How do I check a food truck’s social media following is real?
Look past the follower count. Read the comments, check who is engaging, see whether posts about specific stops bring visible crowds, and ask for the platform’s own audience reports. Then link the posts to sales: do busier days follow big posts? Followers who never buy are worth very little to a buyer.
Open the accounts and read. Real followers leave particular comments, tag friends, ask about locations and share photos of their meals. Be cautious where comments are generic, repeated or from accounts with no activity. A sudden jump in followers with no matching jump in engagement is worth asking about.
Ask the seller for the analytics screens from the platform, showing where followers live, when they are active and which posts reached the most people. Compare with where the truck actually operates. A large audience far from the service area may not help.
Most important, tie attention to income. Take a few posting dates and compare them with sales that day. Ask whether the seller ever paid for followers or promotions, and who controls the accounts and passwords. Make sure the accounts transfer in the agreement. Your lawyer can add that to the sale terms. Check reviews and mentions on other sites as well. A real following usually leaves traces beyond one account, such as event pages, local articles and customers’ own photos. Absence of those is worth a question. Ask for a screen recording of the analytics, taken in front of you, if the seller can do that.
Key takeaways
- Read comments and look at who is engaging, not just the count.
- Compare posting dates with sales records.
- Confirm who controls the accounts and that they transfer to you.
- Look for traces of the truck outside its own accounts.
Related reading
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentMajor pitfalls to avoid when negotiating a purchase agreement
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