“I’m on Clubhouse! Join me at 2:30 pm in the Whatever Chatroom for a conversation about…”
Have you been seeing like this all over your notifications and inbox? I have, and for me it triggered an internal back-and-forth that will probably sound obnoxiously familiar:
- Everyone’s on Clubhouse. What am I missing? Should I join Clubhouse!?
- No! Don’t add another thing to your plate. It sounds like a time suck and the learning curve’ll be a bitch.
- But look at all the cool people on there! I could connect with celebrities! What if my PERFECT CLIENT is on Clubhouse right now, waiting for me to drop some verbal wisdom on her?
Etc. Etc.
You won’t see me in that chatroom.
You’ve surely heard that back-and-forth internal dialogue in your own mind. You know it’s a normal, understandable response to a new business or marketing tool coming on the scene. But such anxious dialogue rarely makes it easy to take action.
Technology changes quickly and waits for no one. Women entrepreneurs and thought leaders have to assess shiny new objects like this all the time, and sometimes it’s hard to determine if the pull we feel toward something new is genuine… or a distraction.
It’s hard to determine if the push we feel away from something is genuine… or stemming from fear, overwhelm, and a reluctant to learn a new trick.
I had the internal dialogue about Clubhouse and I figured out my answer. So the question is:
How do you determine if Clubhouse is right for you?
Clubhouse is super interesting. A social media platform based entirely around voice? There’s something intimate about hearing people speak. It makes you feel more closely connected that writing or even than video. And unlike with podcasts, on Clubhouse you can actually converse with the other person.
Plus, it seems like not-a-coincidence that this network is gaining ground after a year plus of face fatigue from using Zoom. Remember phone calls!? Clubhouse is like an asynchronous (as in, you don’t have to respond immediately) phone call with a bunch of cool people.
On the other hand (and it sucks that after The Year That Was 2020, a new social media platform can’t learn from literally everyone else’s mistakes and put protections in place against harassment and all the “isms) as The Lilly reported, “even as the audio platform grows in popularity, people say it’s a haven for misogyny and racism.” SIIIIIGGGGHHHH.
It’s enough to make you wonder… should you join Clubhouse?
When I wonder should I [fill-in-the-blank] for my business and thought leadership, I ask myself these questions. They made it immediately clear to me that Clubhouse and I do not have a future:
Do I want to? Am I excited?
No and no. I’m know myself well enough to admit I’m not an early adopter of tech and social media. I find Clubhouse interesting but I’m not drawn to it out myself. Au contraire, to me it sounds overwhelming.
Are my clients there?
I have plenty to talk about, and I’m sure I *could* find clients on Clubhouse, but I doubt I’d find them more effectively than where I find clients now (LinkedIn, podcasts, and networking). Besides, plenty of my clients are not early adopters either.
Would it have a net positive impact?
If I add Clubhouse to the mix and do it well (because why else do it?), what time and energy commitment am I truly making? Probably a big one. So what would I take off my plate to make room for Clubhouse? And would the positive impact of using Clubhouse be greater than the impact of whatever I remove? What’s the opportunity cost of using Clubhouse instead of doubling down on a strategy I know works, or a different new strategy I want to try?
After asking myself those questions, I know what Clubhouse is for me: an interesting shiny object.
Shiny objects do not give you more time and energy to build your thought leadership legacy.
My clients regularly cite overwhelm and shiny object syndrome as barriers to investing in their thought leadership and putting a stake in the ground of what they stand for. One of the ways my team helps is by strategizing how they can focus on less.
I might join Clubhouse in the future. Someday it might feel like just the right new strategy to try! But for now, I’m staying the course with what I know works for me.
What about you? Are you pro- or anti-Clubhouse for yourself?
Speaking of thought leadership…
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