‘Influencer’ Analysis Assignment (10%)

According to Thought Catalog: “Influencer marketing is on the rise, and there’s a good reason why . . .
Basically, people like their small screens (phones). And the best way to reach a consumer on their
mobile phone is through influencer marketing. Brands are dedicating more resources to influencer
marketing because it works”.

You love them or sometimes (often?) hate them. As well, increasingly communicators have been
identifying examples in which influencers have used third-party apps or tools to buy followers and
engagement, are creating inauthentic and purely promotional posts and contributing to a general lack of
transparency.

Your Assignment
Read the following articles to understand some ways of assessing if an influencer’s followers are fake
https://izea.com/2019/07/18/fake-follower/ and https://blog.hollywoodbranded.com/8-steps-to-tell-if-
an-influencer-has-fake-instagram-followers

Identify, qualify and analyze three Instagram influencers, either liked or disliked following these steps:

1. Sign up for Scrunch https://scrunch.com/ of any other influencer marketing program that
allows free influencer search and identify three influencers within a specific category e.g. health
and fitness, fashion

2. Assess why you either liked or disliked the identified influencers (give at least three reasons)

3. Find one example of high-quality content and one of ‘thin’ space-filling content for each
influencer

4. Analyze whether their genuine followers are supplemented with bought followers, whether
follower engagement seems real, and whether their promoted posts (#ad) are organic/authentic
or dull/false . . . Social Blade may be of use (https://socialblade.com/ )

5. Summarize and submit this analysis in a 750-word report