Fake it until you get it, so the saying goes. But buying fake Instagram and Twitter followers is cheating, and you're eventually going to have called out for it.

During the past New Zealand Fashion Week, I investigated into a number of those so-called fashion bloggers. Most had an astounding quantity of bogus followers on Instagram and Twitter. Fake fashion bloggers hack off me more than most. It could be because of they lack some real fashion or the fact that they arrogantly prance around these business events, taking selfies and posting to their tens of thousand fake followers. They are not adding any real value if they have no real influence.

Fake Instagram and Twitter followers, by my definition, are fake or dead accounts, along with actual accounts from users in countries that don't have any influential value to your profile. Both these types of followers are simple to buy.

There's no point in having a large number of thousands of followers if they're meaningless. The worth of a person's social reach should be measured by their participation, not from the total amount of followers they have. Quality, not Quantity!

SPOTTING FAKE INSTAGRAM AND TWITTER FOLLOWERS

Look at just how engaged the consumer's opinions are. Are their followers commenting and enjoying posts? Are their followers part of this cohort you are targeting?

There are a few ways to tell if a person has imitation followers.

A SUDDEN SPIKE IN FOLLOWERS

Unless you are Lorde and have taken to stardom at a super brief quantity of time, an unusual spike in followers can only be the effect of a purchasing spree.

LOW INTERACTION WITH FOLLOWERS

I've seen Instagram accounts with over twenty million followers, however each of the posts is just getting around 100 likes. The very low involvement percentage shows that their influence in their followers is super low, and they most likely paid for the vast majority of their followers.

FOLLOWERS WITH NO PROFILE PICS

Another dead giveaway is followers without a account action or profile pic. These accounts are'dead accounts'.