The glamourized profession of influencers

The term “influencer” started hopping across our screens in 2017, a word that is tied to someone who builds a social media platform with the intention to be used by brands for marketed deals. Before this term became mainstream, we used the terms “content creators” or “bloggers” to describe this profession.

Now, everyone tends to use the word “influencers” except for the people described as such. In fact, it seems that there is almost an underlying hatred for this word from anyone that started creating their content before 2017.

People that started creating their content as far back as 2010 did it because it was their passion. While people starting in the industry in recent years may still have passion for their content, there is also a form of lust for the attention and popularity it can bring.

For instance, 33-year-old content creator Ania Boniecka and her husband, Tyler, try to never use the word influencer.

“We hate that word so much,” said Boniecka. “It can be a word that other people describe us with, but we would never do that ourselves.”

Polish-born Boniecka moved with her family to Canada in 1999, at 13 years old, and began modeling at 14. She went to university for her Bachelor of Commerce, later becoming an accountant. Although, accounting was never an interest of Boniecka’s. To fill the creative void in her life, Boniecka started blogging.

“It was a natural progression of what modelling was doing for me creatively,” said Boniecka. “I really enjoyed the creative process of creating something from scratch, putting your voice behind something, your perspective, your point of view.”

After six years of being an accountant, she finally had the opportunity to quit her job. She was making money blogging and doing the things she really loved.

While she was following her passion, her family wasn’t thrilled with her choice at first. With her whole family in accounting or economics, they couldn’t understand how she would be able to make money on the internet.

“Overtime they started realizing that it is a way to make money, something you can be successful at, so they finally got on board, but it was a process for sure,” said Boniecka.

Being a content creator isn’t as easy as having the ability to take pretty pictures. A lot of people Boniecka and her husband know in the industry actually come from a public relations or marketing background.

“I think a lot of people misunderstand the amount of work and the resources that you need to be a content creator,” said Boniecka. “I know how it looks from the outside, to get to travel and be paid for it, but it’s not a job that you just do without having to do any work.”

There’s not much of Boniecka’s life that she hasn’t shared with her 116K followers, but she draws the line at putting overly negative things on the internet. At the end of the day, Boniecka says her platform is mainly for herself. Even right now, during the coronavirus pandemic, people still spend money, they’re just spending money in different ways, says Boniecka.

“I think that content creators and online content in general is going to be more valuable than ever,” said Boniecka.

One of the reasons she started blogging was because she didn’t like how other people, mostly photographers at the time, portrayed her in the content being put out.

“Just because we get to do the job that we love, doesn’t mean that we don’t have challenges like everybody else,” said Boniecka. “A big part of the job that we do, and having to stay relevant, is never being able to turn off your creative part of your brain, always having to have a great idea.”

With self-isolation in effect, Boniecka says she feels trapped. She had gotten used to being able to just take off at a moment’s notice before everyone’s “new normal” set in.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen. I think we’ve just been so free and so blessed that we have been able to travel so much,” said Boniecka. “I’m just scared for my freedom.”

In an article by Forbes, Kian Bakhtiari said that despite the influencer marketing industry being on track to be worth $15 billion by 2022, the market has become increasingly oversaturated. The majority of influencer campaigns lack strategic insight or creative direction, they are merely a glorified product placement. We are now beginning to see a move away from social media influencers towards creators, people who actually care about the product.

SHAYNA NICOLAY

FOLLOW SHAYNA ON INSTAGRAM!

Follow:
Share:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *