Brands lost $11m, 7.3% of total North American Q2 spending, on fake followers of Instagram market influencers. Unilever CMO Keith Weed said his company would no longer work with influencers who bought such bots. A list of “most fooled” brands by market analyst company Points North Group showed skincare start-up Raw Sugar Living suffered the most with 46% of followers turning out to be bots. Points North said the at least 10,000 most fooled brands' sponsored posts on Instagram went to audiences a third of which were fake. The firm said total losses in 2018 could be as much as $60m.
Brands lost $11m, 7.3% of total North American Q2 spending, on fake followers of Instagram market influencers. Unilever CMO Keith Weed said his company would no longer work with influencers who bought such bots. A list of “most fooled” brands by market analyst company Points North Group showed skincare start-up Raw Sugar Living suffered the most with 46% of followers turning out to be bots. Points North said the 10 most fooled brands' sponsored posts on Instagram went to audiences a third of which were fake. The firm said total losses in 2018 could be as much as $60m.