OTAWA –
Dennis Mathu and Stephanie Gordon started posting financial advice videos on YouTube three years ago, a side hustle that helped them scratch their creative itch.
They never imagined it would take them through some of Canada’s most powerful political corridors.
Mathu and Gordon (Steph & Den, as they are known online) were among several content creators invited to Tuesday’s federal budget close, where they got early access to Ottawa’s new spending plan.
It is an invitation normally reserved for experts, stakeholders and traditional media. But the federal Liberals are embracing influencers as they seek to win back disillusioned millennials, Gen Z voters and others who consume information through social media.
“They’re seeing that we’re building this audience and they want to take advantage of it,” Gordon, 27, said.
Steph & Den has a target audience of 18-34 year olds and 750,000 followers across multiple platforms. That includes TikTok, a popular video app that has been banned on federal government devices under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over privacy and cybersecurity concerns.
“They realize that many young people don’t watch the news anymore. They don’t consume traditional media,” said Reni Odetoyinbo, 27, invited to attend the last two federal budgets by the finance minister’s office.
“Especially for people my age. This is their main source of news.”
Neither Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland nor the Prime Minister’s Office would answer questions about the strategy.
But they did say that influencers are not paid when they are invited to government events, which included housing announcements in Toronto in the weeks leading up to the budget.
It’s about connecting with Canadians wherever they are, said Mohammad Hussain, spokesman for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Canadians are increasingly consuming digital content,” Hussain said in a statement. “As the media landscape grows, so does our approach to how we communicate.”
When the budget arrived on Tuesday, Danica Nelson, 33, documented the day on her Instagram account. She has a collective 24,000 followers with a core audience between 25 and 45 years old.
Nelson and the other six financial content creators reviewed the budget before presenting it to the House of Commons.
They also met with several ministers, including Housing Minister Sean Fraser, Youth Minister Marci Ien and Freeland, where they were able to ask questions.
“What I appreciated about this conversation is that they really wanted to make sure that we (as millennials and Gen Z) saw ourselves in it, and if we didn’t, they wanted to dig deeper,” Nelson posted on Instagram along with the man behind scene. videos and photos.
It was more political access than the mainstream media received that day.
As they spend the next few days reviewing the budget, creators will develop content around it, focusing on topics of interest and answering questions from followers.
“It’s very easy in the online world to see headlines and high-level information but not really know how it applies to you,” Gordon said.
“It almost creates some angst for people, because they say, ‘What is the real information I need to know?’ “That’s the piece that needs to be communicated more clearly to people.”
The Canadian government is not alone. For years, the White House has been briefing influencers on issues like the Russian invasion of Ukraine and inviting them to events like the State of the Union address.
And when US President Joe Biden visited Ottawa last year, YouTube helped connect first lady Jill Biden and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau with The Sorry Girls for an interview about design. The resulting interview was uploaded to The Sorry Girls’ YouTube page, which has more than 2.2 million followers.
It is common for the technology company to facilitate introductions between governments and content creators, YouTube said. Last year’s federal budget is a case in point, when Freeland’s office asked the company to connect them with Canadian content creators who focus on money.
That’s how Odetoyinbo was invited to last year’s budget, where she ultimately made about six videos breaking down the document for her collective 150,000 social media followers.
“I think it’s a really good effort by the government to reach people in a language they understand,” he said.
And even though their followers admit they don’t read or watch traditional news, content creators say they’re still thirsty for what’s happening, as long as it’s delivered via social media.
“Traditionally, this is one of the things that people tend to take with a grain of salt,” said Mathu, 28. “But I think it’s one of those things that will become more of a norm.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2024.