Tumblr has been compared to X (formerly Twitter) for obvious reasons. It even came to a point where it was branded as a clone of Twitter. While we can all agree that they have some striking similarities such as their configuration, a few features, and how they work, they definitely differ in focus and some other characteristics.
Moreover, while Tumblr may lag behind some of the biggest social media platforms, say X, Facebook, and Instagram in terms of popularity, particularly in Australia, it is one of the best in terms of creation and curation of content and customization of what you want to see and engage in. In short, it is more into creative expression rather than communication. These make it more suitable for digital marketing for business owners. How? Read on.
Tumblr Digital Marketing 101
Familiarise Yourself With Tumblr
The best way to get the most out of anything is to know it through and through like the back of your hand. It’s no different with social media platforms. If anything, your business can actually make or break your business with one crucial post. Learning to use Tumblr to your advantage is the ultimate goal here.
The first order of business is to create an account and navigate the platform as an account owner or user. This way, you’ll get the feel of what it is like being the “market” first before actually becoming the “business”. You’ll be able to somehow understand what will interest you as a prospective customer or consumer, while also familiarising yourself with how the whole process of Tumblr posting works.
Decide on Your Business Strategy on the Platform
Social media platforms are built differently and cater to varying audiences. Some function as an actual online or e-commerce store and some as just a way to drive traffic to your business. It is crucial to identify early on what strategy you are going to apply so that you can maximise its use and you can provide the right content for your intended audience and target market.
Since Tumblr is used more as a platform for creative expression rather than real-time engagement, it can be used for brand awareness, improving customer service, or some form of customer education. This is particularly beneficial if you are also advocating for a good cause, besides doing it for profit. People trust brands that are more focused on their audience rather than the companies themselves in social media posts.
Type of Content to Post
One thing to know about Tumblr is that it is more of a platform for visuals rather than texts, so it is important to take your time in creating more pleasing and engaging images. It is also more important to create posts that are so good that users will want to reblog them, even if they are aware that it is for your company.
Also, posts without featuring any products tend to do well, so even without actually mentioning your business, the engagement alone can draw people’s curiosity that it will make them want to check your company out, even without asking them directly.
While news and current affairs get the most engagement as it happens, they have a very short “shelf life” and don’t do well overall on the platform. Instead, try to put out long posts and the so-called evergreen content from time to time and use some potential keywords/phrases that are good for indexing. Adding your location in Australia or the cities and suburbs you service can also help your content be discovered.
Market Without Sounding Like It
More often than not, contents coming from businesses tend to get the least engagement, and this is one sad truth in social media. People on the internet are less sympathetic to those who do things for profit.
Hence, abort the mission about marketing when using Tumblr, or at least try not to sound like doing it. Scratch those marketing spiels and talk like a real person. Doing those will create a more interpersonal connection with potential clients, rather than them having that feeling of being lured for business transactions.
Use Appropriate Tags
After you’ve created your draft and you are ready to post, you need to do one more important thing. And that is to use the appropriate tags. These are very crucial parts of posting on Tumblr because they help your content reach the right people, especially those who are actually searching for them besides your followers.
However, be mindful to use only the hashtags that are appropriate to the type of content that you are posting and not use any more than necessary. Do not use tags that are totally irrelevant to your post just because they are popular. You don’t want your business to have a bad reputation for spamming, right? So, use these tags responsibly.
Create a Network
As they say, no man is an island. There’s a reason why they call these platforms “social networking” and Tumblr is no different. That is to create a network with people and entities with similar interests. The more people you draw into your circle, the more direct engagement you will have.
Start enticing your family, colleagues, and friends to join your network. Eventually, target your current customers, vendors, and business partners within Australia, if your company just caters to a particular cluster of cities and suburbs. As you consistently post relevant content on Tumblr, you gradually widen your network through the connections of the people you initially include in your group and those who have eventually discovered you through the tags and keyword searches.