Have you seen or heard about Clubhouse? The Clubhouse app, which is audio-based, has become popular with Equine photographers ( and Equine Based Businesses in general) since the start of the new year. There is information readily available on the web about Clubhouse. However, I have not found much information geared towards Equine Photographers in general. Continuing on my path with my word for 2021 (which is CONNECT, and if you want to read more about why I choose to connect, you can do so here). I wanted to put together a little blog post for the equine photographers out there!
Go ahead and get comfy! Read about how Equine Photographers can use the Clubhouse app and how to get the most out of it.
What is Clubhouse?
As an audio-only app, you are correct in thinking you can only interact by talking. There is no texting, messaging, video content or connecting unless you are using your God-given communicator-your voice. Recording is not allowed, so if you miss a room ( which is like a conference call with friends), it is gone. There is no going back to listen later or catch up. At first, I thought this was a disappointment as Clubhouse can be a bit addicting once you find your niche. The fear of missing out is also really there!
So who can use the app?
Unfortunately, at the time I am writing this, it is for “iPhone users only.” Android availability is coming; however, the developers have been slow to grow the platform to ensure it stays functional and sees minor growing pains. I have been in rooms where people have used an iPad, but I have yet to explore that option.
Why Would You Want to Join?
Connection
Helping to feel connected is something I think we have all struggled with over the past year. I have made some amazing connections on CH, and my new friends really are the most unique and genuine individuals. A really neat thing about all the people I am meeting is that they are from all over the world. I know we all have social media friends that reside worldwide, but really it’s so entertaining to listen to the tone of their voices and their accents! These people make me look forward to our conversations throughout my day. They give encouragement and support, and that makes me happy! I want for you to experience that too! I have also seen some networking happen in rooms that were enough to make the whole room feel excited. These connections can’t happen for you unless you put yourself out there to meet new people.
Education
Community over competition is an unsaid rule in the rooms I have been in on the app. The amount of education available 24 hours a day from people sharing their knowledge and life lessons is mind-blowing. Marketing, SEO, blogging, posing, client relations are just a few topics that I have had the opportunity to listen to.
Sharing
With the ability to create clubs, the original and first equine-based club, Jamie CinqMars, started Equestrian Connect. As a spin-off of that club, the Equestrian Photography Club is the first and largest equine-based photography club. I hope to see fellow Equine Photographers scheduling rooms and sharing. I enjoy helping and facilitating conversations where we can all learn from each other.
Hallways and the Search Function on Clubhouse
As a social media app, you must embrace being social. Go and follow like-minded people on the app that you would to hear speaking. Just like other apps, Clubhouse has a feed called your hallway. The people you follow influence the rooms that show up in your hallway. “Follow the moderators in the room and the people that resonate with you while they are speaking” can often be heard when you are inside of rooms. This is suggested to help tailor your hallway feed. If someone is speaking and you do not have any commonality with them, don’t follow them.
Once you have many people you follow, you will start to see your hallway filling with rooms of interest to you. There also is no algorithm between followers and following, so embrace the freedom to flex your “follow finger.”
The search function in the app allows you to search people and clubs. One of my most useful tips is to share with you the ability to search emojis. This has made finding all things equine photography a lot easier. There is not searching through multiple names or variations of a subject to find what you are looking for. This is good to keep in mind when creating your bio as well. Using emojis is encouraged here!
Rooms and the importance of a good bio on Clubhouse
Once you have rooms showing up in your hallway, you can choose to enter a room. A great feature I didn’t know about when I first got on the app was that your microphone is muted when entering a room. I had searched for a guide when I was exploring the hallways for the first time, and I wish I had known that then.
Rooms are broken down into sections: the stage, where your audio is activated, and the audience. The audience has an upper area where audience members that the speakers follow are listed first, followed by the audience’s remainder.
To speak, audience members have the ability to “raise their hand.” This alerts the moderators that they would like to speak. Don’t be afraid to raise your hand and speak within a room. (honestly, I love that I can have my clubhouse going while I do all my daily tasks, and no one can see my snowflake PJ pants that I frequently wear around the farm)
As I mentioned earlier, there is no way to communicate with people on the app other than through rooms. That makes it important to have a very clear bio. The first two lines of your bio are the most important. They are what people will see when they click on your bio picture. The next thing that is important and probably the first thing you should make sure you do is connect your Twitter and/or Instagram.
Ready to join the club?
You can download the app and reserve your user name at any time. You will not have access to the app’s content until you receive an invitation from someone inside of Clubhouse. Ask around, and hopefully, someone you know will have an invite to share. Once you are inside, the more active you are, the more (randomly sent) invites Clubhouse will give you to share with your friends. If you send an invite to someone with an android, it will be lost, and I don’t know if it will be available to them when the platform is open to android users.
Are you an Equine Photographer?
Come follow me on clubhouse! Search for @originalnicmar, follow and click the bell next to my name if you’d like to be notified when I start rooms.
I love to be a part of a safe and knowledgeable environment! I want everyone to feel comfortable coming up and adding to the discussion or asking questions, and I hope you’ll come to join me!
Go find me on clubhouse I hope to chat with you soon!
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