How to master Clubhouse to grow your brand influence
Clubhouse – does it live up to the hype? I say yes!
Over the Christmas break, my social feed began popping up with talk of this elusive “Clubhouse” – particularly from leaders in the industry.
“Who’s on Clubhouse?”, “Come follow me on Clubhouse”, “Can you get me an invite?”
The defensive FOMO within me immediately brought up thoughts of, “how ridiculously elitist”, “great another social platform to get across”, “the hype won’t last”…
But after ‘scoring’ an invite from Petra Zink, personal branding, and career coach extraordinaire, I jumped into joining all the “cool kids” to see what all the fuss was about.
I started “following” people I knew on the platform, and listened to my first live “room” – a session featuring Kate Toon, a leader in the SEO, copywriting, and business world…and was brave enough to ask a question!
And later that day, Petra Zink, founder of IMPACCCT, and Channel Seven Newsreader, and Presentation Coach Katrina Blowers and I had scheduled our first live Room at 7:30am in the morning, on “Building your brand with Content and PR”, with 30 or so attendees.
And now I’m hooked.
So why do I love Clubhouse, how is it different from other social networks like LinkedIn and podcasts, and who’s really going to benefit from this platform?
I’ll start with a breakdown of what it is and how it works.
What is Clubhouse?
Currently, Clubhouse is in its beta (testing) phase. It’s apparently been around for 12 months globally, but in Australia, it’s really only started to grow its presence here in the past two months.
At the moment, it’s only available to those who have an iPhone – and via a limited invite-only process to “not overwhelm the system”…but also, it’s a brilliant marketing strategy for driving a sense of FOMO and hype with having many leaders in fields using the platform.
How it works
Why the ‘less is more’ nature of Clubhouse sets this social platform apart from all others like LinkedIn or podcasts
Clubhouse works as a set of live “rooms” or conversations anyone on the platform can host as a ‘moderator’ – or join in conversations by sharing experiences or asking questions from the hosts of the room.
It lets you join in real-time, discussing and learning about topics you’re interested in – from retail marketing to business leadership, to motherhood, and diversity and inclusion conversations.
How is Clubhouse different (and better) than other social platforms?
It’s live, raw, and real-time, so it’s naturally a more relaxed environment.
As someone who co-hosts and produces the Thriving in Business podcast – the time and effort that goes into producing, recording, and promoting each episode is next to none to get to a stage we feel is ‘legitimate’ and engaging.
But with Clubhouse, anyone can host a room easily, you just need your voice and iPhone – without the need for any other equipment.
And compared to LinkedIn – which operates far less like a conversation and community – and still much more about maintaining a professional presence, Clubhouse is ‘unfiltered’, questions can come from anywhere and it’s all about driving a conversation with your listeners, sharing your stories, experience, and value – rather than the ‘quick sell’.
There are children talking in the background, (and pants are optional). So let your guard down and be real and authentic.
You’ll connect with people, topics, and groups you may never have the chance to before
When you join you’ll be offered to invite a couple of people you know to the platform and secure more as you engage and host your own “rooms”.
Using the ‘Explore’ (microscope icon) you can search and explore people, topics, and groups to follow and join in.
While it’ll show people you know there, the best thing is it’ll from all over the world.
Remember Clubhouse is not a platform to sell – it’s about expanding your knowledge, relationships, community, and reputation as the ‘go-to’
Those who’ll do really well on the platform are those who are there to share what they know, engage and connect and add value to others lives and businesses – rather than selling!
We’re short on enough time spending an hour listening to someone sell a product, service, or course!
While your “bio” (the page detailing who you are and what your passionate about” can include a mention or two about your other platforms, products, and services, and you can occasionally drop mentions of your products or services in conversations where appropriate), it’s all about keeping people interested, engaged and inspired with your know-how, ideas, and stories.
And organically, it will naturally build your following – after our first session, I started with 3 followers on Clubhouse and by the end, I had 100 new followers on the platform, 20 new followers on Instagram, and people had shared about it in their Instagram stories.
Plus the benefit of being one of the early adopters of the platform is you’ll be able to grow your influence as it grows!
Down the track, Clubhouse has confirmed it will introduce products to help creators on the platform get paid, including subscriptions, tipping, and ticket sales – so growing your following and trust early means you will be more likely to capitalise on this opportunity when this launches.
Top tips for creating (moderating) a Clubhouse conversation and building your influence
There’s no time like the present to jump in and schedule your first session. And here’e some tips to make it work for you!
1) Think strategically
Brainstorm topics your audiences want to hear and learn from you. If you’re targeting your customers of your products – think about challenges or pain points your audiences may have. Maybe it’s “how to create a plant-based lifestyle” if you’re a leader of a plant-based formula company. Or if you’re building your B2B network, perhaps it’s “how to build a 7 figure business without the burnout”.
2) Buddy up with others like moderators
Clubhouse is a conversation, so while you’re building your following and community, partner up with like-minded people in your industry to kick off a conversation. That way you already have more than just one of you in a room. I say the magic number is 3 – 4 speakers.
3) Choose a time that works for your audience – but think broader than your timezone
Choosing an early morning, lunchtime, or after 6pm session is great for ensuring you can catch people when they’re not under pressure of working and have the time to tune in.
And the benefit of Clubhouse is there’s plenty from the US already on the platform, so a 7am session in Brisbane is 4pm in New York – so you have the potential to reach those on the platform at that time.
4) Promote your conversation
While you don’t need to do a full marketing strategy – share and invite your existing network via your other platforms (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Email). You can also “ping” people you know to jump into the conversation when you go live.
5) Have one person as the lead facilitator
So you’re not talking over the top of each other, have one person as the main facilitator. They can start off with an intro about the conversation and ask for questions, lead questions to the other moderators to start, and then invite people to ask questions.
6) Open it up to questions early
Once you’ve done the introductions and the lead facilitators kicked it off with some of their initial questions to other speakers, open it up to those in the group to ask questions and share stories or experiences.
7) Be consistent
The way you’ll grow your following as a voice of authority on topics is showing up regularly and frequently. Our “Build your Brand with Content and PR” is happening at the same time each week.
8) Engage and participate in other conversations
Don’t just run your own session, jump into other conversations you’re interested in – especially those you may not know or have the chance to engage with elsewhere. Then follow and connect with them in your other channels (or share an Instagram story or private message them to share your experience of the session).
So be brave, dive in and join the club (or nag your mate for an ‘invite’).
