By now I’m sure you’ve heard about the newest social platform that everyone wants into called Clubhouse. As the name states, it is a club so you have to be invited by someone already in the app to join, which is part of the reason people are so anxious
If you have found yourself here, that means that A) you’ve got your in (Yay you!) and you are trying to figure out what in the world to do with it, or B) you want to know what you’re doing before you get in so you can start killing it.
We are going to explain every part of Clubhouse to you from your profile picture, joining rooms, getting on stage, to creating clubs and being moderators. So let’s get started!
Here is an example of what your home screen will look like when you very first open the app.
I’m going to go through each of the “buttons” on the top of your clubhouse bar from right to left and then dig in to what each one of them does.
PROFILE PICTURE:
This first spot is your profile picture. If you are on Clubhouse for fun or already have a brand following on your other social media platforms, then keeping your profile picture the same can help people find you a little more easily. If you are on for business or just want to freshen it up a bit, now is the time to do it. This is an audio-only platform so your profile picture is the only visual that people will get of
A few suggestions for customizing your profile picture would be to stage it to match what your profession is (a mic in the picture if you are a podcaster, awards you’ve won in the background, makeup brushes or pallets if you are a beauty influencer, you wearing an item you designed, etc), or including a border to set you apart.
If you choose to use a border, you won’t be able to use one from Facebook or Instagram because those are circular and the shape on Clubhouse is more like a square-ish circle. My suggestion is to head over to Fiverr.com and find a designer who can customize a border for you based on your brand or however you want it to look. These usually cost anywhere between $5-$10 depending on how much customization you want. In the end you’ll be eye-catching and you’ll be helping a freelancer out at the same time.
Another thing to note about your profile picture is that you can change it over and over with no dreaded “Profile Pictures” folder to haunt you later on. This can work to your advantage if you want to look more professional in one room, but maybe a little more laid back in others.
Once you click on your profile picture it will take you to your bio page. Here you will see your username, number of followers you have, number of people following you, and then whatever information you choose to share. Your first two-three lines are the most important part of your bio, because if someone clicks on your name in a room it won’t show the entire bio at first. It will share your followers/following info, username, and then two or three lines of your bio, so sell yourself in that spot first.
As far the full bio, there is no limit to how many characters you can have (and if there is, I haven’t reached it yet), so this is a great place to really dive in and tell people who you are, what you represent, link your business, people you endorse, (hyperlinks aren’t available just yet, but they will be coming down the pipe soon) your Instagram and Twitter
whatever. Again, this is an audio only app so this is the only way people will get to know you until you get on stages and start talking.
At the very bottom of your bio (not pictured) is a list of clubs that you are a part of you. These would be similar to the “groups” you are in on Facebook. These will have little green houses next to their title so you know that it’s an actual club, rather than just a room someone started. These are so important to making connections because this is where you will find your base and your people who you click on and listen to over and over.
SETTINGS:
Next, we’ll look at your settings, which is the little gear in the top right corner of
your bio page.
From here you can change your notifications, whether you want the main screen to include trending rooms, turn off your notifications, all the legales and FAQs.
The most important things you are going to want to do in your settings are to add interests, and link your Twitter/Instagram. Linking your Twitter and Instagram are going to be how people who click on you in a room, actually find you and reach out to you outside of Clubhouse. This could grow your following on the other platforms, and give you some great people to follow as well.
Interests help Clubhouse narrow down rooms that you may like, and topics that interest you. If I’m in Clubhouse for marketing, I probably don’t want to see a bunch of rooms about “what to cook for dinner” or “space trash and recycling”. This is like your hashtags, where you choose what you like and it kind of helps you find more of the content and the people you need to connect with from there.
NOTIFICATIONS:
Going back to the home screen and looking back at the top, the next button we have is the notifications button. Just like other platforms, this is where you will receive notifications about who has joined, who has nominated you for a club, what people you are following are going to be speaking, upcoming club conversations, etc.
CALENDAR:
Continuing down the line, we have the calendar. This can show you all Upcoming Rooms, Upcoming Rooms for You, or Your Events.
All Upcoming Rooms are going to show you every single room that will open up at the hour closest to you. Every. Single. Random. Room.
The My Events will show what rooms you are scheduled to be on stage for, or rooms that you are hosting.
The default is going to be Upcoming for You. This is where they are going to pull rooms that match the interests you filled out in settings, rooms with the people you are following, and rooms that have your followers inside, or rooms your clubs are creating. If things get too broad or you aren’t finding what you like using this feature, try refining your interests and see if that helps.
INVITATIONS:
Next up we have the invitations button. When you join Clubhouse you will get 2 invitations. Because Clubhouse is in beta it is invite only, so make sure the person you are inviting really wants to join, because if you send it and they never click on it, you lose it. You can earn more invites by having the people you nominate join, being in exclusive rooms at the right time, showing up to rooms you put on your calendar and sometimes by attending a town hall meeting.
Another thing to note about invites, is in order to nominate someone, you must both have each other’s phone number in each phone,and it must be an iPhone.
SEARCH:
Finally, finishing off the top row is the search button. This is going to be just like the search bar on your other platforms. Here you can search for people, specific clubs, or conversation topics. When you initially click on the magnifying glass, it will show people you might want to follow, as well as sections of conversations based on the topics you could choose from for your interest. Go ahead and explore around here a little bit, especially if you are new.
START LISTENING IN:
Now that we have made it through all the buttons, you have your profile picture set, your bio is good to go, let’s take a look at the virtual “hallway” of rooms to join in and listen.
These rooms that show up on the homepage with the white background are rooms that are currently happening. Most of them will either be from clubs you follow, rooms with people you follow, or rooms currently trending. These may be based on your interest, or it may simply be how many people are in the room. For instance in the picture to the left, the tiny little numbers in grey at the bottom of the room show how many people are in the room and how many speakers are on stage.
The top room shows that there are 3.6 thousand people in the room and 11 people on stage. This room is a trending room.
The next room has 34 people in it and 23 people on stage. This is a room that came straight from my interests and is obviously a little smaller because it is so niche.
Once you find a room that you are interested in, simply tap on it to join in. Your mic will be automatically muted (unless you get pulled on stage, then you’ll have to mute it again quickly) and you will join the audience.
When you join you will notice the first clump of people at the top, and those are your speakers, or people who have been brought on stage. The person who has the gray ring around their picture is the person who is currently talking. This helps everyone keep track of who is speaking, at what time. If you really resonate with what someone has said you can always click their profile, see if they have their Instagram or Twitter and see what they’re all about and give them a follow.
If you notice underneath the stage is a section called “Followed by the speakers” If one of the speakers follows you, you will automatically be placed in this spot in the room. Aside from the stage, this is the place you want to be. Not only are you getting seen by a lot of people, but you are more likely to be seen by a moderator and get pulled up to the stage when you put your hand up. (The tiny little hand in the bottom right hand corner. Just like school, you have to raise your hand if you want a chance to speak.)
The moderators are those that have the green circle with the little asterisk inside it. These are the people who help regulate the room, look for people who have had their hand up, help answer questions, etc. The moderators also have the power to close a room, mute everyone, and turn off hand raising. Some of these things could happen, especially in larger rooms, or if things are getting out of hand, but most of the time a moderator is someone who you trust to help you with your conversation, so it’s not likely you’ll get a troll modding your room with you.
The other thing about being a moderator is that once someone has chosen you to be a moderator, you are (currently) a moderator for them forever. So anytime you jump into a room where that person is, you will automatically be brought up on stage. Even if it’s been two weeks, if you show up 30 minutes late, or you accidentally click on the room, you will be listed as a mod, so remember to get that mute button ready!
(If you notice at the bottom of this picture, the hand raise is a little different than a normal listener. This is where moderators can click to see who has their hands up, or turn the feature off. That’s why the bottom of this picture looks a little different, because it is from a moderator’s view.)
The great thing about being a moderator in general, is that usually the people who are moderators are going to get their picture clicked on, their profile looked at, and more exposure to possibly grow your following.
If you want to experiment with being a moderator, get a group of your friends together and start a room (probably a closed one) and add each other as moderators to play around with it a little bit.
The last two things I want to point out before we move on are the “+” sign and the “peace” fingers on the bottom, far left.
Starting with the + sign. This is how you can ping other people into a room with you. If you are really enjoying a conversation or you think someone else would like it, hit that + button and it will pull up the people who are online and active first, then the people who have gone idle. All you have to do is tap their name and they will get a notification that says something like “So and so wants you to join the room…”
As for the peace fingers, this is how you will actually leave a room when you are done as it implies. Once you close out a room and go back to the “hallway” or even swipe down the app, the room’s conversation will actually keep playing in the background. The only way to actually leave is to hit this button.
SCHEDULED ROOMS:
Let’s go back to the homescreen to finish up this walkthrough.
Underneath your main buttons is an off color area that has times and titles. This is the schedule of rooms for the clubs that you joined. You will get a notification as these rooms are being created and it actually gives you the option to add to your apple calendar and your google calendar, in case it’s a room you know you don’t want to miss. This space right here is just what’s coming up for the present day in case you need a reminder or want to schedule around it. (Notice the green houses in the gray box versus the white box below. The green houses mean these are clubs that offer multiple conversations. The one in white does not have a green house by it, so this room is one time only conversation.)
START YOUR OWN ROOM:
The final two buttons we will talk about are the green dot waffle and the start a room buttons at the very bottom, starting with the waffle. When you click on this, it’s going to pull up all of your followers who are online now, and what room they are in (if applicable). This is good if you want to start up a room and invite people in or see what your friends are listening to and jump in and join them.
You’ve got your profile set up, your bio is awesome, you’ve listened in to a couple of rooms, been on stage in a couple rooms, joined a few clubs, and made great connections. Now it’s time to start your own room! Now there are 3 different types of rooms you can make so don’t worry if you need to do a test run on one. When you click on “Start a room” this is what will pop up.
Before we talk about adding a topic, let’s go through what each room means.
Open: This room will be open to anyone and everyone on Clubhouse. This is great if you have a broad topic you want to discuss and want to share the love, or start a welcome room and get together with some other people who are new to the app. Ideally, this is where you will want your conversations to eventually be.
Social: This room will only be open to people who follow you and the people who follow them. This is usually a smaller, more intimate chat, but do know that other followers of followers can come in.
Closed: This is a locked room that only you and the people you invite can come into. This is the place that would be good to grab a friend or two and practice modding with each other. Sometimes clubs will also create closed rooms and invite certain club members for specific topics, exclusive content, spoiler warnings, etc.
When creating a topic name, try to come up with something creative or full of high searchable words. Another great thing to add, is some emojis that match what your topic will be. The more eye-catching it is, the more likely people will be to pop in and listen.
And there you have it! You are now a Clubhouse aficionado, or at least on your way to getting there. Remember, Clubhouse is audio only so there are no recordings in rooms, they are all live, and you are here to connect with people. Connection is key. If you already have a brand, this is a great place to expand or hear from others on how to improve and grow. If you are looking for a way into a business this is a great networking tool. If you just want to have fun and connect with people after nearly a year and counting in quarantine.
If you want a jump start on some great rooms and connections, follow me @steezdiaz and my wife @chelseydiaz. We are in with a lot of entrepreneurs, and leaders of mastermind classes and you will access those rooms just by being followers with us.
For more ways to grow your following, get invites, and really use this app to the best of its capabilities, be sure to check out the links at the bottom of the page.
Be sure to comment and share with us what takeaways you have, what you learned, what worked well for you, and what areas you would like to see about Clubhouse in the future. We love to hear your stories and want to celebrate success with you!
References:
► Clubhouse App Invite Hack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJtFyMIGjo8&list=PL82ayeIyVxldzkpnii21TF9cB62HEMuMW
► How to Use Clubhouse Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWz0UjFZyEE&t=117s
► How to Get Followers on Clubhouse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPLgktlQizg&list=PL82ayeIyVxldzkpnii21TF9cB62HEMuMW&index=3
► Where to get custom border
