If you have been on any social media platform, you would have probably seen people talk about clubhouse, especially in the last few weeks. People might be looking for invitations, while others might be starting follow-trains or looking for “mods” to “co-host Clubhouse rooms”.
Yes, there is a new social media platform in town. Before you get overwhelmed, let me tell you exactly what the Clubhouse app is, and how you can use it for your business like no other social media platform!
What is Clubhouse App?
Clubhouse is an audio-based social media platform. It now has over 1 million users, even though it is still in the beta stage and only available on iOS. (Sorry android users) You need an invitation to get into Clubhouse and that might be another factor that contributes to the exclusivity and all the FOMO (fear of missing out).
Inside the Clubhouse, there are clubs, which are communities based around an interest or topic. The main action takes place inside the rooms. Rooms can be held as part of a club or on its own. They usually have specific topics and through browsing the rooms, you can choose to enter rooms to listen as an audience, or “raise your hand” to participate on stage.
The stage is where the moderators and speakers are. The moderators are the ones that are running the rooms and manage the flow of the room. The speakers are people that have been “pulled onto stage” because they are interested in speaking.
One of the main reasons why Clubhouse has blown up is because it is in real-time and everything is live. It also gives you the opportunity to be inside rooms with huge marketers, influencers and even celebrities, and you can listen to them speak in real-time.
Clubhouse helps remove any barriers and bring people close together. You can truly connect and reach people you never thought possible inside Clubhouse.
How can you use Clubhouse for business?
Clubhouse has been incredible in helping different entrepreneurs and business owners, including myself, show up in front of our ideal audience.
Apart from how close and “real” everything feels, you can use the clubhouse rooms to share your expertise and experiences, give feedback, tips and action steps for those interested in what you have to offer.
Through hearing your voice and your immediate responses, people in the room can feel connected to you. That can lead to them reaching out, checking out your business and even becoming customers or clients. There are endless opportunities in where the relationships can go.
To help you get in front of your ideal audience, here are some key tips I have to help you use Clubhouse for your business.
Tip 1: Optimize your profile on Clubhouse
Your profile is the most important part of your Clubhouse presence. It is where people get to find out more about you and decide whether or not they want to connect with you.
Since Clubhouse is audio-based, your profile is the one thing that represents you.
Your profile is a place where you should showcase your expertise and show off who you are, what you do and why people should follow you.
One thing you can do is to save a few versions of your bio in your notes app and depending on the room you’re joining, you can change up your bio. This can help optimize your conversions and showcase what you offer around the topic of the room.
You should include your face in your profile pic. Try to have a headshot or a clear photo, so people can see your face even just with the small profile pic inside the room.
The first line of your profile will show up in search. Make sure that it includes what you do, your expertise, your niche and any qualifications you might have
Make sure you have connected to Instagram and/or Twitter on your profile so people can message you. Since there’s no chat feature on Clubhouse at the moment, this is important to help people connect with you offline
Tip 2: Engage in Clubhouse rooms
This might sound basic, but engaging in rooms can bring significant visibility and potentially generate leads for your business.
The main way to engage is to raise your hand to indicate that you have something to say, something you’d like to ask or to simply participate in the conversation. This allows the moderator to get you up on the stage so you can speak in front of the room.
This is very powerful to give you visibility in front of tens and hundreds, even thousands of people that are interested in that topic.
When the moderator brings you onto the stage, make sure to introduce yourself but keep it brief. No one is here to listen to your entire sales pitch (unless that’s what the room is for). Highlight a few key points around who you are and what you do.
It’s easy to ramble on when you’re on stage, especially if you’re nervous. Speak clearly and not too fast. Make sure there’s minimal background noise. Try to find a quiet space when you speak and use headphones to avoid any feedback.
Another way to engage in Clubhouse rooms is to do it passively.
When you join in rooms and listen in, you will be surprised who might stumble across your profile. Since people in the room are likely in the same position as you, sitting around and listening, they are probably checking out who else is in the room.
Engage with other people in the room by following those that interest you. If someone has an interesting profile and you want to connect with them, simply follow them on Clubhouse, maybe also follow them on Instagram or Twitter and potentially send them a DM.
Tip 3: Make use of the calendar feature
Although it’s totally fine to join rooms whenever you want, if there’s a room that you are super excited for, or a room that you want to be on the stage and talk in, it is good to join in the conversation when the room opens up.
The calendar feature is able to help you with that. It shows you all the upcoming scheduled rooms that people have created. You can go into the schedule and check out the different topics, descriptions and find the ones that you want to participate in.
When you find an event you want to be a part of, you can add it to your calendar.
Adding to the calendar is my favorite way to remind myself to tune in to the rooms that I think I can contribute in. By adding it into my calendar, I can fit it into my schedule, without distributing my work or other plans.
Once you start following clubs and following different people, you probably get so many notifications about different rooms being scheduled. It will probably become difficult to navigate.
Having the ability to add to a calendar, you can easily commit to those time slots when you need to be available for the rooms and tune out the other rooms that you might not have time for.
Tip 4: Join rooms of all sizes
There are rooms of all sizes on Clubhouse. You will find rooms that have hundreds and even thousands of people, while others might have just a few.
It might be tempting to join the big rooms. After all, that’s where the big conversations are happening, right? Those rooms are definitely great for consuming content, but you might find it difficult to get up on stage since there might be many other people waiting around. Those are also usually rooms that have the Q&A structure, so it might be hard to network and have conversations.
Don’t get me wrong, I have listened in on many incredible conversations in big rooms. When do you get to be in rooms in real-time with huge celebrities, online marketers and people that you follow loyally?
But I have also created many incredible and valuable relationships through smaller rooms, where people can connect and get to know each other. I have hosted many smaller rooms with around 50-100 people and those usually get incredible feedback because of the relationships that are built.
Tip 5: Create your own rooms
Speaking of the small rooms I have created and built relationships in, let’s talk about creating your own rooms. It might be scary at first, but creating your own rooms can be powerful to increase your credibility, authority, followers and turning strangers into connections.
If you are new and not exactly sure what to expect, you can start by creating a closed room with people that you know. Hosting a closed room lets you have a glimpse into what it is like to be a moderator. You can see all the features that will be available to you as a moderator.
Create rooms that would appeal to your ideal audience, so you can give tips and advice, answer questions while sparking interest in driving people to find out more about you.
For example, if you are a health instructor, you can start a room talking about the biggest mistakes people make when trying to switch to a healthier diet. You can also start rooms around the topics of exercise regimes, the benefits of supplements and any topic that could attract people that you are able to help.
When you are running your own room, make sure to introduce the room in the beginning and let people that have popped into your room know about what it is that you offer and what is the topic of discussion. It might take a few minutes for everyone to hop in, so just introduce the room, yourself, the moderators if there are any and make people feel welcomed.
Reset the room every so often. Resetting the room is basically introducing what the room is all about so the newcomers feel welcomes and know what to expect. It is also a good time to take the speakers that have spoken off the stage and pull up people that have raised their hands up onto the stage.
One very important thing you should keep in mind is to keep the room on topic. As a moderator, it is your job to make sure the conversation is staying on topic, or else people might start leaving and not engaging.
Be respectful of people’s time. Not just in what you say inside your room, but try to keep the room going. If someone has asked their questions and maybe babbling on, you can chime in and tell them politely that the next person can have the floor.
Conclusion
Clubhouse is still in Beta but there is already so much hype around it. New features and functions are being rolled out continuously. It is a great opportunity for business owners and entrepreneurs to connect with like-minded people, get in front of your ideal audience and generate leads to your business.
Venese runs an events and marketing company in Tokyo, Japan. She has been an entrepreneur since she was 19, running all kinds of offline and online businesses. She is the host and face behind Your Entrepreneur Resources, where she helps entrepreneurs start, grow and scale their businesses, connecting them with the right mentors, resources and tools. Follow Venese: Clubhouse @venese, Instagram, Facebook Group, YouTube, Podcast
