(1:20) Amy discusses her journey to becoming a Clubhouse moderator. 

(3:37) Amy explains Clubhouse lingo, and talks through the in’s and out’s of the app. 

(7:27) Amy shares what it takes to be a moderator and how she uses her skills to command the room. 

(9:44) Amy shares topics and rooms she’s taken on in Clubhouse 

(12:40) Amy explains how to get a Clubhouse invitation 

(13:32) Kriste and Amy discuss the Clubhouse hype and why social audio is taking off as the latest and greatest social media trend 

(17:13) Amy discusses tools that she uses in tandem with Clubhouse to gain insights on her rooms 

(23:47) Amy reveals several celebrities she’s been able to have conversations with on stage

(28:57) Amy shares the secret to growing your followers on Clubhouse

(29:38) Amy discusses sponsorships and how organizations are using Clubhouse to promote their products 

(36:14) Kriste and Amy discuss the difference between Clubhouse and podcasting, and the pros and cons of each. 

(39:51) Amy shares her take on the future of Clubhouse

[00:00:04.230] – Kriste

Hey, welcome to How It’s Done, a podcast for curious marketers. I’m Kriste Goad, I’ll be your host and I’m really glad you’re here.

[00:00:16.240] – Kriste

Before we dive in, don’t forget to subscribe to How It’s Done so you don’t miss any of our episodes. You can also follow us on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn at growwithfuoco.

[00:00:29.050] – Kriste

Today, we’re talking to Amy Mirlisena, a curriculum developer in the tech space and part time Clubhouse moderator, which is where we’re really going to spend all of our time because nobody knows – ok, people do know what Clubhouse is – but Amy knows all the secrets.

[00:00:44.770] – Kriste

Thank you so much for joining me today, Amy.

[00:00:47.170] – Amy

Yeah. I’m so happy to be here. I’m really excited to talk about Clubhouse. It is kind of a secret that I’m excited to tap into with you today.

[00:00:55.510] – Kriste

Yeah it’s like everyone wants to know and understand it, but very few people do.

[00:01:02.720] – Kriste

OK, so great segue.

[00:01:05.320] – Kriste

First and foremost, you’re a curriculum developer in the tech space. So how does one go from that to becoming a Clubhouse moderator, which you are, and just sort of walk me through how that happened and what that means?

[00:01:20.030] – Amy

Sure. So I just saw people talking about it on social media and I’m very nosy and wanted to know what it was all about. Didn’t even know anyone who was on Clubhouse. I reached out to friends. No one had heard of it. This is back in January of this year. 2021.

[00:01:39.100] – Kriste

So it’s been a really big rise for you.

[00:01:41.800] – Amy

Oh yeah, absolutely.

[00:01:43.300] – Kriste

OK.

[00:01:43.630] – Amy

So I reached out to a Facebook group where people were on Clubhouse and said, did anyone have an invite, cause it is invite only right now, and someone just shot me an invite and I just launched into Clubhouse and listened in and fell in love.

[00:02:00.850] – Kriste

Do you remember what that topic was at the time?

[00:02:04.090] – Amy

Like the room that I went into on Clubhouse?

[00:02:06.130] – Kriste

Yeah, your very first.

[00:02:07.360] – Amy

Yeah. The very first Clubhouse room I ever went into was kind of a fun social room, but it was a comedy, very structured comedy room that was “tell a story in twenty two seconds or less.” And it was just a very fun room run by comedians.

[00:02:24.850] – Amy

And I just launched myself on stage and interacted with people I had never known before.

[00:02:30.490] – Amy

I was so nervous. I ended up networking with a bunch of people that I’m still in close connection with to this day and really kind of walked me through how to Clubhouse. So they influenced me to start my own rooms and eventually start my own clubs within Clubhouse. And it’s kind of spiraled into what it is now.

[00:02:54.520] – Amy

And I’m what is considered – I joke about it but people do call it an influencer – but an influencer on Clubhouse.

[00:03:01.180] – Kriste

OK, there’s so many questions I have about all that.

[00:03:05.350] – Amy

It’s all lingo and all new talk. So I’m definitely open to questions you have there.

[00:03:14.260] – Kriste

Yeah. Let’s back up and unpack that a little bit.

[00:03:16.780] – Kriste

So you got invited in. You didn’t know anybody. It’s like a comedian Clubhouse or a room and you just took off.

[00:03:27.190] – Kriste

So what’s the difference in a Clubhouse and a room? So in a Clubhouse, it’s a specific sort of topic, and then there’s just rooms within that club?

[00:03:37.420] – Amy

I totally understand. It’s very confusing. So the way the interface works, Clubhouse is the app in general. And inside of Clubhouse there are different rooms that can be associated or can just be on their own. They can be associated with a club that has to do with all of the same topic or the same kind of vibe that you’re wanting to create within a club.

[00:04:05.320] – Amy

So it could be a whole club about travel and it could be anything about you can launch rooms, about travel with covid. What are your favorite travel experiences? Faux pas with traveling? Anything that they’re creating in that club is going to be all associated under that column of travel.

[00:04:22.240] – Amy

And so people have created clubs so you know exactly what you’re getting with those clubs. Now when it comes to rooms, you can just launch a room and it not be associated with a club about anything. It could just be: come co-work with me and mingle and meet people. It could be: does pineapple belong on pizza? It could be anything.

[00:04:41.070] – Amy

It doesn’t necessarily have to be under the topic of a club, but clubs are kind of the sorting way of going about finding the kind of rooms you’re wanting to look for.

[00:04:55.930] – Amy

So the clubs are a bigger bucket where the same rooms will go in. But rooms don’t necessarily have to be associated with a club, if that makes sense.

[00:05:07.960] – Kriste

OK, this sounds like a lot of time would be consumed doing this. Yes? No? What do you not do now that you’re doing this?

[00:05:19.780] – Amy

I will be the first person to tell you that Clubhouse is extremely addicting. When you get on to Clubhouse, no matter if you’re a moderator, no matter if you’re a listener or you’re just wanting to come and interact and speak, there’s so much and you can find so much in Clubhouse and you end up –

[00:05:39.520] – Kriste

Just go down the rabbit hole.

[00:05:40.900] – Amy

Oh, absolutely. The first month I just didn’t come up for air.

[00:05:47.860] – Kriste

So no one saw you for like, well, I guess we were still on semi-lockdown, maybe. So no one was seeing you anyway.

[00:05:55.720] – Amy

It was all about timing is what it came down to, it was great timing for me. Being in quarantine of sorts and having this time to connect with people, it was just I hadn’t had that kind of moment since before the pandemic started.

[00:06:12.700] – Amy

So being able to talk and being an extrovert, I was like I’m absolutely going to spend all my time here. But introverts are finding that they love it too, because it has a similar function as a podcast. I think a lot of people are finding an addictive feature within Clubhouse because there’s just so much at your fingertips.

[00:06:30.350] – Kriste

So how did you then become a moderator and what all does that involve?

[00:06:34.990] – Amy

So anybody can be a moderator, but there are people that are built to be moderators and there are people who are – 

[00:06:42.970] – Kriste

It sounds like you are clearly built to be a moderator.

[00:06:47.050] – Amy

Everyone jokes that this should be my full time career and if I can make it my full time career, I will. I think that this is just a lot of fun. It’s wrangling in a bunch of people that all want to talk about the same topic and creating a space that’s both safe to talk about whatever the topic is, that is organized so people know how it’s going to function because it’s live audio and everyone’s able to chime in, making sure that you are are just creating a fun and inclusive space for people to come and have a live chat about whatever the topic may be.

[00:07:27.460] – Kriste

So the moderator, you’re putting in the time ahead of that particular session, you’re putting questions together or just framing up what the conversation is going to be. Is that part of your job as well?

[00:07:40.720] – Amy

I would say sometimes there’s definitely rooms that I put together a script on how I’m going to reset the room and make sure everyone knows what is going on in that space. And I’m putting together questions for people to – my other moderators that I will have on stage with me, I’m not just the only moderator, it’s advantageous to have several moderators in the room – and I will send my other moderators, that are pre-planned, a list of questions that they might be asking the room or things or ways they they can reset the room or just an overarching topic of what we’re talking about.

[00:08:21.730] – Amy

But it doesn’t always have to work that way. Sometimes it takes zero planning and I’ll be like in a room and I think to myself, you know what, I want to start a room about this. So I’m just going to pop this room up and I’m going to these people who I know are great moderators come in the room and I just put a moderator badge on all of them. And we run the room on the fly. I would say seven times out of ten that’s how the rooms are run.

[00:08:46.120] – Kriste

So you don’t have to overthink it, over-engineer it, anything like that. But  people do.

[00:08:51.430] – Amy

Oh, yeah. There’s plenty of people who put in a ton of effort to everyone that they do because it’s very structured. But every room doesn’t have to be something that you’re putting a script together for because it’s live audio and you’re welcoming new people and you want it to be organic. And that’s the great thing about Clubhouse is there’s so much organic factor in it that you want to keep that in its essence. You don’t want to make it stale by over-scripting it.

[00:09:22.270] – Amy

So that’s the great thing about it, is that it’s super easy and available and it doesn’t take too much planning as long as you just have a vision for what your room is going to be about. It’s pretty easy. You just kind of hit the ground running.

[00:09:37.300] – Kriste

What are some of the topics that you’ve taken on? It’s probably all over the board, right?

[00:09:44.650] – Amy

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, I’ve talked about everything from – I run a bunch of very silly rooms that are social rooms where people can kind of just kick back and have a good time. And so anything from – a room that I run, that’s “for the love of God, come flirt with us.” And it is a room where people just throw out funny pickup lines to other people in the room. And I just create a really funny space where people can just use silly pickup lines and say something like that, and it creates a fun way for people to meet each other and network in a very lighthearted way.

[00:10:26.530] – Amy

And then I’ve hosted other rooms that have been mental health awareness, where we’re interviewing nurses from the pandemic and what their experience has been.

[00:10:39.940] – Amy

And so anything from something so off the wall and silly to something that people are like, “this is something I want to do. You’re a really great moderator. We really love to have you in the space. And how you command the room.” So anything it just kind of varies. It’s all over the place.

[00:10:56.500] – Kriste

So as a moderator, it’s just people that know you or have met you through Clubhouse, is that how you then just start moderating or people say, “hey, you’re a great moderator, I’d like you to moderate my session,” is that because they’ve been in a session with you before?

[00:11:11.200] – Amy

It’s all word of mouth.

[00:11:16.120] – Amy

It just is all about the user experience, people coming into the rooms and saying, “hey, I love the way you moderate.” They’ll message me on Instagram. There’s no DMing feature in the app so everything has to be reached outside in your other social media that are linked within your Clubhouse.

[00:11:33.730] – Amy

So they’ll reach out to me via email. They’ll reach out to me via Instagram and say, “I was in your room today, think you’re an incredible moderator. Would love it if you would link with me and moderate this room.” So the great thing about that is I have a big following on Clubhouse and then my followers will be alerted that I’m moderating a room, so they are not only getting my moderating skills, but they’re also getting my followers with that. So they’re picking up on they want me as an entertainer and moderator and they’re also gaining all of the followship that I have on Clubhouse that comes with me.

[00:12:09.490] – Amy

And I can also link other people that I think, “hey this is a team of people that I think would be a really great resource for you to moderate this room for you.” So I put together a team and we’ve collectively got 25,00 people who follow us, and all of those people will be notified that we’re running a room and lots of them will pop in and either hop on stage or sit in the audience and listen.

[00:12:34.570] – Kriste

And they could just pop in at any time?

[00:12:36.100] – Amy

Yeah, it’s live audio so they can pop in at any time.

[00:12:38.740] – Kriste

Pop in, pop out?

[00:12:39.979] – Amy

Mhmm.

[00:12:40.600] – Kriste

So how difficult is it to get an invitation?

[00:12:43.000] – Amy

To Clubhouse?

[00:12:44.050] – Kriste

Yeah.

[00:12:45.670] – Amy

Well, as long as you know someone with an invite that’s already on Clubhouse, then you’re able to get an invitation. It’s not like you’re submitting an application.

[00:12:55.330] – Amy

As long as you know someone in the Clubhouse community, then you can get one.

[00:12:59.890] – Amy

For me, I went to social media and just looked at people who had Clubhouse invites and just stole them from a stranger. I have a club that’s very successful, so Clubhouse has gifted me a thousand invites. So if anyone is listening and wants an invite, please reach out to me because I have a thousand invites to give out.

[00:13:18.370] – Kriste

I would like an invitation.

[00:13:21.780] – Amy

You’re first on the list, Kriste.

[00:13:22.630] – Kriste

Yeah, go ahead. And now you have 999 invitations. After this podcast you may get a flurry too.

[00:13:32.530] – Kriste

OK, this is fascinating. So all the hype that is around Clubhouse – it sounds like to me, based on your experience and what I’m hearing, your excitement about it, that it’s worth it. Like the hype is real.

[00:13:47.230] – Amy

Oh, undoubtedly. It’s absolutely worth it.

[00:13:50.620] – Kriste

It’s unique. There’s nothing that you can think of that’s like it.

[00:13:55.390] – Amy

I have never experienced anything like it. And when I explain it to people because people are like,”what is Clubhouse?” I’m like, “the best example I could give you is an AOL chat room if everyone was using their voices instead of using text.” I think that that’s the closest thing to it. It’s like a chat room, but you have the availability of being a gatekeeper of who is going to be let in the conversation when those were just kind of rogue.

[00:14:27.370] – Kriste

What happens if some rando comes in and kind of disrupts the whole thing? Can you kick them out?

[00:14:32.500] – Amy

Yeah. As someone who’s a skilled moderator, there’s some protocol on how to go about doing a room and making sure that it’s not going to be disrupted by quote unquote trolls, people who come on the stage and try to disrupt the room.

[00:14:51.310] – Amy

So you’ll look at their you’re their bio, you’ll look at their followship if they have zero followers on there or they are not vetted on social media, they’ve not linked a social media account, I’m not going to let them on my stage because you’re not showing me that you’re a real person that’s wanting to have a real conversation.

[00:15:08.860] – Amy

And it’s also just that there’s lots of people that are a real person that still derail the room. And it’s just like real life if you were having a large discussion and opening it up to a large crowd of people. Being able to rein it back in after someone kind of goes off track, you kind of have to have some skill in that.

[00:15:28.870] – Amy

I’ve had a lot of practice now. It doesn’t happen as often as you think it would, but it does happen because it’s live audio. But also it’s part of the entertainment of it all. 

[00:15:39.620] – Kriste

Well, I do happen to know that you have had some experience teaching kindergartners at some point in your life. And so probably that gave you a lot of training for wrangling disruption.

[00:15:55.310] – Amy

Oh, undoubtedly. And people always joke that they see the teacher coming out of me. I taught elementary school for six and a half years. So absolutely it has added to my skill as a moderator because I know how to wrangle 120 kindergartners a year, I sure can deal with some adults on Clubhouse.

[00:16:18.730] – Kriste

Is there a kindergarten tactic that you also have employed on Clubhouse?

[00:16:23.950] – Amy

Just the ability. I don’t know if it’s the same exact thing, but it’s just the way that I speak. There’s a strong voice that you can kind of command over a group of people. There’s several people that are trying to talk at once, making sure you create an order and make sure that the deliverable of what you want people to do is very succinct and your language economy is strong. So just kind of employing some of those things I would do in the classroom has just kind of relayed over to how I moderate rooms on Clubhouse.

[00:16:58.210] – Kriste

So from our research around Clubhouse, we’ve discovered there’s a few external apps you can use in tandem with Clubhouse. Can you tell us a little bit about that or are there some that you recommend? Maybe tell just what they are and why would you use them?

[00:17:13.600] – Amy

Yeah, as a moderator, as somebody who’s running rooms, it’s really great to be able to tap into the analytics and data of what’s happening in my rooms. I make small changes all the time to see how it’s affecting my audience and the viewership and how long people are listening and when people are leaving and the demographic of people that are coming into my space and what my reach looks like.

[00:17:43.000] – Amy

And after my rooms, I will go to several of these websites that are out there. They’re also iOS apps that they’re now going to be on Android as well, because it’s now not just open to iPhones, it’s also open to Droid users. So I typically use Clubhouse tools X, Y, Z, which is a website that gives you all the analytics you could ever dream of, of what went on in your room. And you can get them both live or after the fact. So all you have to do is just plug in your information and it pulls up your analytics.

[00:18:22.570] – Amy

So anything from how many followers you got during that room and what their demographic is. Or how many listeners you had and how long they stayed and what was the average listeners duration of when they were listening, what was the number on that. And I record all of that and make small changes to say, OK, what was different about today and how can I make the next room that I do better? So I’ve used this to grow my listenership by about a thousand over the last week.

[00:19:01.720] – Amy

Last week I was running the exact same rooms and was getting about 1,500 listeners. And this week when I ran the exact same rooms, I’m getting about 2,500 listeners and the duration of their stay, the average of that duration has grown increasingly. So I really heavily believe in using these analytics sites and there’s several of them. But I just personally like the Clubhouse tools X, Y, Z the best.

[00:19:30.620] – Kriste

Got it. OK, so speaking of average duration, does that run the gamut to how long a conversation might last? Or do you think there’s kind of a sweet spot when you look at the data and what it tells you?

[00:19:46.150] – Amy

Yeah, absolutely. I think that there’s a sweet spot. And after analyzing data for about the last month and a half, I found that the listener likes to sit around if we’re talking about one speaker and they’re having a discussion between two people. Let’s say you and I are talking about one question that’s being asked or I’m answering a question that’s been asked. Ninety seconds between the two of us is a sweet spot for us to be discussing and 60 seconds per speaker on the stage just to keep the attention of the listener.

[00:20:24.290] – Amy

And that is not just my analytics, everybody’s analytics is coming out to say each individual speaker that’s on your stage, giving them 60 seconds to speak is about as much as people want to listen to because it’s the average speaker. They are looking to get different insights and different opinions. They don’t want to listen to random Joe Schmo come up and talk for four and a half minutes on what they think about whatever the topic may be.

[00:20:51.230] – Amy

So just making sure that each speaker that’s on your stage that’s weighing in is only taking about 60 seconds per share. But I’m getting about 12 and a half minutes to 14 and a half minutes of people staying in my room and just sitting and listening in the audience and not interacting on stage.

[00:21:13.070] – Amy

For those who are sitting in my room that are getting on stage, those people are staying for about a half an hour.

[00:21:19.820] – Kriste

1. And is there like a perfect time of day or is that kind of all over the map as well?

[00:21:23.960] – Amy

It’s a global audience. So I’m speaking to people in Ireland. I’m speaking to people in Malaysia. I’m speaking to people all over the place. But most of the people who are on the app are in the United States. I try to do my rooms at a time that’s going to be available, and it just all depends on what the room is going to be about.

[00:21:44.450] – Amy

If I’m going to do one of the dating games that I do at night, I’m going to do it when it’s after hours for people on the Pacific coast so that they’re not at work and they’re going to be able to participate.

[00:21:55.280] – Amy

If I’m going to be having a conversation, that’s my let’s have coffee together room that I have in the morning, that is where we have performers come in and perform and we have a topic of conversation where people can answer and partake in conversation there. That we run for I think it’s four and a half hours. So it spans the time of when people are up early and having their coffee in the United States on both coasts.

[00:22:22.520] – Amy

So we are trying to tap into the audience and make sure we’re able to get everybody, everyone that wants to attend that can be there.

[00:22:33.320] – Kriste

So now I’m curious, do you just keep a spreadsheet or something with all this information and data about, times and different rooms and different..?

[00:22:43.360] – Amy

I just take screenshots and put them in a Google doc and date them. I don’t take all the time to organize. I have friends who put them in an Excel sheet and spend a lot more time on it. But as someone who just runs mostly the fun, silly rooms under my own club where I’m really caring about those, I’m just kind of keeping numbers just so I can look at them and just doing some self-assessment and self moderation and how I’m changing things up.

[00:23:19.340] – Amy

The people who are running rooms where it’s very thoughtful and especially the rooms that have sponsorships, they put a lot of effort into looking at analytics and making sure that they’re putting in a good hour of work or 30 minutes of work on data.

[00:23:38.200] – Kriste

Have you participated in some of the clubhouses where they have the sponsorship and it’s more slick or have you been part of any of these celebrity clubhouses?

[00:23:47.830] – Amy

Oh, yeah. And I mean, when you have a large following, they don’t really care if they’ve met you before. They just assume you’re vetted by the community and they’re going to bring you on stage. So I’ve been on stage and had conversations with comedians like Dane Cook and Tiffany Haddish. The CEO of T-Mobile brought me up on stage and I had a conversation with Mr. Cordone the other day. Doctor Fauci was on two days ago, and they brought me up on stage to ask questions to Dr. Fauci.

[00:24:28.810] – Kriste

Wait, what did you ask Dr. Fauci?

[00:24:36.190] – Amy

Everyone was kind of talking about the double mask situation. And I was wondering, I just wanted to know more backstory of where we came up with the double mask and where the data came from. And I wanted to see if he was still thinking that that was, when we were in public spaces, if he was still vetting the double mask situation.

[00:25:01.720] – Amy

I’m an average person that just wants to know what’s happening and I get to kind of speak as an average person on stages sometimes, even though I have a following on there. I’m just a person that wants to know and I get the opportunity to ask questions to someone that I would never, ever get to speak to.

[00:25:22.660] – Amy

And the great thing about it is there’s no verification like Instagram has. There’s no blue checkmark. You don’t have to be a celebrity to be in the “cool crowd.” You can be anybody and just create a presence that is respected and then people will want to have conversations with you.

[00:25:40.840] – Amy

And even if you don’t even have a large following, you can still get in a space where you’re going to be able to have conversations with people you would never have expected to have conversation with. So I remember when I had 300 followers, I was having conversations with what’s his name…he voices Iago in  Aladdin and he’s a huge comedian. He was on the app early on and I can’t think of his name right now, but he’s got a really funny sounding voice.

[00:26:10.660] – Amy

But I had 300 followers and I got to sit on stage and have a conversation with him for 30 minutes.

[00:26:16.630] – Kriste

That’s cool. Would you say that’s the coolest person that you’ve got to sit onstage with? So far?

[00:26:21.830] – Amy

I mean, I think that Mr. Corden talking to him a few days ago, the CEO of T-Mobile, was really a cool connection that I’ve made.

[00:26:34.240] – Amy

Randy Jackson from Journey and from American Idol, I have moderated a room where he’s been in there and I’ve actually went out and met with his production label out in L.A. when I was out there recently because of Clubhouse. So I’ve made these connections on Clubhouse and I would have never been able to meet people who work in the same business as Randy Jackson and I’m able to to meet up with those people.

[00:27:01.700] – Amy

Just big names that I’m like, I cannot believe that I’m in the same room as this person and I get to have a conversation with this person.

[00:27:08.650] – Amy

John Mayer, I’ve been on the stage with John Mayer. Just incredible. Like Dr. Fauci was really incredible to talk to. Every day I am flabbergasted that I get to be on stage with some of these people.

[00:27:23.110] – Amy

M.C. Hammer invited me up on stage and I got to sit with M.C. Hammer while he did a DJ set. I cannot believe every day something new and crazy happens. And I am just Amy Mirlisena from Nashville, Tennessee and I get to do all of this from the comfort of my own couch.

[00:27:40.570] – Kriste

So this is probably part of the appeal to everybody that’s on it, right, is being able to be a part of those conversations and talk to people like that, that you, like you said earlier, you never would have.

[00:27:52.770] – Amy

Oh, yeah, no doubt.

[00:27:54.320] – Kriste

And then you find out they’re just like they’re just people too.

[00:27:58.060] – Amy

They’re everybody. One of my best friends that I’ve made from the app is named Ryan Sheriff, and he is one of the pitchers for the Tampa Bay Rays. And people are like, oh, my gosh, you get to talk to a major League Baseball player! The more you just talk to him and get to know him, he’s just a regular person that wants to have a conversation about pineapple belongs on pizza just like you do.

[00:28:19.310] – Amy

So it’s really very fun.

[00:28:23.630] – Kriste

1. So how do you get followers then? Is it just you’re in a room and people start following you just based on being exposed to either you being on stage or you moderating? Is that how it works?

[00:28:33.920] – Amy

If you’re just listening, the odds of you getting a followship, it’s just not, the cards aren’t going to be in your favor. If you’re going up on stages and you’re interacting with people, no matter how big the room is, if you are on a stage that has a thousand people in it, if you’re on a stage that has 20 people in it, it doesn’t matter.

[00:28:57.200] – Amy

Just being your authentic self, it’s really cool because it’s not about how cool you are. It’s really about the value you bring with your words. And what you’re saying if people connect with that. And it could be anything from just having a conversation and just being like, wow, I think that what they said was great and I’m going to give them a follow for that. And it’s just really cool to watch people connect and your following grow just because of what you’ve got to say.

[00:29:29.030] – Kriste

So how are you seeing organizations getting on this bandwagon and using this platform? And do you think that it’s working for them?

[00:29:38.750] – Amy

There’s several different ways that organizations are getting involved, be it by sponsoring rooms and using their ad space to be able to do that by creating a profile that’s your brand. Like the dating app, Bumble was sponsoring a funny dating faux pax’s room and they just had their icon sitting on stage next to the moderators. So the profile was there. And when they did a room reset to tell the new viewers that were coming in and listening in to that room what was going on, they would say that the room was sponsored by Bumble.

[00:30:20.690] – Amy

And every ten minutes we reset the room.So they get that plug every ten minutes. And if the room is that size, there’s going to be upwards of ten thousand people that are getting that sound byte and that are hearing that every ten minutes. So that’s a really cool space to have it in.

[00:30:39.980] – Kriste

What does it mean exactly when you reset the room?

[00:30:42.860] – Amy

Great question. Resetting the room is just another one of those terms that we use that means that I’m going to – it’s drop-in audio. You are dropping into a conversation in the middle of it, at the end of it, at the beginning of it, it all just depends.

[00:31:02.000] – Amy

Rooms typically run for about two hours or longer. And if you’re dropping into the conversation, we want to make sure we’re including everybody who’s dropping in.

[00:31:12.320] – Kriste

And you can ask for a reset when you come on the stage, you’re like, “I don’t know what’s going on. Can I get a reset?” Or if you just stick around, a great moderator is going to give you a reset pretty often.

[00:31:22.250] – Amy

So if I am running a room right now on how to do Clubhouse, I’m going to say, “hey, everyone, my name is Amy. I’m going to reset the room. Welcome to How to do Clubhouse and we are just having a conversation today about Clubhouse and all of the do’s and don’ts, the different tools you can use and how we’re going to go about this. If you want to raise your hand and come up to the stage, join us in the conversation. We would love to have you, just make sure you have your social media linked. And we’re excited to continue this conversation. Right now we’re talking about we’re going to go back to so-and-so on stage, who was going to share a little bit about that.”

[00:32:04.700] – Amy

It just is being able to kind of reel in everybody and make sure everyone knows what’s going on. So that’s what we call resetting the room.

[00:32:12.500] – Kriste

And you do that about how often in a, say it’s a two hour,

[00:32:16.160] – Amy

Every ten minutes.

[00:32:17.340] – Kriste

 Is it called a session or what’s it called?

[00:32:20.180] – Amy

We call it a room.

[00:32:21.170] – Kriste

Oh, it’s the room. Hello. OK, so if a room is two hours, then then you’re going to do that..

[00:32:27.550] – Amy

Every ten minutes or sometimes before every question is asked, just a little blurb that – I do a big reset every ten minutes that’s everything you need to know about the rules of my room and I’ll sprinkle in here every now and then things like what the topic is, so people know what’s going on.

[00:32:49.090] – Kriste

OK, that’s super cool. And you’re just doing that on the fly, too.

[00:32:52.160] – Amy

Yeah, I write out some resets. When it’s my big rooms that I get a huge following in there and I know that bigger names are going to come in and might see it. I want to come off very professional and I want it to look like I’ve got my act together. 

[00:33:08.480] – Amy

I’m reaching out for sponsorships right now for some of my bigger rooms.

[00:33:12.880] – Kriste

I was going to ask you about that next. So go ahead.

[00:33:15.160] – Amy

Yeah. So  now that I’ve got a huge presence, I’m looking for sponsorships and people are popping in to see if I’m the right fit for them and just making sure that everything is really crisp. I’m a pretty good speaker as it is. So I trust myself that I don’t necessarily have to write out every room reset.

[00:33:33.990] – Kriste

OK, so you’re reaching out, now that you have a following, you’re reaching out for potential sponsors? That was going to be one of my questions when you were talking about sponsorships earlier. Does it work kind of the same way as any time sponsorships come into play, which is, oh, there’s an audience that I want to reach. So I want to sponsor it because I’m going to reach the right people.

[00:33:57.070] – Amy

Yeah, absolutely.

[00:33:58.150] – Kriste

Is that pretty much the way this works, too?

[00:33:59.950] – Amy

Yeah, absolutely. I think that it’s the same kind of thing that you would for a podcast, the way that you would Instagram, the way that you would for Facebook, no matter what or YouTube. Whatever the sponsor is looking to reach, what demographic they’re looking to reach. Looking at the rooms that someone is running and either sponsoring an individual or sponsoring a club is what people have been doing recently.

[00:34:25.990] – Amy

It’s so new that it’s very interesting because there’s not a lot of people that have sponsorships right now but there’s a small community that is starting to get sponsorships. And I’ve been reached out to by several communities looking to sponsor me. And I think they’re looking to jump the gun on that because these bigger names, quote unquote, are still small and will continue to grow as Clubhouse grows.

[00:34:55.000] – Amy

So I think people are seeing that opening where nobody’s sponsored right now so getting these big  names sponsored by your brand is super optimal right now. It’s super prime time because nobody is sponsored and everyone is interested in sponsorships, but they’re kind of waiting for the right one.

[00:35:13.820] – Kriste

OK, and then have you seen this or do you think this will also happen if a brand sponsors you, but then they say, hey, we want to sponsor you and we’d love to work with you on developing a room around X?

[00:35:28.990] – Amy

Oh, absolutely. And I’ve seen that done already. And I think that was my second bucket to how I think businesses are going to be getting into this. Not only can you do the sponsorship side of it, but they can partner with some of these talented moderators to create clubs or create rooms that are just about what you want to talk about.

[00:35:56.800] – Amy

And just like you would with a podcast. If you’re looking to start a podcast for whatever reason, you can do the same thing, but have rooms on Clubhouse that are created and it takes a little bit less effort on the back end because it’s all live.

[00:36:14.120] – Kriste

.OK, so great segue into an article that I shared with you prior to the podcast that was on HubSpot and it was talking about Clubhouse versus podcasts and the pros and cons of each from a marketing perspective. What is your thought on that? I understand you’re a guest on a lot of podcasts, but you don’t have a podcast yourself and Clubhouse is way more appealing for you than hosting your own podcast, for example.

[00:36:43.420] – Amy

Yeah, no doubt. And I mean,  I’ve said this a billion times, everyone’s like, you should have a podcast. I would listen to your podcast if you had a podcast about dating or if you had a podcast about tech or if you had a podcast about whatever. And I just don’t have the bandwidth for that. I don’t have the time. I don’t want to put in the time to edit a podcast. I don’t want to pay someone to edit the podcast.

[00:37:09.880] – Kriste

Listen, I hear ya. It’s a lot of work.

[00:37:14.380] – Amy

I know that there’s people out there that can do it, but it is a ton of work to put together.

[00:37:19.300] – Kriste

It really is. It is a lot of work, even if you do it poorly, let me tell you. Which I have. Clubhouse is just a lower barrier to entry is what I’m hearing.

[00:37:34.420] – Amy

Oh, yeah. Anybody can do it. Anyone can do it, you don’t have to have any equipment to do it. You certainly can buy equipment to help with your user experience or get people that have equipment to help you with your user experience. But all you need is your phone and a little bit of time.

[00:37:54.940] – Kriste

So you use your phone for all this?

[00:37:59.170] – Amy

Some people use iPads, some people use phones. It just opened up to Android this past week. So I’m excited to see what audience that brings, because that opens up a whole new world of people that can get into Clubhouse. But I just use my phone and you could do it anywhere.

[00:38:15.370] – Amy

I could be going on a walk and running a Clubhouse room. I can be cleaning my house and running a Clubhouse room.

[00:38:22.090] – Kriste

No. Have you done that?

[00:38:22.990] – Amy

I’ve done it.

[00:38:25.960] – Kriste

That’s amazing. I never would have thought that that was possible.

[00:38:30.280] – Amy

Yeah. It’s very unreal that I can grow a followship and reach a lot of people and have a really great room and still be on the go. And the great thing is it’s so tangible for the listener and it’s so tangible for the person who is creating and the creators on Clubhouse too.

[00:38:57.340] – Kriste

So then it’s live, it’s on the go, it’s drop in, drop out. So there is no playback. There’s no recording of those sessions, of the rooms for listening later or anything like that.

[00:39:10.120] – Amy

Nope. And that’s what I would say a quote unquote downfall of it is, is that you’re not able to access that. I’ve seen people try to snag audio bites and put it on social media, but Clubhouse has been really good about taking that down. It’s all about in the moment. It’s like imagine if you’re you’re signing up for –

[00:39:31.990] – Kriste

It’s like a Snapchat

[00:39:34.240] – Amy

Yes, like Snapchat. It’s there and it’s gone. If you don’t buy tickets to the conference, you don’t get the inside scoop.You know, it’s the same kind of concept.

[00:39:45.880] – Kriste

But it’s free?

[00:39:47.560] – Amy

Right now it’s free.

[00:39:50.020] – Kriste

That’s going to change, don’t you think?

[00:39:51.700] – Amy

I think that there’s going to be changes in the future where you are potentially going to have to buy membership to be able to listen in to certain clubs. So I’m always just telling people to join clubs like crazy right now, because you never know what’s going to be coming in the future. Because you’re in the clubs now and you don’t have to pay now, so get on now and listen now while you can, because we don’t know what’s going to shift.

[00:40:19.060] – Amy

It’s only a couple of years old now, or maybe not even a couple of years old, a year and a half old now. So it’s ever changing. I’ve seen so much change and I’ve only been on the app since February.

[00:40:32.230] – Kriste

That’s amazing. That’s really a short amount of time.

[00:40:35.920] – Amy

Yeah, incredible. Short amount of time. But things happen fast on Clubhouse.

[00:40:39.370] – Amy

What do you think about all these other all these other, just hopping on the bandwagon, like Spotify, Twitter, Facebook, Discord, a few examples. Do you think we’re just going to continue to see people trying to emulate and copycat?

[00:40:52.660] – Amy

I mean, with every social media, everybody kind of tries to copy each other. We’ve seen it with Instagram, we’ve seen it with Snapchat, we’ve seen it with Facebook. Everybody’s just trying to pull an audience the way that they can. I will say I’ve hopped over to Twitter spaces just to kind of see what the hype was about because people were saying that it was going to be the new Clubhouse.

[00:41:10.810] – Amy

It is so glitchy, it is not as user friendly. And I don’t think that, it’s not at all the same. I think Clubhouse is really, really intentional in the way that they put out their product. And so much so that Rohan and Paul, the two creators of the app, hold a town hall every single Sunday and anyone can come in and listen. And they answer everyone’s questions and they take into consideration what their user experience is and they change it every week.

[00:41:44.690] – Amy

So they listen and it’s incredible how great this company is, because they really, really care about the user experience and they want people to know that they care about it.

[00:41:57.710] – Amy

How often do you hear of the creator of Facebook or Twitter or anything else coming out to the community and having an outreach every single week? It doesn’t happen. They really care about the user experience, and I have so much respect for the company.

[00:42:13.730] – Kriste

So you think they’re here to stay?

[00:42:15.950] – Amy

I think they believe it. I hope they’re here to stay. I think that money and several other things are going to play a huge factor in it.

[00:42:24.460] – Kriste

Oh, for sure. Always does.

[00:42:27.380] – Amy

Like everything.

[00:42:28.280] – Kriste

Yeah, like everything.

[00:42:30.020] – Amy

But I think that if it keeps going the way it is, there’s going to be a space for it. I think that we’re going to see some dip as the pandemic kind of comes to a slow, because there was just a bigger space when everyone was trapped inside and it was winter. But I do still think that there is a huge space for it during the day, at night.

[00:42:56.810] – Amy

Now things are starting to open and people are still there. It’s still booming. And there’s still a huge following and it’s still growing. So I can’t wait to see where it is in a few months.

[00:43:08.180] – Kriste

That’s awesome. I really appreciate you taking the time to even spend with us and tell us a little bit more kind of the insider look at Clubhouse. What haven’t we talked about that maybe we should in terms of what you think either people that already know about Clubhouse and are participating in it or probably more so for those curious about what it is, are there other things that you’d like for people to know?

[00:43:35.150] – Amy

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that some people hop on Clubhouse, don’t really know how to use it. When you get on Clubhouse, you get a little party hat that is attached to your profile for a week and you prance around with this little party on your profile. So everyone knows you’re new and everyone’s super welcoming. Everyone knows your student driver sticker to Clubhouse. And so people welcome you in, they kind of teach you how to do it.

[00:44:01.880] – Amy

Even if they’re strangers, they’re going to walk you through it. So don’t be afraid to just dive in. I would also encourage people to just follow people that they see that they want to connect with people like them, and continue to pop in rooms and look in what we call the hallway, which is where you can see all the different rooms.

[00:44:20.630] – Amy

The more people you follow, the better your experience is going to be. The more people that you follow that you connect with. So don’t just follow random people, but make sure you’re following people that you you find value in.

[00:44:33.990] – Amy

And if you’re not following anyone, you’re not going to have a great experience on Clubhouse. It’s all about who you’re making connections with and who you want to hear more of. So when you’re getting on at first, make sure you’re giving follows to people that you find value in and explore those different rooms and follow more people from the next room you go into because it’s going to get better every time you go into a different room. I promise.

[00:44:57.860] – Kriste

That’s cool. And I mean, just from our conversation, my biggest takeaway is it sounds like it’s all kind of mysterious and a little bit, you know, it’s that invitation only, but it sounds like it’s the opposite of what one would think. It’s you get your invitation, you get your party hat, everyone’s showing you around, introducing you kind of atmosphere. So it’s exclusive, but very welcoming at the same time.

[00:45:24.980] – Amy

No doubt. And if I’m renting a room and there’s lingo on Clubhouse that people use, like PTR which means pull to refresh, and people can change their profiles. When you come into a room, you essentially save your spot on the time you show up there. So the order of people shifts around a lot and we use different words and phrases on Clubhouse. It’s just kind of honed into our world on Clubhouse. And we’re super, super understanding that the people who are new have no idea what we’re talking about.

[00:45:55.910] – Amy

So everyone takes a second to explain things and to make sure that people are clued into what’s going on. So it’s very inclusive. I’ve never seen people come together on social media that are complete strangers like I do on Clubhouse. So I see it every day that people are just wanting to connect, wanting to network and wanting to build community and wanting to learn together and to grow and get to make some friends and then have a cool experience.

[00:46:25.190] – Amy

So I promise you that if you dive in, you’re going to love it.

[00:46:30.200] – Kriste

All right. Well, you’re going to give me an invitation. So I’m going to dive in and get my party hat.

[00:46:34.520] – Amy

I will start a room. A welcoming party for you. I promise you’ll love it.

[00:46:41.390] – Kriste

That sounds fun. I hope they’re able to keep that vibe that you’re describing, because that sounds pretty awesome and pretty unique and that it doesn’t get too commercialized and all that. That could be inevitable, but who knows?

[00:46:59.290] – Amy

From the way that I hear Paul and Rohan talk each week when I listen in to the town hall on Sundays, I don’t think that they plan to make it too commercialized. I think that they really want to keep it as organic and community based as possible. So I don’t foresee it going that way but, you know, like you said, who knows? I’m hopeful that it stays this way, too.

[00:47:20.170] – Kriste

Sounds awesome. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us today.

[00:47:24.790] – Amy

Of course, I’m happy to any time. I’m a Clubhouse fan. Don’t work for Clubhouse, but wish I did. It’s really cool.

[00:47:34.070] – Kriste

Well, I’d love to have you back, you know, in the not too distant future. And we can talk about, because I’m sure things will evolve and they’ll be all kinds of more exciting – next time we talk to you about it, you probably have sponsors and, you know, working for them full time.

[00:47:48.130] – Amy

Fingers crossed. Let’s manifest that, please.

[00:47:52.300] – Kriste

You just put it out into the universe and it’ll happen.

[00:47:55.780] – Amy

Yeah, absolutely.

[00:47:57.940] – Kriste

All right. Well, this wraps up our episode today of How It’s Done. My guest today was Amy Mirlisena. She is a moderator and a big fan of Clubhouse, and we appreciate all your time and all your insights and just sharing with us today.

[00:48:15.730] – Kriste

Amy, if people want to get in touch with you, how would they do that? Tell us the various ways that they can reach out to you.

[00:48:23.380] – Amy

Sure. Obviously, you can find me on Clubhouse. Everyone’s name is their name on Clubhouse so Amy Mirlisena on Clubhouse. You can find me at the handle M-I-R-L-G-I-R-L,  mirlgirl, which is also my Instagram as well. You can also email me at amymirlisena@gmail.Com. So thank you so much.

[00:48:45.590] – Kriste

Thank you. And I’m sure you’ll be getting lots more invitations to moderate people’s rooms because that’s a big part of what, you moderate your own rooms and then just people reach out..

[00:48:57.250] – Amy

Happy to pop up some rooms for anybody who wants it.

[00:48:59.830] – Kriste

OK, for more awesome content for curious marketers, check out our podcast page at growwithfuoco.com/podcast. You can also find us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram at growwithfuoco, and maybe soon on Clubhouse, who knows.

[00:49:20.200] – Kriste

OK, until next time, stay curious.

[00:49:24.070] – Kriste

That’s it for now. Thanks so much for listening. We’re looking forward to keeping great conversations coming your way as we grow this podcast.

[00:49:31.990] – Kriste

There’s even more great content from our conversations on our blog. Be sure to check it out at growwithfuoco.com. That’s grow with fuoco – F-U-O-C-O- dot com. Stay tuned until next time. And no matter what, stay curious.

• ClubhouseTools.xyz
• Clubhouse vs. Podcasts: Which Should Marketers Use?
• 15 Useful Clubhouse Tools to Help Your Marketing
• Contact Amy: 
  • amymirlisena@gmail.com
  • Instagram and Clubhouse: @mirlgirl 
• Contact Kriste: kg@growwithfuoco.com 
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