This morning, I hopped into a Clubhouse room and 350 people followed me.
So then I opened up my first room this afternoon and got another 300 followers.
It’s not the number of followers, but the quality of the folks and the depth of the conversation.
During the first few minutes when I opened the room, it was just me sitting there by myself. I was going to just “leave quietly” in failure. But then folks like Tristan Parmley, Chris Collins and Keith Brassfield joined in. And the top folks in digital hopped into our room, causing the live users to hit nearly 200.
I finally ended the room FOUR hours later, having eaten up my entire evening. But the conversation was so good, I just couldn’t leave.
I’m now mainlining the heroin that is Clubhouse. I’ve got projects to work on, places to be, sleep to catch, and a life to live— just like you.
And just after I exited the room, Michael Stelzner (the godfather in social media marketing) called me up and gave me coaching on how to run maximize my impact on Clubhouse.
My mistakes:
- I didn’t know you should make a room private with your speakers first, then invite people to join.
- I didn’t know I should have one person moderate the room (promoting speakers, muting, tracking time), so I can focus on the speakers.
- At times some people hijacked the mic, and I didn’t intervene— and left dozens of people without their questions answered.
- I didn’t understand the dynamics of live audio panel conversation, which is not the same as conference speaking or podcasting.
- A couple of times I was looking up people who joined the room or inviting them up on stage while losing track of the conversation.
- Sometimes people would ask a question and I wasn’t sure if I should answer or push to another speaker I promoted— and other times, I hogged the mic when someone else had more expertise in the topic.
But overall, a great experience for my first time hosting a room. Folks who were there— what did you think? And if you weren’t there, it’s time to drink some Kool-Aid or snort some crack— whatever your favorite analogy.
The fastest way to grow your network on Clubhouse is to be a speaker in a large room. The second best is to follow speakers live while you’re in a room.
This includes looking at their Twitter and Instagram in their bios and following them there if you find them interesting. Balance learning and giving— it’s not one-way speaking, but two-way conversations.
It’s not about more followers on social, but deepening a few key relationships. So ironically, by being better known, as Michael Stelzner teaches in his amazing course, your relationships deepen and business actions become more effective.
I’m here on Clubhouse for FOMO— since most of my peers are raving about it. Yet I struggle with time management among other priorities.
What you get out of Clubhouse or any social network is mainly dependent upon who you follow and the quality of the nuggets you put out.
You do need to have an iPhone (not on Android yet). And the social network is invite-only, so ping a friend who is talking about it so they can invite you. You have to be in their address book for them to show up.
Here’s a live snapshot of my notifications:
