avatarChristina Szeman

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ut that there was a name change to that account to <i>Instagram User</i>.</p><p id="74c8">I searched, and some people were unhappy with the quality of Devils Treasures’ products and being Influencers. It turns out that the account was fake.</p><p id="63c1">Well, in terms of my reaction. I was glad that I finally got to see that they were fake. I was going to go out and buy one of those video kits for social media. But I am glad that I didn’t. And I am so happy that this company didn’t tell me to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on them, just $35.</p><figure id="f1f3"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*7WIH9gKue8ddKHQ6hUxakw.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@sxoxm?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Sven Mieke</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/fitness?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>.</figcaption></figure><p id="9620">And I also had two Instagram messages asking me to be an influencer for two weight loss products. The problem was that I am not that skinny, I don’t have the time to learn photoshop to make myself that way, and my podcast is a Pagan one. So one of them I didn’t respond back to. The other, well, I let the person know that the Instagram feed they were messaging me on has nothing to do with health and fitness.</p><p id="7730">As I researched the topic of Influencer and fake follower scams, well, there are plenty of them out there.</p><figure id="9b6a"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*OvY0iXNFC02CmwjFEOx5gQ.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://www.pexels.com/@plann-2999237?utm_content=attributionCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=pexels">Plann</a> from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-using-smartphone-application-4549408/?utm_content=attributionCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=pexels">Pexels</a>.</figcaption></figure><p id="d24a">If you want to be an Influencer, you first have to look for a legit Influencer agency (Yes, there is such a thing. Just Google it). You do have to do your research on them to know that and how you will get paid. You would have to write a pitch, and you can use either video, audio, or just write one to that agency. They would then decide if you are the right fit for them. Not everyone is. But before all this, you do have to do your research into being an Influencer.</p><p id="02e6">If you want to get more followers, please do not sign up on websites that promise you more. Sooner or later, the real followers and those working on any of the Social Media platforms will find out. The most listeners I got for my podcast has been 2,500 for one episode. Lately, it has just been 500 real people. And that is fine with me.</p><p id="ebe2">Same with my Medium followers. At this point, I only got 183, and that’s slowly growing.</p><div id="0c81" class="link-block"> <a href="https://medium.com/@dreamsounder/membership"> <div> <div> <h2>Join Medium with my referral link - Christina Szeman</h2> <div><h3>As a Medium member, a portion of your membership fee goes to writers you read, and you get full access to every story…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*4Ed_ErFkJLKbgenv)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="d945" class="link-block"> <a hre

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Influencer and Fake Followers Scams

It’s a never-ending problem.

Photo by Anna Tarazevich from Pexels.

Yesterday, I checked my spam box to find an agency wanting to hire me to be an Influencer. I didn’t click the link. Instead, I Google to see if they were legit or not. One website gave them a 1 for trustworthiness. So I didn’t apply.

The day before, I got a message from someone that went like this:

Image by Christina Szeman.

First, the Errors of the Above Message.

What is the first error that you noticed front this message? If you say iTunes Podcast, you are correct. This person doesn’t know that Apple got rid of iTunes years ago. There is also a spelling error near the top; can you find that? Finally, someone forgot to capitalize the “s” in Spotify and the “P” in promotion should be in small caps. I know there are other grammar errors here, but let’s focus on the main error: This message asked me to get some fake followers for my podcast.

This is nothing new.

You probably say that this is nothing new, that there are fake follower scams geared towards Medium writers. I did read about the last one. By the way, fake follower scams are on every Social Media platform. It has been going on for years on Soundcloud, even when I started my show on there.

I got messages that wanted more listeners to hear my “tracks,” Even one spammer called me bro when they didn’t know I was female. They have not listened to my podcast. Right now on Soundcloud, these scammers are just putting up a print screen with an orange background of a URL as their profile picture, for us to go sign up on these fake follower sites. I don’t respond; I just report those to Soundcloud.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

A couple of months ago, I got a message saying that Devil Treasures wanted me to be their Influencer on my Podcast Instagram account. Devil Treasures sells stainless-steel necklaces and rings. Now, my podcast is about paganism, and there were a few witchy images on those items. So, I said yes, and they gave me a code to go and buy three rings. The only thing that I had to spend was on shipping, which is $35. Days before I got those rings, something strange happened in my Instagram feed. It was like it was blank. But I didn’t find out what happened until the day that I got those rings and messaged the person who asked me to do it. Well, I soon found out that there was a name change to that account to Instagram User.

I searched, and some people were unhappy with the quality of Devils Treasures’ products and being Influencers. It turns out that the account was fake.

Well, in terms of my reaction. I was glad that I finally got to see that they were fake. I was going to go out and buy one of those video kits for social media. But I am glad that I didn’t. And I am so happy that this company didn’t tell me to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on them, just $35.

Photo by Sven Mieke on Unsplash.

And I also had two Instagram messages asking me to be an influencer for two weight loss products. The problem was that I am not that skinny, I don’t have the time to learn photoshop to make myself that way, and my podcast is a Pagan one. So one of them I didn’t respond back to. The other, well, I let the person know that the Instagram feed they were messaging me on has nothing to do with health and fitness.

As I researched the topic of Influencer and fake follower scams, well, there are plenty of them out there.

Photo by Plann from Pexels.

If you want to be an Influencer, you first have to look for a legit Influencer agency (Yes, there is such a thing. Just Google it). You do have to do your research on them to know that and how you will get paid. You would have to write a pitch, and you can use either video, audio, or just write one to that agency. They would then decide if you are the right fit for them. Not everyone is. But before all this, you do have to do your research into being an Influencer.

If you want to get more followers, please do not sign up on websites that promise you more. Sooner or later, the real followers and those working on any of the Social Media platforms will find out. The most listeners I got for my podcast has been 2,500 for one episode. Lately, it has just been 500 real people. And that is fine with me.

Same with my Medium followers. At this point, I only got 183, and that’s slowly growing.

Fake
Followers
Followersoninstagram
Instagram
SoundCloud
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