Recently I’ve been planning Clubhouse chats for PR purposes, such as establishing a CEO’s thought leadership or expanding the influence of a startup. After some trials and errors, I’d like to jot down some thoughts on this interesting platform. As I continue to learn and host more Clubhouse rooms, I’ll update this note.
Preparation matters
Set up and share the room in advance
Setting up your room early is beneficial in many ways. First, it helps you attract followers. Clubhouse currently does not provide links to individual profiles, but with room links people can locate and follow you. Second, with a room link, you can easily share your event on all platforms.
When opening your Clubhouse room, pay attention to:
- The name and description of the room. In addition to things like brand image, you may also want to consider using more than 1 language for your international listeners.
- Date and time. Although you can start the chat earlier than scheduled, you need to consider what exact date and time you’d like to announce. Also think about time zones.
Contact Info in your bio
A detail often ignored by someone new to the app – currently Clubhouse users cannot send private messages. For those using the app for networking, it’s important to put contact info in your profile so that people can connect with you. Instead of “DM me for collaboration”, you may:
- Add your email, linkedin url or an easy-to-remember website to your bio.
- Connect your account with social media such as Twitter and Instagram.
- If you must, use a QR code as your avatar (many people see this as a shortcut, but I don’t think it’s the best idea)
For more tips on setting up your profile on Clubhouse, such as how to use keywords and formatting, check out this article.
Arrange your agenda in the Clubhouse way
Unlike on Zoom or other video conferencing platforms, many people don’t log in to Clubhouse for a specific purpose; most of them are just browsing and exploring interesting topics. Therefore, your Clubhouse event may see few participants in the beginning, but more people will enter the room after 10 or 20 minutes. With this in mind, you can arrange your agenda smartly:
- Start the room ahead of schedule by 15-30 minutes to warm it up with casual chats that let people know what the room is about
- Put the most important agenda item in the middle of your session, instead of at the very beginning
Interaction and engagement
During the chat, it’s the moderator’s job to always have something going on. It’s like the radio – a Clubhouse room should never be quiet for a long time. To fill the silence, you may consider the following:
Welcome, new listeners
When new people enter the room, whether you know them personally or not, you can do the following once in a while:
- Welcome new listeners by name
- Let people know what the room is about by providing a quick summary of your topics
- Invite listeners to hit the “+” button and invite their friends to the room. Don’t do this too often. (See more detailed tips from Mitch Jackson)
Take care of the speakers
Clubhouse is all about sharing, and it’s not rare to see quite many speakers in a single room. However, it’s advisable to be aware of the number of speakers. Keep in mind that every speaker can “grab the mic” at any moment, which can interrupt or even disrupt your agenda. As a result, the session can go on forever and your intended topics may get lost.
To ensure a meaningful, well-organized session, consider the following:
- Limit the number of hosts (people who can assign speakers)
- Assign new speakers after existing ones have finished talking
- If you’re not planning to add more speakers, you may give the listeners a signal by disabling the raise hands function
What to say when you have the stage?
The gold principle is to attract followers or customers by being interesting and valuable on the app.
Although many speakers join Clubhouse with an intention to attract new businesses, it’s impolite to jump into a conversation and promote your company with little regards to the real topic. Also it’s generally not a good idea to read out loud your website’s URL and ask people to visit. This practice makes you sound like selling, and long information such as URLs can hardly stick to the listener’s minds. Try the following:
- Give your interesting, relevant opinions on the topic before mentioning a bit about your own business
- While providing valued info, encourage people to follow you on Clubhouse, and use the link in your bio to visit your site
Time to say goodbye
Many Clubhouse rooms last for hours, even days. However, for PR purposes, I believe it’s a good idea to end the chat when you have covered everything in your agenda. For example, a room called “X Brand New Product Launch” should close elegantly without being handed to strangers who talk about random things. To decently finish a session, you may:
- Let people know in advance that the room is closing in x minutes or x hours
- Sum up the session with key takeaways and call to action
- Remind people to follow you or contact you via email in bio (not by direct messages!)
Keep in mind: your listeners can come from any time zone, so when you’re saying any time-related stuff, it’s better so state specific minutes or hours, instead of “9am” or “at noon”. Check out more about this at the Medium blog of Leanne Hughes.
Feel free to follow me on Clubhouse @jiexipang
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Jessspeng 