Whether you’ve been creating content for years, a few weeks, or just downloaded the Clapper app, the first question people ask is always, “What’s your niche? What kind of content do you create?”
Having “a thing” is essential to content creation. Even creators who don’t want to pigeonhole themselves are told to find content pillars. It helps you brand yourself as a content creator, makes creating content a lot easier, and can jumpstart your growth. Most advice says that you must have a niche and can’t stray out of it.
Stiffling much?
Even if you’re happy to create in one content genre forever, we’ve noticed that this method isn’t universally successful. Instead of focusing on one part of yourself, you’ll have more luck if you incorporate everything you love into your content. You’re reaching a wider audience, connecting with more niches, and posting content the FYP can push further.
Besides you aren’t just one thing— and at the Clapper app, we don’t want you to be. We don’t want you to be a political creator, a teacher, or an author – we want you to be all three! We want to see all the things that make you you. And while it might sound like a well-written marketing campaign (our marketing team should be taking notes) it’s not. Creators on the Clapper app who don’t pigeonhole themselves have incredible success.
For today’s article, we sat down with Scholavist, a creator who “does a little bit of everything” and whose account exploded in the last month. We learned about what brought her to the Clapper app, her secrets to growing her community, and her tips for Clapper creators.
Meet Scholavist
@Scholavist (also known as Amanda Anastasia!) joined the Clapper app as an educator, but she didn’t limit herself to that niche.
I do a little bit of everything. I love horror movies, I like to share my poetry, and I do my news. I’ll also do critical commentary, that’s where I’m putting that education at play. And I share a little about my life and I like to talk about sex and relationships because I’m very openly polyamorous.
And it’s more than paid off. In just a few months, Scholavist’s account grew to 6.6k followers and she earned over 76k likes. Even for a community-based platform like ours, that’s some impressive engagement!
Let’s start with an easy question. What inspired you to start creating?
I think there’s a real need for academic people who have the training to be in spaces like Clapper or TikTok. To bring that college-level educational component to the public rather than them coming to us. Initially, on TikTok, I found a lot of pushback. I would ask people, “Where are you getting your sources or can you provide me an article?” And then nobody would respond, and no one was interested in having a conversation. Whereas Clapper, because it’s community-based, even if people don’t agree with you, they’ll allow you the space to speak and might offer their opinion so you can have a conversation.
How did you find the Clapper app?
Someone reached out a few months into my TikTok journey at the end of 2023. They said, “Hey, you should be on Clapper” and that’s all. They didn’t give me any tutorial or any kind of guidance, and I didn’t think Clapper was for me. But more recently, they wanted me to be a newsroom contributor. As I started posting more and started interacting more, I noticed it’s a lot like TikTok in some ways, but in other ways, it’s very different. Different in a good way! I felt like, yeah, this is my generation, these are the types of people I want to build community with.
And you were looking for ways to bring the education and educational content that you’d gotten through higher ed to Clapper, right? To help eliminate the barriers that prevent most Americans from accessing that education.
Yes. Being somebody who’s first-gen, low-income, very humble beginnings, it’s important to me to be still at the pulse of where people are in this country. I don’t want to be an academic locked away in an ivory tower publishing in obscured journals where I sit around with other academics, and we talk about the problems of the world without having any kind of interaction with actual people who are just living their lives going to work every day and trying to pay their damn bills.
The community on Clapper is much more open and appreciative of the authenticity and that I’m not pretending to be someone that I’m not. I’m a self-published author; I publish erotic poetry and erotica. It’s very different than academic writing but shows that I’m not just one thing.
How easy was it for you to find your community once you joined? And how easy was it to break into and connect with that community?
People were so friendly, so welcoming, so ready to help. Not only everyday, working-class folks, but also people with blue checks, people who are Clapper famous were very willing to answer questions. And that made the process and the transition pretty much a no-brainer for me. I was like, “This is where I feel comfortable, this is where I feel like I could thrive.” And I try to pay that same kindness forward.
You get out of Clapper what you put into it. If you put into it good intention, a longing to connect, if you put in the work and you put thought into your content creation, you’re going to find people who resonate. And then I hear people say they can’t find this or that: create it. The beauty of Clapper is that if you don’t find the community you’re looking for, you can create it.
I had an impromptu poetry reading and people loved it. Now every Saturday for two hours in the morning, we do a poetry reading. People bring stuff they’ve worked on during the week or uncooked thoughts, some folks will bring music or they’ll want to sing. It’s a space to cultivate creativity and community and encourage people to find their voice. One gentleman said “I wrote a poem back in grade school, I haven’t written anything in decades. But this makes me want to pick up my pen again.”
As a writer myself, I know sharing WIPs can be hard. How did you overcome that?
I think sharing writing is a very vulnerable act, but I find that people appreciate the vulnerability. But I also think I have a lot of lived experience that I can articulate and describe in a way that resonates with people who may be very different than me. To me, that is a form of power and autonomy and agency that you then get to share.
The reception has been overwhelmingly positive. People absolutely love it and would tell other people when I come into their Lives. “Oh my god, there’s Scholavist she reads poetry, she’s amazing!” That builds my confidence to share and write more.
When you can get over that initial fear, it opens doors and provides good feedback from people who believe in your work. They can help you think through the topics you’re speaking on, the vantage point you’re using, and give you feedback you hadn’t considered.
Your account grew pretty quickly! In a month you got 6.6k followers and over 76k likes. How did you go about that? Was there a specific strategy you used, or was it just how you interacted with the community?
I think it’s a little bit of both. I’m a newsroom contributor and one of my videos was featured on the Explore page. So, that probably got me a lot of traction and a lot of views! I also reached out to @MontrellSeahawk, who was instrumental in welcoming me into Clapper. He featured me on his Lives, and I think that helped me grow organically. But again, you get out of Clapper what you put into it. So, I think two things were happening at once. Some of my content was on the Explore page, but also when people went to my page and started to look at my content, they saw a real person with content that’s being produced, that has thought put into it. And I can deliver it enticingly.
How has the Clapper app helped you as a writer and educator? Is there something it’s given you that you didn’t have before?
I think it’s given me confidence that I have talent. The other day, I read an erotic story for folks, and I got over 1,600 diamonds. People like the smut, right?
Not just the confidence but also the personal commitment and accountability to make sure that I am writing, whether it’s prose or poetry so I have something to share on Saturdays. If nobody shows up, I have to sit there and talk, so I need to have new material. It’s helped me as a writer to stay accountable to myself and to my craft and stay true to myself.
In your article, you said you were still working out the language of the app and what our creators want. Now you’ve had a little more time, have you found the answers?
I’ve kind of figured out that using an Add Yours that is already pre-populated or published, that particular subject might get pushed out. It will end up on more people’s FYPs if that’s what they’re looking for. When I do Learn With Me, that gets a lot of views. So, I’ve kind of learned that back end of what are people like what’s going to get pushed into the FYP. I think people appreciate the honesty, the authenticity, and the authority. When I talk about race and ethnicity, I’m not just saying stuff I made up; I have a graduate certificate in ethnic studies.
I came here looking for human connection, and Clapper really does cultivate that. You can hang out in a Live, do other work, and listen to people converse. I did that and overheard something that inspired a poem!
What advice do you have for other creators interested in the Clapper app?
It’s so cheesy and cliché, but know thyself and know why you’re on the app. For me, I want to be offered a publishing deal to publish my memoir. I’m working towards building a big enough fan base so that when a publishing house wants to publish my memoir, I have the following. But I also enjoy writing, and I think people resonate with what I write.
Know yourself, the end goal, what’re you working towards, and your purpose in being on Clapper. Because if you can’t answer those questions, then you’re going to be grasping at straws and trying to fumble your way. It’ll show in what you produce.
Outside of her passion for writing and content creation, Amanda is currently working on her dissertation for her Ph.D. If you’d like to learn more about Amanda, you can follow her on the Clapper app. As we said earlier, she covers everything from poetry to breaking news and educational content and more. You can also peruse her Linktree to get caught up on all her projects. You can find links to her poetry collections, her podcast appearances, and her TedXBGSU talk.
Thank you to Amanda for sharing your insight with us!
If you’re interested in learning how to become a Clapper Newsroom partner, please email us at creators@clapperapp.com. For more tips to getting started on the Clapper app, check out our Creator’s Guide to the Clapper App series!
The Clapper app is a short-form video and Livestream app for creators 18+. Our goal is to give creators a platform to build communities and express themselves freely without judgment and censorship. To learn more, download the app or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.