Chances are you’ve never heard of Clubhouse, but the social media platform is currently a real hype. Big names like Elon Musk and Oprah Winfrey are already big fans and the app is also gaining popularity in our country.

What makes Clubhouse so remarkable?

Compared to the various social media platforms that we already know (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok …), Clubhouse allows you to participate in conversations that take place live. It creates small, intimate communities and is often referred to as a combination of the popular podcast and a lecture. Moreover, the platform is also free. New users can only join if they are invited by current members. But investors and marketers are excited about the potential and are encouraging brands to figure out how to reach the app’s two million weekly active users.

Clubhouse is creating a new dynamic in the way people interact. This development could even be a portent of what the social media landscape will look like in the future. Partly as a result of the current corona crisis, people are craving smaller and more intimate communities to share knowledge and get to know new people.

Another attractive factor of the brand new app is that the live session cannot be recorded or rewound by the users themselves. The disappearing nature of audio and video is one of the reasons why people are showing such an interest in a platform like this. This also became clear a few years ago with the rise of Snapchat, as it can be liberating in this respect.

But what are the opportunities here for brands?

Consumers appreciate brands that talk to them on an authentic level. Therefore, the idea is not to explicitly promote your products on Clubhouse, but rather to listen and engage with your consumer while keeping an eye on your competitors’ actions.

Furthermore, educational marketing is emerging as an important theme at Clubhouse. It can therefore be interesting for a company to use the app to get in touch with thought leaders. This way, you can engage in rare and authentic discussions with your competitors.

The rise of Clubhouse may imply that people are again placing more value on quality content and are even willing to pay for it. It is striking that some traditional influencers are paid to host rooms at Clubhouse on behalf of certain brands. But we also see a new trend emerging here: the ‘key opinion leader’. These are individuals on Clubhouse who are not conventional influencers, but who gain a powerful following because they have something interesting to say.

This post is also available in: Dutch