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The new voice-based social platform - Clubhouse - is making waves in the podcasting world, dividing us into camps of lovers, haters, and those who simply can’t get in.
The concept of Clubhouse is simple but exciting. Join the app through a text invite, enter a chat room about a topic you are interested in, and have a conversation with people from all around the world. Chances are, you may stumble upon Oprah, Chris Rock, or Elon Musk.
At Riverside, we always like to stay on top of podcasting buzz. So today, we are going to talk about how podcasters can use Clubhouse to grow their audience.
What Is Clubhouse?
Part conference call, part talkback radio, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on voice-only chat. With Clubhouse, users can join and listen to discussions, interviews, and conversation between interesting people on a variety of topics - similar to tuning into a podcast, except live and with an added bonus of an “exclusivity” feel.
Clubhouse is invite-only, meaning that you can’t just download it to your phone and create an account. Similar to a real-life yacht club, you have to receive an exclusive invitation to join from an existing member.
Once you manage to join the club, you can select topics of interest, like books, tech, health, or business. Based on the information you provide, the app will recommend specific conversation rooms and people to join or follow.
The FOMO Is Real
Clubhouse is still in beta, yet it is absolutely on fire. The secret to the app’s popularity lies in its added layer of exclusivity or Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).
Here is what makes Clubhouse so special:
Clubhouse is Invite-Only
Are you thinking about joining Clubhouse? Not so fast! The app in its beta version is invite-only, meaning that an existing app user has to send you an invitation giving you access to set up a Clubhouse account. Once you are invited, you will see a link texted to your phone number, allowing you to sign up in the app.
What makes the app even more exclusive is the fact that existing users can’t just go around sending invites to all their friends. At first, existing users only have two invitations available, so they have to be extra-picky about whom to invite.
Only for iPhone Users
If you are using Android, you are out of luck. Currently, the Clubhouse app is only available in iOS version, making FOMO even more real. The good news is that the Clubhouse developers have been working on creating an Android version of the app, which we are likely to see in the near future.
No In-App Recording Function
A Clubhouse “room” is like a conference call, except most people would be listening to the few ones talking. And, similar to a phone call, the room is closed as soon as the discussion is over, and all the conversation records are lost forever.
There are workarounds, but it is against the Clubhouse Terms and Conditions to record any content on the app without written permission from the room participants.
How To Use Clubhouse To Grow Your Podcast
There is no doubt that Clubhouse presents a new and quite different opportunity for social interactions. But how can a podcaster use the app in their podcast marketing strategy?
Clubhouse offers a chance to build a new audience, talk directly to new people, and get discovered by new people. If you are willing to invest some work and time in this social platform, it could be a powerful space to boost your brand awareness and share your voice.
Here are 7 ways you can use Clubhouse to grow your podcast:
- Network with other podcasters. Clubhouse presents a great networking opportunity, especially in the context of a global pandemic. You can start or join existing rooms based on your interests to discover and meet fellow podcasters.
- Find new guests. Have you run out of ideas for guest speakers to invite to your podcast episode? Clubhouse is a great place to find new guests based on interesting conversations you get to participate in. Interacting with your potential guests live in a Clubhouse chat room is also a much better way to introduce yourself than traditional cold emails.
- Run live interactive podcast episodes. With Clubhouse, you can create your own podcast room and run live podcast episodes, where your listeners can actively engage in a conversation. The downside here, however, is that there is no way to record the session directly in the app. A better alternative would be to use Riverside to record high-quality remote interviews with up to 10 guests.
- Start a Club around your podcast. Clubhouse Clubs are communities based around a brand, host, industry, or topic. You can start a Club around your podcast’s topic and run regular discussions to promote your podcast further.
- Start a room to engage with your audience. There is no better way to get to know your audience better than to run a Q&A session with your fans. Clubhouse offers an easy way to engage in a live conversation with the audience to discover what they are interested in and to raise your brand awareness.
- Run an after-episode session. You can schedule a room for an after-episode session, where your audience can ask questions about the episode in real-time. Similar to Clubhouse, you can use Riverside to run such sessions. With Riverside, your audience can also listen to your session and interact with you while you record, but its big advantage is that you can actually record the session to publish it afterward.
- Discover new topics for your podcast. You can also join various discussions to discover relevant topics being talked about. These may give you inspiration for your next podcasting session.
- Get new listeners. Participating in Clubhouse conversations is a great way to get the word out about your podcast and attract new audience members. If somebody loves listening to you talk on Clubhouse, chances are they are going to become avid listeners of your podcast as well.
The Downsides of Clubhouse
Nothing in this world is perfect, and Clubhouse is not an exception. While being a powerful tool to network and keep up with news, Clubhouse has its own downsides:
Clubhouse is Not for Podcasting
While it may not be an obvious drawback for a general population, Clubhouse is not the ideal platform for podcasting and creating evergreen content. At its core, it wasn’t built to run and record podcasts and, as such, it doesn’t have the same functionalities as specialized podcasting platforms like Riverside.
The fact that you can’t record a conversation in Clubhouse, no matter how engaging it may be, is a big downside that’s difficult to overcome.
No Android Users
Even though Clubhouse developers are claiming to be working on the Clubhouse version for Android, at the moment, only iPhone users can enjoy the app. Add that on top of the invite-only policy, and you get a highly limited number of potential app users.
Copycats Are Emerging
With something as different as Clubhouse, copycats are unavoidable. For example, Twitter has recently started testing a new social experience on its app involving audio-only chat rooms - Twitter Spaces. Twitter is determined to quickly evolve the app and get new feature upgrades according to the user response.
Audio Only
Clubhouse was created to run live voice conversations, and conversations only. There is no way to share images, record conversation transcripts, or start a chat with the room participants. The audio-only format makes Clubhouse stand out from the rest of social platforms, but it also limits the potential uses of the app. Riverside has a high-quality video podcasting platform if you’re looking for that.
No Chat Function
In a nutshell, Clubhouse room is a Zoom conference call without video. However, unlike Zoom, Clubhouse doesn’t have a chat function, where participants can write their comments during the ongoing conference. If you want to run audio-only episodes with a chat option, Riverside would be a better choice.
Suboptimal Audio Quality
Audio conversations run within Clubhouse have worse quality as compared to dedicated online podcast recording platforms. If you are looking for crystal clear audio, Riverside is the way to go: the audio for every guest is recorded locally, meaning that your recordings will always sound amazing.
How To Improve Your Clubhouse Game
Clubhouse is a great tool for podcasters to gather content topics, learn more about their audience, and host real conversations with listeners. If you are considering using Clubhouse to promote your podcast, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
#1. Invest in Great Equipment
Even though Clubhouse advises against recording any conversations, you can do so if you get written permission from room participants.
When recording a session, great equipment is key. You would need a recording device, a microphone, a microphone stand, a mic cable, and a set of headphones to connect to your recorder.
A Rodecaster Pro is an amazing recorder, which incorporates all the professional podcasting tools in a compact all-in-one unit. Simply plug your phone to Rodecaster via a connector into a TRRS cable and turn up the “Smartphone Slider” on the Rodecaster Pro. This way, you will be able to send microphone audio from the Roadcaster directly to the Clubhouse app.
#2. Take Part in Events and Clubs
Clubhouse Clubs and events are great ways to build interest-based communities within the app and stay up-to-date with the industry news.
Unfortunately, Clubhouse doesn’t currently have a Club directory, but you can find out which clubs members participate in by visiting their profile.
#3. Understand That It’s Live
Clubhouse is fundamentally different from other social media apps in that it is live and real-time. You never know who is going to enter the room next and in what direction the conversation is going to flow.
Clubhouse offers a great opportunity to host a live podcast and speak directly with your audience in real-time. However, it is important to be aware that a live podcast will have a very different conversation dynamic as compared to a planned and recorded one.
How To Host A Clubhouse-Like Session On Riverside
If you can’t manage to secure a Clubhouse invite or are an unlucky user of Android, don’t fret!
With Riverside, you can create your own Clubhouse-like session without all the hassle of getting exclusive access to the app. Riverside then allows you to take your live stream and turn a high-quality recording into a podcast.
Here is how you can create your Clubhouse-like session on Riverside:
- Go to your dashboard and click on “Create a new studio”.
- Enter the name of the podcast. Choose the “Audio only” option under the “Recording Type” section.
- At the bottom of the screen, you will find an “Invite Participants” section. Enter the email addresses of your podcast guests to send them an invite to your Riverside session. Choose the “Guest” option to invite your attendees as guests.
- Finally, click on the “Create Show” button at the bottom of the screen.
- In the top-right corner of the screen, you will see an “Invite Participants” box with the link to your show. Change the link type to “Audience” and copy and paste the link to your landing page or send it out in the email to let your audience know where to find your session.
- Click on “Go to Recording Audio” in the top-right corner of the screen and double-check your settings. Turn your camera off, choose whether you are using headphones or not, and click on the “Join Studio” button.
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- Your Clubhouse-like audio session is now ready to go! Click on the red button “Start Recording”, and your show will go live. Any of your audience members will see a “Start Live Call In” button, which will allow them to join the conversation live, just like with Clubhouse.
Run Live Podcast Episodes with Riverside
Audio-first platforms continue to grow, demonstrating the power of spoken word content today.
But is Clubhouse the future of podcasting, as many people believe it to be? Likely not. While this social audio platform provides excellent networking opportunities to grow your podcast audience, specialized podcast recording platforms like Riverside remain at the top of the game when it comes to recording high-quality podcast episodes.
Sign up for Riverside today to run and record Clubhouse-like live podcast episodes.
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