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An agency said my IG account engagement was ‘inconsistent’ so I audited their client… and now I am not taking the deal
Posted by on December 8, 2025 at 11:38 amLat week an agency reached out for a collab. They were giving a good budget, simple deliverables and they said that they loved my audience vibe. I got excited to work with them but before signing their manager sent me a message 'we are concerned ur engagement looks inconsistent from 30 days can u explain why some posts performed way better than other posts?' I just literally re-read their message 4 times.. I then decided to check their client's account (the brand they wanted me to work with) for that I used a tool to check their activity and what I noticed:
- Random spikes of 100-200 new followers at 4-5am
- Clusters of followers with zero posts and weird usernames
- Theere was a pattern like the account was following 50,60 people then unfollowing them later
- The funniest part the comments were repeated like good content and emojies it was like bots were talking to bots
And they were questioning my posts. The moment I saw their growth patterns I politely declined the deal.
I am not here to critisize the brand or any agency but before agreeing to a collab, creators should always examine the account.. examine their growth trends and caliber of comments.
Also how do you handle it when a brand questions ur metrics?
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1 Reply
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Auditing the agency’s claims before locking in the deal is a smart move. When someone says engagement is “inconsistent,” push for a clear KPI framework (e.g., engagement rate by post, comments quality, retention) and a defined test period to prove impact. Also verify that metrics account for platform differences (IG vs LinkedIn) and content/audience quality. If outcomes can’t be tied to concrete actions within a short trial, it makes sense to walk away.
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Very smart idea. Good job
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“Agency.” 🤔
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You basically provide as much evidence you can that your account is not weird, if not, just leave like that because that brand will also probably pay you in dimes if they want to have a colab with you
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Antagonizing the hand that feeds is a bold move, especially when the industry is so small. I’m talking about auditing their client. You’re right to question why they’re asking you about the inconsistency which could mean that they actually don’t know how social media works or they have to answer to their client and they want to quote you.
If you can walk away from the deal without risking a lot, just do that without the added acid. The little guys in the day to day will remember and will hesitate working with you again.
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what was the tool man??
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some people are so unprofessional, you def dodged a bullet there
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Why did you decline? How does it matter if some unrelated paying client buys bots engagements on the side? Can you explain why its bad?
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