I think it’s really important to discuss the ‘influencer’ that walks amongst us. Especially after this post yesterday. I think most restaurants have received an email like this at some stage

But it’s crucial people understand the dark side of this nonsense too https://twitter.com/lapeniche3/status/1295069216723410944

So I’ll try and explain a very devious side to this bullshit.

Firstly, there is no doubt that genuine Influencers exist. As much as it kills me to admit this fact. However, they are few and fair between. Pick any of the Kardashians and their ilks for example. Yes them

Any genuine influencer would never send an email like this. Why? Because they are too busy being paid 50k plus by major companies for one Instagram pic. The problem is with the kind of ‘influencers’ that send these email.

Everyone knows that these guys can buy followers but

What most people don’t realise is that the fake ‘bot’ follower has no gotten far more advanced.

When all this social media stuff started, for $10 you could buy a thousand followers. They weren’t real. Back then, joe soap thought they were though and everyone

Was really impressed by ‘celebs’ here in Ireland with 20,30,80k followers. It didn’t take too long for people to catch on though. It was simple really. These ‘influencers’ would tweet something, have 50k followers but their post only got 3-4 likes and maybe one comment. But then

It got more sophisticated. These bots and the guys that sell them, knew they needed to up their game and over the years, they have gotten good at it. Really good at it!

The bots are like the new cyborgs in the latest Terminator movies. Not only are they back, they

Now ANSWER back. For a higher premium, you now buy bots that interact with your posts making you look more influential. 50k followers now results in 150 likes and 30 comments. Shit, this person is influential!!! You know the saying money attracts money? Well it’s the same with

Followers. Especially if the influencer gets the odd tv slot, pic in the Sunday paper etc. It looks legit, right??

Well it’s very easy to spot. The comments are very generic. Ask yourself why one major Irish celeb has almost 1 million YouTube subscribers but their videos are

Only watched by an average of 25k people? What are the other 975k subscribers ‘subscribed’ for? That’s an interaction rate of less than 3%!!

You’ll see comments like ‘class’, ‘love this’, ‘that’s so cool’, ‘you’re so good at this’ but nothing specific such as

You burnt that burger there on the left in the blue frying pan. Your top right pocket is ripped!

But it’s worse than that. They have created a community where they all interact with each other now, because they know that these generic comments have been found out too. So

The comment on each other’s posts. Makes it look even more official now. They do colabs with each other to try and get their real fans following each other and make it look more legit

There are plenty of sites that drive these modern day Arnie ‘bots’. Fiverr for example is

One such site. Just log on to it and you’ll see what’s for sale. It’s frightening. You can buy followers, subscribers, likes, comments, you name it for any of your social media platforms. ANYTHING!

What amazes me is how big companies don’t know this. They happily pay a fee to a

‘Influencer’ to promote their gear. Think about it. If you pay me €500 for a post on Instagram, the first thing I’ll do is spend a 100 of that to promote it. I show you the stats, you’re impressed and you use me again!

What’s worse is that

Other companies see me posting on behalf of a major brand, so now they think I actually am an ‘influencer’ & now they want to use me too!!! Remember - money attracts money!!

So 95% of these guys are full of shit, have a very small legit following & are professional liars.

How

Do you spot them? Look at their interaction % rate. Read the generic comments. Ask yourself why/how exactly do they have ‘so many’ followers

But most importantly understand. A real Influencer doesn’t need a free meal. You can’t afford a real influencer.

But if you are

Very lucky, @khloekardashian @kourtneykardash or maybe even Kim herself, might eat in your restaurant and just tweet about it for free!!!

Ps,

I’m ok with pissing off all the ‘influencers’ out there with this post

It’s all bullshit!