It’s the hottest question when it comes to social media today: Are you using Clubhouse? The audio app, originally only for iOS but now available on Android, has 10 million weekly active users, up from 600,000 in December 2020.
There are hundreds of rooms available to suit everyone’s passions. Analytics are available for the rooms, and many mods use this information to gain information on their topic, attendees in the audience, speaker engagement and more.
Every week, Clubhouse co-founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth offer two town halls to share new updates, answer questions (Sunday) and welcome new members (Wednesday). After the town hall meetings, a few of my favorite clubs and moderators lead discussions and make notes on public drives to share information quickly and facilitate conversation.
My favorite moderator is Christian Bourdeau, admin of CH Townhall Club with 5.8 followers. The rooms are run efficiently, with empathy, respect and creative content. A few rooms are being curated weekly for the promotional products industry.
The Swag Stop is a newer club with almost 150 members and consistently offers an hour room with various topics. It is open to end-users, suppliers and distributors, and runs Thursday evenings from 7-8 p.m. EST. The admins are Gerry Barker, Max Barker and Alex Bowen.
There has been conversation within the group regarding non-fungible tokens (NFTs), so I asked Gerry Barker, president of Barker Specialty, Cheshire, Conn., for more information.
NFTs are blockchain tokens that represent a unique digital asset. An NFT may represent many different items, though at present NFTs are mostly well known for artwork. Other examples of NFTs are videos, graphics, tweets, images of people or popular trading cards, and even photographs.
“Introducing a new concept is never easy,” Gerry explained. “We have written an article at www.promoNFTS.com to help both clients and our salespeople better understand what NFTs are and what the potential might be. As this crypto-asset grows in popularity, we expect to see NFTs for wills, documents, and other essential records and applications [for] fundraising, promotions, marketing, branding and events. We are excited to be on the front lines for this game-changing concept.”
Max Barker added: “We feel that NFTs have a place in the promotional marketing world and can see many exciting applications. These applications include creating unique art images showcasing clients’ brands and capturing unique moments in time that can be very desirable, such as a child’s birth, a wedding, a graduation souvenir or even a recognition event for sales success. Once we open our minds to the possibilities, the opportunities are endless.”
At present, Barker Specialty has minted NFTs as a museum collectible and is working on using NFTs as a product extension for a licensed toy line and fundraising for several arts groups. NFTs might be a fad or might be a critical crypto asset that will be part of everyone’s daily life.
This is just one example of the relevant, real-time conversations promotional products professionals are having on Clubhouse. If you’re not using the app for yourself or your business, it’s not too late to check it out.
