Instagram influencers are stuck in a business atmosphere that is not always as transparent and real as it looks like.

To discover the most beautiful places on the planet, you can turn to Instagram and be assured that you will find breathtaking landscapes, while being secretly filled with envy for those photographers and bloggers that scour the planet all year long.

But not everything is as beautiful as one would make you believe.

In a universe where we hope our content, our product, our brand are seen by the largest audience possible, we sometimes turn to these influencers that seem to obtain such a unique level of engagement that could only be beneficial to the promotion of what we have to offer.

And this is where the Instagram “game” starts. Accounts that have tens (or hundreds) of thousand of followers, that get thousands of likes per publication. What part of this engagement is real and really has value?

Does this Instagram account really work at adding and creating the most beautiful photos possible, to allow its followers to discover unique places or do they make sure they work on their “numbers”, their statistics, so they can generate revenue?

Sara Melotti, a blogger and photographer that has just over 30,000 followers recently raised a large flag about certain tactics used by influencers like her.

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  • engagement automation;
  • non-creative choice of places she has visited;
  • random engagement;
  • use of collective accounts;
  • buying followers, likes, shares;
  • etc.

«I am ashamed of everything I have done in the past 6 months,» mentions Sara Melotti.

Instagram is a great tool in the content marketer’s arsenal. It is a platform that allows the distribution and the promotion of content, creating engagement and amplification for your brand. It also gives you access to a large number of influencers that can help your brand reach an ever-growing audience, something you might not have access to on a daily basis.

But things are never perfect, and by reading the Business Insider article I am recommending (and you can also read Sara Melotti’s full article on her blog), you will discover what you should ask, watch out for, avoid, when you interact with Instagram influencers.