PR and marketing may wish to consider developing a presence on Tumblr for their company and brands.
Tumblr is a blogging platform that doubles as a social networking site. Its reblog feature is ideal for sharing content. Some position Tumblr as a midpoint between Twitter and WordPress. It allows more space than Twitter’s 140 characters, but lacks the blogging power of WordPress. Tumblr users, or “tumbloggers,” are like a cross between an Instagram user and a freelance blogger.
Fashion, music, and pop-culture brands are best suited for the platform. “Whatever brand you represent, you’d better have a clear brand identity already established,” advises PR agency executive Philip Chang, according to SproutSocial.
Digital marketing experts familiar with Tumblr cite these reasons why brands should consider the platform.
Reach. It’s larger than many may realize. Tumblr says is has 272.4 million blogs and 127 billion posts from 19.1 million users as of last May, a 94% increase from the previous year. Tumblr is especially attractive to brands targeting the youth market. Just under a quarter of Tumblr users are ages 18-23 and 27% are 24-35. Relatively few seniors or older adults use the platform.
SEO. Tumblr allows search engines to index blogs. PR and marketers can tag posts with keywords you want related to your brand.
Cost and ease of use. Not counting your staff time, blogging on the platform is free. It’s easy to create and customize a blog site. It’s also easy to schedule posts and to create interfaces with other networks. Because of its ease of use, small brands can use Tumblr for their company websites, Katherine Barna, Tumblr’s head of PR, told the Muse.
It’s flexible. Brands can publish a range formats including text, photos, audio or video on Tumblr, although visually oriented content is most popular. They can share logos, graphics, infographics or create an online newsroom, a podcast or an event-focused site for a grand opening, product launch or event.
Tips for Tumblr
Marketers familiar with Tumblr offer this advice.
• Share content that is humorous, such as amusing photos of your staff and products. Be light hearted and show a personal side of your brand.
• Be visually oriented. Users prefer visual content and share it more often. Consider animated gifs.
• Create a hashtag for your campaign and encourage submissions, then reblog them to share.
• Don’t treat it like a blog, especially a corporate blog. “Tumblr is not WordPress,” Elite Strategies CEO Patrick Coombe, told SproutSocial, stressing that the network is visually oriented.
Examples of Successful Tumblr Marketing
Examining activities of leading brands is probably the best way to assess Tumblr. Many brands have won significant marketing success through Tumblr.
Shift Communications Marketing Coordinator Amanda Loewy holds up Coca-Cola as an example of a major brand performing well on the platform. Coca-Cola posted the same content on Twitter and Tumblr: an image of imaginary coke flavors that match ice flavors to show that Coke goes well in any ice cream float. Its tweet generated 2,931 interactions, including retweets and likes, an excellent performance. The Tumblr post was liked 10,931 times.
“Coca-Cola has also used this same strategy, of using Tumblr to amplify performance and attract new eyes, with other content,” Loewy says. “That’s how brands use Tumblr to generate awareness and new audiences – and it can work for you, too.
Bottom Line: Brands, especially those youth-oriented, visually oriented products, can gain substantial benefits from Tumblr. This primer can help PR and marketing pros get started on Tumblr, a large and fast-growing blogging network.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
Your advice is helpful. Tumblr as a new social network can be very useful for PR.
I’ve been using tumblr for quite a long time as a marketing strategy but there are some useful advice in your article. Thanks a lot!