how to spot fake social media "experts"

this should have been published in 2018 but oh well, here we go

next time you see a carousel post or a tiktok of someone claiming

“this is how I went viral 47 times in 2025”

and they want you to “comment VIRAL”

to get their digital product automated to your dm,

ask yourself these quick questions:

1. do they make it sound easy?
2. do they focus too heavily on metrics and numbers?
3. do they have receipts?
4. do they promise fast or claim time specific results?
5. do they sound a little too much like everyone else in the space?
6. do they actually do the work (e.g. provide the service, job etc.) or do they just share information / knowledge?

in my last post i talked about why so many social media gurus are full of shit. now let’s talk a bit more on how to actually tell the difference between someone who knows what they’re doing and someone who’s just performing expertise

1. the fake experts tell you it’s easy

real social media strategy is hard. it requires understanding platform mechanics, audience psychology, content trends, brand positioning, and how all of that intersects. it takes years to develop good instincts.

it’s tactics that gen ai can now tell us about - you don’t need to pay humans for this information anymore.

fake experts STILL (!!) sell you the idea of surface level, irrelevant practices that can never replace a good strategy:  “post at 3pm”, “use these 10 hashtags”, “follow this caption structure” - as if there’s were some kind of quick fix hacks,

..because real expertise takes depth that can’t be copied from someone else

if someone is promising you easy results with a paint-by-numbers approach, they either don’t know what they’re talking about or they’re intentionally oversimplifying to make a sale.

2. they focus on vanity metrics

views, likes, follower counts. these are the metrics they obsess over because they’re easy to show off and they trigger people’s insecurities.

real experts talk about engagement quality, audience retention, conversion rates, platform nativity, brand lift, positioning, image, internet culture, and much more that actually can’t be quantified.

they ask “who are we reaching and why does it matter?” not “how do we get more eyeballs?”

when someone’s entire pitch is about growing your follower count or getting more views, that’s a red flag. those numbers mean nothing without context.

3. they don’t have receipts

here’s the thing about real social media experts: we’ve actually done the work. we’ve run accounts, tested strategies, failed a bunch, learned from it, and built something that actually works.

shady experts talk about theory. they regurgitate advice they read somewhere else. they teach frameworks they’ve never actually implemented.

ask them: what accounts have you grown? what campaigns have you run? what results did you get and how long did it take?

4. they promise fast results

“go viral in 30 days”

“10k followers in a week”

“instant engagement boost”

anyone promising fast results either doesn’t understand how platform algorithms actually work or they’re lying to you

real growth takes time. real strategy requires testing, iterating, learning your audience, finding your voice, understanding platform native formats, failing, trying better next time. there are no shortcuts + anyone selling you speed is selling you bullshit

5. they sound like everyone else

if you’ve heard the same advice from 50 different people, it’s probably surface-level garbage that someone repeated without understanding it

real experts have opinions. we disagree with conventional wisdom sometimes (for me it’s often) because we’ve seen it fail in practice. we have nuanced takes based on actual experience, not just what’s trending.

if someone sounds like a content creator industrial complex robot, they probably are one :)

6. they’re selling information, not doing client work

this one is tricky because some real experts do teach!! and there is always always always context for every practitioner, i’m not putting everyone in the same bucket. i can also understand if someone wants to retire from being a service provider for whatever reason. however -  if someone’s entire business model is teaching other people how to do social media (and using manipulative sales tactics), ask yourself why they’re not just doing social media themselves if it’s so lucrative and easy hehe

so what should you look for instead?

someone who:

• talks about context and nuance, not formulas
• admits when something didn’t work and what they learned
• focuses on strategy over tactics
• has specific examples of work they’ve done
• doesn’t promise unrealistic results
• has opinions that might piss some people off
• is actually working with clients or brands, not just teaching

basically, look for someone who’s doing the work, not just talking about it.

and if you can’t tell the difference yet? that’s okay, you’re learning - just be skeptical, ask questions, and don’t hand over your money to anyone who makes it sound too easy. stay safe out there and don’t buy into “shortcuts” :) real results take time.

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