When used correctly, Clubhouse can help you develop new ideas, get information from thought leaders you don’t have access to, interact with fascinating people all over the world and connect with them. You can also use Clubhouse to network or establish yourself as a thought-leader (or influencer).

There is a lot of content on Clubhouse, what it is and how to navigate the app. I am focusing on the benefits of Clubhouse and how to use it to maximise value (and time). I hope this article can shorten your discovery journey. 

Content:

Why Clubhouse?
Comparing Clubhouse to other social media platforms
How does Clubhouse work?
How can you maximise your time in Clubhouse?
How can people best use the app to the network?
Other ways how to use Clubhouse

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I was invited to Clubhouse a few months ago and never got into it as:

• I am not an auditory learner
• I get headaches from noise
• Clubhouse has been hit-and-miss, with conversations that I personally wasn’t interested in and lots of self-promotional people (too much posturing)
• Conversations are not recorded so you have to join live and be present (hence, I prefer podcasts)

But after experimenting with Clubhouse for the past weeks, my opinions changed and I found a way to extract maximum value.
By the way, I’m @annavanessa on Clubhouse, connect with me! 🙂

Why Clubhouse App?

First, I think the most important use case for Clubhouse is as an insights platform. I consider it as a “decentralised conference” where you get access to speakers you may otherwise not have access to. 

• Personally, to me, Clubhouse is like being at a cocktail party. You drop into rooms you are interested in and listen to conversations by the speakers. Leave whenever you want to. You can also multitask.
• Since it’s a voice to voice interaction, the speakers have to be polite and smart. If you ask a question as yourself or disagree, you are putting yourself out as yourself. Unlike other social media platforms and forums where you can be anonymous (and lead to spam and mean comments with no recourse.).
• Knowledge is very much rewarded. As a speaker, you must be able to deliver in sharing and adding value.
• Access to smart thinkers or views that you may not be aware of or have access
• Extremely convenient as it is a voice-only interaction, no dressing up or video required
• Low barrier to entry – no production capabilities needed to start a room and start a conversation
• Low commitment – you can join and leave any time you want
• Discoverability of different types of content – knowledge, creative & experiential rooms

It is launched at the right time, during the pandemic where a lot of parts of the world are in lockdown. It’s a place where people crave human interaction and intimacy and Clubhouse, if you use it correctly, provides that.

Comparing Clubhouse to other social media platforms

• Twitter
  If Clubhouse is a cocktail party, Twitter, to me, is a bar-hopping and brawl. While it has been a brilliant broadcast medium, it has been taken over by haters and spammers.
• Instagram
  Beauty pageant to showcase 1) your looks 2) your material possessions 3) how great your life is 4) a photo album to save memories. And if you are an influencer, a platform to monetise your following by promoting products.Instagram Live vs Clubhouse? No dressing up or camera needed for Clubhouse. Also, you can multitask in Clubhouse. I can surf, look at social media, read emails on my phone while the room is in progress. For Instagram Live, once you close the room, you can’t continue watching.
• LinkedIn
  Professional networking to connect, mine for information but not insights through conversations. Clubhouse allows discourse on various topics and at a repeatable rate.  This is a screenshot of a room that I follow. The topics are multi-discipline and thought-provoking. If the speakers are good, it will help you in forming new ideas and learn.

• Podcasts
  Ahhh, so this was the part I struggled with. I use to wonder – why Clubhouse and not podcasts? I prefer podcasts since it’s on-demand and I can listen to it anytime I want. A podcast is playable any time, anywhere which works well if you want to consume content at a certain time. Or look for information on specific topics.Clubhouse is more spontaneous and even as the audience, you may have the chance to ask questions. (There is a hand-raising feature that can be turned on and off by the moderators.).

Personal opinion – Early on, I noticed that one of the groups that are super active early on and are rushing to build their profiles are those in the late 30s to early 50s. There are no specific social media platforms that cater to them, especially if they are not really that “famous” or “interesting”. They are not nubile, young influencers peddling fashion or beauty products. They don’t want to write articles on career advice. They are not used to watching moving videos or want to be “actors” producing such content. Previously it was Facebook but it is now passe and a place to share articles.

So Clubhouse works for this group as this is finally where they can shine. They can give their opinions, use voice as a medium instead of photos or videos and some may have good networks that they can tap to. 

How does Clubhouse work?

Clubhouse creates a place where people can meet up to host, listen to, and in some cases, join conversations within the app’s community. When a user opens the app, he/she will be presented with a list of rooms, as well as a list showing who is in each room. One can either join an existing chat room or can start their own room, inviting new people and starting fresh conversations. Each room has moderators, speakers, and listeners. Moderators control who gets speaking privileges, though listeners can “raise their hand” to speak. (Business Today)

Apart from rooms, people can also create clubs in Clubhouse. Rooms are temporary, while clubs are permanent where people join and get notified for every chat room started by the club.

How can you maximise your time in Clubhouse?

Disclaimer – I care a lot about time maximisation and I want the time I spend on Clubhouse to be educational, not entertainment. I’ve no interest in frivolous chats, watercooler talks or random conversations. So for the past few weeks, I have curated and experimented with how I can extract maximum benefits if I invest my time in it. I also have a fairly narrow set of interests – Finance, technology, AI, funding, current affairs, personal development, mental models and productivity.

1. Be ruthless with who and what you follow
   The algorithm is not advanced yet, so the rooms that you are presented with are based on the clubs and people you follow.
   At the start, I followed a lot of my friends and clubs and … some of the conversations are eye-roll inducing. For example, “What do wealthy men look for in a woman?”. Maybe it’s interesting for a lot of people, there were 500 in the audience, but it’s not for me. There are rooms about relationships or just chit-chats but it’s just not what I am interested in.To illustrate this point, these are how stark the differences in room suggestions can be. The first image is the room suggestions of a friend, who is into the same interests as me.  The second is my room suggestions, more business and tech-focused.

• Build a complete bio
  Create a proper bio and fill it up properly. This is the only way people can know you. Share who you are and write the amazing things you are working on. There is no limit to what you can write so it’s good to let people know who you are, what you are passionate about and what you are interested in. Include a way for people to connect with you outside Clubhouse as there is no direct message function for now. You can add your Instagram but I suggest your LinkedIn or email.
• Networking on Clubhouse
  There are a few “silent” networking groups that you can join. Most of them are “thematic” or industry-specific. For example “Legal networkings session” or “networking for Asian founders”. There are also rooms for hiring purposes. Again, these are shown based on my interests and the people I follow.
  
  Use case: If you are a founder and want to know fellow founders and VCs, you can join the rooms and check out the profile of the speakers and audience. As everyone’s bios are public, you can “stalk” and find out more about the interesting things people are working on!
  
• Meet interesting people from all over the world
  One of my favourite experiences was a social room I stumbled on. There were 12 people in the room and they were all over the world. The people were high-quality people, with the most interesting roles and insights. One of them works in NASA, one in the White House, a few venture capitalists and founders. There was no particular topic but the discussions were on fire. A lady was working on improving and innovating food for astronauts! We were all changing contacts and discussing our roles and how we can collaborate.
  
  So yes, Clubhouse is a good platform to meet fascinating people all over the world… and actually have conversations with them.
• Establish yourself as a thought-leader or influencer
  Clubhouse hits a riveting intersection of benefits as a social media, especially if you want to build your profile.
  
  For example, unless you are super famous, it’s very hard for you to reach “superstar” or “influencer” status now (and hence monetise it for money, influence or power). The time has passed. In addition, in a lot of these visual social media platforms, you either have to look good, be zany and be willing to produce content that is entertainment.
  
  LinkedIn is a professional networking app where you can share your work achievements and progress. But of late, they want content on how other professionals can benefit and advance their careers. LinkedIn is also not widely used by those, not incorporates, hence a large part of society.
  
  Podcasts are not interactive and take a lot of effort to produce and plan. (I considered doing one!)So here comes Clubhouse. Low barriers to entry – no planning or production required. Set up a profile and start a room. You can invite interesting speakers or be a speaker.
• Organic Reach & Building Influence
  Clubhouse allows you to build your organic reach. You may have a large following on other platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, but the engagement and ability reach is very much throttled. Clubhouse is at the stage where you can reach far and wide, especially with the absence of advertising.
  
  When you get in early, you have a chance to build influence and following.I don’t have a big following and I prefer to be a more passive listener. While I have some ideas on how to build a following, no growth hack strategy is as good as… always provide value to others.
• Discoverability – Go Out of Your Comfort Zone to Enjoy Different Types of ContentOne of the beauty of Clubhouse is also in the discoverability and serendipity in discovering what Clubhouse has to offer.Have a diverse view to enjoy interesting and experiential rooms. For example, a room where people are recommending their favourite non-fiction books. They not only shared the titles but an in-depth review and even read a passage from the books. You can enjoy creative rooms where people are singing, performing karaoke or stand-up comedy.There are experiential rooms where one can learn from such as learning how to do a business pitch, talk to the opposite sex and more. Depending on what you want to learn, follow the people you want to learn from.Go out of your comfort zone and break out of the usual circles you are used to. Explore to find out the best of what Clubhouse has to offer, especially in these early days where the quality of content is amazing.

Hope this helps in your Clubhouse journey! If you have any suggestions or feedback or anything to add on, please let me know! 🙂

BONUS CONTENT!

Asked a few active Clubhouse users for their thoughts, tips and tricks. Contribution is edited linguistically and for brevity.

From Eric Feng
A motivational speaker who teaches people how to activate the powers of social media”. He provides a lot of content for social media, networking and sales. You can follow him on LinkedIn here.

How can people best use the app to the network?

• Get clear on your business or learning goal first. Then identify the people you want to know.
• Familiarity: Go to the rooms they go to or speak in,  raise your hand to ask questions.
• Reciprocity: Add value to the person and use the “thank you” script.1. Read their bio & connect with them on IG or Twitter
  2. Bring people into the room
  3. Ask questions or share your point of vie
  4. Promote the room on your social media platforms

When the person thank you for the value, reply: “The best way to thank me is … (get the help you need)

• Do you think Clubhouse will change the way people network?
  
  There are a lot of heavyweight personalities that are making themselves easily available here on Clubhouse. Well known investors, leaders, brands… which means that the chances of us connecting with them is tremendously high. I believe will spur more people to jump on the Clubhouse to network.
  
  The barrier of entry is very low too. We don’t have to show our face. We don’t have to dress up. 

From Daylon Soh

Other ways how to use Clubhouse

• Build Community 
  Use it to find and build community in your interests and hobbies. You can think about joining or creating rooms from topic, location and people.
  E.g. there’s an audience for less serious rooms ‘Kopitiam’ and people connect by language or thought leaders Kai-Fu Lee room in Mandarin
• Structuring Thoughts
  The advantage of Clubhouse is you can have a dialogue and experience mixed media. E.g. karaoke room and poetry. It allows me to think about a topic much deeper and get clear on how I express my thoughts. Especially, on points of view not covered by others.
• Knowledge Density
  Audio books > Podcast > ClubhouseFor an audio learner, audiobooks are generally better edited and backed by research. There may be more noise than signals on Clubhouse so following good moderators and concise speakers are key. However, commitment is low for tuning in and dropping out.

Profile image credit: filmdaily.co