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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Is there still a place for X, formerly known as Twitter, in your marketing strategy? The short answer is: yes.

The popularity of other social media platforms might make it seem like many people and brands are abandoning the social network in favor of other channels like Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.

But the truth of the matter is that Twitter still attracts millions of daily active users, so it's worth it to establish a presence there as a brand. 

Here's how to create a Twitter marketing strategy:

Examples of 3 brands that are killing it with their Twitter marketing strategy

In recent years, X, formerly known as Twitter, has added several new features that have already proven to be popular on rival social media platforms. Stay ahead of the curve by incorporating the following into your Twitter marketing. 

X, formerly known as Twitter, is currently testing a new version of a profile, intended for businesses. It is actually surprising it has taken Twitter this long to make this move, considering all the major platforms have offered business profiles for years, typically including things like advanced Twitter analytics features and advertising capabilities. 

Business accounts on Twitter will include an automatic ‘verified’ check mark (which currently you need to apply for), a business category, and an expanded ‘About’ section in your bio that can include a location map, contact button, and more.

In 2020, Twitter also introduced “Spaces”, which is basically their version of Instagram Live. When you go Live with Spaces on Twitter/X, your profile photo will show up with a purple background at the front of the Fleet line on the top of the homepage. It will remain purple for the duration of your Live session. People can then join your Space and react with emojis or comments.

Just the other week the hashtag #RIPTwitterCrop was trending. Why? X, formerly known as Twitter, has done away with their limiting image size (horizontal 1,024x512 pixels), now allowing vertical images to fully show in-stream. (Note: this change is only visible on mobile Tweets. Images will still appear cropped on desktop). 

After Twitter/X phased out Fleets (say that three times fast!), which was their version of the Stories feature found on Facebook and Instagram, it was anybody's guess what they'd try next. Enter Flocks, which is currently in early testing mode as of this writing. This feature mimics another Instagram Story option, that is the ability to share only to a "close friends" group rather than your entire follower base. Users on X/Twitter would be able to share a Tweet or Retweet to a small pre-selected subset of their followers.

In 2022, X/Twitter released a "branded likes" option — for brands that can pay, that is. This feature is tied to Twitter ads and, while expensive, could contribute to a huge jump in engagement for brands that take advantage. The catch? Other than the price, a branded like is only available for 24 hours, so if you choose to implement it during a campaign, be sure you're confident about when your fans are online the most so you can get the most out of encouraging people to like the Tweet. 

On April Fools Day, Twitter teased their fans with a simple but tantalizing Tweet: "We are working on an edit button". While most of us begrudgingly passed this off as a cruel joke for April 1st, the rumor mill soon made it clear that perhaps this was more than a joke after all. As of the time of this writing, no movement has been made on this update, but it something to keep an eye out for. 

Before doubling down on your X/Twitter marketing strategy, you need to make sure of two things: a) that enough of your target audience is on Twitter and b) you know who they are. Talking to the right people at the right time is essential for effective marketing. 

Twitter users tend to be in the older range. About 63% of all Twitter users worldwide are between the ages of 35 and 65. (oberlo.com)

Now that you know who your Twitter audience is, let’s determine some of the primary reasons people use Twitter in the first place. 

X/Twitter’s trending topics are a great way to find out what’s going on around the world, in your network, as well as by topic. You can see what’s trending in sports, entertainment, politics, etc. 

Trends reflect what people are talking about moment by moment at the highest possible volume. So it’s truly a representation of what the majority of the population is deeming interesting or important. Brands can take advantage of this by using a trending hashtag or weighing in on a particular topic. 

In today’s easily distracted world, people are constantly craving and seeking to be entertained. Whether that’s by a funny meme, a cat video, or sitting back with popcorn to watch a Twitter fight unfold. 

Consider this when crafting your Twitter strategy - even if your brand isn’t necessarily humorous by default, you can still join in the Twitter fun. Craft a clever reply to a competitor's Tweets, or incorporate humor into a video ad to give people the type of content they’re looking for.

Food chains and streaming services are particularly good at trolling each other:

Being a brand on social media unfortunately isn’t all fun and games. 

The fundamental nature of customer service and complaints has changed since anyone can simply create a post tagging the offending brand, or they can reply on a thread.

Sometimes it can be really difficult to separate which comments are actually serious enough to warrant a response or further action, from those that are just annoyed people sounding off in the heat of the moment. It’s become an art form for social media teams: knowing how to identify and de-escalate crises on social media. 

Read more about managing customer service complaints on Twitter.

There are millions of communities on X, formerly known as Twitter. People meet others with common interests, common jobs, or common values through using the same hashtags and following the same influencers within a particular niche. 

It’s a great way to connect and learn from others as well as discover new blogs, articles, and professional development resources. Twitter Chats are a popular method these communities use to encourage conversation — and users can usually find even more niche sub-communities this way. We’ll go into this in a bit more detail later.

Ok, so if you’ve determined that enough of your audience is on Twitter it’s time to craft your strategy for marketing to them. Let’s break down some key Twitter marketing tips that will help you find followers, increase engagement, and run a successful Twitter strategy:

If you’re using X/Twitter for business you need to know why you want your organization to have a Twitter presence. Answering this question is imperative for shaping your strategy for reaching new and existing customers. A few things to consider:

Brand awareness - if your brand is still small, using Twitter could be an excellent platform to build a following and increase brand awareness. 

Sales - businesses need to make money! Whether you’re B2B or B2C or both, X/Twitter can help you increase sales as another touch-point with your customers. You can use promoted Tweets to advertise a product, run contests, or drive new followers. 

Customer service - some brands treat their Twitter feed primarily as a way to keep their customers abreast of things going on such as a power outage, internet interruption, or software glitch. It's also a great way to reply to customer reviews and complaints in real time.

To be successful on X/Twitter, you need to be super clear about your communication style. Twitter is a bit different than the other major platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook in that the character count is so limited. Because of this people often use certain abbreviations and hashtags, so make sure you know the common hashtags in your industry. 

Understanding GIF and Meme communication as well is super important for brands on Twitter/X. Both for participating, as well as for knowing when to show restraint. You should also know what certain GIFs are commonly used for to avoid using them out of context, thus appearing very out of touch with the Twitter user base. 

Social media should be just that — social. Use Twitter as a way to get to know your audience and interact with them. Discover commonalities in your audience such as who they follow and similarities in the keywords they use in their bios. Use this to inform your Tweet copy and tone of voice.

Two ways to include community building into your 2022 Twitter strategy:

Remember Twitter chats? This is another fantastic way to get in front of potential followers and customers in an informal, conversational way while still displaying a sense of authority in your industry. As we mentioned before, chats are usually focused on a particular subject or community, and they can target sub-niches within a community.

Consider travel for example. People love to travel but there are so many different ways and styles. Through chats like #LuxTravelChat luxury travelers can get to know one another, and through #FoodTravelChat, foodies can share their favorite memories of meals on the road.   

Chats are often sponsored by an influencer or brand, which is an excellent way to get involved in your community, answer real questions, and learn real pain points that your brand can help solve.

Get in on the fun of memes on X, formerly known as Twitter! This is where it pays to have a young, active social media user as your social media manager. When they’re on the platform everyday anyway, they're not going to miss fun new memes and can recommend ways to use them to your brand's advantage. Memes, when used effectively, are a great way to encourage retweets.

Here’s how popular shoe brand Rothys participated in a topical meme that was going around:

It would be worth it to create a branded hashtag, so people can easily refer to you. Branded hashtags can be the same as your handle, but the more useful way to use them is to refer to a campaign, value, or specific sale. They are especially helpful for shortening and abbreviating brand names and campaigns. For example, if you run a flower special for Mother's Day each year, instead of spelling out every word your hashtag could look something like #MDFlowers21. 

As you craft your Twitter marketing strategy, come up with a list of potential hashtags you’d like to use. You’ll want to narrow it down to two, ideally one, to be included in your bio. You don’t want to dilute the power of your hashtag by giving people too many choices. 

You should also be using hashtags to join the Twitter conversation. Make sure you use the right hashtags for certain holidays, events, and trending topics. Like in the example above where we tagged our flower sale hashtag with “21” for the year, keep an eye out for this for annual celebrations. 

Lastly, you should come up with a schedule for the frequency, times, and days you post to Twitter. This helps your team stay organized as well as regularly seeds your profile with new content. The easiest way is to use a scheduling platform such as Hootsuite!

Experiment with different times and different volumes to gather data around your audience's engagement. Once you’ve been scheduling for a few months, pull engagement metrics (impressions, video views, clicks, retweets, etc.,) to analyze when people are interacting with your Tweets the most.

A note of caution: Crises can spark quickly if you forget what you’ve scheduled when unexpected things happen, whether globally or internally. Tweet copy that would have been perfectly innocent a day before can change meaning overnight, depending on the context of what’s going on in the world. For example, maybe a product is selling out and so you celebrate by posting "our new sneakers brand is on fire!" Then news hits of wildfires in your area. Not the best look for your brand.

Augment your Twitter marketing strategy with advertising! Twitter ads are easy to use and can be fairly cost effective depending on how you choose to use them. Tweets that have the word “promoted” attached to them are ads. 

There are a few key ways you can put money behind your X/Twitter account for advertising and we’ll go into them below! 

On X, formerly known as Twitter, brands have the option to “promote” different kinds of content including Tweets (photo or video), an account, or a trend. These are the different types of Twitter ads available:

Promoted Tweets are exactly what they sound like — promoting a single Tweet for various goals including gaining followers, website traffic, and video views. This is similar to boosting a Facebook post.

Instead of just promoting one tweet, you have the option to promote your entire account, targeting people who don’t already follow you. These Tweets include a follow CTA directly within them, so they’re great for increasing follower count. Promoted accounts also show up in “suggested people to follow”.

Forget about a 24-hour news cycle. Twitter trends are practically a minute-by-minute cycle, indicating what people are tweeting about in the highest volume at any given time. To help brands get in on this massive exposure, Twitter/X does offer the ability to purchase a spot on the trending list (it will clearly be labeled as ‘promoted’). 

Twitter ads are served on an auction system. Advertising campaigns on Twitter can be customized to fit your budget and there is no minimum spend requirement so it is an accessible social media marketing tool for both large and small businesses. 

You bid on available ad space and how much you want to pay for a “billable action” taken by your chosen audience, on your Twitter ads. The more you bid, the more chance you have of getting in front of your target.

Promoted Tweets are the lower-cost option, ranging from $0.50 to $2.00, while a promoted account can cost between $2.00 - $4.00. Promoting a trend is by far the most exorbitant option, costing $200,000 per day. 

Twitter Marketing Guide: Creating a Twitter Marketing Strategy

As arguably the biggest marketing “holiday” of the year, Black Friday is a time when marketers see an outpouring of online communication from consumers. Each year, millions of people worldwide digitally share their opinions, wants, and gripes about the post-Thanksgiving shopping day, as well as its newer offshoots Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday. We used our our social listening platform to dig into the conversations, numbers, and trends defining Black Friday weekend this year. 

Our social listening query uncovered more than five million mentions of Black Friday keywords, phrases, and hashtags in the 30 days leading up to Black Friday 2022. And while that volume is significant, it was down by 3% year over year (YoY). Similarly, mentions the day of Black Friday 2022 (November 25) were 2% lower than on Black Friday last year (November 26). 

The evolution of Black Friday conversations is much more dramatic when we break them down by country. In the United States, where the consumer holiday was invented in the 1960s, Black Friday conversations leading up to and on November 25, 2022, decreased by 21% YoY. But in Indonesia, they grew by more than 400% YoY. 

Japan saw the second-highest growth of Black Friday conversations in the world at an increase of more than 170% YoY.

The higher volume of mentions in Japan is reflected in the top new hashtags in the global Black Friday conversation. In 2021, the second and third most popular hashtags were #cybermonday and #weverseshop (the Korean fan merch platform), respectively. This year, they are #ブラックフライデー (Black Friday) and #ドスパラ (Japanese PC retailer DosPara).

The topics of Black Friday conversations have also changed significantly since last year. Mentions of #crypto increased by 119% YoY, and mentions of #giveaway increased by 110% YoY. Notably, mentions of #unsubscribe increased by 62%, so be sure to keep those marketing emails high-value in the coming year.

As for keywords, mentions of “money” increased by 90% YoY, while mentions of “deals” increased by 72% YoY. These are likely related to the impact of inflation on consumer spending. New top Black Friday keywords of 2022 include ポイント (loyalty program points) and 当選率 (odds of winning).

The best-performing content of the Black Friday conversation also shed light on what most interested consumers this year. For example, some of the most-engaged Black Friday content offered gift ideas. Additionally, with a filter for the phrase “I want” applied to our original query, the most-engaged Tweet was one expressing disappointment that retailers aren’t offering more significant discounts.

Looking ahead to 2023, marketers should strive to be intentional in their pre-Black Friday communications or risk getting banished to the “unsubscribe” list. Overall, the data suggests that consumers are on the hunt for gift suggestions and the most significant deals. Marketers can provide value by pointing them in the right direction.

Reading Tip: How To Prepare for Black Friday To Generate More Sales

Online conversations about Small Business Saturday took a much more notable dip this year than those about Black Friday. In the 30 days leading up to Small Business Saturday, mentions of relevant keywords, phrases, and hashtags decreased by 10% YoY, while conversations the day of decreased by nearly 30% YoY. In the United States, where the bulk of these mentions is generated, the conversation decreased by 18% YoY. 

Many top hashtags in this conversation saw significant decreases in mentions in 2022 compared to 2021, including #smallbizsat, #blackownedbusiness, and #shopsmall. Meanwhile, the top new keyword in this conversation for 2022 is “economy.” Understood together, these trends suggest that small and local businesses were hit hard by inflation in terms of online conversations generated around supporting them specifically.

Looking forward, small businesses should mirror Black Friday strategies by building anticipation for Small Business Saturday early. Though conversations about Black Friday begin rising nearly a month before the day arrives, most mentions of Small Business Saturday occur the day of.

Cyber Monday online sales may have hit a record high this year, but social and media mentions of the retail holiday declined by 17% YoY in the lead-up to the day (November 28) and by 9% the day of. 

Despite the slight global decrease in mentions, many countries saw significant increases in Cyber Monday conversations during this period, including Argentina at more than 3,000% growth YoY and Australia at 750% growth YoY. However, the majority of this conversation is still generated in the United States, where it grew by 132% YoY. 

As to be expected, #cybermonday is the most popular hashtag in this conversation, but mentions of #blackfriday grew by 296% YoY, highlighting Cyber Monday’s continued link to Black Friday in consumers’ minds. #Ad also saw significant growth, at 280% YoY, possibly reflecting the rise of influencer marketing for this holiday.

Interestingly, while mentions of Black Friday grow continuously in the weeks that precede it, Cyber Monday mentions spiked twice, on October 31 and November 14, before starting to rise steadily on November 20, 2022. 

The reason for these spikes? In Argentina, Cyber Monday is an annual, three-day online sales event that begins in the last week of October. Elsewhere, on November 14, multiple retailers and brands promoted early Black Friday sales that continued through Cyber Monday in the rest of the world, including Ray-Ban, WWE Universe, and Walmart. 

This trend reveals how, as sales events creep earlier and last longer, Cyber Monday is increasingly significant as the bookend of the post-Thanksgiving holiday sales season. For marketers, this suggests that Cyber Monday promotions can never start too early, but they can start too late.

Unlike every other Black Friday weekend “holiday,” Giving Tuesday focuses on consumer donations to non-profit organizations, individuals in need, and other charitable causes. However, it also experienced an overall decline in online conversation. Mentions of Giving Tuesday keywords, phrases, and hashtags in the 30 days leading up to Giving Tuesday decreased by 7% YoY, and mentions the day of declined by 18% YoY. 

Most of this conversation is located in the United States, where it decreased by 14% YoY. But in Nigeria and India, where the conversation is still quite small, Giving Tuesday mentions increased by 76% YoY and 29% YoY, respectively.

Interestingly, this year’s Giving Tuesday conversations focused more on helping teachers (in keeping with recent back-to-school social media trends). Mentions of #teachertwitter nearly doubled compared to those in 2021, while #clearthelist rose to become the 13th most popular hashtag of the conversation this year.

Looking to 2023, marketers in education can look into following up on back-to-school promotions with Giving Tuesday communications that highlight charitable and community causes.

Every year, online conversations about Black Friday — as well as Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday — give marketers a direct look at how consumer preferences and attitudes are changing. Our social intelligence platform scours these conversations to uncover the data-driven insights you need to shape your marketing strategy for the coming year. Schedule a demo today to learn more!

Black Friday by the Numbers

Influencer marketing on social media has skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years. With that rapid growth, however, has come the inevitable dark side of fake influencers. Businesses looking to partner with influencers need to be aware of this trend to make sure the people they're working with are who they say they are, and that their followings are genuine. In this blog we'll explore what a fake influencer is and how to avoid fake influencer pitfalls. 

Who Are the Biggest Fake Influencers on Social Media?

The idea behind the social media influencer industry is essentially scaling word-of-mouth marketing from social media personalities who have engaged followings, of anywhere from 500-over a million. They promote your products or company to their networks, who trust their endorsement, thereby creating a quick way to reach wider audiences and potential new customers. In return, influencers are compensated either monetarily or with free products and perks from the brand.

There are a few key attributes that successful influencers possess that make them a strong asset for promoting your brand:

What really sets social media influencers apart from other types of endorsers is their relatability. Despite their often large followings, influencers are typically perceived as "ordinary people" that their followers can easily relate to. They post about everyday life, are easy to get hold of – some reply to every single comment and DM – and they often have age group, interests and demographics in common with their target audience.

It’s part of human nature to be swayed by our circles. Consumers are 92% more likely to trust their peers over traditional advertising when it comes to purchasing decisions. So, seeing your peer, colleague or someone from your ‘hood speaking highly of a brand, is likely to make you remember it, and agree with it. The large numbers of followings, likes, comments and shares add social proof to the equation — this gives audiences the impression that it is already validated and trusted by many.

A fake influencer is a person, or a bot designed to interact like a human, on social media whose following is padded with fake followers. Thus it follows that they do not have a genuine relationship with their community — an essential ingredient for influencers to make an impact. These accounts typically buy followers to inflate their numbers and make it appear as if they have more influence than they actually do. 

In some cases, a fake influencer might be someone posing as someone else, using a fake bio, fake profile picture, etc. This is a slippery slope, sometimes employed by brands to make it appear like an influencer is promoting them, when in fact the profile has been created by the business itself. Another way this could be used is by participating in forums or comment threads as a fan or brand ambassador. Fake influencers in this guise could be considered a form of guerrilla marketing, but there is a high risk factor. You don't want to accidentally destroy the trust you've built with your audience.

Did you know? By conducting a social media audit you can spot fake followers. Check out this post to learn how to spot fake Twitter followers and conduct a Twitter audit.

Encouraging engagement and the ability to grow a community of loyal followers is one of the hallmarks of a great influencer. If their following is simply a bulk purchased number, it means they have no actual connection with the people they're speaking to. Not exactly the kind of representative you want from an influencer who's promoting your products or services. Because it also means they're promoting it to an empty void of bots who have no way of actually making a purchase. 

This is why it's always so important to vet influencers carefully before partnering.  

If an influencer claims their following is all real, when in fact a substantial percentage of their followers are purchased, and therefore fake, that amounts to influencer fraud. Even worse, influencer fraud can also mean fake purchases on the part of the influencer, a way of tricking their partners into thinking they're getting positive ROI from their relationship with the influencer. This is also sometimes called affiliate fraud.

It's a real problem that many businesses are facing, given the sheer amount of influencers out there. In fact the concern about fake influencers has been steadily growing, with 67% of brands saying they're worried about influencer fraud (Influencer Marketing Hub, 2022). 

An easy way to spot influencer fraud is if they have a massive following but either very low engagement or mostly spam comments. Thousands of likes but only 3 comments on a post? Probably not a real influencer. Are the comments all the same? Probably a bot and not a real follower. 

You can also keep an eye at follower growth rate. If an influencer achieves 2K additional followers in one day, that's a sign that they are buying followers.

The Kardashian name is frequently thrown around in the influencer marketing discussion. But they actually fall into the category of "fake influencer", as do a number of other celebrities and public figures. Which is not entirely fair; due to their stature, it's not unusual that these profiles would have bot-heavy followings, in addition to their actual fans.  

It's when they commit influencer fraud, claiming their followings as genuine as a selling point for an influencer deal, that probing into their actual numbers becomes important for brands. 

Read more about why you should consider working with micro-influencers.

Curious who some of the biggest social media fake influencers are? This list is from a social audit run by UK based company fasthosts.com:

<table class="table-primary">

<thead>
<tr>
<th class="bg-teal text-center font-bolder">Name & Handle</th>
<th class="bg-teal text-center font-bolder">Following</th>
<th class="bg-teal text-center font-bolder">Engagement Rate</th>
<th class="bg-teal text-center font-bolder">% of Fake Followers</th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">223.5M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">3.50%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">40%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Kendall Jenner (@kendalljenner)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">157.6M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">3.58%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">37%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Blake Lively (@blakelively)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">28.3M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">7.55%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">37%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Justin Bieber (@justinbieber)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">168.7M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">0.37%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">37%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Rihanna (@badgirlriri)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">92.8M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1.75%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">36%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Zayn Malik (@zayn)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">39.8M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">6.56%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">35%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">212.3M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1.32%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">34%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>LeBron James (@kingjames)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">81.7M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1.70%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">34%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">115M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">1.14%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">34%</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Bad Bunny (@badbunnypr)</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">31.7M</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">8.90%</td>
<td style="text-align: center;">33%</td>
</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

The success of any influencer marketing campaign depends primarily on your brand’s ability to identify and collaborate with the right influencers. Ask yourself these questions to help optimize your search.

Be sure to check out our full blog post on finding the right influencers! 

What to look for when researching influencers to partner with for your next campaign:

https://meltwater-experience.pages.dev/meltwater-blog-micro-content/mw-fake-infleuncers-tab-module/

As we've established, the rise of fake influencers and influencer fraud is of concern among marketers today, and with good reason. So, when choosing influencers, you need to ensure they have credibility and are trusted by their fans. 

Tip: Google their name and see how they’re known both on and off social media. Check if they’ve ever been invited to speak at an event, received awards or been recommended by anyone in the industry etc to gauge their level of expertise on certain topics.

Before choosing influencers, you should also be taking note of whether the influencer engages with their community. If they have a large following but are talking into a vacuum, it’s a red flag. 

If there are comments, be sure to check them. Remember, if engagement numbers are high, it doesn't always mean those engagements are valuable or authentic. Avoid working with a fake influencer by spot checking the caliber of their post comments.  

It’s all well and good choosing influencers who have an engaged community, but if their audience won’t care about our products, we may as well not bother as ROI will be minimal. Deep dive into the demographics of the community to ensure your brand is relevant to them. 

Choosing influencers who have worked with other brands isn’t a no-no; in fact, it can be helpful in a few different ways. Looking at who they’ve worked before is a good way to gauge if your products are likely to appeal to their following. You can also observe how they treat their sponsored segments and content. Lastly, if other brands have chosen to work with them, particularly look at if they've worked with them more than once, it's a good sign that they are legit.

Look for someone who posts multiple times a week. Frequency will have a direct impact on other metrics such as engagement rate, reach, loyalty etc. 

Ready to reach out? Make a good first impression with our 4 rules of engagement for influencers!

An influencer marketing platform like Meltwater's Klear helps brands discover relevant influencers, establish relationships, and manage campaigns. Our clients are able to search through over 500 million profiles in 60,000 different categories, no matter the niche making the process of choosing influencers a whole lot easier! The tool analyses and locates influences on various platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, YouTube in one go. 

Ready to get started? Schedule a free demo using the form below.

How to Quickly Spot Fake Influencers

Ever since sourdough starters united the world during the initial COVID-19 lockdown, viral social media food trends have become a pop culture staple. Creative recipes and novelty coffee shop orders come and go, but each year a small number of trends dominate the rest. Wondering what the biggest food trend of 2022 was? The answer isn’t as definite as you might think. We took a look at the biggest viral food trends of 2022 to learn more about how they performed across the world.

Want to connect with food-loving audiences? Make them want a seat at your table with data-driven insights from Birdseye Report: #Foodies on Twitter.

Content Tip: Take a look at the best global food influencers to inspire you.

To learn more about viral food trends, we used our social listening platform to analyze mentions of more than a dozen recent viral food trends. We then narrowed our analysis down to the top five, as determined by the share of voice of mentions of related keywords and hashtags. This gave us the following trends:

Read on to learn a bit more about each one.

Fairy bread is a slice of buttered bread covered in sprinkles. Though it’s long been popular in Australia and New Zealand, this whimsical kids’ snack had a viral moment in 2022.

The dirty soda or “Dirty Diet Coke” trend is another regional favorite that hit the big time on social media this year. Popularized in Utah, dirty soda is a mix of diet cola, heavy cream, lime juice, and coconut syrup served over ice. The phrase also refers to other similar mixes of iced soda, creams, and syrups.  

Cupcake brand Made by Melissa had a surprise hit when a salad recipe it posted on its blog in January became an internet sensation. Part salad, part dip, this vegan recipe inspired legions of home chefs to try making it themselves and create their own versions.

Despite its name, this viral food is another vegan treat. Cowboy caviar is a dip that combines corn with chopped avocado, tomato, bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeño. 

Butter boards are basically charcuterie boards but with butter. A lot of this trend’s appeal lies in the presentation. 

Learn more about the foodies behind the trends in Birdseye Report: #Foodies on Twitter, our audience deep-dive report for the Twitter Official Partner Program.

Well, it depends. The trend that took over your feed most is related to where on the internet, and in the world, you are. 

There is one giant exception. In the English-speaking world, the biggest food trend of each year is seasonal, and originated with Starbucks.

That’s right: Pumpkin spice lattes, and every possible edible spinoff, are bigger than any other food trend when it comes to share of voice and mentions of related keywords and terms. While not new, comparing viral food trends to the seasonal appearance of #PSL helps us understand just how ubiquitous a food trend can get.

From January 1 through mid-October 2022, no food trend generated more mentions or had a greater share of voice than pumpkin spice lattes.

Unless you’re in the southern hemisphere that is. Notably, it had the smallest share of voice in Australia, where PSL season arrives during spring rather than autumn, and fairy bread originates.

When we look at 2022 food trends without mentions of pumpkin spice lattes, the results reveal how much each one’s popularity varies from audience to audience. By share of voice, butter boards were the biggest food trend of 2022 with cowboy caviar following closely behind, but that metric alone doesn’t tell the whole story.

Looking at mentions of each trend over time shows us how intensely “viral” each one was. 

Cowboy caviar racked up a high share of mentions, partly by simmering in popularity over several months — primarily from May through July. However, the latest food trend of the year, butter boards, had much more dramatic spikes in mentions over fewer weeks. If you thought that the butter boards trend suddenly popped up out of nowhere, the above chart shows that you were right.

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