As of the last years, there was seemingly no developments in the social network marketing domain. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and even TikTok were “figured out” by the countless marketing managers. These platforms served as the main grounds for marketing online.

However, in May 2020, the Clubhouse app reinvigorated this field with new possibilities. Up to its transition into closed beta, everybody thought that video and text were the only feasible options of marketing. After the transition, it was a big surprise that a completely audio-focused social network quickly gained a lot of traction. You can Use Metrotech for a voice communications and transaction from multiple platforms.

In this article, we’ll be looking at different new insights that the application Clubhouse brought to marketing and the influencer domain specifically. It seems that video and textual approaches to connecting with target audiences might not even be able to compete with audio content.

What Is Clubhouse? Is It Something Entirely New?

There are so many ways one can approach describing the application without just showing it, but we’ll try our best. At its core, Clubhouse is an audio-based social network that focuses on one (or a few people) broadcasting a talk while allowing some of the audience members to chime in.

As Jim Low, Digital Marketing Specialist of Grademiners, leading essay writer service says: “You can think of it as a variation on the Twitter model that’s mixed with Reddit. If you’ve experienced Web 1.0, then you can think of Clubhouse as a “Forum” in an audio format. Still, a simple comparison isn’t enough to fully show why Clubhouse is growing so fast.”

As of January 2021, its investment interest was around $1 Billion, and that’s considering that it’s still in the “closed beta” and only available on the iPhone platform. You can’t access it without an invite and a very costly phone. Despite such exclusivity, its success is staggering. To get meaningful insights, we have to closely examine how Clubhouse works.

The App’s Functionality

When you open the application, you’re greeted by a very minimalistic design and won’t find that many features as you would in Facebook, for example. Supposing that you already have an account registered with it, you can immediately join various audio discussions on various subjects.

The discussions are called “Rooms” but don’t think that by joining the discussion you’ll be able to send messages, videos, pictures, or anything else of the sort. No, this is the first big difference from Web 1.0 chats, Reddit posts, and Twitter chains. All communication in Clubhouse is fully audio-based.

Being in a Clubhouse Room is incredibly similar to being a listener at a lecture hall, but, of course, everything is digital. You can’t just talk whenever you want, there are one or multiple moderators and main speakers. They give out temporary permission to the audience member to speak “from the stage” so to speak.

That’s the main idea behind Clubhouse. A very simple, yet surprisingly revolutionary idea that was interesting enough to attract numerous celebrities, including Oprah, Jared Leto, Elon Musk, Chris Rock, and much more.

The Clubs of Clubhouse

Communication via Rooms isn’t the only feature of Clubhouse (it would be too bare to attract anyone in such a case). The application also supports the creation of clubs – unions of various users that have similar professional or personal interests.

As you’ve probably already guessed, there are Clubs almost for any existing topic: TV media, books, political movements, and much more. When Clubhouse will go fully public and cross-platform (if it’ll ever happen), then there will definitely be massive unions with millions of users, covering any topic imaginable.

When you’re in a club, you don’t need to search through all the available Rooms. Instead, you receive notifications and updates whenever there are new Rooms in one of your Clubs. This automated matching system is what’s truly amazing about Clubhouse. For example, join a Club on Influencer Marketing and you’ll be recommended tons of discussions on the subject.

What It’s Good For

Now that you’re more or less familiar with the functionality of this application, we can discuss its benefits. How can you get the most from Influencer Marketing in Clubhouse? Why is it trending so much as of the moment?

What led to its initial popularity was utmost exclusivity. At the very start, it was advertised as an app for famous and highly influential people. Even when its user base was only 5 thousand people, the estimated price of the application was already $100 million.

As the public’s interest grew in the app, its creators gradually made it available to more and more people. The Clubhouse’s features are the main attraction points for people returning to it and spending over 2 hours a day on it. Here’s why it’s popular and why influencers flock to this unique social network:

1. It enables normal discussions

Unlike actual lectures, the discussion that happens in Clubhouse is surprisingly natural. No one is afraid to speak out and tell their real opinion. This is enabled by the fact that conversations on Clubhouse are not recorded in any way. This definitely relaxes the mood even for serious topics and stimulates people to not be afraid, to be honest with their words.

2. It doesn’t limit itself

Clubhouse’s creators have done an excellent job in developing an interesting and unique application without putting it into strict confines. It’s unlike LinkedIn, which poses itself as strictly for business, and unlike Reddit, which is mostly entertainment. Clubhouse allows all topics, which is another major benefit that draws people to it.

3. There’s no anarchy

Due to all the Rooms being controlled by a selected group of moderators, there’s hardly ever any chaos happening. No one speaks out when it’s not their turn, and there’s no spamming in the voice chat (like it usually happens in Skype, Discord, and even Zoom). Apart from skype, discord is an influential medium to talk and text with friends and community. Discord members are growing fast because of the easier interface and advanced technology. WP Dev Shed is a great source for getting information about growth on Discord. In order to increase the social proof, you do need to get Discord members through promotion or in an organic way.

Options for Brand with Audio-Based Content

Although the application is a great environment for influencers to get their voice heard, it lacks an essential feature, which is monetization. As of May 2021, there’s no official way for Room creators and moderators to generate money exclusively for app usage and hosting big discussions.

Nonetheless, even with such a functional gap, Clubhouse still offers a bunch of benefits to marketers in terms of branding and public outreach. As the app is progressively becoming more widely open, you, as a marketer, can start preparing and developing strategies on how to make the most from the app’s marketing opportunities:

Informing the (potential) clients about your products in detail

Because everything is in audio format, that does create some limitations that you have to workaround. However, the fact that no content is recorded on the application, allows you to experiment and play around with various formats.

Everybody is sick and tired of the usual product introductions reminiscent of PowerPoint presentations but with bearable visuals. At Clubhouse, you’re more than encourages to break that stereotype, and instead, employ some edutainment.

Nowadays, people love to improve themselves, learn new and interesting things, and be entertained. So, by combining the two, you’ll be presenting your product, not as some new, soulless corporate invention. Instead, people will feel like your product is something genuine and intriguing.

Constructing a solid reputation for the brand

As companies grow over the years, the enthusiasm of their customers falls and they begin to distrust everything the companies do. This is especially true in today’s cancel culture on the Internet. As you’ve seen for yourself, even household names like Pepsi, Facebook, Amazon have recently been under fire and lost many of their followers.

The usual methods of marketing become very inefficient, specifically in situations where a big corporation makes a massive mistake. The contemporary potential client is extremely careful in their decisions whether to purchase some products or not.

Clubhouse deals with the current issue of people feeling that everything that companies do feels fake and ingenuine. It’s not possible to script discussions on Clubhouse, and it’s the piece of sincerity that customers today are so eagerly searching for nowadays.

Facilitating a personal approach to customers

Being so spontaneous and unscripted, Clubhouse is a perfect place for people to develop personal feelings and opinions on the brand. This is an extremely important aspect because you don’t want to position your brand as a company that talks down to its clients.

Instead, your marketing should come off as simple and approachable. No officialities, no formal addresses, and anything like that. That’s considered soulless and corporate, which is definitely not something people of Clubhouse want to experience.

The clubhouse is the result of all the development in the marketing of the last 10 to 20 years, and it’s easy to see that. So, its spontaneity should be embraced if you wish to have successful marketing on this new platform.

A Platform to Express Yourself Fully: Good or Bad?

Of course, the application isn’t something untouchable and perfect, and there are some concerns regarding it. Apart from some lacking functionality, the biggest one is whether the platform is safe to advertise on. Even now, you can inquire about heavyweight influencers to start discussions about your products or brand, but is it a good idea?

There are no “app administrators” on Clubhouse that would have bigger moderating privileges than Room moderators. Considering the fact that the conversations are unscripted and virtually anyone can express themselves when they’re given a right to speak, some very volatile subjects.

As a consequence, this can gain notoriety in the news outlets, and all the brands employing influencer marketing on Clubhouse will be associated with it. This is exactly what happened in the “Adpocalypse” on Youtube. The ad rolls were being shown on highly controversial video content, which made all the brands employing influenced marketing and the Youtube ad program pull out and do damage control.

New Horizons in the Influencer Marketing

No matter how you look at it, Clubhouse has shown us all that there are still many options to explore when it comes to marketing on the web. Also, it nailed down the point that customers today are looking for personal connections and sincerity in their lives. The following development of the application itself and its user base will surely continue to influence the landscape of marketing in general and influencer marketing specifically.

Author Bio: Jilian Woods is a freelance journalist and a contributing writer with more than 4 years of writing experience. Being a team member of the essay writer  at Grademiners, she sees her purpose in producing and sharing relevant content with people who are willing to expand their knowledge base and learn something new.