Clubhouse is the audio-only app taking the world by storm.
It’s full of people chatting about an infinite amount of topics every day, with business being one of the largest topics. In this article, you will discover how Clubhouse can be used for B2B to build a follower base, manage time appropriately, and most importantly, to get leads and clients!
Want the ‘Clubhouse for B2B Authority Engine™’ as a helpful PDF? Download here.
How to get more Followers [BUILD]
First, the Basics:
When you start using Clubhouse, the app will invite you to follow some basic steps.
- Give the app access to the Contacts on your mobile phone. SAY YES.
- Add your Twitter account and your Instagram account. AGAIN, DO THIS.
- Send an Invite to a friend or colleague and introduce them to the platform.
Do not rush this! Or at least, take a moment to be selective. You only get two invitations when you first start. Use them wisely. You will unlock additional invites the more you use the app.
Pro Tip: When setting up your profile, be aggressively bold when talking about your achievements, especially in the opening two lines. This will strongly influence whether or not Room hosts and moderators invite you to ask questions and present in their Rooms.
The Clubhouse Valley of Death. It’s very easy to attract 100 to 150 Followers. And once you hit 500, you will organically attract a whole lot more. That’s why your goal for the Build stage is to get your follower count up to 500. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it!
Terminology
WHAT IS A CLUBHOUSE HALLWAY?
Your hallway is your central ‘feed’. That’s where you will be shown ‘Rooms’ that are happening right now. Swipe Left to see Clubs and who is online right now.
WHAT IS A CLUBHOUSE ROOM?
Rooms are where conversations happen. They can be events, which are mostly scheduled in advance. Or they might simply involve two people, having a chat.
WHAT IS A CLUBHOUSE CLUBS?
Clubhouse users can start Clubs and join Clubs. As a member of a Club, you can host Rooms as a member and the app will alert other members that you are hosting a Room.
Participate
When you start to use any new social platform, it pays to get familiar with the tool.
- Enter Rooms. Listen.
- Raise your hand. Participate.
- Follow. Follow. Follow.
Pro Tip: Unlock other social media platforms, there seems to be very little concern about ‘Follower to Following’ ratios in Clubhouse. This might change, but when you get started, follow as many people of interest as possible to fill your Hallway with interesting topics.
What do the Clubhouse Icons mean?
Tap the bell to make sure you are alerted when a speaker you follow is hosting a Room. Tap the ‘people to follow’ icon to get recommendations about who else to follow.
Swipe right to remove a Room from your Hallway and clean up your Hallway. Swipe left to see who among your Friends is online and in a room right now.
Tap the Calendar to schedule your own rooms, add co-hosts and Add a Host Club. The party hat emoji appears on App users who have been using it for less than a week.
Advanced
Now that you are familiar with the basics and have begun to participate, get busy!
- Launch a Private Room with a Friend
- Host your own Room, with a co-host(s)
- Seek out mid-sized Rooms and participate
Pro Tip: When you host a Room, you have the option to add co-hosts and select a Host Club. Don’t do both. Just one. For my first big event, I invited eight co-hosts. This is because the App will invite all their Followers to attend. However, when I do not have co-hosts, I will select a Host Club. In that instance, the app will put my event in the ‘Upcoming Events’ of all Club Members. Pick an appropriate Club and leverage its existing membership.
How to Use your Time Appropriately [MANAGE]
Clubhouse can be addictive!
Over the first three weeks, here is a guide to help you manage your time and get outcomes.
Week 1: Set aside 30 minutes every week day to play around on the app, entering and participating in Rooms. You can stay on the app longer if you find yourself participating in a Room as a speaker. Speaking in Rooms is the most reliable way to get Followers.
Week 2: Schedule five Rooms over five days. This is where you are the host. Invite co-hosts. Or don’t. Add a Host Club. Or don’t. During my second week, I ran several Rooms with only my business partner. Strangely, interesting people still found their way into the Room!
Week 3: It’s time to really embrace your Clubhouse ambitions! At this point, you might wish to attempt to start your own Club and also create an offline posse of like-minded Clubhouse users, which I call a ‘Clubhouse Cabal’. Work together to grow together!
What is a Clubhouse ‘Cabal’ or ‘Cartel’?
This is a fancy way of describing an agreement among like-minded users of Clubhouse to create Rooms together and to support each others’ Rooms.
This is the best way to ensure that you have a speaking spot in busy Rooms, because speaking in Rooms is the most reliable way to get Followers. Setup a ‘back channel’, such as an SMS group or a WhatsApp account and invite all members. Let your Cabal members know when you have scheduled a Room.
If you don’t already work with other like-minded people in your space, or if you are finding it difficult to identify logical Cabal members, look for potential partners within the app. For example, when in a Room of interest to you and your own target audiences, make note of who else is in the Room and take a screengrab. Who is presenting? Who is listening? When you come across someone who is a specialist in a topic of interest to your audience, make a note on a piece of paper or take a screengrab using your mobile device.
Try to identify and connect with people who already have a Following above 500. If you already have above 500, seek to partner with people who have TWICE as many Followers as you. For example, when I reached 600 Followers, I sought out partners with 1,200. As a first step, I reached out and invited those people to co-host a Room with me. If we performed well together, I would invite them to become part of my Cabal.
Pro Tip: When hosting a Room, make sure to tap on your event, and copy the Link. This will make it easier to share your event with other Cabal members and promote your event beyond your Cabal and the Clubhouse app.
How to start your own Clubhouse Club
This is another Advanced tactic. Clubhouse will only consider new Club applications once you have demonstrated your commitment to the platform. The best way to do that is to schedule three to five Rooms in advance, at the same time, taking place, once a week, for the next three to five weeks.
Give each event the exact same name you intend to give your Club. For example, I chose to apply for ‘B2B School’ as the proposed name of my Club. The name should describe the focus and purpose of the Club. When applying, you are given very little opportunity to ‘sell’ why you should get a Club. Therefore, make use of the ‘More comments’ field at the end of the form to make your case. Why should you, in particular, become the host of your chosen Club?
There are many advantages to being a Club owner. In many ways, this is the Holy Grail of explosive growth on Clubhouse. As a Club owner, you get to ‘own’ your own niche.
Pro Tip: Do not apply until you have scheduled those three to five weekly Rooms. This is one way to demonstrate to the humans vetting the forms (yes, it’s a manual process) that you are worthy of having your own Club. Clubhouse rewards engaged users.
How to get Leads and Clients [MONETIZE]
Why should you put in the effort? Why should you bother?
If you want to use Clubhouse as a learning platform, as a way to get inspiration and ideas from others, you won’t need a monetization strategy. But if you intend to use Clubhouse for business development purposes, for collecting leads, booking meetings and boosting your authority, you will need a way to get Followers and listeners OFF Clubhouse.
You will need an ‘off ramp’. Here are the THREE steps for doing exactly that. We call this our ‘Clubhouse for B2B Authority Formula™. It requires a combination of strategies and tech tools.
Step 1: Teach the Result
Clubhouse already has a reputation for attracting ‘blowhards’ with lots of opinions but very little practical advice. This is your opportunity to set yourself apart from the crowd, by teaching future clients how to achieve a desirable outcome, following a process that you have created and own. Remember this… Opinions are worthless. Instruction is priceless.
CASE STUDY: Small audience. Big wins.
Here’s what happened when John Englezos decided to teach the results.
John created a topic for his Room that was outcome focused (‘One Call Close Formula™ – How to close as early as the first call’). This provided him with a structure to walk through a process. It also gave him a framework to offer a roadmap and collect leads.
Step 2: Tag Team with a Co-Host
If you have formed a Cabal, you will have no shortage of co-hosts. However, it is important that your co-hosts are trained to play their role as Moderator and follow this Formula:
- Reset the Room every 10 minutes
- Reintroduce the Host and the Topic
- Remind participants to Follow
- Explain how to get the Worksheet
- Then invite audience participation
Here’s how we do it:
“We’re listening to [name] as he shares an amazing formula for getting [outcome]. If you like what you’ve heard so far, make sure that you Follow our speaker and fellow guests. And if you you would like to get your hands on the [ROADMAP/WORKSHEET/CHEATSHEET], here’s what you need to do…”
Then, “Let’s take some questions.” Rinse. Repeat.
Step 3: Prepare your ‘Off Ramp’
It’s time to get your Followers OFF social media and into your business. At this moment, there are very few ways to do that within the app. Indeed, the fastest way to collect a lead is to invite listeners to follow these steps:
- Visit the speaker’s Profile
- Click the Instagram link at the foot
- Click this link in their Instagram bio
Here’s how we do it:
“If you’d like to get your hands on John’s ‘One Call Close Formula™, simply tap on John’s face and you’ll be taken to his profile. Scoot to the bottom of his Profile and click the Instagram icon. This will take you to his Instagram account. In John’s Instagram bio, at the very top of the page, you will find a link. It’s very obvious. Hit that link to get the playbook.”
Pro Tip: What happens when the potential client clicks that link? That’s where it pays to have your own page to collect the lead, an email automation sequence to follow up, and a booking form to make sure that future clients are given the opportunity to book a call.
Three ‘Off Ramp’ Non-Negotiables
If you intend to spend any time on any social media platform for the purposes of sales and marketing, you will always need an ‘off ramp’. These are the tools and steps we use.
1. B2BDash.io Lead Collection Page
We have found that the highest converting landing page is what we call a ‘Triage Opt-in Hybrid’. It collects the lead while also asking some basic questions. This might seem counterintuitive, but after answering some basic questions, a prospect is MORE likely to provide basic contact data, such as their first name, last name, email and phone number.
Pro Tip: The best homepages in the world, on average, convert at 2%. Don’t believe me? Dive into your Google Analytics report sometime and check the ‘Bounce Rate’. However, the WORST landing pages, on average, convert at 10%. That’s five times better. Our landing pages, mostly convert above 30%. That’s why you should always point traffic to a clutter-free landing page, rather than a distraction-heavy page on your website.
2. Redirect to B2BDash.io Booking Form
If you sell a complex service or big-ticket product, almost every new client relationship will usually require some sort of conversation, preferably a strategy session or sales call. If that’s the case, if you have not yet incorporated some sort of meeting booking app into your ‘tech stack’, you are seriously undermining your own success. Get a booking app!
When it comes time to schedule a conversation with an inbound VIP (a ‘Very Interested Prospect’), what do you do? Do you politely invite them to suggest a time? (“What works for you?”) No! This undermines any effort you have put in to demonstrate that you are ‘in demand’. Plus, more often than not, it triggers an endless sequence of ‘back and forth’ messages, causing friction and more effort on your behalf. Instead, give them your booking link and suggest that they choose a time that works for them. Done.
3. Setup B2BDash.io Email Follow Up
Most prospects won’t immediately book time with you. They might be away from their desk and therefore, their work calendar. Or they simply don’t feel like they know you well enough yet. That’s why it always pays to incorporate a follow-up email sequence into your various campaigns. Collect the lead, then educate. Give them multiple opportunities.
Pro Tip: According to Google’s Zero Moment of Truth report, on average, it takes ‘7 hours, 11 interactions, in 4 places’ to develop enough trust to sell a ‘complex’ service or a ‘big ticket’ product. You simply can’t deliver all those points of engagement manually! Use automation tools, such as email follow up, to pre-sell and build trust on autopilot.
Final Words
Clubhouse is a natural platform to assist ‘authorities’ share their message and build an audience. However, it is very difficult to become an ‘authority’ unless you have a clear target audience and unless you have developed a ‘methodology’ to share. You must be clear about who you serve and what you can do for them.
If this is an area that you struggle with, click here and see if you qualify for a ‘B2B Funnel Mapping Call’. This is your opportunity to map your own funnel with a B2B funnel mapping specialist. And, of course, to do that, we begin with an analysis of your target audience.