Growing up, Sofia DelGiudice never imagined her father’s annual back-to-school tradition would be a pivotal moment in her social media career.
Before starting university two years ago, the 19-year-old content creator from Toronto had the idea to stitch together all the videos her dad filmed of her descending the stairs in the family's home on the first day of school.
"It's the first day of what grade?" DelGiudice’s dad can be heard asking her in each clip recorded from kindergarten onward.
DelGiudice posted what she thought was a cute homage only her small TikTok following would see — and it went viral.
"My dad had no idea for a really long time until people in our family started saying they had seen the video and he was confused, and I had to tell him that five million people had seen it," she said.
Since then, DelGiudice has amassed more than 90,000 combined followers across Instagram and TikTok and gained 20,000 new followers this summer alone. She's heading back to school with a renewed focus on maintaining that momentum and building upon the 35 million views she has earned in the last three months across platforms.
As young content creators like DelGiudice head back to school and shift their focus on their studies, they are grappling with maintaining their online brands and keeping up with the demands of their social media presence.
"Not a lot of people, I think, really understand or comprehend the amount of work that goes into being a content creator or an influencer," said Lara Cardoso, a media and communications instructor at the University of Guelph-Humber and founder of the school's first influencer marketing course.
The pressure to constantly put out content to stay relevant can be overwhelming, especially for students who benefited from high social media engagement over the summer but now must manage a separate workload, Cardoso said.
"Students really need to be able to prioritize their time and their projects if they were to be a content creator or influencer alongside school."
One strategy Cardoso recommends is batch-creating and scheduling content to be posted throughout the week over the course of the school year.
While DelGiudice enjoys creating content throughout the week, she said it can be a full-time gig as she finds herself constantly thinking of new ways to be creative or staying awake into the early morning hours to edit her videos.
Despite the constant demands of social-media platforms, she doesn't find balancing content creation and schoolwork difficult, which she credits to her experience juggling multiple part-time jobs and finishing school assignments well ahead of deadline.
"I'm good with asking for help. If I need an extension on something because I have something for work, or if I just have too much on the go, I'm kind of good at talking to my professors," she said, adding that instructors in her early childhood studies program are supportive of her social media goals — even if they don't relate to her area of study.
Students whose studies go hand-in-hand with content creation, such as media or communications, may be able to leverage their influencer content in the classroom and use school projects to advance their online brands, Cardoso said.
Combining those two worlds is what Haley Jackman, an 18-year-old content creator from Barrie, Ont., and soon-to-be student in a university media and communications program, plans to do to stay on top of her social media career.
"I never wanted to go to university prior to actually starting social media," Jackman said, adding that choosing media studies was a no-brainer.
As she saw her online engagement increasing over the summer, Jackman also noticed an uptick in brand deals — partnerships in which companies pay content creators for posts or videos promoting their products or services.
Managing brand deals can be another challenge for students, especially when it comes to meeting deadlines and partnership requirements that also align with the creator’s own personal brand, said Cardoso.
"You have to be really clear on what you want to get out of the collaboration," she said.
Nyah Lawryshyn, an Instagram content creator from Caledon, Ont., who just finished her postgraduate degree, said she experienced a learning curve when companies started to approach her — from filtering dozens of potential partnership emails to being able to advocate for herself at the bargaining table.
"Sometimes people will reach out and will fake an email that looks really similar to a large company and they’ll say, 'We'll send you $1,000 for one post,'" Lawryshyn said, adding that she's had to reach out to companies herself to verify the legitimacy of such offers.
For Jackman, hiring a talent management company was the answer to staying on top of brand deals.
"As soon as I signed with the manager, it was like pretty consistent brand deals," she said, adding that her team helps her stay on top of emails and campaign deadlines while also advocating for her in meetings.
Influencer talent agencies are carving out a new space in the social media market, and Cardoso said students in her course are increasingly interested in them.
But the co-founder of agency Upside Down Talent, which represents Jackman, cautions that young creators should beware of bad actors who may try to take advantage of their online success.
"A lot of brands need content fast and they will use urgency as a means to get content through the door," said Sebastian Javier, a former singer who has experienced online fame thanks to his covers of popular songs.
"And that’s exactly why we’re here, to be like, ‘Hey guys, no, we’re not going to do exactly what you need, we’re going to find a middle ground.'"
University of Toronto marketing professor David Soberman says content creation can be a viable career but young people should be aware of their situation and "read the writing on the wall" if things aren't going as planned.
"If you've been doing this for six months and you're making $20 a month, it may be time to hang up your skates. If you see a positive trend and you are learning and figuring out what's working, that's a different situation," Soberman said.
Whether it's a side hustle or a full-time effort, social media gains can be achieved through hard work, said Cardoso, the influencer marketing instructor.
"For almost a decade, from day one, I've been working with influencers and content creators and I absolutely stand by that it's a viable career path," she said.
"I think, like anything, you have to decide that this is what you want to do and put the work in to do it and you will see success."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2025.
Vanessa Tiberio, The Canadian Press
