If your business wants to reach young people, Tumblr is a social media platform you should pay attention to. While Facebook has a huge user base, that’s making it less appealing to younger users. When parents and grandparents join in, it loses some of its coolness. Sorry, parents and grandparents, but that’s the reality.
According to Pew, Tumblr is the second most popular social networking site among young adults (ages 18-29), just after Facebook. As of August 2014, the platform (which has been owned by Yahoo since 2013) reported over 197 million blogs and 83 billion posts. Since its launch in 2007, it has grown rapidly. While it may not be for everyone, isn’t that the idea?
Business Marketing Highlights of Tumblr
- Extreme personalization. In addition to posting text, images, video, music, and links, users can fully customize their themes. Free and paid styles are available, but Tumblr sites can also be personalized down to the HTML code.
- Evergreen post value. Tumblr is less about singular, short-lived posts and more about curation. While tweets on news-based networks like Twitter have a short lifespan—moving out of a feed within minutes because of quantity of other posts—Tumblr posts have staying power. Valuable posts remain searchable long after the date they were posted.
- #1 in User Engagement. According to comScore, Tumblr is rated #1 among the top 100 Internet properties in terms of time spent per visit, averaging 18 minutes per visit. Founder and CEO David Karp notes that this is because Tumblr is more than just friend updates but “a full media experience… of stuff you enjoy.”
Business Marketing Tactics on Tumblr
- Be brief. While blogs on your company website can be more powerful with length, Tumblr audiences don’t have long attention spans.
- Focus on your brand. Being true to your subject matter and your voice allows you to create a niche for yourself. Jack-of-all-trades strategies have less success here.
- Be visual. As with other social networks, people are drawn in by what they see. Take the time to make it powerful.
- Post frequently and with regularity. Unlike other social media sites where multiple posts a day can be obtrusive, interacting frequently on Tumblr (1-5 times daily) is encouraged to fully engage with your audience. Furthermore, a schedule can help. Long spans of silence hurt your chances of gaining a following.
- Use tags for searchability. The first five tags that you use within a post are searchable on your brand page. There are tricks for how to use tags successfully on Tumblr. Learn them.
- Use tags to join the conversation. Much like hashtags on other social networks like Twitter, users can follow a tag-specific feed called a “tag page.” According to a 2013 article on Inc.com, “Between seven and twelve tags is the optimum number that will not look like spam but will also draw a net wide enough to catch a lot of [eyes].”
- Gain the attention of Tag Editors. Certain powerful bloggers have been invited by Tumblr to be Tag Editors, meaning that these individuals have the ability to promote content within their specific tag/category. Using the right keywords and tags can increase the chance of your posts being noticed. Following these published Tag Editor Guidelines can help as well.
- Interact with others. Be a part of the community. Follow. Comment. Reblog. Just like IRL (i.e. “in real life” in Millennial-speak—Tumblr is their network after all), networking is all about nurturing connections.
- Be Featured in Tumblr’s Spotlight. How to go about this one is a bit more mysterious. Officially, the network recommends posting great content and becoming a top contributor. Popularity is key. We include it here because why not reach for the stars?
Social media marketing strategy can be intimidating – especially when stepping past the more familiar ground of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and Google+. But there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. For some, embracing the less explored outlets—like Tumblr—is exactly the plan that will make all the difference.