By Lien Duke

The first few hours after a post goes up are the most critical. Engagement is the most obvious measure of success in social media, and Alex knows this. After spending most of her day shooting and editing content for her next TikTok video, she must spend the next few hours interacting with the comments and others’ content to ensure her engagement is high. “Filming time depends on the video; sometimes it takes five minutes, and other times it can take a whole day,” she says. Usually, these posts are planned weeks or even months in advance using a “content calendar.” Posting on social media is not just a fun hobby for her anymore; it has recently become her full-time job. As one of the first full-time New Orleans influencers, Alex has set herself apart from the typical content creator because of her city-specific content and authenticity, which has helped build her platform. 

Social media influencing is the greatest, newest way to make money by promoting products, places, and experiences online. While many people have attempted this career path, only some succeed in the cut-throat influencing world. Those who become successful typically live almost identical lives in either Los Angeles or New York City. Female influencers specifically tend to promote the same products, workout classes, and restaurants in these cities. The internet is overrun with New York and Los Angeles influencers who repeatedly review the same Ralph Lauren Polo Bar burger and Carbone vodka rigatoni. While this content is enjoyable to watch, and the food looks delicious, most people watching will never go to these cities or get reservations at these restaurants. Tired of consuming unrelatable content, people nationwide have become community-based influencers at a smaller scale to influence people in their cities. 

New Orleans is a hotspot of some of the nation’s best restaurants, bars, and festivals, but it is often forgotten in the internet’s grand scheme. NOLA-based influencers have popped up on Instagram and TikTok in the past few years, determined to share their love for the city’s food and culture scene. A tight-knit community of influencers has begun growing, and they all have similar goals. They do not seek fame or money but are driven by their love of their home city to spread the news of local businesses to others and promote tourism. 

Alex Robinson (@alexx_robinson) is an LSU alum from New York who fell in love with New Orleans and never left. Alex is best known for her weekly “Everything I Did This Week in New Orleans” videos and her restaurant reviews. She focuses on highlighting black-owned local businesses on her page as well. 

 Since starting her account on TikTok in 2020, she has amassed almost 90,000 followers on the platform and is one of the city’s most recognizable influencers. She says, “I was one of the first creators to start making content about New Orleans on Tiktok. There were maybe 3-4 of us, so most of my content would perform well since I was filling the void for a niche audience”. For context, the population of New Orleans is around 350,000, so her following is vast when compared to how big her audience is. She says she did not intend to be a New Orleans-specific creator, “this is just where I live, and I was just making content about my life. I would make videos about my neighborhood, gardening, funny skits, day in the life, etc. I started getting labeled as a ‘New Orleans content creator’ and ran with it”.

Alex intends to follow a different influencer blueprint; instead, she hopes to build her brand and career right here in New Orleans. She says, “Hopefully, more local brands will invest in influencer marketing and take what we can bring to the table seriously. Big, national brands get it, but NOLA businesses are behind on influencer marketing”. She plans on using her platform to attract people to smaller, local businesses instead of promoting more popular, national brands. 

As content creation has become her full-time job, she hopes to continue growing and becoming more recognizable to keep doing what she loves. Alex finds her work very rewarding, “Nothing I’ve done in my work life has ever felt this good. People approach me on the street and are excited to meet me. It’s insane, even on this small scale. I feel like I’m bringing people joy, and what’s more rewarding than that?”. Regarding larger-scale career moves, Alex is all for being on a reality TV show in the future. 

The New Orleans influencer pool is a beacon of light that shines through the overwhelming negativity on the internet. Instead of competing with each other, most of the influencers in this city are genuinely friends and collaborate often. Alex says, “There aren’t as many of us here, so there’s enough brand deals to go around. We share information and help each other. I’ve been known as a connector when it comes to bringing creators together and sharing information”. The number of influencers in New Orleans is growing constantly, and they are welcomed into the industry with open arms. 

One way that local influencers have been introduced to each other and collaborated is at events hosted by Karen Phan (@aintthatphancy). Karen, better known online as Phancy, is a local influencer who creates content about food and culture in New Orleans. She has visited and reviewed hundreds of restaurants, and has compiled recommendations for any and every type of food. Beyond her content, she prides herself on putting on a yearly event for content creators to meet each other. 

Karen is originally from the West Bank and was raised in Mississippi, but she has family in New Orleans that she visited constantly throughout her childhood. Her family was very close and found a connection with each other through meals. After working in operations at the Superdome, Karen got a new job that was more of an administrative role, leaving her much more free time. Aintthatphancy was born as a hobby for Karen to showcase her love of photography and food. “I’ve always had a camera in my hand,” she says. Originally, Phan started her reviews for restaurants on Yelp over ten years ago and then moved her reviews onto social media. She started on social media on Instagram and has recently expanded her platform to TikTok. Since her first Instagram post five years ago, Phan has accumulated around 80,000 followers across the two platforms. She also uses her platforms to promote local Asian-owned businesses because of her Vietnamese roots.

Despite her success online, Karen has decided that the best course of action for her is to keep her influencing as her side hustle instead of taking it on full-time. She started her accounts for fun and intends to keep them that way. “It was more of a diary for me,” she says about her beginnings.“New Orleans has so much of everything, and I documented what I could in food, fashion, and all the fun F-words”. Her dedication to keeping her platforms online as a fun hobby despite her rise in popularity is atypical for the influencing industry. 

Even though running her accounts is her hobby, Karen loves how she can impact small businesses in the city. She explains her current set-up, “I’m self-conscious, and I’ll sit in a dark room and do a voiceover again and again until I pronounce everything right…I’m doing it for the businesses so my dollars can go back to them, and we can all do well and create more business”. Her love of New Orleans runs deep and is evident through her content. “There are so many people who are dedicated to making New Orleans better, and I’m one of those people as well,” she says. The goal of her posts is to showcase the city’s local gems, “[that] there are businesses here striving and thriving, and we don’t always have to go to big corporate and chain places. There are local shops that you should spend your dollars at… we need to put our money back into the community”. A long-term goal of hers is to work with Visit New Orleans to promote tourism in the city. 

Even though New Orleans content creators strive to create a kinder, more inclusive space on the internet, their content is not always well received. Alex and Karen face backlash and occasionally receive hate comments on their posts. Alex says, “It’s hard at first, and you want to clap back at every negative comment, but eventually, you realize that not everyone is going to like you, and that’s okay… I don’t need to explain myself, prove people wrong, or even defend myself because being misunderstood and criticized is part of the job.” She recognizes how easy it is for creators to get too wrapped up in the online platform in which they present themselves. Since they are so deeply intertwined, it is often difficult for creators to separate their lives from their online presence. Alex and Karen keep their notifications off for both Instagram and TikTok to ensure they take healthy time away from social media. Karen says, “My mental health is way more important than some debate on my content.” 

They have learned over time to keep their work on social media and their personal lives separate. Karen works a stable 9-5 job, which allows her to separate her personal and online life during her work hours. Alex says, “I typically do all my social media stuff while my husband is also at work, so I don’t have to be on my phone while he’s home constantly. I’m always ‘on,’ but it doesn’t feel like I’m working. My friends and family think it’s cool and are always down to help me film, so it’s also a fun thing we do together.” 

Despite the problematic side of working in social media, the two influencers find their work for local businesses and the city of New Orleans very rewarding. “I was out at a festival one day, and this guy stopped me and told me how much my work impacts our community. I think about this every time I get tired or have no motivation to do anything. I really do it for the businesses,” says Karen. New Orleans has struggled to bounce back economically since Hurricane Katrina, especially regarding tourism. Creating content about what the city offers can help draw tourists to visit and help highlight struggling businesses that they have not heard of before. Beyond the visible impact on the city, “There’s also an instant gratification after posting when you see all the likes and comments coming in, so that helps too,” says Alex. 

​​New Orleans influencers have successfully emulated the laid-back, fun vibe of the city in their online posts. Their passion and love for the city they live in has been translated into work that helps the local economy and encourages people to visit. The internet is often a place of insincerity and exclusion, but the corner of the internet where New Orleans influencers live defies these standards. Similarly, New Orleans is one of the last cities in America that is genuine and unapologetic. It is a city full of people who love to eat, drink, throw parties, and over decorate for every holiday. The influencers and content creators who live here are no exception, regardless of how many followers they have. Even though sharing their lives on the internet can be difficult, Alex and Karen believe a life in New Orleans is a life worth sharing.