You might have heard about one of the newest, hottest social apps of the moment, Clubhouse. This new app has sparked a whole host of FOMO amongst social influencers and business people alike. The app has been praised for its simplicity, and its capacity to facilitate real community and discussion – but the question for digital marketers is ‘should we be using this platform too?’
The answer largely depends on your business, and what you’re looking to achieve from using a social platform to market your product/service. To give you an idea of how the app works and whether or not there is potential for your business, here’s the ins and outs of Clubhouse.
What is Clubhouse?
Clubhouse is currently an ‘invite only’ club app, much like a classic yacht or country club, you can create an account but you can’t ‘enter’ until you have gained an invite.
Once in the ‘club’ users can listen in to conversations, interviews, and discussions between interesting people on various topics – it is just like tuning in to a podcast but live and with an added layer of exclusivity.
Differentiating from other social apps, Clubhouse is audio-only.
(image example via ‘Keep Up with KP‘).
Once onto the app, you will find ‘rooms’ where you can listen, or get called on as a participant, in the chat. The central premise is that this is a virtual ‘clubhouse’, with each discussion happening in a different room.
When you’re on the app you can browse the discussions happening in each room, here you can also see who else is participating, allowing you to jump in and out of chats.
It’s a fairly simple, but engaging premise, and Clubhouse has benefited significantly from the major buzz around the app, which has resulted in various big-name stars and celebrities jumping into Clubhouse rooms, immediately drawing big crowds.
With celebrities on board and an increasing buzz around it, the app’s audience has rocketed from 600,000 active users in December, to 2 million just over a month later!
However, as the app isn’t actually ‘open to the public’ gaining an invite can be a little tricky. New users are allocated 2 invites that they can share with people they feel will add the most value. This in turn has helped to further boost the hype around the app, creating an exclusive feel around gaining an invite.
Given the app’s rapid growth, you can see why investors, and marketers, are watching Clubhouse closely.
So… is there marketing potential?
Currently, Clubhouse has shown significant potential for boosting users as thought leaders and expanding audience within your niche. Social Media Examiner has noted that some attorneys, for example, have been able to attract new clients by sharing their expertise within dedicated rooms, while brands have even begun sponsoring some Clubhouse discussions and sharing business insights in the app.
Based on this, the main brand benefit appears to be gained from sharing knowledge and insight across the various discussions in order to increase community engagement. With such high levels of engaged, active users there is a great opportunity for sparking interaction with your brand, as long as you generate the right topic of discussion that inspires action to boost your presence, and maximize the audience reach.
Clubhouse has also stated that they are investing in new options including ticket sales, subscriptions, and more. These developments could in turn lead the platform to announce advertising opportunities sooner rather than later.
We would suggest that there is clear potential to market brands on this platform, but it really depends on the scale of reach and the types of audiences you are looking to reach.
Although Clubhouse says it hosts thousands of rooms each night, there is still a lot of uncertainty and unknowns around the app’s growth plans. However, for the time being, there’s no harm in setting up an account and seeking out an invite to give it a go!
Check back again for more updates as we get them!