The Creator Union: A Voice for Creators & Influencers
By Isobel Blackburn
The Creator Union is a new trade union created to give influencers and digital creators a collective voice in the industry, and a safe virtual space to work and collaborate.
The social media industry can be quite cut-throat for anyone - starting out, trying to reach audiences, or working with brands. So the union’s aim is to improve the industry standards, focussing on both pay and contracts to make the industry a fairer place to work and be a part of.
Creating content online is, in the grand scheme of things, a relatively new way of making money; most creator’s businesses begin life as passion projects, allowing them to be creative with their content. The fact that people can make money from their passions makes it sound like the ideal job to anyone but there is of course much more effort behind the scenes that goes into being a success.
It can be overwhelming having to figure out some of the business aspects without professional support, so the Creator Union is there to fill the gap and give a helping hand where needed.
As this is aimed to help and support those working in the world of social media, it comes as no surprise that one of the co-founders is a blogger herself. Nicole Ocran is a fashion blogger who is instantly likeable when reading any of her blog posts, and who is passionate about equality in all aspects of life and work.
“LGBTQ+ creators, disabled creators, plus-size creators and Black and brown influencers are constantly being asked to work for free.”
Ocran has discussed how influencers are often working under pressure with no contracts, or to tight deadlines that leave no room for compromising with brands they may be working with. Many are taken advantage of with their copyrighted content being used by others without permission, and severe pay gaps - which just shouldn’t exist anymore - are evident between different ethnicities and genders.
With these issues in mind, The Creator Union was fashioned to give content creators a place where they can have a community of like-minded people facing the same struggles. The union offers advice on the legalities of the profession, and supporting creators in working to fair contracts and pricing – a difficult aspect a lot of people don’t consider as being part of the job of an influencer or creator.
Most digital creators pursue this passion that becomes a profession because it’s something they love and so they don’t necessarily know the best ways to handle the more technical and legal aspects of business. This could understandably make someone feel a bit lost so having somewhere they can seek trustworthy advice and access training in running a business from experts can be the lifeline they need to keep going or to push themselves further.
Without something like the Creator Union, a lot of influencers may not know where to turn for help or advice, so they might not get the best deals for themselves - especially when some brands might just view them as an opportunity for free marketing, offering nothing in return.
While helping people through these issues is one of the main incentives for creators to join the Creator Union, they are also campaigning to change the industry so it’s a more positive, fair community to be a part of.
Even though there shouldn’t be, there is still a huge amount of prejudice and discrimination surrounding brands working with digital creators. As Ocran told The Guardian, “LGBTQ+ creators, disabled creators, plus-size creators and Black and brown influencers are constantly being asked to work for free.”
The Creator Union gives creators a place to come together and campaign as one to change the social media world’s working environment that, by nature, should already be one of the most inclusive and open-minded working communities.