Attend and speak at tons of real estate conferences from the comfort of home. No, you’re not dreaming.

A new social media platform is here, and it’s gaining popularity very quickly! Clubhouse is a new type of social network based on voice, where people around the world come together to talk, listen, and learn from each other in real-time.

So how does it work?

Table of Contents (click one to jump to that section)

• Introduction to Clubhouse
• Digging Deeper into Clubhouse for Real Estate Agents
• Why Should Real Estate Agents use Clubhouse App?
• How Can REALTORS® Start Their own Clubhouse Room?
• How Realtors® Can Join & Create Clubs in Clubhouse
• A Few More Neat Facts About Clubhouse for Realtors®

Introduction to Clubhouse

If you asked me to distill Clubhouse into a couple of sentences, here’s what I’d tell you:

Clubhouse is a new social network where people discuss a wide range of topics in relevant rooms with live audio discussions. Using Clubhouse you can grow your network, learn new ideas, share your expertise and enhance your real estate brand through clubs, and private or public discussion rooms – without ever once feeling pressured to share a photo or video – it’s all done through verbal communication.

After spending much time digging through Clubhouse myself, I’ve found a good analogy that might help agents get a better grip on this new tool – comparing it to an in-person conference! So…

Let’s imagine you walk into a real estate conference. At the reception, you’re asked about yourself and your interests. You’re given a name-tag and a short bio which you stick to the front of your shirt before entering the main hall.

Based on the interests you mentioned at the reception desk, you’re led to a reception hall uniquely designed for you. In the reception hall, there are many doors to enter. Each door has a topic written on it – you open a door and enter one of the rooms.

When you enter the room you’re at the back of a crowd of people. You see a stage with a few notable people on it. You can hear them speaking clearly and the people in the crowd are silent.

The speakers take turns talking to the other people on stage, and the rules of a conversation flow naturally. In other words, one person generally speaks at a time, they stay on topic, they don’t interrupt one other, and they look for relevant opportunities to respond (respectfully.)

There will be a host (or multiple hosts) on stage as well, and they’ll be moderating conversations. Some hosts let the room’s conversation flow and wander as it wants to, but other times they’ll have more structure and be guided by the host(s).

While listening, you might have something to add to the conversation – so you raise your hand. The speakers notice your hand up, and one of them decides to invite you up on stage. This opens up your microphone, so you can join the conversation and contribute.

So far this sounds like a pretty cool format for a real estate conference right? Nothing like the real estate conferences we’ve all been to…

That’s because this whole experience happens through your smartphone, from the comfort of wherever you are, whenever you want! That is, in a nutshell, what Clubhouse App is – a live conference where you can drop into audio chats and listen to, or occasionally engage with, people in your common interest group. In this case, Real Estate!

Digging deeper into Clubhouse for Real Estate Agents

When you’re in the Clubhouse app, you are only able to be a part of one room at a time. Much like an in-person conference, you can’t be in two places at once.

When you enter a room, you’re part of the crowd. The crowd is comprised of three sections:

1. People closest to the “stage” – these are people who the speakers themselves follow.
2. People in the middle rows – these are folks who have been in the room the longest but are not followed by the speakers.
3. People in the back – these are generally people who have recently joined the room and are not followed by the speakers.

As you become more active on Clubhouse (following, being followed, engaging, creating rooms, etc.,) you’ll notice that sometimes when you enter a room, you will be closer to the stage than others.

If you recognize the speakers or like what they are saying – or if you recognize someone in the crowd – you can click on their profiles and Follow them. This will ensure you’re notified next time they’ve joined a room in Clubhouse.

When you feel the moment is right, you can click the little hand icon in the room to “put your hand up” in hopes of joining the conversation. If a moderator notices and wants to invite you up, they can do so.

When you get on “stage”, you follow natural stage etiquette. Speaking, listening, learning, and sharing your thoughts just like any great conversation.

Some hosts may even make you a moderator in a room, but you’ll likely have to build a trusted connection with them first.

Over time, you will have followed more people, earned more followers yourself, engaged in more rooms, and maybe even hosted some conferences of your own on Clubhouse!

When you’re done with one room, you can quietly leave at any point to join another room, create your own room, or just leave the conference building (aka close the Clubhouse app) entirely.

Why Should Real Estate Agents use Clubhouse App?

This new social network is different from customer-facing networks like Instagram or Facebook. As of right now, it’s more of a B2B social network where you’re in the company of professionals.

Chances are, you’re not going to get buyers & sellers reaching out to you through Clubhouse to hire you. Never say never, but that’s not how to leverage Clubhouse for your business – for now anyway.

What do I mean “for now anyway”? Well, it’s important to keep in mind that Clubhouse is still in its infancy. Things may yet change, and those changes might mean that Clubhouse becomes a hub for home buyers and sellers as well. In either case, Clubhouse is going to be a powerful tool for Realtors®.

In its current state, Clubhouse resembles the real estate conference we mentioned earlier… when you go to a conference, you’re rubbing shoulders with experts and your peers – not your clients. And yet, it’s still highly valuable… why?

Here are the 3 main reasons why Clubhouse is an effective tool for real estate agents at the moment:

1. Referrals – Clubhouse allows you to grow your professional referral network by connecting with other agents, lawyers, mortgage brokers, and other professionals.
2. Ideas – Using Clubhouse, you could pick up some really intelligent business and marketing strategies that you otherwise might not have thought of or discovered.
3. Expertise – Through Clubhouse, you have the ability to highlight your expertise as a real estate agent to the masses and become a sort of influencer in your industry.

While these are not direct customer acquisition channels for you, they do have a tremendous amount of potential for growing your real estate business.

And again, who knows where Clubhouse will go. Perhaps in a few months, it will also become a direct customer acquisition channel. Either way, you can’t lose!

How Can Realtors® Start Their own Clubhouse Room?

After you’ve attended enough rooms in Clubhouse, you might have something to say and decide you want to start your own room. That’s awesome!

There are two ways you can start a room on Clubhouse:

• Scheduled Room: A room that will start at a pre-determined time and date in the future.
• Spontaneous Room: A room that will start immediately.

The advantage of a scheduled room is that you will be able to give the room a 200 character description. And more importantly, you will receive a custom link for the room that you can share online to earn attendees. You can also pre-invite co-hosts and guests to the room in advance.

Take that custom link and email it out to your entire real estate mailing list! Or post it on your Realtor® social media channels. Invite your connections on other networks to join your scheduled Clubhouse room and listen/engage with your brand.

A spontaneously created room will not provide you with a link or the ability to add a description. However, it allows you to instantly get on stage and start speaking with whoever decides to join your room. With spontaneous rooms, you also have the ability to create:

• An Open Room: A room that is open to everyone on Clubhouse to join.
• A Social Room: A room that is open to people YOU follow on Clubhouse to join.
• A Closed Room: A room that is only open to people YOU choose to invite.

At any given time you’re able to change the type of spontaneous room you’ve created. So you might want to start the room as a Closed Room, invite a few people, get the conversation going and planned out, then Open it to the Clubhouse world!

One thing to consider: if you’re brand new to Clubhouse and don’t have any followers, your likelihood of attracting attendees to the room drops significantly. It doesn’t mean you can’t start a room, it just might mean it won’t be very busy. So before you start your own room, consider growing your following a bit through engagement with others on Clubhouse. Follow others, join clubs (more on clubs below), join rooms, join conversations in rooms, invite friends to Clubhouse, and otherwise use the app to its fullest potential to grow your audience.

How Realtors® Can Join & Create Clubs in Clubhouse

Perhaps one of the most important features in the Clubhouse app is “Clubs“. In fact, Clubhouse is named after this feature!

Clubs are niche communities within Clubhouse that enable conversations focused on specific topics. For instance, I’m a member of the “Canadian Real Estate” Club.

There’s no limit to the number of Clubs you can join, and the categories are endless. Not to mention, the number of Clubs is growing every minute.

However, you do need to be nominated or invited to join a Club. You can’t just click “Join” if you haven’t been invited. The “Join” button only appears when you receive an invitation to join a Club.

There are four different tiers of hierarchy within Clubs. There are Founders, Admins, Members & Followers. Here’s the breakdown:

Founder: This is the Club’s owner & creator. A founder has 100% control over the Club. They can edit the description and rules, they can invite members to join, and they need no approvals.

Admin: These people are like Club management… they are crowned Admin by the Club Founder – OR – by another Admin. An admin can approve new Club members, remove Club members, and start private or public discussion rooms within the Club.

Members: These people are approved participators of the Club. A member is able to create private discussion rooms for other Club members, but they can not create public rooms. They can, however, see and participate in both private and public rooms. They are also able to nominate other Clubhouse members to join the Club… the nomination isn’t final, it needs to be approved by an Admin or Founder before membership is confirmed.

Follower: These people are not members of the Club, but they do receive updates on the Club’s public activity. A follower can join the Club’s public rooms for example, but they can’t create rooms for the club. Followers will be notified if they are invited to become members of the Club. They will also be notified when a member or admin of the Club schedules or starts a public discussion room.

If you find a Club you really want to join, you may need to take some special action…

1. Read Club Description for Clues: Some Clubs, like the Canadian Real Estate Club (screenshot above), tells you exactly how to receive a nomination. You need to follow the Club and follow the Club owner, and then you’ll receive an invite!
2. Contact a Club Member, Admin or Founder: Other Clubs don’t have details on how to become a member in their description. You may need to reach out to someone in the Club with the power to invite or nominate you. This can be tricky though because Clubhouse does not have any Direct Message functionality (yet…). So you might need to sniff out the member, admin or founder’s Twitter, Instagram, or Email from their Clubhouse profile, and reach out to them that way!
3. Follow the Club: Some Clubs just automatically invite anybody who follows them to be a member. So you could just Follow a Club and then cross your fingers for an invite!

If it’s more of a private club, you might be out of luck. But in most cases, Clubs want relevant members to join – so you should receive your nomination in no time if you follow one of the steps above.

When you do become a Club member, you are essentially going to hear (and be notified) about all private and public activity within that Club. The Club will be added to your profile, and it will also be added to your Clubhouse sidebar.

By the way, Clubhouse recently opened up the ability for ANYBODY to create their own Club! Since then, the number of active Clubs has skyrocketed. And yes, that means you can go and create your very own Club and begin inviting members – if you want!

If you do decide to create your own Club, you should be thoughtful of a couple of things. Namely, clubs have a few different permissions and options.

• Allow followers: If activated, Clubhouse users will be able to “Follow” your Club and receive updates whenever there is any activity within your Club. Typically, you would want this feature activated. Keep in mind, “Followers” and “Members” are totally separate. Only a Club owner or Admin is able to add Members, but anybody can become a Follower – if this setting is activated.
• Let members start rooms: If activated, Clubhouse users who join your Club (aka Members) will be able to start discussion rooms within your Club. This gives Club members a bit of freedom and autonomy to engage through your Club. This is a bit of a double-edged sword – a member may start an awesome room, or they may start a totally off-topic room. Club owners who are trying to retain a bit more control of their Club’s brand might want to deactivate this feature.
• Make member list private: If activated, anybody who finds your Club will be able to see the entire member list and click through to their profiles. If you’re more of a private Club, or if you want to keep the identity of members private, you might want to deactivate this feature.
• Topics: You can select up to three topics for your Club. There is a wide range of topics to choose from, ranging everywhere from Real Estate, to World Affairs, to Language, Identity, Sports and so much more.
• Description: As a Club creator, you have the ability to write a description for your group that includes all sorts of information. If you intend to host recurring weekly events, you might want to include those events with their dates & times in your description. Most of the popular Clubs also use emojis and break text out into paragraphs to keep things engaging.

If you’re ready to create your own Club on Clubhouse, just navigate over to your Profile, and at the bottom of your profile, you will see a list of Clubs you’re a member of. On the very right at the end of that list is a grey + sign (if you’re a member of a lot of Clubs, you will need to scroll all the way to see the end of the list).

That is the “Create a Club” button. Click that and you’ll be on your way to founding your own Club!

Pro-Tip: If you’re a real estate team or brokerage, you might consider creating a Club that’s private and just for your office! Only invite your brokerage’s agents or your team members, and people can jump in at any time and have awesome conversations within the organization. If nothing else, it’s an awesome team-building feature and a sign of a forward-thinking company!

A Few More Neat Facts About Clubhouse for Realtors®

Clubhouse is a very new social network, and it’s actually still in its Beta stages. It’s a platform that is A) perfect for real estate professionals, and B) really going to take off over the coming years. We recommend getting involved in it during the early stages.

If you can adopt Clubhouse early, you’ll be well ahead of your competitors in real estate when they finally catch wind of it. If you’re already using it, Bravo! Keep it up.

Before we let you go, just wanted to leave you with a few more helpful and interesting details about Clubhouse:

Invite Only (for now): Clubhouse’s growth strategy is focused on exclusivity and virility. For that reason, you need to receive an invitation to join Clubhouse. Chances are, someone in your network is using Clubhouse and has a spare invite they can send your way. If you haven’t received an invitation to join Clubhouse yet, start asking around!

It’s Free (for now): As of right now, Clubhouse is free to use. There are no ads or sponsored rooms or posts. However, the developers of this app have poured a veritable ton of money into building it and marketing it. So we can pretty much guarantee they have a plan for monetizing it. Whether it’s through selling ads or charging a monthly fee to use the app, we don’t know. But it is free for now!

Networking in your Underwear: Clubhouse is not a zoom meeting, it’s not a live video… you could very well be in your underpants while you’re on “Stage” speaking to hundreds of people. Chances are you’re not going to do that, but the fact that you can be totally comfortable at home or at the park while hosting or participating in a real estate conference is awesome.

Only for iPhone (for now): For the time being, Clubhouse is exclusively on iPhone and iOS devices. It will most likely expand to android and other smartphones, but if you’re not using an iPhone or iPad today, you won’t be able to join Clubhouse yet!

Professional Audience: Clubhouse’s focus was to invite some well-known and super-connected celebrities, CEO’s and other such notable individuals. For that reason, the majority of Clubhouse’s membership is business professionals.

Can’t Record or Save Content: One cool feature of Clubhouse is that the discussions are not recorded. Unlike other social networks where anything you post is there forever, Clubhouse is very much a “be there or you miss out” type of platform. Which makes it rather unrivaled and exclusive amongst its competition in social media.

Audio Focused: Another factor that separates Clubhouse from other social networks is that it’s the first platform to feature audio streaming. You can’t share photos or videos or links… it’s all audio, and it’s all live!

Huge Valuation: Clubhouse is already valued at over $100,000,000. This is incredible for a company that is not yet monetizing its platform, and that is still in its Beta stage. Some of the biggest players in tech investment are backing Clubhouse, so we think it’s here to stay. But don’t quote me on that ;)

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Clubhouse is brand new and always evolving, so we’ll keep this article up to date with the latest information as it becomes available. Feel free to bookmark this resource and check back once a month for updates!

Thanks for reading, Ninjas! Have an awesome day.