Social media turns the world into a global village and Macau’s very own influencers helped this city gain recognition in the village.

Macau is outwardly known as Asia’s Las Vegas. Little did people overseas know that this city is more than casinos and hotels. In recent years, local social media influencers have been using their power on the Internet to let the world know that the city is more than its high GDP and gaming industry.

Through the camera lenses of Ken Vong Cheng Wang and Sheila Leong Sok Lan, but on Instagram they are known as “WeekdayCouple” and “HungerLady”, Portuguese-styled architecture weaves between commercial buildings and the newly renovated Central Library in Praça do Tap Seac are all picturesque places that represent the diverse culture of Macau.

The two lifestyle travel Instagrammers have not been able to travel outside the city since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. When one may think the couple would be running out of things to do in a city that is 30.5 times smaller than Las Vegas, the couple’s Instagram feed says otherwise.

Never a dull weekend

“We never have a dull weekend in Macau. Our schedule is filled with activities almost every day,” Vong said during an interview with The Macau Post Daily in a restaurant in Taipa late last month.

Leong said they started their Instagram page when they first started dating more than two years ago, pointing out that at first they were only using their joint account to document their travels. “The page grew before we knew it. All of the sudden, friends were asking for travel advice and companies were contacting us with job opportunities,” Leong said. As the page continues to grow, they have quit their full-time jobs.

“Before we started the page, I was not interested in photography at all. Only after we decided to take this page seriously I started to watch YouTube videos to learn more about how to take photos and edit them,” Vong said. As their food arrived, he did not forget that the “camera eats first”, and started snapping away.

According to the couple’s feed, Macau is a more flamboyant city than it may seem – they embrace the beauty of freshly bloomed sunflowers at Hac-Sa, had a blast at a local music festival near the Macau Science Centre and visited local cafés around Rua do Campo over the weekends. Vong and Leong used their account to promote different locations in Macau for locals and tourist to visit.

Cultural ambassadors

“Macau does not limit our content or creativity, there is plenty to see [in the city], including cultural heritage and historical sites that have their own stories. [...] Have you been to former Chong Sai Pharmacy? Many locals have not been there either!” Vong said.

Vong also said their content was often shared on other’s travel blogs and tourists around the world follow in their footsteps and visit places where their pictures were taken. Through their pictures, they are promoting Macau, he added.

The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) has also acknowledged Vong’s way of promoting the city’s culture by choosing him as a member of the “cultural ambassador representative training programme”. This programme includes lectures, tours and marketing courses to train their members to become the city’s cultural ambassadors.

Often unappreciated, hard work

However, their work is not always appreciated. “Sometimes when collaborating with other companies, they do not think that we deserve to be paid for our work and it can be frustrating,” Vong said. When asked how long it takes to do each post, the couple estimated that when collaborating with hotels or other companies it could take up to a week.

“From doing research on the location, deciding what camera and equipment to take, choosing a suitable outfit, taking and editing the photos and composing the best caption, a post can be really time consuming,” Leong said.

In the viewers’ eyes, Instagram influencers are all about fun and laughter. However, according to Vong and Leong, being an Instagrammer can be even more exhausting than a full time job. “When I was working full-time, I only had to stay at my office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. then I was off the hook. Now that we are working as influencers, besides the eight hours of sleep, the other 18 hours we will be working,” Leong said.

If the younger generation wants to enter the field, Vong advised them to have some special skill sets, adding “the more [skills] the better”.

Macau’s YouTube channel

On the one hand, Vong and Leong are spreading Macau culture through their photos. On the other hand, Manner Production, the city’s very own YouTube channel, is spreading Macau’s culture through humorous skits and videos.

“The only thing I know about Macau is Manner Production,” said an overseas Chinese living in Canada. How can a YouTube channel slowly become a representation of Macau?

This YouTube channel became popular with a video of a male ordering a soft-serve ice cream at McDonald’s. He was in a hurry and grabbed the ice cream leaving the cone in the server’s hand. Yet, this is the beginning of one of the biggest YouTube channels in South East Asia.

“We value humour,” Ginger, the executive director and co-founder of Manner Production, told The Macau Post Daily in a recent online interview.

When asked for his full name, Ginger said everyone knows him as Ginger.

Ginger said since the first time he laid his eyes on the channel’s viral videos, he knew that they were just hidden treasures that needed to be discovered. He added that he witnessed the growth of Manner Production from a three-people YouTube channel to an “enterprise” in the past five years.

Promoting beloved hometown

Ginger said that social media is a platform to promote everything and “we use our videos to promote our beloved hometown. [...] We use Cantonese in all our videos and most of them are filmed in Macau.”

According to Manner Production’s website, the channel has accumulated three billion views on their YouTube channel with over six million subscribers and followers on social media platforms. Their videos are often shared on Asian diaspora Facebook groups, like Subtle Asian Traits and Subtle Cantonese Traits, because of their relatable content.

How can a YouTube channel be so loved by overseas Asians? It is mainly because of their quirky subtitles. “Poor English is part of Macau’s culture because our two official languages are Chinese and Portuguese,” Ginger replied when asked why their subtitles are so “unusual”.

Humorous subtitles

“One time I was told by a Taiwanese friend that Cantonese is so funny. In Cantonese, numbers could be curse words, English letters could be curse words, and everything sounds very funny,” Ginger recalled.

Yet, this humorous way of writing subtitles was not intentional. Ginger said that they used to have someone who translated their work properly, but once when the translator was out-of-town, the director needed to replace her and do the translation himself. “He needed to use his poor English to write the subtitles. It turned out that people actually liked his poor English better!” Ginger said, adding that he was also impressed by the turn of events.

“I am so impressed by the team’s creativity. Once they translated ‘angry at me’ [嬲 Cantonese pronounce it as ‘lau’] as ‘boy girl boy me’ because of how the Chinese character is written,” Ginger said while giggling at the joke.

One might wonder, in a small city like Macau, what can inspire them to create such viral and creative videos? “Where do you think creativity comes from? It is from people’s brains. On the bright side, being in a small city makes it easier to gather people to create videos,” Ginger said. He also said that the Macau government provides the resources and support for people who are ready to work in the creative industry.

“I am a father too. If the [person] is mentally prepared to be high profile and to work in a demanding industry then why not?” Ginger said. However, he warned that being an influencer is not as glamorous as it seems. He added that there is going to be cyberbullying and “haters gonna hate”.

Everyone wants to be an influencer

According to recent research, in the United States over 85 percent of people aged between 13 and 38 are willing to try to become an influencer and in Hong Kong 30 percent of primary and secondary school pupils attempt to create a channel. Ginger said that personality is more important than skills if an influencer wants to stand out. “You need to have something to share. Social media is not about showing yourself off,” he said. He also mentioned that when they are recruiting artists for their videos, they would asses if one has the magic or charm to lure the audience’s interest. “We follow our instincts,” he added.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Manner Production’s YouTube channel set a more regular show time for their skits and other videos. Ginger said that they made this arrangement because they wanted to spread happiness everywhere during difficult times like this.

Even though the global followers of both Weekday Couple and Manner Production cannot personally experience Macau’s charm, they can still appreciate the beauty of the city via the Internet. The influencers let the world have a peek of this small city that we call home.

This is a screenshot of the Weekday Couple’s post showing Sheila Leong Sok Lan (centre) posing among sunflowers at Hac Sa Reservoir Barbecue Park. Photo: Weekday Couple

This undated picture taken by WeekDay Couple shows Ken Vong Cheng Wang (right) and Sheila Leong Sok Lan posing at Travessa da Paixão.
Photo: Weekday Couple

Manner Production Executive Director Ginger poses behind a set of drums on the day of the company’s ‘Treelon’ concert. Photo: Manner Production

This undated picture provided by Manner Production shows the company’s staff posing for a picture at the company’s office. Photo: Manner Production