Our first installment in the Clapper Writes for You series is the perfect place to begin. If you’ve ever wanted to see a great example of a creator brand, look no further than AshmarLiving on Clapper.  Whether she’s showing off her incredible products, taking us through the process of a resin pour, or dispelling joy and positivity right when we seem to need it most, every post is perfectly Ashmar. Right down to the music choice and font she uses!

@AshmarLiving (or just Ashmar!) has been on Clapper since the beginning and started her journey a little differently than most advice recommends. In this article, we’ll discuss AshmarLiving’s introduction to Clapper, how she recommends people go about creating their social content, and how important it is that everything is done with love.

While she’s best known for her incredible resin pours and her online store, you can find AshmarLiving just about anywhere. New users recognize her from comments and live streams, where she interacts with creators all across the platform. Seriously; she commented on one of the first Clapper videos I’d ever seen!

Clapper is my home.

“I’ve made it my home. One of the things that I immediately noticed was that it was community-driven,” she said. “And that really felt like, well, maybe this is the place where I want to settle and start building my community and perhaps my business.”

Ashmar initially came to Clapper looking for a way to grow her business. A quick scroll through her videos shows that she’s been successful and that she’s very focused on maintaining her brand.

“Are you a business owner that makes handmade products, or are you a brand? It’s a very different thing. I am a brand – I’m a walking brand,” she said.

Her brand and the expectations of her customers factor into every choice Ashmar makes about her products, so she couldn’t take the decision of what social media app to promote her products on lightly. She had to find one that would be the right fit for her; she had to find a place she’d like to lay down roots.

Which meant she’d have to take it slow.

Take your time, invest your time. It’s your brand, it’s your reputation.

I know, it’s the exact opposite of most advice for starting social media. Rather than diving in and figuring out what worked and what didn’t, Ashmar sat back and made a slow study of Clapper.

How To Get Started…

“For me, it was getting my feet wet by getting to know people first,” she explained. “I was posting, posting, and I would talk about my stuff, but it was more about building that community first and presenting the artist behind my page.”

Let’s look at the steps she took to build her brand and find a supportive community in the app. You’ll want to take notes by the way!

Step 1. Get to know the app.

Ashmar’s first step to creating content was all about consumption. She downloaded the app and spent a lot of time perusing it. What content were people making – and did she like it? This step let her get a feel for who was creating and what kind of videos did the best. It also let her get to know the whole community and understand how it worked.

“You have to learn your community and the people around you to know how you’re going to introduce yourself as the artist,” she said.

Step 2. Build a community

Once she’d decided that this would be a good place to invest her time and energy, Ashmar started commenting on videos, dishing out follows, and meeting new people on the app. Again, she didn’t rush to post anything or promote her business. She was building connections within the community and making friends even before she started posting videos. This would come in handy when she started posting; she already had people happy to support her!

Step 3: What’s your niche?

Ashmar also took the time to consider why she was on the app. What did she want to do? What niche did she want to fit into – either as a business or as a person? There are no wrong answers here, but this will help content planning and creation so much.

Step 4: Emphasize the person

Now Ashmar was ready to create videos! In the early stages, even though she had a product to sell and a business to promote, Ashmar focused on introducing herself to her audience. She was more than a brand or a business owner or an artist: She was Ashmar.

“I’m one of those people that don’t talk too much about their business,” she said. “I’m more about helping them get to know me as I am, as a creator, and then it’s up to them if you will like to get to know me as an artist.”

Step 5: Find what works for YOU

When developing your strategy, look for tactics or tools that will fit what you can do or what you’re comfortable with. Ashmar wasn’t comfortable with showing her face in the beginning, so she utilized radios.

“I was shy and knew Lives weren’t for me yet,” she continued. “I’d park in one radio and sit there and listen – like a drive-in movie! And what I figured was, why not work while I’m at the radio? Why not sit here and get to know people while I work?”

Whatever limit or boundary you have and want to set for social media, go for it. If it will make you feel better about your process, then by all means do it. Get creative!

Step 6: It’s not just about views…

Going viral is great! Racking up views is awesome! But social media is about consistency and reliability. Ashmar was more concerned with building a community and connecting with her supporters.

AshmarLiving is AshmarLiving with or without the blue check.

“I’m already a winner,” she said.  “That’s the way I feel, and the blue check is only going to give me more recognition for my business. That’s it. I’m still the same person, I will always be the same person, and that is my goal.”

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The Beginning Of A Resin Journey

If Ashmar takes this much time on her social media strategy, can you imagine how much thought goes into her shop?

The answer is a lot!

Her own journey with adding resin products to her resume proves this in spades and spades. It started as something fun to do, a little break from her jewelry to challenge herself and her creativity. But she didn’t just start; Ashmar watched hundreds of hours of tutorial videos, getting a feel for the process and what could be done with resin. It was only once she’d done her researched and figured out that this was something she wanted to commit to that she ordered the supplies.

That’s not where AshmarLiving, as we know and love her today, began – well, not really. The kit came in and, even though she enjoyed the process and liked the final product, it wasn’t quite right. The finish wasn’t up to Ashmar’s standards and didn’t quite fit with the brand she’d worked so hard to build. On top of that, the fumes and chemicals were dangerous to herself and her family. If she wanted to commit to this and do it long-term, then she’d need to find something that didn’t harm her and everyone in her family. So, she researched a few new brands.

And researched, and researched, and researched. She spent six months testing nine different brands of resin before she found the right one. The finish was right, the fumes were low, and it was finally the right fit! Ashmar had a brand to maintain, after all.

Love Your Products…and Your Customers

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re making something small like a keychain, put all that effort to make sure that when people have it in their hands and get it in the mail, they say ‘wow, this is made this love’,” she said.

Because yes, Ashmar is selling things and yes, she wants to make money, but it isn’t all about money at the end of the day. It’s about love.

“If you want something to last, you have to love what you do. It can’t be all about the money. I see a lot of people that are just there to make money. That’s fine and all, but guess what? The quality of the work is going to reflect that.”

How To Be A Content Creator: The Ashmar Way

The same love and attention go into making her videos. She wants that consistency and care to be there in everything her customers will see. Like I said earlier, she has a brand to maintain. And the brand doesn’t just stop at your products; if you’re selling something or trying to make content creation a career, your brand will need to be consistent across every platform. Part of Ashmar’s brand is that attention to detail. Maybe it won’t be the same for you, and that’s fine, but for her, it was a must.

Ashmar eloquently (and quickly) distilled everything we had discussed down to just four points…

1. Find what you’re there for. It doesn’t matter if you’re there to hang out, sell your products, or become the next big influencer. Figure out what you’re doing on the app and make sure most of your content matches that intention.
2. Set up goals. Start small, and break larger goals up into smaller ones. “Getting 1 million followers” is harder to do than “posting 2-3 times a week” and “getting 1,000 followers by the end of the year”. Be realistic and push yourself!
3. Build your community. Creating content is important, but don’t forget to check out your FYP and the people you’re following. Interact with their content, find new people to connect with and follow, and be present on this app as a consumer, too. “We don’t get to places on our own. We get to places because there is a community behind you, supporting you as a person, as an artist, and as part of the community. All my gains on Clapper have been a community effort, not just me.”
4. Do everything with love. If you love doing something, it will be 10 times easier. Whatever shape your content strategy takes, make sure that you love and are happy with it. “It can’t be all about money because eventually. When people start seeing you’re all about money but the quality in your product is not here, they’re going to choose someone else.”

There is no wrong way to do social media. But Ashmar’s experience proves that you don’t have to dive right in and do everything at a break-neck speed. You can go slow. You can take your time and build a strategy around your brand and your interests and what will work best for you. The app and the people on it will still be there once you do your research. And your content will be better for it.

Art is like making love. If you make it slow, it’s a lot more enjoyable!

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To learn more about AshmarLiving and her incredible products, check out her page on Clapper @AshmarLiving.