Suddenly it was there, a new hype. The next big thing. The surprise of 2021: Clubhouse. A new social media platform purely focused on audio. After a few weeks of wandering around, I can best describe Clubhouse as a telephone conversation between a number of people that you can overhear. And if you have any questions, you raise your hand and you can participate in the conversation yourself. So why is clubhouse suddenly so popular?
At the moment you see a lot of ‘6-figure entrepreneurs’, high-end business coaches, life coaches and of course marketers at Clubhouse . But the longer the app remains popular, the more diversity will naturally come. For example, I recently saw a group meditation, a post-talk session about a football match and a session about trends in the recreation industry. Give it some time, then more people will automatically come from your street with whom you can talk to.
Whether Clubhouse will remain popular is of course still the question, but in terms of marketing psychology, the app does something good for a flying start. The following psychological principles help in any case:
Scarcity
Invite only en iOS only
When products and / or services are not readily available, their value increases in our brain. Robert Cialdini already wrote this in his book ‘Influence’. Think of Black Friday, where the craziness suddenly strikes. We don’t like scarcity, because our primordial brain associates that with shortages. If there used to be scarcity, it was not good.
We don’t like scarcity, because our primordial brain associates that with shortages
Scarcity still triggers our brain, even though we nowadays have a surplus of many things rather than scarcity (* takes a look at the kids’ toy box … *). We always want more and it’s hard to get our collecting rage under control. Clubhouse takes advantage of this and this is also one of the reasons why it is suddenly so popular. They make the app more difficult to reach by only allowing members who have a so-called invite. You must invite someone who is already at Clubhouse to participate. In addition, Clubhouse is currently only available to iPhone users, a second scarcity trigger.
FOMO
Clubhouse calls are not recorded
As soon as you open Clubhouse, you step into a conversation of your choice. You have to stick with it because the audio is not stored anywhere, there is no chat with which you can watch or read back. You really have to enjoy this moment. Of course, you can contribute yourself, but then you still have to join us at this moment to hear that interesting information.
As soon as you click away from the app, you are away from the conversation and you do not know what else is being shared. A good dose of fear of missing out is therefore released in your brain. You have to stick with it because imagine that something else is said that will improve your life forever. There is a good chance that you will continue to listen longer and more often.
Authority
If Elon Musk and Bas Smit do it, it will be fine
Clubhouse has big names. Think of well-known Dutch people such as Bas Smit and Michael Pilarczyk, but also really big names such as Elon Musk and Oprah Winfrey. Those people get really close this way and you can ask them to live questions as you get through.
The Authority influencing principle will affect you as soon as you hear and link these names to Clubhouse. We like to follow the people we look up to. If they use Clubhouse, it will be fine and I should also take a look …
Social proof and why clubhouse is popular suddenly
“Everyone” is talking about Clubhouse
You have probably already seen / heard things on social media, in the newspaper, on the radio or in a podcast about Clubhouse in recent weeks. Everyone is talking about it, or so it seems. Most people are also very enthusiastic about the app.
Social proof, or social proof, is about doing what others do. Today when everyone you know switches from WhatsApp to Telegram, you will too. Because we like to belong to the group, that is a survival mechanism.
‘Everyone’ is now at Clubhouse, so you still feel a bit left out if you don’t belong there
‘Everyone’ is now at Clubhouse, so you still feel a bit left out if you don’t belong there. That doesn’t feel good and so you look for an Invite so that you can also be admitted to this special club.
Fresh Start Effect
New possibilities with clubhouse
This effect appears every first day of the new month. Every year on January 1 too. Maybe even every week, when you promise yourself on Saturday that you will really eat healthy from Monday. As soon as something new starts, we kind of make it a ‘thing’ in our head. We see it as a fresh start, a fresh beginning. And that new beginning offers opportunities and new possibilities. We are more inclined to take action at such a milestone.
The popular Clubhouse can also be seen as such a fresh start. It suddenly doesn’t matter that you have been too late to participate in the hype on TikTok. After all, there is something new for which you are still on time. Get in and win!
It suddenly doesn’t matter that you have been too late to participate in the hype on TikTok
Of course you can start over every day, your rational brain just knows that too. But apparently there is something magical about that new fresh beginning that makes us see more opportunities.
Prompts
Notifications, yes please
BJ Fogg in his Fogg Behavior Model calls it a ‘prompt’ when you are triggered to do something. It is an external call-to-action or signal that enters our brain. It ensures that we pay attention to something. Of course Clubhouse (like most apps) has its notifications on as soon as you put the app on your phone. And voilaa, the first prompt will arrive soon. There is a Clubhouse session on an interesting topic in one hour.
I myself have the notifications of all apps off to experience as little distraction as possible, but at Clubhouse I left them on. Because you don’t want to miss that one interesting Room where you talk about your profession (can you see the FOMO going on again?). As a result, my iPhone was of course pinging from the notifications all day and that prompted me to behave again: grab my phone and open Clubhouse.
These notifications have now also been cancelled and I open the app at random to follow a nice Room. It has to be fun;)
Privacy thingy
When we talk about ‘it has to be fun’, then privacy is always a thing. Clubhouse is free and it goes without saying that you pay with data (in this case, all your contacts), this is also another reason why clubhouse is suddenly so popular.
As with TikTok, privacy concerns are even greater than with giants such as Google and Facebook. Because at least those are Americans (or something). Clubhouse works partly with the software of the Chinese Agora so that your data could end up on servers in China. Whether that is worse than American servers, I immediately wonder, but that aside. Because Agora processes certain data, the government services in China could gain access to your metadata.But again, this is up to your own liking whether you are down with the NSA knowing your favourite dish or the Chinese government. So pick your poison …and if you think 1 is better than the other one…. you are part of the problem sherlock.
Of course, the privacy conditions are well hidden and legal terms are used so that the ordinary person quickly skips them. Our brain is lazy and we are so curious about all the new features. So we click (too soon) on ‘agree’ and we are ready to go.
After criticism of the app, Clubhouse has now pledged that the company will improve data protection. For what it’s worth … I mean… with facebook, Instagram, google en everything in between hoarding and churning our data… is Clubhouse REALLY that different asshole than the others? The reasons mentioned why the clubhouse is suddenly so popular is more than just what I listed here but it should give you a good grasp of what is more to come in the future. Read between the lines and try to stay ahead of the curve.