Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashantis Jones.
Ashantis, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Back in college, I attempted to start a foodie Instagram because I saw how much free stuff people were getting for taking pretty pictures and mentioning the restaurant. Needless to say, it did not turn out well because the end goal was getting “instafamous.” Fast forward to this past February, when I launched my blog which is a lot broader. I decided to go the lifestyle route because I wanted to touch on food, but also be able to talk about life. I’ve gone through a lot of transitions in the past year, so I wanted to be able to share those experiences with the people who follow me.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I will say that starting from nothing it hard. I wasn’t one of those people who randomly had 1,000+ followers on my personal Instagram page to just build off of. While I had done some growth, I actually decided to start a brand new page because I only wanted people to follow the blog if they wanted to. I can get pretty personal sometimes and I knew not everyone that followed me before would want to see that, so I had to be really strategic to get going. I use my Instagram page to drive traffic to my blog because it has to be the easiest marketing tool available for bloggers. I also have a Facebook page, but I’ve found that really draws an older crowd, so I push my content there, but don’t spend as much time on the strategy.
If I could give advice to anyone else just starting out, I would say don’t get so caught up in the numbers. It’s easy to consistently check likes and followers, but at the end of the day, if you’re engaging with the people who support you, you will see a better result than people who don’t engage but have big numbers. If you want to work with brands, that’s what they’re looking at.
What should we know about IAmAshantis? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am a lifestyle blogger in Chicago that specializes in food, relationships, and healthy living. I think my non-diet approach to health pretty different from most and I am a black woman, so I am attempting to create more diversity in this field.
Do you have any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general? What has worked well for you?
Engage, I’ve found many “mentors” from just engaging with other bloggers who are more established than me. I go to their events and meet other people who have come from similar backgrounds or have just experienced similar transitions in their lives and you can create a great connection from that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ashantisjones.com/iamashantis/
- Email: iamashantisblog@gmail.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/iamashantis
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IAmAshantis/
Image Credit:
Alex Segall photography
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