Just another kid’s social media site or a robust blogging platform? Tumblr is pegged as the can’t miss social brand of the year. Now in its fifth year, Tumblr has 55% year over year growth and was given a 1 billion price tag in a purchase by Yahoo! – but none of these are the reason you should be testing the waters of this micro-blogging site.
Unlike most social networks that emphasize your existing connections, putting you in touch with old high school friends or facilitating networking, Tumblr has the potential to open your brand up to new and interested individuals you don’t already know.
Instant Audience. Hashtags are the pulse of Tumblr. Unlike buying Likes on Facebook or waiting to get a following on Twitter, the right hashtags effectively put your content in someone’s view. This self built, ready audience scrolls through feeds and tracked hashtags.
Personality based. It’s an ideal place to build your brand and develop the personality that sets you apart from your competitors.
Less time investment. Like Pinterest, Tumblr has a great payoff for the time investment, without the upkeep of Facebook or time demands of Twitter.
Easy to use. Posting is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Unlike WordPress it allows you to add your posts to a queue, so they will automatically post as many times a day as you’d like.
Blast it. Synced to Facebook and Twitter, you can choose which posts are worth sharing to other networks, keeping you more sociable there as well.
Replaced the RSS. So many RSS feeds are ignored, as people choose to check in with their social media feeds instead. Tumblr is one of these feeds.
SEO Friendly. Tumblr uses followed links and the content and images are indexed by search engines.
Marketing friendly. Ad any marketing language, site ads or eve Google Adsense ads to your Tumblr blog design. Since the launch of ad products such as the Sponsored Posts in 2012, the views have continued to climb.
Branded. Dozens of basic, free templates allow you to make a clean looking blog with your own custom header or background images.
Self hosted, free to use and free of ads,Tumblr provides a way to showcase the best visually appealing elements of your business or brand, without investing too much time or resources.
Who needs to be on Tumblr? Certain businesses are better suited for this social site. Tumblr may be the place for your brand if you:
Sell a visually appealing product or service.
Cater to a 18-34 year old demographic.
Have something to say – not just a sales message.
Want to build your brand.
What can you do on Tumblr? Besides promoting your brand, a few ideas that your customers will identify with include:
Utilizing user generated content, like americashelper.com and betterwithmms.com.
Showing off the positive results of using your product. Air Canada’s Tumblr is a good example of how it’s not about the product, but the destination – and even story like American Express’s #PassionProject.
Spreading the word about your other content. Repost your blog posts or sales to an audience that is listening, liking and reblogging.
Making many memes to promote the benefits and fun side of anything with a witty caption.
Reposting other great, relatable content like hellocereallovers.tumblr.com to build your presence.
Tumblr is a growing market – to not try it out means missing out on the next WordPress, Facebook or Twitter. Get a taste of what other brands are doing on Tumblr to inspire your first posts. If you think Tumblr is for you, get in touch with one of our social media specialists today for assistance in setting up and managing your first Tumblr blog!
Images via unwrapping.tumblr.com, Tumblr.com, lionsofstyle.tumblr.com, comscore.com, quancast.com