: What You’re Looking for at First Glance
Keep these things in mind as you’re doing initial vetting of candidates for your short list. ☐ On first glance, do they have the minimum follower count you’re looking for? ☐ Who is this person? What do they say about themselves in their bio? ☐ Why did they catch your eye? ☐ What are they posting about? ☐ Do their posts resonate with the values of your company? ☐ What are they passionate about? ☐ Do those passions resonate with yours? ☐ How many likes do their posts receive? ☐ How many comments do their posts receive? ☐ Do the number of likes and comments seem adequate in relation to their overall follower count? ☐ Are the comments being made relevant to what was posted? ☐ Does the influencer respond to the comments? Everything looks good? Let’s go for the deep dive!
RUN AN AUDIT ON IG AUDIT. https://igaudit.io/ ☐ For an influencer with 50,000 or less followers, is their IG Audit score higher than 75%? ☐ For an influencer with 50,000 or more followers, is their IG Audit score higher than 65%? Are things looking promising? RUN AN AUDIT ON SOCIAL BLADE. https://socialblade.com/ ☐ Does their follower count have an explainable pattern? ☐ Or do you see a trend of big gains and big drops? ☐ Is the influencer regularly unfollowing people? ☐ Do you see instances of mass unfollowing? Is your candidate also a blogger? RUN TO SIMILAR WEB. https://www.similarweb.com/ ☐ How much traffic do they have? ☐ How much time are people spending on the site? ☐ How many pages are people looking at? ☐ What is the average bounce rate? ☐ Where is the majority of their traffic coming from? Is this person making your heart flutter? Time to reach out.
Before you do, however, go to the INSTAGRAM MONEY CALCULATOR to get a good idea of how much they charge. These numbers are always negotiable but they will help you start planning your budget. https://influencermarketinghub.com/instagram-money-calculator/
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 45 the influencer marketing toolkit TIME TO CONNECT TEMPLATE I
Most Influencers, especially those actively working on brand partnerships, will have their email listed in the bio of their Instagram account. You can also check the “about us” section of their Facebook page or YouTube channel.
If you still can’t find contact information, then you should DM them through one or all of the social platforms. We recommend this as a last option whenever possible. Emails tend to set a tone of professionalism that a 280 character DM tweet can never achieve.
FOR AN EXPLORATORY DISCUSSION
Hi NAME,
Our team here at YOUR COMPANY has been following you on SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM and/or watching your YouTube show for a while now and we love how you present yourself. We were especially impressed by WHAT YOU LIKED ABOUT THEM THAT MADE YOU CONTACT THEM.
We’re interested in collaborating with you on some projects/events we have coming up. Can we set up a call to talk further?
This template is good for an exploratory conversation -- when you don’t quite know what you want to do with the influencer but know you want to work with them.
Setting up a call gives you a chance to get to know the person and measure their professionalism. You’ll also get a sense of what they’d want out of the partnership. Even if you have a healthy monetary budget available, let them tell you what they want first. You might discover you can stretch your budget much further than you realized.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 46 the influencer marketing toolkit TIME TO CONNECT TEMPLATE II
WHEN YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT We used this exact email when we were developing an influencer campaign for a client who had a healthy budget to be creative. Since we wanted to build a mutually beneficial relationship with these influencers, we arranged to have them flown in to the client’s headquarters so we could meet them in person and get a good sense of the people we were considering entering into a long relationship with.
Hi INFLUENCER,
We’d like to invite you to Philadelphia as part of a press trip for WatchBox, the newly launched online platform for the buying, selling and trading of pre-owned luxury watches. WatchBox is the sister company of Govberg, the 101-year-old watch retailer and authorized distributor of the world’s finest timepieces.
The two-day event is scheduled from April 16th through the 18th. We will cover your travel to Philadelphia from anywhere within the continental U.S. as well as your hotel stay, as required.
In these two days, you’ll learn everything you can possibly ever want to know about watches and the watch industry through your host, Tim Mosso, one of the foremost watch industry savants. You’ll get to tour WatchBox Studios, the new, state-of-the-art production studio housed on the top floor of the Center City location of Govberg. And you’ll have dinner with Danny Govberg, CEO of Govberg and co-founder of WatchBox, who’ll be available to answer any and every question you have on how he’s turned his grandfather’s original vision for a jewelry store into making Govberg one the largest, most influential independently owned watch retailer in the U.S.
Please let me know if you’ll be able to participate, INFLUENCER. If so, please also respond with what city you’ll be traveling from so we can plan your transportation accordingly.
We look forward to hosting you.
After this email went out, we looked for the following: • How long did it take them to respond? • If more than a week, did they provide a reason for the delay? This shows they respect your time. • How did they respond? • Were they excited about the opportunity? • Did they show genuine curiosity? Or did they immediately begin talking about money?
It’s always a red flag whenever we’re still trying to determine if an influencer is right for our efforts and they go immediately into talking about money before they understand what our needs are.
Influencer marketing is about relationships – between your company and the influencer and the influencer and their followers. Money is important, absolutely. But talking about it before knowing if there’s a good match between you two is like getting married to the first person you meet and then trying to figure out if you really like each other.
Keep these things in mind and never hesitate to remove someone from your shortlist if it’s clear they ONLY care about the money. We promise – it will save you a headache later on.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 47 the influencer marketing toolkit INFLUENCER PROFILE For your shortlist of candidates you’ve already vetted.
INFLUENCER’S NAME // CONTACT INFORMATION
INFLUENCER’S BIO FROM THEIR SOCIAL PROFILE
INFLUENCER CATEGORIES
Influencer’s picture CITY STATE COUNTRY
INFLUENCER PLATFORMS NOTES
INSTAGRAM: # OF FOLLOWERS
INSTAGRAM URL FACEBOOK: # OF FANS FACEBOOK URL PINTEREST: # OF FOLLOWERS PINTEREST URL YOUTUBE: # OF SUBSCRIBERS YOUTUBE URL
LINKEDIN: # OF CONTACTS
LINKEDIN URL
OTHER PLATFORM #
OTHER PLATFORM URL
OTHER PLATFORM #
OTHER PLATFORM URL
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 48 the influencer marketing toolkit SAMPLE CONTRACT The document is intended to provide general information and guidelines only. It is not a substitute for legal advice. All promotional campaigns should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis for legal compliance
INFLUENCER AGREEMENT This Agreement, executed on ______, 20__, is entered into by and between YOUR COMPANY, with an address of YOUR ADDRESS (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) and ______actor/model with an address of ______(hereinafter, the “Influencer”). Company and Influencer may be referred to collectively as the “Parties.” For good and valuable consideration, receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, the Parties agree as follows:
1. ENGAGEMENT. Company hereby engages Influencer from the date of execution of this Agreement through and including the date(s) of performance (“the Term”) for the limited purpose of promoting certain brands and brand content, through Influencer’s social media outlets. The nature of the brand content to be promoted and the specific details and requirements of the promotion is outlined in the attached Schedule A. During the Term, Influencer agrees to be engaged for the purpose of promoting the brand content and to be bound by the guidelines as attached as Schedule B (“Guidelines”). Company hereby appoints Influencer as its representative on a non-exclusive, non-employee basis to endorse and promote its services to the target audience.
2. TERM. This Agreement shall have an initial term of one year and shall automatically renew for additional one-year terms thereafter unless either party provides thirty days prior written notice of its intention of nonrenewal. OR 2. DATE OF PERFORMANCE. Parties agree that the Content will be disseminated on Influencer’s Outlets on ______(“Date(s) of Performance”). This dissemination on the specified date(s) will constitute the date(s) of performance and upon performance of the promotion of the Content and fulfillment of the terms, and upon payment of compensation by Company as outlined below, this Agreement shall terminate and Influencer’s rights to use the brand name as described within this Agreement shall terminate as well.
3. DELIVERABLES. Influencer will deliver the agreed number of posts on the agreed platforms on behalf of Company as outlined in Schedule A. The Services shall conform to the specifications and instructions of Company as outlined in Schedule B, abide by the rules of the relevant social media platforms, and are subject to Company’s acceptance and approval. Company has a maximum of XX days to reject any deliverable in accordance with this Section and must notify Influencer within XX days of receipt of work that additional revisions and/or amendments will be requested.
4. OWNERSHIP. Influencer acknowledges and agrees that Company for the purpose of performing the Services under this Agreement shall own, exclusively and in perpetuity, all rights of whatever kind and character, throughout the universe and in any and all languages, in and to the videos, photographs, text and/or all works of similar nature produced, developed, or created by Influencer for this Agreement, and any and all intellectual property rights thereto, including trademarks, trade secrets, trade dress, design, mask work, copyrights, and patent rights (collectively, the “Content”), including the right to sublicense the Content to Company’s brand partners (the “Brand Affiliates”) . Notwithstanding the foregoing, Influencer may delete posts from his/her owned and/or controlled social media channels containing any Content after a period of thirty (90) days from post date.
5. USAGE. Company shall cause Influencer to grant to Company and to Brand Affiliates a limited, non-exclusive, royalty free, right and license to feature Content generated by Influencer as part of the Campaign (including influencer’s name and likeness) on Company’s and Brand Affiliates owned and controlled social media platforms and within third party digital and broadcast platforms and print platforms including but are not limited to: ad networks, email marketing, paid search listings, television, radio, newspapers, magazines and brochures, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, Pinterest, Vine, Google+ and website blogs during the term of this Agreement and for a period of twelve (12) months thereafter.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 49 the influencer marketing toolkit
6. LICENSE. Company grants to Influencer a temporary license to use the Brand Affiliates name and promotional materials as may be necessary to achieve the promotional purpose but only in compliance with the Guidelines and only to achieve the promotional purpose as described in the Schedule A. Influencer grants to Company a perpetual license to use Influencer’s name and likeness in all media including Company website and the brand website and on social media sites and in all formats of print and digital media advertising.
7. CANCELLATION. Either party may terminate this agreement upon fourteen (14) days prior written notice if the other party breaches this agreement and does not cure such breach within such time period. In addition to any right or remedy that may be available to Company under this agreement or applicable law, In addition, in the event that Influencer has breached this agreement, Company may (i) immediately suspend, limit or terminate Influencer’s access to any Company account and/ or (ii) instruct Influencer to cease all promotional activities or make clarifying statements, and Influencer shall immediately comply. Either party may terminate this agreement at any time without cause upon thirty days prior written notice to the other party.
8. CONFIDENTIALITY AND EXCLUSIVITY. During the course of Influencer’s performance of services for Company, Influencer will receive, have access to and create documents, records and information of a confidential and proprietary nature to Company and customers of Company. Influencer acknowledges and agrees that such information is an asset of Company or its clients, is not generally known to the trade, is of a confidential nature and, to preserve the goodwill of Company and its clients must be kept strictly confidential and used only in the performance of Influencer’s duties under this Agreement. Influencer agrees that he/she will not use, disclose, communicate, copy or permit the use or disclosure of any such information to any third party in any manner whatsoever except to the existing employees of Company or as otherwise directed by Company in the course of Influencer’s performance of services under this Agreement, and thereafter only with the written permission of Company. Upon termination of this Agreement or upon the request of Company, Influencer will return to Company all of the confidential information, and all copies or reproductions thereof, which are in Influencer’s possession or control. Influencer agrees that during the tenure of this contract, and for a three-month term afterward, Influencer will not undertake influencer marketing for a competitor in the same vertical as Company.
9. COMPENSATION. In full consideration of Influencer’s performance, his / her obligations and the rights granted herein, Influencer shall be paid [THE AMOUNT AGREED UPON BETWEEN YOU AND INFLUENCER]. This includes any agreed bonus incentives should Influencer meet the agreed targets. Influencer will otherwise perform the services at his/her own expense and use his/her own resources and equipment. Influencer acknowledges that the agreed upon compensation represents Influencer’s entire compensation with respect to this agreement and Company shall have no other obligation for any other compensation to or expenses or costs incurred by Influencer in connection with the performance of its obligations under this agreement. If Influencer has obtained employees or agents (the “Influencer Personnel”), Influencer shall be solely responsible for all costs associated with Influencer Personnel. OR COMPENSATION. As compensation for Influencer’s satisfactory performance, Company agrees to pay Influencer $______. Influencer agrees that this payment shall be the sole and entire compensation received and no other compensation of any kind shall be due upon termination of the Agreement or thereafter.
10. PAYMENT TERMS. Payment can be made by PayPal or check/money order to the address given by Influencer. Payments will be due seven days after the agreed invoice date. OR Payment shall be remitted Fifty Percent (50%) upon execution of this Agreement and Fifty Percent (50%) within Seven (7) Days of performance on the final specified date.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 50 the influencer marketing toolkit
11. MATERIAL DISCLOSURES AND COMPLIANCE WITH FTC GUIDELINES. When publishing posts/statuses about Company’s products or services, Influencer must clearly disclose his/her “material connection” with Company, including the fact that Influencer was given any consideration, was provided with certain experiences or is being paid for a particular service. The above disclosure should be clear and prominent and made in close proximity to any statements that Influencer makes about Company or Company’s products or services. Please note that this disclosure is required regardless of any space limitations of the medium (e.g. Twitter), where the disclosure can be made via Hashtags, e.g. #sponsored. Influencer’s statements should always reflect Influencer’s honest and truthful opinions and actual experiences. Influencer should only make factual statements about Company or Company’s products which Influencer knows for certain are true and can be verified.
12. FORCE MAJEURE. If either party is unable to perform any of its obligations by reason of fire or other casualty, strike, act or order of public authority, act of God, or other cause beyond the control of such party, then such party shall be excused from such performance during the pendency of such cause.
13. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR. Influencer is retained as an independent contractor of Company. Influencer acknowledges and agrees that (i) Influencer is solely responsible for the manner and form by which Influencer performs under this Agreement, and (ii) Influencer is a self-employed individual, who performs services similar to the services outlined in Schedule A for various entities and individuals other than Company. Influencer is responsible for the withholding and payment of all taxes and other assessments arising out of Influencer’s performance of services, and neither Influencer nor any of Influencer’s employees or independent clients shall be entitled to participate in any employee benefit plans of Company.
14. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES. Parties represent and warrant to each other that each is free to enter into this Agreement and that this engagement does not violate the terms of any agreement between any third party.
15. GENERAL TERMS. If the scope of any of the provisions of the Agreement is too broad in any respect whatsoever to permit enforcement to its full extent, then such provisions shall be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the parties hereto consent and agree that such scope may be judicially modified accordingly and that the whole of such provisions of this Agreement shall not thereby fail, but that the scope of such provisions shall be curtailed only to the extent necessary to conform to law. This Agreement may not be assigned by either party without the prior written consent of the other, and any such purported assignment shall be void. This Agreement is made in Georgia and shall be construed and interpreted in accordance with the law of Georgia, applicable to contracts made and to be performed entirely therein. This document is a complete and exclusive statement of the terms of this agreement and may not be changed orally but only by writing signed by both parties.
Please acknowledge your agreement by signing below and returning a copy to us. We look forward to a mutually rewarding relationship.
______Influencer Name Your Name and Title
______Signature and Date Your Signature and Date
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 51 the influencer marketing toolkit
SCHEDULE A SCOPE OF WORK
Here you’ll describe in detail the work you expect to receive from the influencer.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 52 the influencer marketing toolkit
SCHEDULE B BRAND GUIDELINES
Schedule B will talk about brand guidelines including desired colors, fonts, or other creative direction. Schedule B will also tell influencers what not to do, like use profane language or show too much skin.
You can also describe items to avoid in influencer posts, such as not mentioning specific competitors, which you’ll state by name. Also mention that all blog posts, social media statuses, tweets, and/or comments should be in good taste and free of inappropriate language and/or any content promoting bigotry, racism or discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nation- ality, disability, sexual orientation, or age.
www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 53 www.lilianraji.com | Influencer Fraud: Weeding Out the Fakers, Liars and the Delusional | 54