Clubhouse is the buzzword on every social media marketers’ lips at the moment. Shrouded in ‘members only, exclusive club’ mystery, only those that have been invited by existing users are allowed in to explore its corridors. New users are also given a tough decision to make, with only a limited number of invites available. They must judge their friends and peers to deem them worthy of a golden Clubhouse ticket, and this has only added to the furore around the new, audio-only social media app.
It’s not just your average early tech adopters jumping on the Clubhouse hype. Celebrities like Kevin Hart and Oprah Winfrey are all regular users, giving people direct access to the rich and famous in a way like never before. One room headlined by Tesla Founder, Elon Musk, broke the Clubhouse 5,000 room capacity, with secondary listening rooms set up purely to live stream from the main room.
A number of The PHA Group employees have gained access over the last few months, giving us insider knowledge about how the app functions, what the Clubhouse landscape looks like, and – most importantly – how we can use it to drive exposure for our clients, be them people, or brands.
So, how does it work?
As a user, you can use Clubhouse as a place to network, chat, and share ideas. Imagine the app as a vast exhibition, with thousands of rooms featuring panel discussions on a huge variety of topics. You can either wander into these rooms to quietly listen to the conversation on mute, or you can ‘raise your hand’ to come up to ‘the stage’ and ask questions, offer your own insight, and build a name for yourself. Rooms can have thousands of people in the audience, some may have less than ten, and you can drift in and out of them as you please, listening in to whatever topics you fancy. Some rooms have even developed daily and weekly shows, where tuning in feels like a regular dial-in radio show on the topics you’re most passionate about.
What does this mean for marketers?
Business owners and entrepreneurs are quickly carving themselves out as Clubhouse influencers, and the app’s user base has grown from 600,000 to 2 million globally in just over a month. With so many people searching for valuable content – as they would at a trade exhibition – Clubhouse presents a brilliant opportunity to establish yourself or your brand as a trusted source of information. Offering entrepreneurial advice or business acumen for free on panels helps position you as a true expert and an inspiration in your field, and with your Clubhouse profile coming with the ability to link to your Twitter and Instagram profile, it’s a valuable source of traffic to your social media showcase profiles too.
Brands are also starting to explore how to make the platform work for them, with some beginning to sponsor high-performing rooms, allowing them to reach new audiences and customers. It’s also a great place to listen in and gather consumer insights about your brand or demographic, understanding what your audience is talking about in real-time, and using these to develop your marketing strategies.
While there’s no monetization model present on the app as yet, opportunities for top-funnel awareness and engagement with you or your brand are there for the taking, if you can simply be bold enough to launch a room or raise your hand to join the stage.
They say change is for the brave, and we’re excited to see how Clubhouse develops as a placement for our clients.
