Check for Fake Followers on Instagram: Community vs Audience Test

Kendall Dickieson, Head of Social and Influencer at Graza, walks through her personal vetting framework for evaluating creators before any partnership, paid or otherwise. She argues that follower count is one of the least reliable signals and should never be the first metric you reach for.

Instead, Kendall draws a sharp distinction between a community (active, engaged participants) and an audience (passive observers), and she uses comments and shares as the primary indicators of which one a creator actually has. She also flags over-promotion as a quiet red flag, specifically the pattern of a creator cycling through competing brands in the same niche once contracts expire.

Beyond the numbers, she routinely schedules a call with any creator she wants to take to a paid partnership, because creative alignment and collaborative chemistry are non-negotiable before serious budget goes out the door.

If you want a practical checklist for how to check for fake followers on Instagram and spot real engagement, this three-minute breakdown delivers exactly that.