With over 10 million users, and growing like crazy, Clubhouse looks like it’s here to stay. We’ve been using the platform for a couple of months now, and we are starting to get excited about its potential as a B2B marketing channel.
Here’s why we think Clubhouse is specially made for B2B marketers:
Clubhouse content is audio only
This means a Clubhouse influencer is someone with something to say, rather than something to show. The only image on Clubhouse is your profile pic, and text is limited to profile and room descriptions. So, Clubhouse strips away all the spurious showmanship, fraudulent filtering and tiresome food-photographing that make Instagram and TikTok so difficult for B2B businesses. Nope, on Clubhouse if you don’t have something interesting to say, you’re not going very far.
Clubhouse is interactive
Clubhouse members can listen in to rooms and raise their hands to ask questions – kind of like joining a podcast live. From a B2B perspective, this means that you get a chance to speak to, and hear from, actual prospects and influencers in real time, offering incredible opportunities for feedback, learning and even selling.
You can’t message another user within the Clubhouse app
At first, this may seem frustrating, but it’s a real benefit. Unlike any other social network, you can wander through the halls of Clubhouse blissfully un-accosted by bots or salespeople. This makes your experience as a user on the app so much more enjoyable, but it also means that when you have your audience’s attention, they’re going to be focussed on you.
And don’t worry, you can connect your Instagram or Twitter account to your Clubhouse account so that you can connect with (and convert) your Clubhouse buddies elsewhere.
Content on Clubhouse is not recorded
Except in some exceptional circumstances where moderators need to be up front about recording (this seldom happens), it’s now-you-hear-it-now-you-don’t on Clubhouse. This is great for B2B marketers, because it means only the most engaged people get to participate. There’s no way for lazy marketers to download the transcript and scrape it for juicy data to pour into their marketing machine.
This also means that members tend to be more relaxed – they’re not worried about your comments going viral. This makes them more authentic (I vomited a little too when I used that word). And it creates a fear of missing out, which serves to encourage members to spend vastly more time in the app.
It’s a great way to find iPhone users
Clubhouse is currently only available on iOS, but there are plans to expand it to Android this year. So if your target audience is iPhone users, you’ve probably never had a more captive audience.
Clubhouse is invitation only
This gives Clubhouse a false air of exclusivity. In 2020 if you wanted to join without an invite, you needed to join the waiting list – creating a very effective scarcity situation that drove massive demand. Now, however, it’s pretty easy to get a Clubhouse invitation – most users have a bunch of unused invitations. And offering an invitation to one of the (surely few) people in your network who aren’t on Clubhouse yet is a surefire way to gain social currency.
The Clubhouse rules are simple
When you join, you will become a Clubhouse member, which is basically a user. You can follow other members and they can follow you. As a member, you can start or participate in a Clubhouse room, which is an audio chat forum (discussion, debate, interview), usually around a theme. Your room will have moderators who should keep it on track and invite people up onto the stage to speak; speakers who can speak to the whole room and an audience, which is the members in the room who can listen in on the conversation, and raise their hands if they would like to be invited up onto the stage to speak. You can start, follow or join clubs, which are (often private) groups on Clubhouse around a theme.
Clubhouse is for individuals
It’s not yet possible to set up a business account on Clubhouse. This is brilliant news for B2B marketers, because it means that Clubhouse users feel safe that they’re not being sold to. There’s a massive opportunity for subject matter experts on Clubhouse to build their networks the old fashioned way: by following the basic rules of human verbal interaction.
There are loads of businessy people on Clubhouse
Perhaps because it’s audio only (meaning users can have it on in the background while they drive, commute or work), Clubhouse has already attracted a substantial following of business decision-makers. From marketers to small business owners to freelancers to investors, you will find some amazing business brains knocking about on the app.
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