A Guide for Health, Wellness, and Lifestyle Brands
What is Clubhouse?
It seems like everyone’s raving about the exciting new social media platform that recently hit the App Store. Clubhouse is a new live audio chat room that has built its reputation, in part, on exclusivity. Because the app is still in beta testing, Clubhouse is invite-only and each new member is only allowed one extra invite to send to a friend.
Think of the Clubhouse App as a big office building with an unlimited number of conference rooms. Each room has a different group of people with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and interests, all willing to speak on the same topic, question, or issue. Poke your head into each conference room until you find one that piques your interest. Once you find a room or club that you would like to participate in, you can decide whether to simply listen in or raise your hand to contribute to the conversation.
The Clubhouse platform only allows for real-time audio, so there are no direct messages, no comments, and nothing to save or record. All of the content is exclusive and only available to those who are live on the platform at that exact moment. This can create a sense of FOMO and motivates users to stay active on the platform for longer periods of time. The app makes it easy for anyone to join in conversation with one another. You can connect with friends, coworkers, CEOs, and even celebrities.
How to Add Value to Your Health, Wellness, or Lifestyle Brand
Create a Safe Space
You can connect your brand to your audience, patients, providers, and/or customers by creating a safe space for them to ask questions, connect with one another, and receive support. When it comes to health, wellness, and lifestyle brands, the possibilities for authentically connecting with your clients/customers are endless. Host a one-time conversation in a room or start a club where your members can meet to discuss a topic each week.
For example, a children’s hospital could host multiple different support groups for parents whose children have been diagnosed with chronic conditions. These parents can ask a doctor questions, learn tips and best practices from other parents, and most importantly have a group to lean on for support in extremely tough times.
The value you provide will build a loyal and protective audience around your brand, so simply calling your room or club a safe space is not enough. Your brand should also:
- Be welcoming and inviting. State your topic in the description and let your audience know that the room is a judgment-free zone. A single member of a group might feel uncomfortable opening up to a group of strangers unless the space is welcoming and nonthreatening.
- Avoid selling – provide value. Clubhouse is an exclusive platform, and people are not joining to receive sales pitches or ads. Users are on the app to obtain high quality, valuable information that aligns either with their interests or with what they are currently going through.
- Be inclusive. To prevent a single member from feeling isolated in the group, focus on commonalities and make each person feel like they belong in the group. Try to redirect the conversations you feel might be singling people out or are becoming too judgmental
Launch Digital Focus Groups
Clubhouse, when utilized correctly, can help your company gain free high-level customer input and insights that would otherwise be extremely time consuming and expensive. The app gives you access to real-time focus groups, interviews, and consumer opinions right at your fingertips. These insights can help your company explore a concept, identify customer needs, and even learn how your audience behaves to boost your marketing efforts.
For example, a moderator for a green energy company could host a room titled How to Create a Sustainable Future, and ask questions such as, “What do you actively do to reduce your carbon footprint?” and “Do you currently use a green energy source at home? Which one?” Conversation starters like this will help the company learn more about real consumer behavior and attitudes towards using sustainable energy. Having an open forum could even be the deciding factor for a few people who had been nervous or lost about whether to make the switch.
It’s important to stay authentic when asking questions like this. Again, users are not on Clubhouse to receive sales pitches and ads; they want to have a valuable conversation. When creating a room or a club remember to:
- Be real. Introduce yourself as “John Smith” from AAA Energy instead of just AAA Energy. Users want to speak to real individuals, not an entire organization or a nameless person. Providing a name to the voice, and even a little background on why you’re passionate about the topic will help your audience connect to the speaker and feel less intimidated.
- Keep your brand name out of the room/club title. The topic of conversation should be the only thing included in the title. If you want to further connect your brand to your conversation, include “Hosted by AAA Energy” or a link to your company’s other social accounts at the bottom of your room description.
- Provide actionable information. In order to keep your audience engaged you need to give them the same amount of useful information that they are giving you. If your goal is to better understand how your audience reduces their energy use, for example, ask them a few questions about the topic, but also provide some additional tips and tricks to help them save even more energy.
Know How the App Works
Clubhouse’s algorithm is very different from other platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
- Likes and comments are a thing of the past. Unlike other social media platforms, the amount of likes and engagement you have does not determine your reach or where your conversation is placed in the Clubhouse hallway/main feed. The algorithm of each individual’s main feed corresponds with their contacts, the people they follow, and the interests they selected when they created a profile.
- Use keywords strategically. Keywords are used to direct the right audience to your chat room from the Explore page and to keep each individual’s hallway relevant to their personal interests (shown below). For instance, if you know your conversation is going to be about health and nutrition, include those two keywords in your chatroom title, description, or profile bio.
Is Clubhouse the Next Major Social Platform?
We believe this new social media app has the potential to become one of the next major social media platforms. Since its launch in May 2020, Clubhouse has grown it’s platform to over 600,000 invited and registered members. This is because Clubhouse offers an aspect that no other popular social media platform is taking advantage of– audio. In a time where the majority of the population is socially isolated, the Clubhouse app makes it easy for people to hear each other’s voices and have intimate interactions with complete strangers. Also unlike any other social media app, Clubhouse does not require your full on-screen attention. Users can listen to or participate in a conversation while driving, washing the dishes, or even while using another app or tool on their phone. Consider starting a Clubhouse account to expand the reach and drive authentic engagement with the community around your health, wellness, or lifestyle brand today.