Yet, it was figured out, that the audience did not care as to how the influencers portrayed in the ad got there, what was important was seeing them there. If Influencer marketing works because it’s personal. People don’t buy “destinations.” They buy the dream they were delivered via someone they trust, and whose opinions they value. Indeed, if the influencers could not travel, how to portray them as travelers anyhow? So it dawned on us, that what mattered was the emotionality of the act rather than the physicality of it.

So, living in today’s world, we figured “if we can’t beat them, join them” and by this we meant the possibilities AI is presenting us with. So with this, Saudi influencers became AI-powered travelers, without the need of visas, or flights, or bureaucracy, or even airports.

Real influencers were recruited who were willing to license their likeness. Then eventually they were captured high-quality profile shots, followed obviously by real interiors of flynas planes to anchor the content. This is where Veo3 came in handy because, with little or no effort, and a bit of a prompt, influencers were now in iconic European locations. Authentically, as well, though truth be told, not realistically, they were all over the new summer destinations flynas offers.

The influencers were so impressed, they posted these videos on their own social media accounts, implying they were indeed there, and we paid them ethically their standard fees though probably they were enjoying a gelato in their own homes rather than on a summery European city.

The audiences eventually saw familiar faces exploring new destinations, feeding wanderlust and excitement for summer travel.

The comments and shares showed genuine engagement. People were inspired to plan their own trips. Of course, the campaign subverted expectations about what’s “real,” proving that travel dreams can be sold even when the trip is AI.

Yet ethically, since advertising sells dreams as opposed to products, the campaign was not too far off.

By being first in-market to use AI-generated influencer travel at scale, flynas positioned itself as bold, modern, and flexible. Yet, one of the assets of the campaigns was that it tackled a real problem because it solved a real barrier familiar to many Saudis: visa delays and travel bureaucracy.

Behind this campaign were INFLO Influencer Curators, XTRND Content Hub and Regional Strategy Director Moey Shawash.

Creo addresses measurement challenges in a fragmented market by using Omni, Omnicom’s open operating system and marketing orchestration platform. This integrated approach improves creator discovery, planning, and measurement, while directly connecting creators’ actions to consumer responses. Creo’s advanced solutions, like the Creator Briefing Tool, the Creo Influencer Agent, and the Omni Creator Performance Predictor, will offer brands greater precision and actionable insights, transforming influencers into powerful drivers of commercial results. Creo will also leverage exclusive partnerships with leading platforms such as Amazon, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat in the region.

OMG’s Anthony Nghayoui has been appointed to lead Creo. With 10+ years of experience in social media, performance and creator marketing, he brings a highly analytical perspective into creator marketing, including data-driven planning and integrating advanced measurement solutions. Nghayoui has led many creator campaigns across multiple sectors and worked on influencer marketing tech and product development. He’s a member of the IAB global creator economy task force and the ABG MENA influencer marketing committee.

Success for both virtual and human influencers depends on their ability to engage their audiences. Interestingly, younger, tech-savvy audiences may be more attracted to virtual influencers. Meanwhile, real influencers can still capitalize on their authenticity and relatability. Yet, the question remains: how long can they hold onto this advantage?

TRANSFORMATION IN BRAND INVESTMENTS: A RESPOND TO CONSUMER PREFERENCES

Gen Z, the generation that is following influencers the most, is mainly looking for fashion, beauty, and lifestyle inspiration. Digital personas can showcase a broader range of fashion styles and offer unique, limitless beauty tutorials. Their ability to represent idealized lifestyles can better satisfy younger audiences' imaginations. Being digitally native, they quickly adapt to and reflect the latest trends, keeping the audience engaged with what's new and trendy. This can result in them starting to prefer virtual influencers. This shift in preferences is obviously leading to the recent changes in how brands allocate their marketing budgets.

Image Source: Dream Farm Agency

According to a study by Influencer Marketing Hub, brands spent an average of $18,000 to $30,000 on a single virtual influencer campaign in 2023. Brands like Samsung and Nike invested upwards of around $1 million in virtual influencer campaigns. In key cases, virtual influencers like Shudu Gram have showcased the integration of technology in Gucci marketing, promoting luxury fragrances. Dior's venture with Gal Gadot for makeup followed this trend. These initiatives reflect the rising role of virtual influencers, with notable market penetration in fashion (51%) and beauty (47%), extending to the food and lifestyle sectors.

VIRTUAL INFLUENCERS ACHIEVED REMARKABLE RESULTS IN ENGAGEMENT AND ROI

The average engagement rate for virtual influencer campaigns in 2023 was 5.9%. This is 3x higher than the average engagement rate for real influencer campaigns, which was 1.9%. Moreover, the average ROI for virtual influencer campaigns was 13.7%. This is slightly higher than the average ROI for real influencer campaigns, which was 12.3%.

These figures suggest that brands are actually seeing a positive return on investment from working with virtual influencers. As the technology continues to improve and the reach of virtual influencers grows, we can expect to see even more brands investing in this type of marketing.

REDUCED DEMAND FOR REAL INFLUENCERS

Virtual influencers are offering brands a cost-effective alternative to real influencers. They can be even created and controlled entirely by companies, eliminating the need to pay real influencers for their services. This can lead to reduced demand for real influencers, especially in mentioned industries where virtual influencers are gaining more popularity.

A study by AspireIQ found that 37% of marketers believe that virtual influencers will eventually replace real influencers. Also, another study by Influencer Marketing Hub found that 61% of marketers plan to use virtual influencers in their marketing campaigns in the next year.

These studies suggest that virtual influencers are becoming increasingly popular and are literally posing a threat to the real influencer market. Furthermore, virtual influencers are perfect in adapting to changing trends due to their digital nature, offering brands the flexibility to rapidly update styles and looks. With the metaverse projected to reach US$507.8 billion by 2030, these influencers are better positioned to capitalize on technological advancements and offer unique consumer engagement. As the technology continues to improve and the cost of virtual influencers continues to make more sense, we can expect to see even more brands switching to virtual influencers.

The projected growth rate of the virtual influencer market is also impressive. The global virtual influencer market size is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.9% from 2023 to 2030, compared to 17.9% for the real influencer market. This suggests that virtual influencers are gaining popularity at a faster rate than real influencers.

Image Source: Dream Farm Agency

THE QUEST FOR AUTHENTICITY

Digital personas, however, often lack the human essence, touch, and emotions that real influencers naturally convey. This absence can restrict their ability to connect with their audience on a deep emotional level and gain their trust, as the audience may find it challenging to establish a real connection with a virtual entity. Viewers may even struggle to understand their personal views, beliefs, and ideologies, ultimately decreasing the key element of relatability.

BUT THIS MAY NOT LAST FOR LONG.

Image Source: Dream Farm Agency

POWER OF BACKSTORY: AN AUTHENTICATED VIRTUAL IDENTITY

An effective way to tackle the authenticity challenge in virtual influencers is them have an engaging backstory, character profile, and identity. When a virtual influencer has an interesting story that adds depth to their persona, it allows viewers to connect more deeply by understanding their motivations, values, and experiences, ultimately strengthening the emotional bond and trust between virtual influencers and their audience.

WHAT TO EXPECT

It's a race to see who will dominate the influencer marketing world: the virtual creations or the real-life influencers. Given the trends and available data, it can be predicted that the replacement of real influencers by virtual ones is not just a possibility, but likely to happen.

However, while the virtual influencer market is growing rapidly, it is important to note that the real influencer market is also growing at the moment. This suggests that there is still a strong demand for real influencers and that virtual influencers and real influencers are likely to coexist in the near future, at least for a while.

In response to this market shift, real influencers can quickly explore the creation of virtual versions or digital avatars of themselves. This move lets them keep up with digital trends and go beyond their undeniable limits.

By expanding their presence into the virtual world, real influencers can then connect with their audience in new ways, and use the many opportunities the digital world offers. This bold step enables them to remain at the forefront of the influencer industry, ultimately positioning them as unlimited beings in the universe of influence.

As entrepreneurs, we know that influence is everything. The more people who are influenced by our product or service, the more successful we'll be.

So what are the benefits of being an influpreneur? Why not just stick to traditional entrepreneurship? Here are a few reasons.

Success in any field requires a certain amount of networking and relationships. As an influpreneur, you have a built-in audience from the start. Your fans are passionate about your work and any opportunity to connect with you on a personal or business level is one they'll jump at.

Influpreneurs can make money through multiple revenue streams. They can create businesses to handle influencer sponsorships with brands, sell products through affiliate links, and manage influencers’ work with businesses to promote their services. There are endless opportunities for talented and creative influencers to become influpreneurs and make a great income.

Influpreneurs can use their clout to get access to otherwise unattainable resources. They can leverage their influence to secure speaking opportunities and access to exclusive events. If you have social capital, you can easily deploy it to get what you need in order to succeed in your business.

An influpreneur can also build a personal brand that will serve as valuable career capital down the line. A strong personal brand can help you stand out in the job market and make it easier to find opportunities.

Influpreneurs can have a greater impact because they’re reaching more people with their message. Their followers trust their recommendations, so their products or services are more likely to get noticed. Ultimately, this can lead to increased sales and brand awareness.

Influpreneurs can create content that entertains and informs while promoting their business. With their vast social media followings and through tools such as blog posts, YouTube videos, [or] podcast episodes, influencers have the unique ability to captivate audiences and promote products or services in a way that traditional advertising methods simply can't match. When done right, this type of content can be hugely successful in driving sales and engagement.

It is easier for influpreneurs to build relationships with other influencers in their space to further grow their reach and impact. By developing a supportive network of peers, influpreneurs can amplify their reach and impact in business.

Influpreneurs enjoy increased name recognition and media attention. This can result in greater opportunities for these individuals to expand their brand, build their following, and participate in more promotional activities.

Influencers are important players in the entrepreneurship space. They can further expand the entrepreneurial ecosystem by setting an example for others. Influpreneurs can help inspire and mentor aspiring entrepreneurs by providing access to resources, networks, and knowledge.

Through their social media channels, influpreneurs can share stories of successes and failures that will inspire others to pursue their own entrepreneurial dreams. Influpreneurs can help influencers get started by offering advice on how to find funding, navigate regulations, establish partnerships, and market products or services. Additionally, influpreneurs can host events such as webinars or local meetups that allow budding entrepreneurs to network and learn from each other’s experiences. By providing insight into the real-world challenges associated with launching a business, influencers play an invaluable role in fostering a culture of entrepreneurship.

There are countless benefits to being an influpreneur—benefits that traditional entrepreneurs simply don't have access to. If you're thinking about starting a business, you should consider leveraging your influence to do it. Not only will you be more successful as a result, but you'll also have more fun and enjoy greater fulfillment along the way.

The event will take place on May 18 in Black Venue, Soho Garden Dubai, and will host prominent international and regional celebrities, content creators, leading multinational brands, and an exciting line-up of top international performances – all under one roof.

With over 400 featured content creators, 30+ awards, and 50+ independent judges including prominent experts, marketers, and industry leaders, the event will have an exposure of over 150 million audience size of attendees.

For more information please visit www.menacreatorsawards.com

Influencer marketing industry is set to grow to approximately $13.8 Billion in 2021

Barring industries such as travel and tourism who've had to retrench dramatically, most industries have managed to adjust their models in reaction to the changes in the market, that was caused by the pandemic. People now spend considerably more time online than ever before. As a result, the demand for influencer marketing as a strategy has grown considerably in 2020 and is set to grow even higher in demand in 2021.  From a mere $1.7 billion in 2016, influencer marketing is estimated to have grown to have a market size of $9.7 billion in 2020. This is expected to jump to $13.8 billion in 2021.

As influencer marketing has matured as an industry, it has attracted support companies and apps to simplify the process for both brands and influencers. Organic influencer marketing can be a slow and tedious process, particularly when finding and wooing influencers to promote your company's products or services. According to the report, in 2020, 240 new influencer marketing-focused platforms and agencies entered the market. The report cited it as one of the largest increases over the years and takes the list of total influencer agencies and platforms to 1360. [ Authors note – The survey methodology cites the responses came from a variety of regions – 47% from USA, 11% Europe, 13% Asia (APAC), 5% Africa and19% describing their location as other.]

Initially, during the pandemic, there were concerns around cut backs on influencer campaign spending due to COVID-19 but that was short-lived. While the pandemic had an initial effect during Q1 and! Q2 2020, with 1945 campaigns in Q1 2020 falling further to 1575 in Q2, things changed substantially in the second half of the year. Influencer campaigns rose dramatically to 2163 in Q3, with an even larger jump in Q4 to 2901. This was evident in the abundance of content that was seen online as brands sought to influencers for content to promot their brands.

An increasing majority have a standalone budget for content marketing

The majority of respondents (59%) admit to having a standalone budget for content marketing, and 75% of them intend to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2021. Brands of all sizes engage in influencer marketing. Therefore, it should be no surprise to see quite some variation on what firms spend on the activity. 49% of the brands surveyed said they spend less than $10K annually on influencer marketing. 23% spend between $10K and $50K. A further 12% spend $50K to $100K, 7.5% spend $100K to $500K, and 8.6% spend more than $500K.

The report also noted that 77% of survey respondents claimed that they ran their influencer campaigns in-house, with the remaining 23% opting to use agencies or managed services for their influencer marketing. In the past, firms found influencer marketing challenging because they lacked the tools to facilitate the process – organic influencer marketing can be a hit-and-miss, making it frustrating for brands trying to meet their goals. However, many firms now use tools (whether in-house or from third parties) to facilitate the process.

Some brands prefer to use agencies when working with micro and nano-influencers because the agencies are more experienced at working with influencers at scale. Also, larger firms use agencies for all of their marketing, including influencer marketing.

Clearly, the amount that a firm spends depends on its total marketing budget and the proportion it chooses to devote to influencer marketing. Those brands that opt to work with mega-influencers and celebrities spend more than brands that work alongside micro- or nano-influencers. COVID has the effect of increasing the extremes – firms have either decreased their influencer marketing noticeably or have put more emphasis on the practice and spent more on it.

Firms value working with influencers they know

56% respondents cited working with the same influencers for multiple campaigns rather than approaching new ones for each campaign. Clearly, brands prefer to build up relationships with existing influencers rather than going through the full influencer selection process every time they run a campaign. Of course, some firms will have a range of influencers they call upon, depending on the nature of a particular campaign, the products they are trying to promote, and the target market.

Half of the firms working with influencers operate e-commerce stores

50.7% of the respondents in the survey run e-commerce stores. E-commerce continues to rise in popularity as consumers shopping habits changed in 2020. It also brought about the rise of strategies such as live commerce and social commerce. Strategies that heavily rely on influencers and personalities who can reel in an audience.

The most common measurement of influencer marketing success is conversions/sales

In 2019 and preceding years, influencer marketing measurement's focus was relatively evenly balanced between differing campaign goals, but conversion/sales was the least-supported reason. In 2020 and 2021, things have changed. Influencer marketing is sufficiently widespread now that most businesses understand that the best way to measure your influencer marketing ROI is by using a metric that measures your campaigns' goals.

Clearly, more brands are now focusing on using influencer marketing to generate tangible results. 38.5% believe that you should gauge a campaign success by the conversions/sales result. The remaining respondents have differing goals for their campaign, with 32.5% most interested in engagement or clicks generated due to a campaign, and 29% interested in views/reach/impression.

Influencer campaign channels

Instagram remains the network of choice for influencer marketing campaigns. However, its dominance has fallen this year. 68% of survey respondents consider Instagram important for their influencer marketing campaigns. The most significant change comes in second place, with 45% of respondents now using TikTok for their influencer marketing campaigns.

Apart from TikTok's new-found prominence, the most notable differences are a decline in Twitter from 22% to 15%, an increase in LinkedIn from 12% to 16%.

2020 also witnessed an enormous rise in influencer marketing on TikTok and Twitch in 2020. Both social networks saw some growth in influencer usage in 2019, Twitch rising from 9,990 influencers to 15,754 and TikTok rising from 16,394 to 35,528. However, 2020 with its lockdowns and other COVID-related issues, has seen Twitch influencers more than double from 15,754 to 36,663, and TikTok rising from 35,528 to 106,104.

Influencer fraud is still of concern for marketeers

Influencer fraud has been one of the key reasons why there's always been a conflict between marketeers and influencers. But now there are many tools to help detect fraudsters, reducing the effects of influencer fraud. However, the issue is not completely out of the picture or from the minds of brands and marketeers. The pandemic has managed to dim the light on news about influencer fraud in 2020.

The percentage of marketeers worrying about fraud has only dropped by one percent (68-67%). While the number of firms worrying about fraud only fell by a small amount, there was actually a significant drop in influencer fraud experienced last year. In 2019, 68% of respondents claimed to have experienced fraud. In 2020, only 38% claimed to have suffered. While the stats show signs of promise, it's still a cause for concern for many marketeers and an issue that needs to be closely watched.

Brand Ripplr provides a front-to-end campaign management solution that caters to a growing portfolio of over 75 clients, including global power-houses Pepsi, Etisalat, Nestlé, and Uber.

Notably, Brand Ripplr has extended its services, cooperating with esports entities, gamers, and streamers, a fast-growing influencer space that is proving very rewarding and attracting many major brands.

Brand Ripplr leverages big data to allow clients to execute impactful influencer marketing campaigns by identifying and activating the region’s most impactful social media creators. The company’s clients benefit from industry-leading influencer audience analytics and performance tracking to deliver impressive results.  Brand Ripplr’s platform allows its clients to effectively monitor marketing ROI so that the impact of every campaign dollar spent can be evaluated.

Brand Ripplr’s innovation and technology earned it the title of ‘Most Favourited Startup’ at a recent Web Summit in Lisbon. “We built Brand Ripplr as a way to bridge the gap that exists between influencers and brands seeking exposure,” Founder Tanaz Dizadji explains. “By building a data-centric and full-service solution, every brand now has the opportunity to reach the right consumers to increase purchase consideration.”

Dubai Angel Investors is Brand Ripplr’s lead investor. According to its Chairman Abdullah Mutawi, Brand Ripplr represents a hugely compelling investment opportunity, given its position within the sphere of digital content production at scale. In his view, “Many consumer-facing industries are thirsty for effective and influential user-generated social media content. Brand Ripplr provides a solution that can only be described as “precision-guided influencer marketing” as it provides brands with a data-driven channel enabling influencers to develop credible content to reach highly targeted audiences.  The ROI and value-proposition for brands are unassailable and that is what will drive Brand Ripplr’s performance in the years to come.  We are very excited about this investment; Tanaz and her team are changing the game in the influencer marketing space.”

For more information, please visit: 

https://www.brandripplr.com; https://www.facebook.com/BrandRipplr/ ; https://www.instagram.com/brandripplr/ ; https://twitter.com/BrandRipplr;

How does the algorithm of Hypeauditor work? 

We programmed our machine learning algorithm to detect certain patterns in the influencer’s account to understand whether their follower count and engagement is original or fake. The algorithm can detect bots very easily. Some of the patterns include:

• Finding handles with digits in the username.
• Posts where the ratio of likes to comments is disproportionate.
• Bot subscribers.
• Engagement
• Quality of audience

The Instagram influencer landscape in the UAE is divided into five ties based on the follower count:

• Mega influencers and celebrities (over 1M followers)
• Macro-influencers (100K-1M followers)
• Micro(5K-20K followers) and Mid-tier(20K-100K followers) influencers
• Nano influencers (1K-5K followers)

Engagement rate (ER) is a commonly used benchmark to measure the success an influencer has when he/she attempts to connect with their audience. Highly engaging content with many likes and comments often stand a better chance of organically appearing on an Instagram feed.

But sadly these numbers do not portray the reality of the matter, as many influencers in the UAE are involved in fraudulent activity. Some of the different tactics that can be used to inflate the influencers metrics are as follows:

• Buying followers which 35% of micro-influencers and a quarter of nano influencers do on a regular basis. “Using an SMM panel such as Followiz, you can purchase 1000 followers for as low as two dollars,” said Baklanov. “People are even able to purchase likes as well and even go to the extent of deciding which country these likes should come from and it’ll cost max, $1 and 68 cents for about 1000 likes,” added Baklanov.
  
• Follow/unfollow or mass following is a common tactic to find new followers. An influencer follows a random account, drops a like and comment on their posts, waits for them to follow back and then quickly unfollows them. Third-party applications help influencers to perform this tactic in large numbers and in the UAE, 20,55% of mid-tier influencers are involved in this malpractice.

How does the Hypeauditor algorithm detect influencers who use the follow/unfollow trick? 

The algorithm gathers the open data from the influencer’s profile and detects the pattern on the growth graph to notice for irregularities.
“Since Instagram flagged the follow/unfollow tactic, these influencers now use mass story views. It’s a similar process where a user utilizes a third party application to view over 50,000 stories and polls per day and gains followers from the publishers of these stories and polls,”  says Baklanov.

• Comment pods are groups of influencers who collaborate to inflate each other’s activity. The danger of this tactic is that the comments are coming from authentic accounts with high-quality content on their pages. 10.76% of nano influencers in the UAE are engaged in such activity.”A cloud-based instant messaging service known as Telegram is used by influencers for comment pods. The service has various chat groups with names such as DX 25 which means you can get 25 likes and comments from the other group members on your post. The process is a basic give and take scenario. If I want 25 likes and comments on my post, I have to interact and like 25 other members’ posts on the group before sharing the link to my post. There’s an algorithm monitoring all the activity,” as explained by Baklanov.
  “These kinds of comments are very easy to detect because of their monosyllabic pattern. You’re also able to get a premium subscription to the service- which lets you avoid interaction with other posts and get what you’re looking for,” says Baklanov.
• Inauthentic comments are quite a common tactic and quite prevalent among the various tiers of influencers in the country. The algorithm measures inauthentic comments based on multiple factors such as; the content of the comment which includes suspicious elements such as – only emojis, words like wow, cool, fantastic, etc and quality of the account.
  Almost one-third of influencers have inauthentic comments. The biggest percentage of them are on celebrity accounts but not due to their inauthentic actions but because of the overall level of SPAM which is present on the platform. Most of it comes from users who use Instagram comment tools and bots.

Within the first two days of its release, the game garnered over 200,000 downloads and topped the App store charts making it the fastest downloaded game in the UAE. The game is available in both English as well as Arabic and takes users on a journey through Dubai’s trendiest spots in real-time with hundreds of different venues, shops, and events to visit and over 1,500 unique items of clothing and accessories to style characters. StyleCity aims to revolutionise the region’s gaming industry in terms of quality, depth and user experience.

Dubzplay is revolutionising the mobile gaming and application industry in the MENA region through the development and introduction of celebrity-focused applications in English and Arabic that are strategically planned from a consumer market perspective. Dubzplay acquires a roster of celebrities on exclusive mobile application contracts and builds an ecosystem around those personalities from which high-quality “fashion and lifestyle” applications, such as StyleCity, are launched.

“With a large network of passionate and talented employees, we take a bold and energetic approach to social applications, combining cool and original content with state-of-the-art graphics. Our applications place a strong emphasis on celebrity presence and seasonality, appealing to users in the MENA region and globally,”  said Mohannad Khallouf, CEO at Dubzplay.

Taghreed Oraibi, business director at BPG Orange, shares tips on how to address the issue of influencers lying about their real Instagram following.

Influencers play a significant role in driving consumer attention to marketing campaigns, especially millennials. According to research conducted by BPG Group in 2017, 94 percent of in-house marketeers in the UAE believe influencer marketing is very significant for the success of their brands. Brands are enticed to invest heavily in influencer marketing as they believe products excite consumers the most when a person they connect with or can relate to endorses them.

Depending on the number of followers, influencers can charge between $1,000 and $10,000 per post – huge sums but an investment worth making, considering the benefits companies get from these deals. For every dollar spent, a brand earns around $6 in ROI and this lucrative industry is set to rake in $15 billion by 2022.

Unfortunately, with great money comes great influencer fraud. Some people inflate popularity by buying followers and likes to fool brands, and consumers know it. 78 percent of consumers are aware that influencers can buy followers, likes and comments on Instagram. In addition, there are ‘Instagram pods,’ where people exchange engagement to trick the algorithm and drive false metrics.

To help protect companies from ‘fakefluencers,’ Instagram is cracking down on bots and pods, but if you work closely with influencers, here are some tips to help you manage influencers’ campaigns effectively and ensure you are making the right investments:

• Analytical tools

Invest in tools like HypeAuditor and Traackr, that analyze influencers’ platforms and display their reach and audience demographics. If there is a sudden spike in their followers numbers, you can investigate to determine if the reasons are legitimate and then decide if the influencer’s platform is credible and worth the investment.

• Follower-to-following ratio

Skimming through a platform, there are many visible signs to look for. Manually calculate an influencer’s follower-to-following ratio. This figure tells you if a person is using the follow/unfollow technique, where people follow others just to gain followers back. Investigate some followers’ accounts because several might be fake without profile photos or regular content.

• Engagement rate

You should monitor an influencer’s engagement rate. If they have 100,000 followers, but only ten people comment on each post, their engagement rate is nonexistent, when it should be between one to three percent.

• Comments

Read comments to ensure they are genuine. If followers are all making generic statements like “Yas Queen!” – which is irrelevant to the post – they are fake.

• Request results

Hold influencers responsible for the outcomes of their campaigns with your brand. Brands should set their targets and goals ahead of a campaign, and spend based on the achieved results. For example, if your objective is to drive sales through an influencer marketing campaign, then perhaps consider offering a percentage of sales to the influencer instead of paying them per post. If your objective is to increase engagement, then the financial compensation should be made based on the engagement level resulting from the campaign.

To protect brands, the UAE government is enforcing stricter regulations and transparency through mandatory influencer licensing policies. Soon, we hope that regulators will start verifying accounts even more closely to audit an influencer’s page before issuing any licenses to conduct business.

Opinions expressed in this piece belong to the author.