Should you be tumbling?

With Facebook and Twitter dominating the social media landscape, and Wordpress commanding most of the blogosphere, most marketing strategies utilise these three websites.

But these are not the end-all of digital marketing: FourSquare, LinkedIn and Tumblr still have major clout when it comes to reaching new users.  With over 60 million blogs, Tumblr might be on its way to becoming the next social media giant—with huge potential for marketing opportunities. Tumblr is a social networking website disguised as a microblogging platform.  Started in 2007, Tumblr was a response to the “tumblelog” movement, a short-form blog style often containing mixed media.  The “tumblelog” movement appealed to the less-verbose population, as it moved away from the standard title-paragraph-conclusion structure demanded by more traditional blogs. Today, a Tumblr page provides an easy place to share photos, videos, quotes, graphics and text, but provides the advantages of a social networking website by connecting people with similar interests.  Businesses who utilise Tumblr can not only promote products and services, they can also take advantage of Tumblr’s ‘follow’ capability to identify potential customers and further target their marketing strategy.

Online marketing advantages of Tumblr

• The blog format of Tumblr is shorter and more visual than a typical blog, allowing for more frequent posts and higher visibility for the user
• Tumblr posts are easily shared and “reblogged,” allowing for viral marketing potential
• The “queue” feature lets users set up posts to be published at a specific time or frequency, requiring less maintenance and time invested
• Tumblr is designed to “sync” with other social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, again reducing the amount of time needed to keep the business engaged in social media
• Tumblr is integrated with Google Analytics, making SEO more cohesive

Some current businesses have already taken advantage of Tumblr’s 16 million monthly pageviews by providing a unique experience for their Tumblr followers.

Newsweek runs a Tumblr page called “Newsweek Archivist,” which features a daily trip into contemporary history like this feature on John F. Kennedy in honour of what would have been his 95th birthday.

Other businesses, like Coca-Cola, use Tumblr to expand their brand association by focusing their page on words, images, quotes and other media that inspire happiness—therefore associating Coca-Cola with happiness.

Fashion brands have also taken to Tumblr to share their latest inspiration, demonstrate a lifestyle associated with their clothing and even share offers and coupons.

How to Tumble

The Tumblr platform allows for businesses to structure pages for their individual needs, whether it be sharing the latest news or demonstrating the value of a product.  But keep in mind a few simple tips when creating a Tumblr page to ensure that your page will be valuable to your social media strategy and the Tumblr community:

• Be a resource:  Don’t engage in shameless self-promotion!  Instead, focus on contributing posts that will attract people interested in your area of expertise.
• Be active:  If you can’t post regularly, take advantage of the “queue” feature to make sure there is activity on your page at least once a day, if not more often.
• Be a social user:  By becoming engaged with other users in your online community through “likes” and “reblogging,” you increase the chances that those users will return the favour and your page will receive more traffic.