Digital marketing trends food and beverage brands cannot ignore in 2026
The specific 2026 digital marketing trends most relevant to food and beverage brands, prioritised for visual discovery and retail media coordination.
5 min read
Influencer fraud — fake followers, purchased engagement, bot-driven interaction — remains a genuine, costly risk in influencer marketing, making practical, disciplined vetting a necessary step before any significant partnership investment.
Common fraud patterns worth checking for
- A sudden, unnatural spike in follower count without a corresponding viral moment explaining it.
- Suspiciously consistent, uniform engagement rate across every post, lacking natural variation.
- Comments that read as generic, bot-generated or clearly disconnected from the actual post content.
Practical manual verification steps
Review actual comments for genuine, specific engagement rather than generic phrases, check follower growth history for suspicious spikes, and compare engagement rate against genuinely known, comparable accounts in the same category and follower range.
Fraudulent engagement often looks impressive at a glance and falls apart the moment you actually read the comments — a few minutes of genuine, careful review catches most of what a pure numbers check would miss.
AI-assisted vetting tools
As covered in our AI in influencer marketing guide, dedicated tools can analyse follower and engagement authenticity at scale more efficiently than manual review alone, though combining both approaches remains the most thorough practice.
Building fraud protection into contract terms
Consider including performance guarantees or verification clauses in influencer contracts, providing some recourse if genuine fraud is discovered after payment, rather than relying solely on upfront vetting.
Frequently asked questions
How common is influencer fraud currently?
It remains a genuine, non-trivial concern across the industry, making vetting a standard, expected due diligence step rather than an unusual precaution.
Can micro and nano-influencers also engage in fraud?
Yes, fraud is not exclusive to larger accounts — vetting discipline should apply across every influencer tier, including smaller ones.
What should you do if fraud is discovered after a partnership has already been paid?
Document the specific evidence, attempt to resolve directly with the influencer, and where contract terms allow, pursue the recourse established in your partnership agreement.
If you want help vetting influencer partnerships for genuine authenticity, talk to our team.
The takeaway
Check engagement rate consistency across an influencer's recent posts, not just an average — a suspiciously consistent, high engagement rate across every post, without natural variation, is a common signal of purchased or bot-driven engagement.
Written by Fibvo — Bengaluru and Erode, India — working with clients in other time zones. Questions, or think we have it wrong? Tell us.
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