2020 undoubtedly belonged to apps like Zoom, Teams, Webex and others. We quickly had to adapt to new tools to communicate and participate in online events. I don’t know about you, from curiosity, reality over time came burnout. It is true that you can turn off the camera, but in my opinion, when taking part in a webinar or a meeting, you should rather show your face. When I conduct online trainings myself, I count on interaction rather than talking to black screens. And you?
New solution – social audio
We want to meet and talk online, but not everyone is comfortable showing themselves. We don’t have to think about our appearance, our clothes or what kind of background we have when streaming video. This situation is one of the reasons for the great popularity of the Clubhouse app, which admittedly has been around since April 2020, but only gained new life at the end of last year.
For several years there have been podcasts that we can listen to at any time. Clubhouse works a little differently setting the standard for the whole social audio trend. In the simplest way, it can be described as a radio station, which is co-created by the listeners who join. In so-called Clubhouse rooms, the organiser can give voice to participants, who are only visible as profile icons. Clubhouse gave its users a sense of authentic conversation and a return, at least in part, to pre-pandemic human relationships.
Read also on my blog:
- Disability and inclusion in meetings and events
- How eventprofs & content creators can save one day a week
- The Top 100 Most Influential People in the Event Industry by Eventex
- New Year’s resolutions for influencers and content creators in MICE industry
There`s an app for that! Clubhouse
The Clubhouse app also gained popularity in its initial phase thanks to the effect of inaccessibility. To be able to create a profile, you had to be invited by another user. FOMO (fear of missing out) is another effect aimed at attracting users. Conversations cannot be listened once they finished. It’s fair to say that in January and February I spent a lot of time listening to and participating in various talks given by people in th MICE industry.
Clubhouse app social audio – a temporary trend or a new reality
Clubhouse can be thought of as a companion medium. The app is only available for Apple devices which undoubtedly limits its growth. Currently the app has about 10 million users, in December it had 600,000 users.
What is Social Audio?
I don’t know what the future of Clubhouse will be, but without a doubt social audio is already one of the most important “events” in digital marketing 2021. The avalanche has started. Nearly 30 startups were created using this concept. The giants Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have joined the challenge. They are creating their own versions and plan to add new functionalities for their users.
In the spring, Twitter Spaces had its premiere. In the summer Facebook plans to launch own social audio services. Facebook is planning to start podcasts as well as new features such as:
- Soundbites
- Live Audio Room
- Sound Studio
We do not know much about Microsoft’s progress with social audio on LinkedIn.
The top tech companies have these advantages over Clubhouse in the form of current users of the services. What is more they will just introduce additional functionality and will be available on iOS and Android mobile devices as well as the desktop version. On Twitter I recommend talks on Twitter Spaces organised by @MayKingTea from the UK and Madalyn Sklar #TwitterSmarter from the US.
Twitter Spaces with Madalyn Sklar
Who is worth listening to?
Is it worth investing time in creating a business profile on Clubhouse or Twiter Spaces? Definitely keep an eye on what’s happening in the market and how these new marketing communication platfoms will develop. It is also worth adding words such as room or club to the glossary of new digital marketing terms.
The first destinations and MICE industry representatives have started marketing activities in the Clubhouse application, they have created profiles, take part in discussions, organise meetings and talks with interesting guests. I recommend listening to:
- EventMB
- Ljubljana Talks (Conventa and Ljubljana Convention Bureau)
- and MICE industry influencers
I also recommend our live talks on Twiter Spaces #associationsspace.
🎙️ I had a great pleasure supporting the #AssociationsSpace talks series this spring & early summer. Created & run LIVE on @wordofmice`s Twitter where we talked about all things related to #associations & #events. So many fantastic people met. Have a lovely August #eventprofs pic.twitter.com/JWp6NhNkLW
— Jaroslaw Marciuk ☕️ call me Jaro (@JaroslawMarciuk) August 2, 2021
What are your thougts? Are you planning to listen to and create social audio formats?
