The uneasy art of collaborating with influencers

As journalists whose job is to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the Houston food scene, the Houston Chronicle’s food team follows most well-known local content creators. We notice the often-hazy line between sponsored content and not. We know the free-feed events and who attends them. And we share a collective uneasiness about the profession’s ethics and its growing influence.

Still, we can’t ignore the power these creators wield. Some have a social reach that exceeds that of the Houston Chronicle itself. We feel the industry’s headwinds, and we know we must find new ways to connect with new audiences — and, hopefully, show them that quality journalism is worth paying for.

A year or so ago, a creator named Shawn Singh, aka Shawn the Food Sheep, went viral when he posted a video calling out a xenophobic comment about his Sikh turban. He seemed like a genuine person and sometimes posted receipts of how much he spent at restaurants. We got in touch, wrote a quick story about the viral video, and later invited him to our annual event that celebrates our Top 100 Restaurants list.

Months later, our director of experimentation, Jennifer Chang, reached out with an idea: How might we collaborate with a local influencer? She wanted to brainstorm what that might look like.

Our immediate gut reaction: Ew.

After that first meeting — one that included reporters, editors, audience staff and leadership — I went back to my desk and messaged Jennifer: “We should partner with a dog. People love dogs, and dogs don’t have questionable ethics.”

Eventually, we learned there was a budget. This was happening, like it or not. So we had to choose an actual human collaborator. The only person the food team could agree on was Shawn. (Editor’s note: The Houston Chronicle was part of our second Influencer Learning Cohort and received a $3,000 grant from API for this work.)

How we did it

Our biggest worry about teaming up with an influencer? Keeping our editorial standards intact while letting them do their thing. Here’s how we tried to have it both ways.

• Jennifer acted as the go-between with Shawn, handling all the unglamorous details: proposals, contracts, timelines. That freed us up to focus on what we actually know how to do — journalistic content — and helped keep ethical lines clear since we’d covered Shawn before.
• After we decided on Shawn as our partner, we had a small group meeting with our food reporter, restaurant critic, Jennifer and me, where we discussed possible ideas, including putting our critic, Bao Ong, in a video with Shawn to offer a look behind-the-scenes at how we approach criticism. We’ve long felt most people don’t understand that we visit each restaurant we review three times; that we pay for our own meals; that Bao graduated from culinary school. We are singular in the Houston market, so this was an important message for us to get out there.
• Jennifer sent me a draft of the creator proposal, which detailed concepts, deliverables and call-to-actions, which I reviewed and gave feedback on before it went out to Shawn.
• As the food editor, I reviewed every video draft and suggested edits while trying to preserve his voice and style, similar to how I’d work with freelancers.

One last thing

In the end, partnering with Shawn turned out to be lovely.  He was professional, collaborative and open to feedback — qualities that made the process far smoother than we’d feared. The experience reminded us that thoughtful partnerships don’t have to compromise editorial integrity; with the right person and clear guardrails, they can actually help extend the reach of our journalism and engage new audiences. Would we do it again? If there’s a budget for it, sure. I’ll still always keep the dog idea on standby, though.

Jody Schmal is the food editor for the Houston Chronicle.