What’s an Influencer? A thank you letter to Budtenders
1.
I’ll just admit it. Shortly after I founded Illinois News Joint, a budtender referred to me as a cannabis influencer, and I didn’t like the connotations of the term. From the start, I wanted ILNJ to be a trusted educational resource for all aspects of the Illinois cannabis industry. I definitely had no urge to create reels in which I’m blowing smoke at a camera for Instagram and YouTube accounts with 300 followers. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I have zero desire to be in front of a camera, let alone blow smoke at it. That connotation of an influencer, fair or unfair, has never been appealing or interesting to me.
During the following months, Budtenders kept using the term influencer to reference ILNJ and me, and around that same time, I noticed while picking up review samples that budtenders were consistently telling me they had been utilizing our platforms as a trusted work resources for cannabis products, strains, and other information for customers and themselves. It was at that moment I accepted the label of influencer, because I felt ILNJ had expanded the meaning of the term beyond a social-media personality influencer to also include the extra educational and informative elements and services our platforms provided.
2.
As someone who taught English courses at universities and colleges for a decade, defining a term was vital for students writing research and argumentative papers. “Influencer” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “one who exerts influence: a person who inspires or guides the actions of others” and “a person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a consumer product) by posting about it on social media.” By definition, we are social media influencers.
Language in itself is living and continuously adapts, though, and as more budtenders utilize ILNJ as an educational and informative resource, we hope to expand the traditional definition of social media influencer even more. Now, when budtenders refer to ILNJ or me as an influencer, I happily embrace the label and, at the same time, continue to try to add our twist to the definition of what influencers do and how they do it. We strive to be the influencer influencing the other influencers.
Feedback from budtenders is as important as any we receive, and we could not be more honored to know that budtenders are utilizing ILNJ as the resource I envisioned us to be from the start. Winning the award for Top Cannabis Social Media Influencer in Illinois at the Budtender Choice Awards event Thursday only made us want to strive harder to become an even better educational resource for budtenders and add to our content for all aspects of the Illinois cannabis industry.
3.
Long before founding ILNJ, I worked many jobs. First job at age 14 was walking beans and bucking bales for a farmer friend’s father, and I had many summer jobs, including working for the Catholic Church in my hometown. My first real job out of high school, though, was as a custodian (called janitor back then) for the largest farm-implement manufacturing facility on the planet.
What I learned as a custodian was that coworkers and bosses noticed me only when I made a rare mistake or if I needed to clean up others’ mistakes. Not once at that job, not even when I kept everything spotless, did I ever receive from coworkers or bosses complimentary recognition or even a, “Hey, Jason, way to clean the shit out of those toilets!” I compared it to being a referee or umpire; I was doing my job correctly if no one noticed me.
The point is not to equate budtenders to custodians but rather to acknowledge the sentiment of working hard at a grassroots-frontline job that often feels underappreciated and without due recognition for quality work. We appreciate, empathize, and support grassroots-frontline workers, because we used to be them (many times over). And quality budtender work, we believe, is one of the most important contributors to the legal cannabis culture and retail industry.
4.
All this brings me to the long-belated point of this thematic 4-part fragmented personal essay: THANK YOU BUDTENDERS! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Winning a Top Social Media Influencer award judged by budtenders made the award that much more special, satisfying, heartwarming, humbling, and motivating. Our past employment histories have conditioned us to value the opinions and judgments of budtenders as much or if not more than anyone in the industry, because without budtenders, the legal cannabis industry could not function.
So again, THANK YOU to all budtenders who voted for ILNJ. We invite all budtenders and dispensary employees to please follow our social media and publication, because we now are more motivated than ever to make sure we continue to perform as the premier resource for the Illinois cannabis industry for all budtenders and industry professional who want to utilize our platforms. Illinois News Joint can be found on social media on LinkedIn, Instagram @ilnewsjoint, Facebook, and Twitter @IllinoisJoint. For Illinois News Joint reviews, visit here.
To learn about cannabis-friendly events in Illinois, visit here.
For more Illinois cannabis industry news, visit here.
To qualify and receive a medical patient card at a discounted rate, visit here.