The Superfan Economy - Clubhouse Tipping
In early December, Cash App was downloaded en masse on Clubhouse by large segments of the users. This was because Clubhouse had no actual tipping system. There was no way for people to show appreciation. Some users had both Cash App and Venmo in their profile.
Clubhouse is now integrating in-app tipping. What type of numbers can this generate?
Kiara Aguillon was asked by multiple people in my Clubhouse room about this topic. She says awhile back, her koji account was revealed and she received around $300 afterwards. We’re not sure how much this means because she does not ask for tips and this was some time ago (when she had a lot less followers).
"They (Clubhouse) found a sweet spot where you can be in app and out of app at the same time,” said Jason Santos in the Marketing Meta Clubhouse room earlier this Monday.
Facebook (both native and Instagram), Snap and TikTok all can only be used one at time in relation to each other. All of them can be used while Clubhouse is running. The constraint of voice only now becomes an advantage.
The interesting thing is what happens next. The business of selling low priced ebooks to masses is vastly differently than a tipping economy involving superfans. China has been at the lead of the superfan economy with influencer tipping being prevalent for years.
“Top tippers pay tens of thousands of dollars,” says my co-moderator Brendan Gahan in reference to the Chinese tipping economy.
Brendan and I’s clubhouse room progressed to a conversation about Emma Chamberlain’s coffee. This was largely a result of both of us reading High Tea by Faye and Alice.
The consensus was that Chamberlain’s coffee is very in sync with her brand and represented something to be emulated in terms influencer-product fit. Influencer-Product fit is a term that I’ve been thinking about a lot the past year.
No one has better Influencer-Product fit than Gwyneth Paltrow and goop. Gwyneth in some ways represents the original influencer who built a lifestyle company around herself.
“Even though she has controversy, but a lot people like her,” says Marissa Rozanski. Marissa brings up several salient points about the benefits of polarization for an influencer.
“She is unapologetically herself and I love her for that,” says Balungile Belz. I should note that Balungile (who goes by “B” because people mispronounce her name) is perhaps the biggest Gwyneth and goop fan I have ever met. It dawns on me that B is a superfan and one of the most valuable you could possibly have in the world.
This lead me to another thought. How many superfans have spent tens of thousands of dollars on goop? What are people that see live entertainment? They are superfans. What is Clubhouse at this point in time but live entertainment where you don’t have to worry about how you look?
Many people on Clubhouse are still thinking about volume but they should probably be thinking about whales. Whales are superfans.