Brands beware! Is your influencer budget reaching real people?

New Delhi: In the world of filters, followers, and flashy brand deals, Social Tweebs, an influencer marketing agency, has revealed that India’s influencer economy might be standing on shaky ground.

Their recent data suggests that over 60% of influencer profiles in India have more inactive, fake, or non-credible followers than active ones, raising tough questions about ROI, authenticity, and the future of digital marketing.

“In the age of likes, shares, and paid collaborations, India’s influencer economy is facing a silent credibility crisis. A deep dive into the ecosystem reveals that more than 60% of influencer profiles have over 60% inactive, fake, or non-credible followers. This means the majority of creators may be projecting inflated reach & engagement, forcing brands to rethink whether their marketing budgets are targeting real people or just digital smoke and mirrors,” Aniket Shah, Co-founder and Business Head, Social Tweebs.

Social Tweebs’ Tweeb Tool, a proprietary intelligence engine, analysed over 8.5 million creator profiles in India to uncover audience authenticity, engagement quality, and campaign effectiveness. It includes features like influencer credibility scoring, audience overlap detection, and real-time campaign dashboards.

The implications are serious. For years, marketing budgets have steadily shifted away from traditional media to influencer-led content, often based on follower counts and engagement numbers.

But now, with bot-driven engagement and vanity metrics dominating the landscape, it’s increasingly important for brands to know whether they are throwing crores at illusions. Data-first platforms are working to bring the focus back to audience relevance, authenticity, and measurable ROI.

“A data-driven approach is paramount in reshaping how brands discover, vet, and collaborate with influencers in India,” Fauzan Abdul Rahim, Founder and Director, Social Tweebs.

Instead of chasing influencers with the biggest numbers, the spotlight is shifting toward those with the most meaningful audience connections.

“Now things have changed. An influencer is just a mouthpiece. What really matters is the audience. So using the tech, we can discover influencers who are a lot more relevant from an audience perspective. For example, a brand can say, I want at least 20–30% influencers from a specific region, an audience from a specific age, or I want to work with an influencer who's got at least 30% female audience. Now, interest is an important factor,” said Shah.

The future, it seems, is less about going viral and more about going valuable. As the ecosystem matures, influencer marketing is moving from aesthetics to analytics.

“The future is going to be more diversified, more strategic, more data-led. That’s what we are trying to push as a company and that’s the reason why we are investing into our own tech product which solves all these problems, makes the process data-led, brings transparency, and delivers ROI,” said Social Tweebs Team.