In social media, there is always the new shiny tool, app, or brand that captures the attention of marketing professionals all over the world. We all thrive on getting the latest, greatest, and exciting new app to analyze and play around with. Now, if that app is exclusive, that heightens the excitement even more!
Let’s take on the new audio app, Clubhouse. What exactly is Clubhouse? It’s a mobile app that brings audio first and at the forefront, allowing users to create rooms where people can talk – essentially bringing social back to social media.
We have heard a lot over the years audio was going to go big, and will it with Clubhouse? The app is growing in popularity and momentum, which is good, but it is still in its infancy and there is still a lot to discover and discuss within the community. There are some good best practices and guides on how to use the app for sure.
So, how can we use Clubhouse strategically for our work? Here are some of my ideas.
Assign this to students to uncover the opportunities and challenges related to the new app. Clubhouse – like all applications and platforms – can offer a lot of great positive connections and opportunities. Yet, like all things in life, we have to have a balanced perspective.
There have been some concerns around Clubhouse as a whole related to moderation and bullying (as Taylor Lorenz has reported on) other items that have been reported, so providing students with a window exploring the best professional and ethical practices on using the app strategically could be a great exercise. Also, privacy (ex. recording audio, etc) and data collection (we do not know how Clubhouse does this yet) is also an important distinction here to note among other potential legal and ethical considerations.
Have a group meeting within the class so people can “sit in.” I am actually excited to be able to get my graduate course, #FrebergSM, all invites to be part of Clubhouse. Since we have seven students in the course (they call themselves “The Social Seven,” it would be great for the students to be part of a group for class where we talk and discuss trends, topics, and issues related to social media.
We are still in the early stages of this, but I think this could be a great opportunity for utilizing Clubhouse in this way. In addition, it’s important to note there are three categories for group type: public, social (everyone you follow can join in the group), and private.
There is also a great opportunity here to bring in invited guests, alumni from previous classes, and others who have questions on what it is like to take a social media class. In many ways, the accessibility and access to conversations is easier and more personable on Clubhouse.
Creating an etiquette policy for Clubhouse. What a great way for students to explore the best practices of how to moderate a group, what needs to be in your Clubhouse bio, and how to promote your group meeting on social.
I think there is potential here to ask students to set up a group meeting game plan for how to start the call, how to moderate and create a positive and engaging environment, and some do’s and don’ts for Clubhouse. When to speak out, when to listen, what not to do when you are able to speak on the stage, how to exit and enter the room quietly, etc. All of these things have to be taken into consideration in the planning stage before launching a group. This will be valuable insights they can add to their portfolio and list of assets they have created for their classes.
Assign audio-only presentations. We always talk about how we rely on visual cues like Keynote, Canva, and PowerPoint all the time for classes – but what if we focused on having audio-first/audio-only presentations? This way, students will have to utilize their creativity to make sure to keep everyone’s attention on the topic at hand, while not having the ability to use any visuals to connect the topics at hand.
It really does elevate the conversation to a new level for presentations, and I think it could be a lot of fun to try this out for classes. I’ll let you all know how this goes!
Analyzing Clubhouse’s influencer program and compare it to others. Everyone has an influencer program, and it appears so does Clubhouse.
With everyone wanting to get involved and tied to influencer marketing, this could be a great point of discussion on what Clubhouse is doing that is working, what needs to be done, and what can be improved on for future ventures in this area.
Offering extra credit to listen and write up takeaways from a Clubhouse Group session. Clubhouse has the power to really offer the opportunity to put another human layer on a networking connection and colleague from social media.
For example, Marketing Twitter is a great community with many professionals from all types of brands and agencies, and they have set up a group for everyone to come in and chat, connect, and listen to the conversation.
If students were asked to sit in on one of these sessions, and listen and learn, this can provide them with some great takeaways and learn from some of the best people in the business. Compared to webinars or virtual conferences, Clubhouse does offer a more intimate setting to have a conversation with the power to network and connect with these speakers on Twitter and Instagram.
While the app is still relatively new in nature, there are some things that I hope the founders do consider moving forward with the app such as:
- Providing analytics and KPIs associated for group meetings. I think insights from Clubhouse from an audio perspective would be very interesting. What was the total listening time? How was this group shared and engaged with on other platforms? The possibilities here for showing impact on community here and branching out to other platforms is key to show the overall presence here for Clubhouse. I hope they are able to make this available here for those who are getting on the app.
- More bio features. With it being so focused on audio, shouldn’t there be an option here for having a brief audio segment in the bio feature introducing yourself to others? Having a written bio is great, but with Twitter having the pinned tweet feature and FB allowing videos in their cover photos, Clubhouse could bring audio to the mix.
- Accessibility options. Closed captioning, transcripts, or other options that allow everyone to be part of the conversation should be considered here as well. We are seeing more focus on accessibility here on social media, and Clubhouse needs to consider this here as well.
Are you all on Clubhouse? Let me know what you think and what you hope to gain from being on the app.
Have a great day!
Best Wishes,
