"Clubhouse is tailor-made for the salience network in our brains."

- JOHN BRANDON, Forbes

Meet Clubhouse. It's like a virtual huddle room where you can chat with anyone from the world's most celebrated entrepreneurs and thought leaders. Anytime. Anywhere. It's the first app of its kind that allows you to listen to and chat with your favourite speakers and authors in real-time.

Clubhouse is THE drop-in audio app. A decentralized interactive radio as I often like to call it. It's a place where you can choose to listen to Elon Musk, Toby Lütke, Jim Rogers, or Guy Kawasaki and be in the same virtual room with them. Or you can choose to raise your virtual hand, come up on the stage, and sit next to them to ask them a question directly. Mindblowing! There's so much brain and so much value on this app it's almost beyond comprehension.

So how can you, as the CEO of your dream company, use it to amplify your voice, grow your own audience, and amplify your business and personal brand? And, before that, why is it even important to grow your brand name?

Brand naming is the foundation of inspiring branding. At Citronade we took the proverbial "lemonade stand" that represents the spirit of entrepreneurship and reshaped it into a completely fresh, yet incredibly familiar brand name. Our mission at Citronade is to help companies, entrepreneurs, investors, and their advisors develop strong, distinctive brands that create category leaders and separate them from regular market players.

A business name is often the most important aspect of a company. Brand names such as Apple, Slack, Canva are not just names – they’re emotional capital. They're powerful assets that can be trademarked, that can inspire, and that are able to change the world.

Let's find out how to amplify yours and grow your business on Clubhouse

​Here are a few ways:

1. If you've ever written an article or commented or recorded a video and said, "I wish there was a way anyone who read my article could come and ask me questions". Well, now they can!

2. If you've ever run a consulting business, or a mastermind group, or a meetup, and said, "I wish I could get my audience to collaborate with each other and themselves so that I could save time and reach more people". Well, now you can!

3. If you're in the field of entrepreneurship and have been searching for a way to build your audience while also helping other people build their audiences then this app is for you.

Up until now, marketing has been a one-sided conversation, with companies talking at their audience or customers. In the age of marketing where everyone's in their business and trying to make a name for themselves, one of the most important assets you can have is an audience. We've all heard that the money is in the list but what if you don't have a list? So many aspiring entrepreneurs have this problem. They have no audience which means they have no list. In order to really grow your business or even start a business, you have to be able to reach people and tell them about what you do. The best way to reach people is to have an audience that follows what you do.

Discovering Clubhouse has been an exciting time for me. After working with hundreds of startups and corporations across various industries, it has become clear that entrepreneurs have a lot of great products and content to share, but struggle with the mechanics of getting their stores up and running dependent on their skill set. The audience is dynamic and ever-changing, which makes it hard to communicate on a personal level. That’s why my team and I have spent an obscene amount of time on the app ever since we joined. We are using the invitation-based, iOS-exclusive (so far) mobile app to build our audience by creating an audience of interested entrepreneurs, investors, and marketers and engaging with them on a regular basis. By creating rooms and joining in other experts' panels we are converting listeners into followers while also supporting their businesses and helping them grow and promote themselves.​

Profile photo

You can use any profile photo you want and you won't be penalized by the algorithm. You're even free to not use any or use several. Some people use different photos with different bios, depending on the rooms they go in. But I'll write about that in another article. You can use a photo of you or a photo of your brand logo, but keep in mind that this is an app with no video so, unless you use a photo of yourself, people can't see you. And, from an emotional perspective, people want to connect to and engage with people, not logos. Make sure you have a photo that shows you well, preferably one that's identifying you across all of your social media accounts, so people can easily recognize you. If you don't have one, think about making one. But be mindful that we're still not of the woods with the pandemic, so make sure you keep things safe.

Bio

The short bio is the first thing anyone sees about you on any platform. But on Clubhouse it's all that they show about you unless the one looking at your profile taps to find out more. So make sure you make it outstanding.

You have roughly 110-112 characters in your first three lines, so use it wisely. And keep in mind that on Clubhouse anything is searchable: keywords, phrases, even emojis. But the algorithm will only use your first line to list you and rank you in search, so make sure you have a first line that improves your SEO. That's why the first line is the most valuable piece of information you can have on Clubhouse. You can, of course, be found organically, without using the top line, but that would be only by people who already know your name and are trying to search for you directly.

Once you've set up your profile with a great photo and bio, it's time to engage, build, and shine. There are a number of activities you can do on Clubhouse to build your personal and business brand, grow your audience, and establish yourself as a thought leader.

Visiting conversation rooms

You can get into any room that's public (some are private and you can only enter if the hosts follow you on the app) and listen to the conversation. Once in the room, you'll enter in the audience section (lower part) or in the middle section if someone on the stage is following you. You can also rise your virtual hand and ask to speak and the moderators may lift you up on the stage. There you'll sit next to the moderators and the discussion panel. You'll be called to speak when your turn arrives and larger rooms usually ask guests to resume themselves to 30 seconds or a minute. So make sure you work on your elevator pitch before. Also, keep in mind that it's usually not a good idea to sell your services while on the stage, so make sure you develop several elevator pitches - one for when you're there to pitch your business and one for when you're there to present yourself and attract an audience. The time spent on the stage (the upper section) is an excellent exposure since the entire room constantly checks the bio and profile description of the people up on stage. And, if they find your excellent bio together with a well-rehearsed presentation, a question that's engaging and sparks conversation, and a slow-paced, deep voice, you'll probably walk away with a few additional followers.

Hosting and moderating rooms

You can make and moderate your own room to discuss a specific topic. You can ping your followers and ask them to come in and listen to you or join you in the conversation This is a great time to shine and show yourself as a thought leader on a particular subject. You can discuss the topic of your choice, create a panel of guest speakers and interview them, invite people from the audience to join you up on the stage and contribute to the discussion and/or ask questions, and make sure you have a room where information flows fluently and value is shared.

To be a good moderator you need to really listen to the people speaking, both invitees and guests that came up to ask a question. You should call people and let them know when is their time to speak, and set expectations regarding the expected duration of the question/contribution. You need to be receptive and perceptive and guide the discussion to ensure great energy and flow. This is the best time for you to get followers, provide value, and spark interest in your services. That's when participants will follow you. But that's also a time of high pressure, especially if you haven't spoken in front of an audience before. So make sure you don't make some of the rookie mistakes.

Not "feeling" the audience
Good moderation is an art. And practice makes the expert. So go out there and start your own rooms, invite colleagues, clients, and thought leaders in your field that can attract a great audience. Talk about the subjects you're an expert in and grow your audience. But also be mindful of the people that go up on your stage.

Sometimes people end up sharing deeply emotional stories, and I've been in rooms where the moderator simply didn't seem to understand when a subject was deeply sensitive for the one sharing it. I've seen mods abruptly interrupting people in the middle of sharing sad and emotional stories only to ask for a follow. It felt extremely tone-deaf and the audience wasn't impressed. Many left, others asked to come up to the stage and confronted the moderator. That's not a good way to put yourself in the best light.

Not moderating or setting expectations

Another mistake is not telling speakers and guests what's expected of them, for how long they're supposed to contribute. That can lead to people monopolizing the conversation while others are left unspoken.

A good moderator should let people know when it's their turn to speak, make sure that people don't jump the line and speak ahead of others. Setting up clear expectations is a great way to avoid potentially tense moments and ensuring the conversation flows warmly and orderly.

Not allowing meaningful contributions

Many inexperienced moderators don't have what it takes to make guests feel welcomed and create a mindset that allows sharing and encourages contributions. For example, inviting someone up and asking them point-blank "What's your question" can be intimidating for many.

Moreover, such an approach doesn't allow a guest to contribute with something different than a question. Many may want to contribute with a story, with an experience of their own, and not always with a question. So asking them to ask a question may stifle their contribution. A way to avoid this is to ask them if they a question or want to share something. That open-ended phrasing way people can feel they can speak freely and are encouraged to share anything that's of importance to them. Your audience will feel included and will appreciate you allowing them to be authentic.

Inviting too many people on the stage

Another rookie mistake is having too many people invited on the stage. This will translate into very long waiting times for people to speak and that can lead to frustration.

Another issue with this approach is that when there are too many people up on the stage, it's really hard to see who's speaking and adding value at a moment in time. Participants would need to scroll up and down to identify the speaker and one can end up missing a speaker who was interesting and not know whom to follow.

When you go into someone else's room and are invited on stage or raise your hand to ask a question, you'll probably have to wait a bit before having an opportunity to speak. Ideally, you should wait for a moderator to invite you to speak or let you know it's your turn. In some rooms, this waiting time can be quite long and frustrating. Be patient, polite, and thank the moderators and the rest of the speakers and audience is the best thing to do.

In addition, you should be mindful and make sure you don't monopolize or dominate the conversation. Don't try to sell yourself or your business when on someone else's stage, unless you were specially invited to pitch. I would go as far as to say that hard selling is not a good idea even on your own stage. People are reluctant and don't appreciate aggressive selling, so trying to sell from the stage, talking in front of others who were patiently waiting to speak, and monopolizing the conversation will likely not shed a good light on you or your brand.

Certainly, some smaller rooms are designed for more active and more inclusive participation, and there the rules might differ. But try to be mindful of the flow, feeling, and mindset of a particular room and try to be on the polite side.

And yes, this is just the beginning of your road to building an audience and growing your CEO brand name. Obviously, there is a lot more advanced information to share, but that will be the subject of a future article. Stay tuned!