How to Use Clubhouse to Build Your Personal Brand or Employer Brand

In January, two of my closest friends attempted to refer me to a new app called Clubhouse, and I replied politely to both saying “no thank you.” This was the same reaction I had during my junior year of college when someone in my dorm ran down the hall to tell me to get on “The Facebook.” I finally joined Facebook after having FOMO when I couldn’t see the party pictures posted from that weekend.

What finally won me over to join Clubhouse was a message from my longtime advisor and technology industry analyst Jeremiah Owyang, saying “Are you on IOS? If yes, do you need an invite to Clubhouse?” I got his referral link and a follow-up text from him saying, “Don’t miss the boat on this…” I’ve known Owyang since the start of my career and I trust his advice, so I jumped right in!

The best way to describe Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat or a live audio conference. Much like with podcasting, people enjoy Clubhouse because they can listen while performing other activities like cooking, running, or driving. Some of my peers are spending upwards of eight hours a day on Clubhouse because it helps them develop their skills, try out new ideas, build an audience and generate new work or business opportunities. Right now it’s invite-only so you need someone who has Clubhouse to refer you, but eventually, it may be public for everyone.

In less than a year, Clubhouse has grown to 10 million users and a $1 billion valuation. Like any other social network, if you get in early and build connections, you’ll have a competitive advantage as the platform grows. For example, former COO and President of FOCUS Brands Kat Cole was an early user and now has amassed over 1.2 million followers. “I have been enriched personally and professionally since joining the app in May of 2020 when there were only a few thousand members, and the benefits have continued as the user base has grown,” says Cole.

The clubhouse dynamic explained

After you create your profile and select your interests, you are placed in a virtual “hallway” which depicts a list of active “rooms” that you can join, much like a live conference. These rooms are based on the people, topics, and clubs you follow and are most active in. You have the option to join rooms, start your own room, or create a new club. For instance, I started the “Workplace Intelligence” club because not only is this my company’s name, it’s also what my research and expertise are focused on. Whenever you join or start a room, your followers will get a notification to attend. You can also ping “mutual follows” to join a room that you’re already in to grow the audience size. I recommend you read Hubspot’s “How to Use Clubhouse: A Step-by-Step Guide” for an instruction manual, with screenshots, on how to use the network.

There are four hierarchical tiers in Clubhouse that depict your status on the network:

• Tier A: “Moderators” can start rooms and invite audience members (Tier C and D) to speak. They can also turn Speakers (Tier B) into other Moderators. Moderators have the most power and prestige in a room, which is signaled by a green icon next to their name.
• Tier B: “Speakers” can be invited up on stage by Moderators and can talk unless they are muted. When someone is invited to be a Speaker it’s viewed as an endorsement from the Moderator, who typically introduces them. And, if the Speaker adds value to the rest of the room, they are often rewarded with new followers.
• Tier C: “Followed by speakers” is like being in the first few rows of a conference. You have to be followed by at least one Speaker or Moderator to be in this tier. The benefit of being “Followed by speakers” is that you have more visibility to people in the room and thus a higher likelihood of being followed or asked to speak, both of which help grow your platform.
• Tier D: “Others in the room” is where the general audience sits. People in this tier have no authority in the room but could be raised up as a Speaker if the Moderator gives them that opportunity. For the most part, you do not want to be in this section in any room if your goal is to build your personal brand.

The higher the tier, the more likely you are to be able to build your personal brand. Therefore, users who had already established a strong network and brand prior to joining Clubhouse have a competitive advantage. For instance, when Owyang starts a room and I join it, I’m placed in Tier C because he follows me. But because we’re friends, he can boost me to Tier B or Tier A, giving me more authority. If I didn’t have that connection, I would be automatically placed into Tier D, which allows me to learn from him and his speakers but has a low likelihood of allowing me to grow my personal brand.

How to build your personal brand on Clubhouse

From the very beginning of my career, I focused on helping people around the world build their personal brands on social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. All of the high-level advice I’ve given about personal branding applies to Clubhouse, for example, helping out others before asking for anything in return, promoting your niche expertise, and creating your own opportunities. What’s different is that there are specific ways to build your brand unique to Clubhouse, such as the following:

• Establish a credible profile. People will click your profile when you’re in a room, so it’s important to use keywords and a strong tone so that you become someone others want to listen to and follow. The higher your tier, the more likely it that someone will click your profile to learn about your expertise and what you have to offer. I suggest starting with a one-liner to quickly capture attention, much like a LinkedIn headline, that describes what you do and whom you work for. Then, add lines about your achievements, brands you’ve worked with or for, and anything else that would showcase your uniqueness.
• Selectively follow people, interests, and clubs. If you try to follow everything and everyone, you will get anxiety from the number of notifications you receive as a result. That’s why I recommend you be very thoughtful about whom you follow because if you focus your energy, you’re more likely to maximize your opportunities. I primarily follow people, clubs, and conversations focused on HR and work trends, for example, HR executives and leaders, the HR Club, Digital Transformation Club, and Future of Work Club, as well as conversations about “The Future” and “AI.”
• Start slow and then grow. The order in which I suggest you build your brand on Clubhouse is to start by joining rooms, then speak in rooms, then moderate a room, and then start a club. This way, you are spending the necessary time to learn the dynamics of the platform while simultaneously gaining credibility and following to grow your brand. It takes time to get the hang of the Clubhouse environment and just like everything else, you don’t want to rush or you’ll be in over your head.
• Be consistent. Brenda Neckvatal, who administers the HR Club and is an industry veteran, says, “Be consistent. Not only do people need to find you, but they also need to hear you. The only way people can hear you is when you show up on a regular time that is predictable and published.” Every brand (personal, corporate, or product) that has ever been built was promoted regularly to remind people they or it exists. Establish a schedule of joining a room at least every few days and hosting a room at least once a week.
• Contribute regularly to expand your network. By attending rooms, speaking, following, and connecting, you can expand your network and thus your opportunities. “The ease of connecting and engaging on the platform works for everyone, so it’s no surprise that amazing connections happen,” says Kat Cole, who also has a newsletter. “Because you can pop in and out, search profiles, contribute, or host conversations anytime, anywhere, serendipity is almost guaranteed,” she adds. “Like any relationship, you get what you give, so the more you give, speak, support, and host discussions, the more likely you are to meet interesting people. I have met friends, new colleagues, founders to invest in, investors to join in supporting founders, new contacts to follow, talented people to recommend for roles, and more.”
• Leverage your invitations to build your network. You receive five invitations when you join and these get replenished as you remain active on Clubhouse. When you invite other people, your name, face, and a link to your profile will permanently appear in their profiles, which helps build your brand by association. I try to invite people not only to make them feel special and give them an opportunity to be on Clubhouse, but also as a way to build my network with people I already know on the platform.
• Practice good manners. Some good advice is to pretend that anything you say will be on a billboard the next day. When you’re in a public forum, be on your best behavior and be thoughtful of your tone and word choice in order to be sensitive to everyone else in the room. “As you would in any professional setting, be mindful of whom you associate with and how you present yourself, and always be insightful without pitching,” advises Owyang.
• Promote your network. When you’re a Moderator in a room, you can promote your peers as Speakers and then say positive things about them, which helps you cultivate these relationships. Just like with any and all networking, people will reciprocate your gesture when you’re in rooms they’re moderating. Get in the habit of calling people out by name, giving them kudos, and elevating their status in rooms, and your personal brand will prosper as a result.
• Develop your speaking and listening skills. In order to effectively build your brand on Clubhouse, you need these two skills—first, because it’s audio-only, and second, because it’s critical that you listen before responding so you can make meaningful contributions to the conversation. “On Clubhouse, you can listen without pressure to engage or respond, and you are often exposed to longer-form conversations, picking up nuance and context if you listen long enough,” says Cole. “As for speaking, the audio-only format reduces the cognitive load—no worries about hair, makeup, background, etc. It’s only you, your ideas, and your voice—not any other factor.”
• Create a niche club to stand out. “The best way to build a personal brand on Clubhouse is by starting a club,” says Michael Marra, CEO and Founder of Entre. “Now that there are so many clubs, you should focus on a specific niche and vertical to gain traction as they onboard new users and open to android. There’s still a lot of time to carve out a large audience, just like the beginning of podcasting years ago.”

How to build your employer brand on Clubhouse

While companies can have their own club on Clubhouse much like they can on all the other social networks, there haven’t been too many use cases to date because of the maturity of the platform. But much like the other networks, businesses will eventually build their employer brands on Clubhouse. Here are some strategies companies can implement on Clubhouse to build their employer brand, attract new candidates, and engage their employees:

• Use a spokesperson to promote your work culture. Corporate spokespeople, who are typically executives, can host a room to talk about what it’s like to work for your company in an unfiltered way. Owyang, who is a partner at Kaleido Insights, says, “Bring your company spokespersons into these conversations once they have first listened, established an understanding of the culture, and are ready to have an open and honest real-time discussion just like they would at a public conference. Through Clubhouse, the trade show is now on your phone.”
• Recruit active and passive candidates. Host a room with recruiters and/or hiring managers using the position you’re recruiting for as the name of the room (ex. Looking to hire UX designers). You can invite candidates who have already applied or post on social media that you’re having an informal conversation about the position. Candidates can ask recruiters questions about the position, and you can provide them with a special application link for being part of the room. Think of Clubhouse as an audio-only virtual job fair that gives you more insights on candidates than a resume can.
• Host rooms with special guests. When you start a club for your business, you can invite your employees to be members and then host private rooms with special guest speakers from your network to make them feel special and educate them. You can do the same with a public room, where your company hosts a thought leader in your industry to talk about a relevant subject, and employees are invited up to ask questions.

How Clubhouse (and audio social networks) are part of the future of work

Opportunities have, and will always, follow attention. As I mentioned earlier, some of my peers are already heavily invested in Clubhouse as a way to improve their capabilities, test ideas, build a following and grow their personal brand. At a bare minimum, you should at least register for Clubhouse to understand the dynamics of an audio social network and learn from your industry peers. Instead of watching or streaming TV shows, invest time in getting to know people in your industry that could be part of your network. The future of work will have frictionless communication horizontally and vertically across organizations, so take the next step and enter the audio social networking revolution!

— Dan Schawbel

Follow me on Clubhouse @danschawbel and join the Workplace Intelligence Club.

To have more information on Clubhouse, please take a look at the article “How to Start a Room in Clubhouse?” by Johny Walker. You can access the article from https://www.mediamister.com/blog/how-to-start-a-room-in-clubhouse/