Are You Doing Community Building The Right Way?
Let’s find out why every brand and marketing consultant is emphasizing over community building since forever. Communities play a key role in sharing concerns, voices, and ideas. A community is a place for everyone to become a part of, share ideas, and get benefited from. Social and online communities have always helped people to connect with like-minded and right people. One fact that cannot be questioned is that social communities have helped people grow professionally and personally. Whether it is a Facebook group, LinkedIn group or a Twitter chatroom, etc. users have benefited from them at different stages. Last year, Clubhouse (an audio chat social media application) was launched, and it started getting people’s attention and has become very famous amongst users worldwide. When it was launched, the social media app was only available for iOS and desktop users, recently the beta version of Clubhouse is made available for Android users. In just two weeks’ time, more than a million Android users have signed-up Clubhouse.
Why Clubhouse Is Becoming So Popular?
Clubhouse has won the confidence of many because of various reasons. One of the main reasons is that it allows people to share what they feel without the fear of being judged. Individuals are connecting with professionally relevant people and strengthening the bond and are increasing their social circle. There are different rooms that are controlled by the moderators and multiple topics are discussed in those rooms. From business intelligence to social media best practices and from mental health development to integral skillset development, various topics are discussed in these rooms. In a time where a pandemic has affected everyone’s life and people have nowhere to go and feel depressed and frustrated, Clubhouse has connected numerous people virtually. Brands are also observing this shift and are actively understanding the dynamics of the new audio-social-media-app.
Clubhouse To Face A Severe Competition
After the launch of Clubhouse, many social media platforms are working on the same model and it is expected that the competition will grow. Recently, Twitter has launched its audio chat feature titled “Spaces”, and it is getting quite popular in masses. I’ve seen Pakistanis and Indians spending all their nights and days (even in most odd hours) on Spaces. Don’t be surprised if in the future you’ll find Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and others following the same route. So, be ready for more options and entrants in the voice chat apps.
Is Clubhouse Overrated?
Over the last few months, I am going through statuses on Facebook and Twitter that are calling Clubhouse an overrated app. There must be some reasons behind that narrative, for sure. But on the flip-side, some users are doing wonders on this app. It has more to do with what kind of room you join and what sort of profiles you are following on Clubhouse. There are rooms where users are busy sharing “Horror Stories”, “Fun Facts”, “Chit-Chat” and other nonproductive topics. Yet, there are also rooms where professionals are talking about 101 of Influencers marketing, digital marketing, best practices for startups and mental health issues and how to overcome stress in professional life, etc. There are also examples where businesses took influencers on board and subliminally infused their brands in the discussion and the results have been great. So, Clubhouse has both kinds of audiences. For some, it can be overrated and for others, it can be quite helpful in personal and professional lives.
What Makes Clubhouse Unique?
Millennials experienced what Gen Z and Gen Alpha missed – Chatrooms by MIRC, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo, etc. For the younger audience, Clubhouse is a unique experience, and for the mature audience, it has a voice option. Clubhouse offers newness and it a combination of a Podcast and a Chatroom. This is a significant feature. We also have Facebook and LinkedIn groups where people share their comments and posts as “text” but with Clubhouse it goes to the next level with a personalized touch. Voice matters, that’s what Clubhouse proves.
How Clubhouse Can Help In Community Building?
Community building is considered as the ace strategy for brands to engage the right kind of audience, target market and influencers to impart their messages and information. As technology is gearing up and now we have Clubhouse, where people can share their concerns and ideas along with feedback and suggestions by joining rooms and speaking their heart out – community building is becoming easier. Businesses can strategically engage the audience and have a dialogue when needed. This can help in engaging influencers, thought leaders and making them in to brand advocates. With a panel of professionals and internal teams along with a few bloggers, influencers things can get better for brands.
Clubhouse is risky too!
When speaking or sharing your concerns and expressions on Clubhouse, be careful, be cautious and be ethical. Besides that, never express something that can be used against you. Always have a control. You never know who is listening to you and who might be recording what you are saying. Better be careful than worry. Don’t be a loose cannon on Clubhouse. Listen first, absorb, curate and then share your thoughts.
Clubhouse can help businesses and individuals on various levels, if used correctly. For brands, I’d recommend having a strategic plan that can help them in engaging more audience and relevant market. For individuals, whether students or professionals, Clubhouse can be very useful and I have known a few who received interview calls and signed clients with the help of Clubhouse. Technology is never harmful, it’s all in the way how we use it. Use Clubhouse smartly and don’t get addicted to it. Have a balance!
Happy Clubhousing!
If you want to discuss digital marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, branding, and advertising, movies and freelancing follow me on Clubhouse ShafiqSiddiqui.
