Quick Insights

• • Clubhouse is an invite-only, voice-only social media platform.

• • Signing up is easy, but joining is a bit trickier. You have to be “let in” by someone already using the platform.

• • Business owners are already creating names for themselves, crafting and curating communities, and building personal brand awareness.

With an air of exclusivity, a number of celebrities using and promoting the platform, and touch of FOMO (when you see your friends on the platform), Clubhouse has quickly become the most-talked-about social media of 2020-2021.

In April 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was wreaking havoc and landing people at home, Paul Davison and Rohan Seth launched a new social media platform — Clubhouse. The audio-chat app started gaining popularity quickly but only among those who were lucky enough to be invited.

Right now Clubhouse is running in the private beta version. However, as soon as it becomes available to the public, it could turn into a powerful marketing tool.

How Does Clubhouse work?

Clubhouse is a voice-based social app. Users create rooms inside which they chat with each other. After joining a room, visitors can both listen to the conversation and share their thoughts. The room’s creator can adjust speaking privileges for the rest of the members.

The major appeal of this social app during the pandemic lies in its ability to mimic large social gatherings like parties or events. What makes it different from other social media platforms is the ability to participate in the discussion without holding a device, using a keyboard, or staring at the screen.

Important: One of the main rules of using Clubhouse is keeping all the audio inside the app. You can’t record any conversations and use them outside the platform unless all room participants agree to it.

Who Uses Clubhouse?

The “invite-only” and FOMO appeal brought many celebrities to the platform. App users can “bump” into such celebs as Drake, Chris Rock, Ashton Kutcher, or Oprah. Some of them even host public chatrooms.

Besides celebrities, Silicon Valley types, venture capitalists, and other elite users are joining the platform daily. While exact numbers aren’t available, in December, New York Times reported that the app had 600,000 users.

As the number of users began to grow, the app went on to host celebrity talk shows, networking events, political discussions, and the like. Clubhouse is no longer just a place for private conversations and party-like events. It’s becoming a social media platform with a diverse offering.

How Do You Get Invited to Clubhouse?

As of today, you can only join Clubhouse if you get an invite from one of the users. When a user sends out an invitation, they have to share their phone number. This ensures that invites only go out to people who users feel comfortable sharing their phone numbers with. The number of invites each Clubhouse member can send depends on their activity on the app.

If you don’t know anyone who is already on Clubhouse, it’s possible to sign up for a waitlist. You can download the app from App Store and reserve a username.

The Mystery and the Controversy

Clubhouse is still a very new social media app. Since it’s running in beta, it’s hard to expect everything to be clear and perfect.

The Mystery

Clubhouse developers, Silicone Valley entrepreneur Paul Davison and former Google employee Rohan Seth, aren’t giving interviews or releasing too much information about their plans for the app.

Back in July 2020, founders explained that the reasons why the app isn’t  public yet are:

• The lack of features to handle more users.
• The belief that communities should grow slowly.

While thousands of people are expressing interest in joining Clubhouse, it’s not clear when it’s finally going to go public.

The Controversy

Even though the number of users is currently limited, the app is already surrounded by controversy. Users are blaming the creators for the lack of chat moderation efforts.

The developers failed to create and enforce clear community guidelines, which led to harassment, racism, and abusive language issues. This is likely to be addressed in the nearest future.

Clubhouse Marketing Opportunities

While it’s still unclear when Clubhouse is going to go public, many companies are already exploring marketing possibilities.

Influencer Marketing

The most obvious marketing opportunity on Clubhouse is related to influencers. Right now, a big number of users on the app are, in fact, influencers.

Once the app becomes available to the public, companies may get a chance to negotiate marketing possibilities with influencers, who already have established clubs and chatrooms.

Brand Awareness

The app has a number of tools to assist with brand awareness efforts. You can create a detailed profile and link it to your Instagram business profile. By participating in relevant chatrooms, it’s possible to gain visibility among your target audience.

Clubhouse is also an excellent community builder. It allows you to create Clubs that other members can join. Each club can have both public and private rooms hosted by founders, admins, and members.

Founding and managing such a community can help you raise brand awareness and, with time, establish yourself as an industry leader.

Customer Retention

Once you build a community on Clubhouse, it becomes an excellent place to practice customer retention. For example, you can create a separate room for your existing clients in order to make special offers there.

You can also create a room for feedback, a loyalty program room, an announcement room, and more. Clubhouse gives you a unique opportunity to interact with your audience in real-time and hear their voices… literally.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

What can be a better place to capitalize on word-of-mouth marketing than an app based on spoken words? While consumers tend to trust written reviews online, real-life audio reviews are likely to carry much more weight.

Clubhouse can give companies an amazing opportunity to generate powerful reviews and use them across other marketing channels.

With time, Clubhouse developers promise to create analytics options for chat room creators. This can help marketers analyze the target audience and tailor the marketing message accordingly. As the platform grows, it’s likely to offer paid social advertising opportunities as well.

The Takeaway

Clubhouse is a new audio-based social media app with exciting potential for marketers. While it’s still unclear when the app will go public, it’s already obvious that ignoring it is out of the question.

By learning all you can about Clubhouse right now, you can be fully armed to greet its public launch and take full advantage of the marketing opportunities.

Looking to utilize Clubhouse and other social media for your business? Reach out to Advantage Strategies today to book a free 30-minute strategy session, and see how your business can grow with a diversified advertising strategy.