{"id":13576,"date":"2020-12-07T22:50:07","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T22:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grin.co\/?p=13576"},"modified":"2025-10-03T14:41:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T21:41:55","slug":"influencer-pods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grin.co\/blog\/influencer-pods\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Influencer Pods? – Everything you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Within the broader conversation of fake followers and influencers, influencer pods represent a technique often used to inauthentically increase influencer engagement rates. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Influencer pods can be tricky. Some influencers see positive results from working in these pods. But at the end of the day, influencer pod activity deceives brands about what\u2019s actually happening on an influencer\u2019s page.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are Influencer Pods?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Influencer pods are groups of influencers that work together to boost one another\u2019s engagement in a quid pro quo relationship.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because getting high-paying brand collaborations frequently depend on high engagement metrics, these influencers intentionally raise each other\u2019s likes, comments, and shares. They typically operate in a social media group, such as a closed group or direct group message.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are Influencer Pods the Same as Fake Followers?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Because influencer pods involve real people managing their own accounts, it is not technically the same as fake followers.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the influencer pod model subverts <\/span>content authenticity<\/span><\/a> in most cases. Most of these pods recognize that the engagement that they receive is not authentic – merely an agreed-upon favor to everyone in the group.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fake followers are not real people. The individuals, bots, and agencies that create fake followers do so to manufacture follower counts and engagement metrics. <\/span>Influencers that use fake followers are by default <\/i><\/b>fake influencers<\/i><\/b><\/a>. By comparison, influencer pods – though not altogether genuine – are made up of real influencers.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How are Influencer Pods Created?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To build these \u201cpods,\u201d influencers agree to come together and support each other with engagement amongst one another\u2019s posts. In theory, a group of influencers liking, commenting, and sharing on everyone\u2019s posts will trigger the social media algorithms to feature their content more frequently.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In <\/span>GRIN\u2019s 01-100 Chapter 2: Finding Influencers<\/span><\/a>, MVMT\u2019s Manager of Influencer Marketing Ethan Frame talks about the challenges of identifying these influencer pods.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInfluencers are in these DM [direct messaging] groups where they have 10-20 people in there, and there\u2019s a rule: whenever someone posts, they share their post in the group, and everyone is supposed to like, comment, or share their post so that it drives up the engagement.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Influencer pods don\u2019t represent the typical \u201cfake follower\u201d model where agencies create fake\/fraudulent social media accounts to illegitimately drive influencer follower counts and engagement. Fake followers are usually easy to spot – their profiles have little or no content, profile pictures are stolen, and fake follower comments usually lack substance.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But influencer pod engagements don\u2019t always look \u201cfishy.\u201d User profiles belong to real people (influencers), and many of the pod-generated comments are specific and conversational. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Spot an Influencer Pod<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Influencer marketing managers<\/span><\/a> started discovering these pods after closely examining post comments from certain users. Almost by chance, marketers noted that a single commenter would perform the exact same action on multiple other influencer posts. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the influencer who received the comment replicated that action on multiple other influencer profiles. Marketers put \u201ctwo and two\u201d together and realized that this particular group of influencers had a clear equal exchange arrangement.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a brand, influencer pods can skew performance metrics for your influencers and campaigns. Since the success of influencer campaigns depend upon authenticity, using inauthentic tactics to raise engagement forces your ROI to take the hit. In other words, you\u2019re not getting what you expect or hope for.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to know where influencer pods exist and how you can spot them. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most efficient means of spotting influencer pod activity is through social media artificial intelligence. And that\u2019s why Instagram and other channels have started tweaking their algorithms to identify and punish posts using influencer pods.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But marketers can spot influencer pods by looking for like for like engagements among a select group of users. If you know what to look for – commenting one another\u2019s posts consistently – you\u2019ll be able to see a pattern. After you\u2019ve identified the pattern, you can spot other influencers within that pod and avoid recruiting them unless you feel confident that you can manage them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pros and Cons to Influencer Pods for Brands<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From the brand\u2019s perspective, there aren\u2019t many pros to influencer pods. Many influencer programs try to assess the value of an influencer based on their engagement metrics, and if many post engagements aren\u2019t coming from engaged followers, then the brand will get the wrong idea about that influencer\u2019s ability to convert.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, influencer pods do carry some value for the influencers that use them. Here\u2019s a quick breakdown of some of the pros and cons of influencer pods.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pros<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n