Clubhouse - The ultimate Introduction

There is a new kid on the social media block: Clubhouse

Most likely you have heard about this new, highly addictive social media platform. Clubhouse is build all around the spoken word. It is basically a platform around your interests and people you follow. The algorithm is basically fed through what you like... but let's start at the beginning:

First of all, it is an iOS only app for the time being, meaning that it only runs on iPhones and iPads for the time being. Android and others are not supported as we speak. Rumours go that the Android app will be released in March 2021. So only if you have an iPhone or an iPad you have a chance to get in.

In case you have either one, then I highly advise you to download the app. As people use their real names (and their face pictures) on Cluhouse, it is important to secure your name: You want to be 'Lisa Smith' and not 'Lisa Smith 93'. To secure your name, you need to download the app and apply. This basically puts you in the queue outside of the club.

So how do you get in?

There are basically two ways:

People in the club get invites. Everyone who joins get two. So if a friend is already on Clubhouse, you can ask her if she invites you in. 

The other way to get in is, if enough of your contacts (on your phone) are already in Clubhouse, Clubhouse sends them a message and tells your friends 'YOUR NAME is waiting to get admitted to Clubhouse. Let him in, your invitations will not be used for this.'

Do you only have 2 invites on Clubhouse?

People on the inside get more than those two invites if they show up on the platform, host rooms, raise their hands in the rooms, open clubs etc. (what that all means later in this text). So the more you interact with the platform, the more you engage on the platform the more invites you get to then pass on to your contacts. Which makes sense. This is old CRM thinking: If you are active, then it is highly likely that your friends are as active as you are.

What else should you know about invites?

Well, when you download the app - as this is a SOCIAL app - you should grant Clubhouse access to your contact list on your phone. This is important to make suggestions on who to follow: When signing up, Clubhouse will suggest to you people to follow. This list is made up of people you know (based on your contact list on your phone), your interests and people who are already big on Clubhouse (and who are most likely being followed already by your contacts.)

So what is up with the interests?

When signing up, Clubhouse asks you about your interests, so they can select what rooms and clubs to push onto you. So if you are a cat person, it makes most likely no sense to push a dog room / club onto you. This is why this is important to tell Clubhouse. This is important so that you have a better experience. (Don't you worry, you can change these categories later on. So if you are a cat person who turns out to love dogs later on, you can let Clubhouse know that.)

What happens after the sign up?

So once you have downloaded the app, registered your name, got access to the app and selected people to follow and your initial list of interests, you will see something like this:

 This is the Clubhouse Hallway!

On top left, you see the magnifier glass that helps you to search for people or clubs / topics. Behind the envelop you find your invites as well as your contacts from your phone, who have not yet joined Clubhouse. The calendar helps you to organise your rooms (you find rooms that are scheduled in accordance to your interests or you find rooms that you scheduled / or you were put onto the stage (stage? we cover that later). Behind the bell you see people who recently have joined and you might want to follow / follow back in case they follow you. (Again this is based on your contact list.) Clicking on your profile pic opens the you profile.

Then you see on top future rooms that are scheduled and pushed onto you given your interest, below you see the rooms in session that you could join by clicking on them. The green 'start a room' let's you start a room right away.

What are rooms on Clubhouse?

Rooms are basically, well rooms that run under a certain topic. Actually they are like talk radio or interactive podcasts.

What is the stage on Clubhouse?

You have the stage on top. In the example here (see below) 8 people are on stage: The ones that have the green start next to them, are the moderators. They have the power to bring people onto the stage or send them back into the audience. You can only talk when you are on stage. When your microphone is crossed out, you are on mute. REMEMBER: When you are invited onto stage your mic will open up. So you need to mute yourself, otherwise people will hear your background noise. 
When you open a room your are not only moderator, but you are host. That means you will always appear on the first spot (left on the top). 

What sections are there in a room?

On top you have the stage. The section underneath is called 'Followed by the speakers'. So if a speaker (= someone on stage) is following you, you are send to this section. Below that section you will find 'others in the room'. This is the wider public. 

What is hand raising?

On the bottom of the screen you see the hand that is raised. If you click on the raised hand, then you signal to the moderators on stage that you want to contribute. They then can accept you on stage and you would appear... on stage. (Remember to turn your mic off when you hop onto stage.)

Sometimes - especially in big rooms - hand-raising is turned off. This is just to work the room properly. Otherwise it could get out of hand.

What is 'pinging'?

If you click on the plus sign at the bottom, you can ping other people into the room. Basically you can invite people whom you follow and who follow you back into the room. So this helps everyone to identify rooms that are interesting for oneself. 

Leave quietly

If you want to leave a room you can either use 'leave quietly' which brings you back into the hallway or you just click on 'all rooms' on top so that you are back into the hallway (still being part of your last room) and then if you click on another room you will leave the current room and being ported into the next room.

How to connect on Clubhouse?

The short Bio

When you click on any of the headshots, the first thing you see are the first 3 lines of your the bio. And this is very important to understand: Those 3 lines need to be written in a way that catches the audiences interest, because only then they will click on 'view full profile'.

On the headshot: Pick a headshot that is showing you. Not your brand, not your product. YOU should be visible, as - again - this is a social platform. 

Clicking on 'followers' or 'following' you will see which other people this person is following ('following') or which other people follow that person ('followers').

The longer Bio

When you click on 'view full profile' you access the longer, or full bio (biography). And this is actually up to you what you put in there. Of course it should be relevant and interesting given what you want to do on Clubhouse. So if you want to interact with other cat lovers, then of course speak about what cats meant to you. If you are on Clubhouse for business then show your accomplishments, what you are doing etc. If you look at other bios you get a feel what you like and you get some inspirations of course.

So this is for instance the start of my longer bio. (As you are rewriting often your bio, it might look differently when you are checking me out on Clubhouse.)

Why is linking Instagram and Twitter to Clubhouse so important?

At the bottom of your bio you can link your Instagram and / or your Twitter profile. If you are on Clubhouse for business reasons, you might want to link your business profiles. But again, Clubhouse is very personal. So there should never speak a brand, only your personal brand. 

These two links (Twitter and Instagram) are the only links that are clickable on your bio. (Think of Instagram: You only have one link to put in your Instagram bio.) Here you can put two links, but those links are only your Twitter and your Instagram profiles. No other link, like website URL, is clickable. You can even not copy these website addresses by clicking on the screen. 

As Clubhouse does not have a messaging functionality, you need to linke either one of these other two social media profiles, so that people could get in touch with you. 

So when someone on Clubhouse says: 'DM me for more information' and DM stands for direct messaging me, what she means is: 

Click on my headshot
Scroll all the way to the bottom of my bio
Click on my Instagram or Twitter
Then on Instagram (or Twitter) send me a private message

What else is there to discover on a bio?

You can see which clubs this person is following, or is a member of. You can get to those clubs by clicking on the logo of the club.

The X on top closes the bio and the cogwheel brings you to settings.

BTW you update your bio by clicking on your bio text.

Hope you find this ultimate intro very usefull... let me know how you are doing and let's link on Clubhouse: @SebastianKraft

Thanks and enjoy Clubhouse!