#Episode 5 _ Which Apps for Business_ Discussing with Sarah Sal from Hootsuite - Which Facebook Ads

Clubhouse, the audio-only app designed to be a virtual conference hall, generated heavy buzz during the peak of the pandemic and received a $4 billion valuation earlier this year. In the months since then, that excitement seems to have cooled, reports The Times, on Oct 14th, a week back.

The company CEO, ᴘᴀᴜʟ ᴅᴀᴠɪᴅꜱᴏɴ, was quoted sharing on Wednesday: “𝗕𝗼𝘆, 𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘄𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘆, 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿,” adding “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆, 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵.”

Clubhouse essentially lets users host their own online radio shows. Listeners tune in to hear interviews or panel discussions and can participate in live chats. The platform has drawn appearances from 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱𝘀, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝗹𝗮 𝗜𝗻𝗰.’𝘀 𝗘𝗹𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝗰.’𝘀 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗭𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗴, and inspired copycat apps.

Since I’m a notoriously curious digital marketer I reached out to𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗹𝘂𝗯𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲, 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝘆 𝗠𝘂𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗼-𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗸, 𝘄𝗲’𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝟰 𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 we were particularly keen on asking - all of which would fit the key question umbrella: “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝘂𝗯𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲?’'.

We’ve discussed 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺-𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, and 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 amongst other 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯. All this, in spite of the assumed decline in the app usage, which many associate with now fewer restrictions caused by the pandemic and so less audio-companionship being saught-after.

Regardless of the somewhat challenging angle taken on by some of our questions, Grey's answers remained professional and detailed, hence me proudly inviting you to listen in, share your view on 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝘾𝙡𝙪𝙗𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙞𝙩 and let us know what would be your star rating you'd allocate to the type of questions we've prepared for Greg. As true curious marketers, we'd be keen to know.

As always, very grateful for 'Which Apps for Business?' Podcast team who have worked hard to support these episodes:

- Jonathan Fink, co-moderator (IG: @mapped.city)

- Daniela Cantâr, Sound Producer (IG: @moldovan_abroad)

- Maria Jardan, Graphic Designer (IG: @maria_jardan_)

Very best,

Nadya Birca, 'Which Apps for Business?' Podcast Creator & Moderator,

Project Brought to you by STEPP Growth Academy

On this episode of Which Apps for Business, myself, Nadya Birca and Jonathan Fink have sat down with Xenia Muntean, the CEO of the content marketing collaboration and approval platform - Planable.

🥁 Over 5,000 brands such as Christian Louboutin, Viber, Hyundai, and the United Nations, use Planable in their day-to-day operations. Prior to launching Planable, at just 20 years, Xenia founded a digital marketing agency and led social for prominent clients such as Coca-Cola. Xenia was featured in the Forbes 30 under 30 list and spoke on the Innovation Stage at Cannes Lions in 2018. She graduated from Tim Draper’s startup academy in Silicon Valley and participated in the Techstars London Accelerator in 2017 with Planable. In 2019, Xenia published a book – The Manifesto on Content Marketing Team – and has launched a podcast, People of Marketing, where she talked with high-profile guests from the marketing industry, such as Kevin Young, Head of Audience at The Economist, and Stuart Stobbs, Chief Creative Officer at McCann1886. Since we've launched Which Apps for Business? podcast to support growth marketers and young entrepreneurs to help them choose the right apps and tech stack for their business some of the key questions we've asked Xenia revolved around:

🎯optimization of her own and her team's workflows,

🎯 what was the day-to-day of a social media marketer BEFORE and how is it looking AFTER Planable was launched: is it making a difference?

🎯 does it help solve a real issue for social media marketers and

🎯 what are some of the most common challenges it helps address? During an interview of almost an hour we've tackled various angles: Planable as a platform, as a viable entity with its own needs and constant 'wants' (another way of describing the R&D:). I was pleasantly surprised for instance that the C-funded high-growth start-up feeds its roadmap from its clients' feedback, both the roadmap and the feedback being openly and publicly available for customers to upvote and comment on new releases. Some of Xenia's quotes I depicted from our conversation: - 'We've come up with the app idea when during our day-to-day agency workstream we've found ourselves drowning in neverending comms aiming to simply approve a social media post or an ad. Communication between teams was fairly fragmented and we've had to start mocking up fake accounts to help clients visualize new content in a form of a Facebook timeline or an Instagram feed/layout. Obviously, not an ideal scenario:). We didn't want to waste our time fighting for views and approvals hence how - Planable was born🚀'. Tune in to hear for more, simply join in our 'fireside chat', take a step forward and let us know what have you enjoyed most, which parts you'd love to hear more of (or less of:), let's have a discussion point to get to a format you'd value most in the long run.

Gratefully yours, Nadya and Jon

Project proudly brought to you via STEPP Growth Academy https://bit.ly/stepp-growth-academy