What is Clubhouse? The breakthrough invite-only audio app

Today I want to dive into all things Clubhouse with you. Not heard of it yet? Well, it’s a new audio-first social media app that could be used to help market your business.

At this point, you might be thinking, ‘not another social platform to manage!’ But there are definitely some benefits from getting involved in the Clubhouse community. Let’s break down the ins & outs of the app and see if it’s worth joining…

What is Clubhouse?

Clubhouse is a new audio-first social media platform. This means there’s no text, image, or video posts, just audio! It’s currently exclusive to iPhone users and invite-only, but looking to become more widely available to users in the coming months. It’s an opportunity to connect with people in real-time without worrying what your Zoom background looks like. Perfect!

When you’re inside the app, your main feed (the hallway) will display active rooms happening now. Take a look and see which one takes your interest, and join! When you join you’ll start off as a member of the audience in listen-only mode, but you can be invited up on stage as a speaker to have your say.

Bonus tip: Once you’ve signed up and have an account, you’ll get notifications from time to time telling you that people in your contact list have joined the app. Be wary – I tapped on one of these notifications to have a look and was entered into a room straight away, broadcasting (only to an audience of 2, thankfully) without realising! It was quite funny but do make sure you read those notifications closely!

How to start a Clubhouse room:

When you’re in the app, tap ‘Start a room’ at the bottom of the screen. From here you’ll be able to add a topic – highly recommended so you can attract the relevant audience to your room, and you can then pick your privacy settings.

• Open: Start a room open to everyone
• Social: Start a room with people you follow
• Closed: Start a room for people you choose

How can Clubhouse be beneficial to your business?

At first, you might be wondering how an audio-first social media platform can fit into your strategy, and if you actually need to include it. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started:

Community building and networking

Are you looking to build a community around your business? Or maybe you’re looking to build awareness around a product or niche. Clubhouse can give you an opportunity to do both. Create a room, giving it a clear title. Have a clear direction you want to lead the conversation in, and invite people up onto the stage to share their thoughts and ideas.

Virtual events

I’m sure you’ve been to a live webinar or two during lockdown, and Clubhouse can work as a really great extension of this format. Since the platform lends itself to being interactive, look at how you could transform an event you might have previously had in-person to the Clubhouse format. Within the app, you can schedule an event to tell your followers about it. Give it a good name and description so people know what to expect and who will be speaking. Then share the link on your other social media channels to build interest as you would with a traditional event.

Should you join Clubhouse?

It’s still early days for the app, and there will no doubt be a few growing pains as the app rises in popularity. My thoughts – if you’ve got an iPhone, download the app now and claim your username – you can do that even if you haven’t got an invite yet. If you are lucky enough to have an invite, try joining a few rooms and get a feel for the space. It’s worth investigating how people in your industry are utilising the app. It could well be that there’s a gap in your niche on Clubhouse, so use this as an opportunity to start connecting with like-minded people.