Clubhouse App Basics For Fitness Professionals

If you haven’t yet heard of the Clubhouse app then I don’t know where you’ve been?! I kid though; Clubhouse app launched in beta in 2020, and I only discovered it around December going into January 2021.

Before you get too excited, it’s worth noting right now that the Clubhouse app is iPhone / Apple only. Sorry all my fellow Android friends.

What is Clubhouse App?

Clubhouse is a new invite-only audio-based social media app. According to Clubhouse founders, the app allows people everywhere to talk, tell stories, develop ideas, deepen friendships, and meet interesting new people around the world.

In Clubhouse, you can enter into different rooms to listen or participate in a conversation. When you join a room, you can see who else is there, and you’re also able to have a good nosey of everyones profiles.

The person who made the room is the one who is in control of things like speaking privileges (or accepting people “onto the stage” as it’s known).

How To Get A Clubhouse App Invite

Firstly, to get the app, you need to go to the Apple app store and download it.

There are then essentially two ways to get an invite and gain access.

A Direct Invite: In order to receive a direct invite to join Clubhouse someone, who has your phone number, needs to send you the invite. It normally comes via text message and you then use the same phone number to create your account.

Through The Backdoor: This is a little hack (but intentional) in that if you download the app and reserve your username, people who have you added as a contact in their phone will get a notification and are asked if they would like to “let you in”.

Now I won’t lie, the first time I got this notification I declined the person (sorry!!) as I thought it used up the one invite that each person gets upon joining. But fun fact, no it doesn’t. So make sure you let your people in… if you trust them.

Your First Week On Clubhouse

Personally, I think this is the make or break week. Where you decide if Clubhouse is or isn’t for you, because it can be a lot to take in.

Here are a few of my top tips for your first week:

• Join The Clubhouse Community Club (pictured above) and jump into their Clubhouse for beginners room. You will learn pretty much everything you need to know in there, just by listening to other peoples questions.
• Add a bio as soon as possible. You don’t have to overthink it… you can change and edit it a million times if you need to.

• Choose a great profile photo. This is the only imagery used on the app so make it count.
• Take the opportunity to speak sooner rather than later. Maybe you’re braver than me, but I was super nervous the first time I jumped on stage and actually spoke!
• Following on from the speaking thing, make sure you are prepared to introduce yourself and what you do in a short and sweet sentence (or two). I know lots of people already have this nailed, but just in case, think of it as your elevator pitch for Clubhouse. People are likely to make a decision to follow you or not when they hear you speak, based on that intro alone.
• Connect with and follow as many interesting people as you can find. This will help you to find more interesting rooms on Clubhouse as your “hallway” (where all the rooms are listed) is curated partially from who you follow.

Clubhouse App For Business & Fit Pros

Whether Clubhouse is worth it for you and your business is really individual. I’d suggest joining with both a personal and business hat on and being open to all sorts of conversations.

So far, I’ve managed to find to decent number of people to follow in the Fitness Industry and have gotten involved in some interesting conversations. I’ve also connected with actual friends on there, and other influencers.

It’s a great place to recreate communities from Facebook, for example, as it’s much more personal (in a good way). You can jump in and out of rooms as suits.

You can use the search function to find rooms clubs or people that might interest you. Try words like ‘fitness’, ‘health’, ‘wellbeing’, ‘mental health’, or ‘HAES’ to see what or who you find.

Use LinkedIn In Conjunction With Clubhouse

Just heard this tip in a CH room – to use LinkedIn events to highlight your rooms on Clubhouse.

The LinkedIn Events feature provides members with an easy way to create and join professional Events that interest them, such as meet-ups, online workshops, seminars, and more. So basically sounds perfect?!

Here’s some info on LinkedIn on how to create events.

My First Clubhouse Room

After being on the platform for a week or so, I decided to jump in and plan a room. I’ve chosen one heck of a topic, but it’s a topic I’m keen to learn more about and think many others in the Fitness industry should be interested in too.

I’m co-hosting with other Fitness Professionals and those who are advocates or have experienced Weight Stigma. If you’re on Clubhouse, join the event / add it to your calendar so you remember to tune in.

We’re starting the discussion at 12noon GMT.

I think one bonus of Clubhouse is that it’s not Zoom! I’ve been using Zoom for classes, meetings… everything! So it’s a breath of fresh air not to have to fire the app up and just be able to listen if that’s all I want to do.

At the end of the day, it’s another way to get your fitness business seen online. Who know’s how long Clubhouse will be around for, but I guess someone said that about the likes of Facebook and Instagram once upon a time, eh?!

If or when you get on the app, look me up – Elle Linton – and if you have any questions or feedback, drop ’em in the comments below.

Elle