Step by step
- Start with the ratio, not the count
Followers, following, average likes, average comments. Two minutes of reading the profile gives you all four. Purchased audiences usually break one of these ratios visibly. Open Instagram Audience Quality Analyzer →
- Check the engagement rate against size
A 100k account at 0.4 percent and a 9k account at 5 percent are not the same product. Compute the rate before looking at the follower number again. Open Instagram Engagement Rate Calculator →
- Read the comments, not the count
Ten comments of emoji only, from accounts with no posts, is a signal. So is a comment section where the creator answers nobody. Comments are the least purchased part of a profile.
- Look for the growth shape
Compare the account today with a month ago. Straight-line growth on identical content is plausible; a vertical jump with no viral post is a purchase.
- Read the bio as a stranger
If a visitor cannot tell what the account is about in three seconds, the audience is less valuable than the numbers suggest, because the account cannot convert new followers.
Write the four numbers down and keep them. A report with numbers is defensible when a campaign underperforms; an opinion is not.