If you’re savvy to social media trends, you’ve probably heard of Clubhouse. The voice-only platform came into existence in March, 2020 and is slowly building its way into acceptance. An appearance by Elon Musk last month gave a boost to Clubhouse’s popularity. 

So, what is Clubhouse all about? And how can Clubhouse be used as part of a marketing strategy?

Clubhouse, as stated earlier, is a voice-only audio chatter platform – no video or pictures (except for the profile pics of users). It seeks to take advantage of the popularity of podcasts. One tech writer describes it as “What if Twitter was a podcast you lived inside of?” Clubhouse is only available on iOS for now, although an Android version is in development. And membership is currently by invitation only from an existing member.

A user can create a group or create a new “room” within an existing group, then start to talk about his/her topic of choice. Collaboration is allowed with a “raise hand” feature, which allows a listener to be able to speak. Users create a profile for themselves and can follow the profiles of others and even receive an alert when one of the users they follow starts a new talk.

While there is no direct message function yet, users can connect their Clubhouse profile to their other social media profiles and communicate with other Clubhouse users off-platform.

How might businesses leverage Clubhouse? While it’s primarily used by niche audiences – fan groups and special interest groups – the potential exists for businesses to use it for virtual events, supporting company-wide leadership and promoting expertise of individuals, with the ability to provide more details than in a Tweet or LinkedIn post.

One possible use is for virtual events. Clubhouse can provide a more interactive experience than most of the existing virtual platforms that attempt to replicate a physical experience. However, Clubhouse talks only exist in real time, so there’s no recording or ability to go back to listen to a talk again at a later time.

Another potential application is for virtual training and leadership within an organization, sort of like an audio-only intranet. In addition, subject matter experts could build a following talking on topics that the organization’s audience is interested in.

Is Clubhouse something your organization has expressed an interest in?