Tumblr was the fastest-growing social platform last year, according to Global Web Index. The platform has changed the whole conception of blogs. Instead of text-heavy musings that can be all too easily ignored, Tumblr offers 228 million blogs animated by GIFs, photos, stories, videos and more—all of which are easy to launch and easy to share. If your brand is not taking advantage of this platform, you may be missing the opportunity to target Generation Z and Millennials.
At PR News’ May 19 webinar on Tumblr, Allan Gungormez of Transamerica and Dayna Johantgen of Lucky Charms will talk about how their brands launched their Tumblr blogs, and the visually inspired duo behind Mr. GIF will show attendees how to conceive of and craft GIFs for their Tumblr blogs. In the meantime, in this excerpt from PR News’ recently published “Book of Social Media Strategies & Tactics,” Paul M. Rand, president and CEO of Zócalo Group, offers some do's and don'ts for those interested in getting started on Tumblr.
- DO check what other people and brands are doing. If you don’t use Tumblr, sign up, start exploring and get comfortable with the tone and uses of the site.
- DO use hashtags. Conversations are organized around them on Tumblr, similar to Twitter.
- DO use GIFs. This format is king on Tumblr. Google “GIF generator” for a slew of sites that can help you make them easily.
- DO contact Tumblr for help. If you want to use the site for a big launch and are prepared to put some advertising dollars behind it, the Tumblr creative team likely will be available to help with concepts and execution.
- DON’T make a Tumblr just because it’s cool. Ensure it’s appropriate for your brand and target audience before diving in.
- DON’T miss out on cross-promotional opportunities. If you’re going to build something new on Tumblr, don’t forget to promote it across all of your social sites, email and other channels.
- DON’T stress about that editorial calendar. Owing to Tumblr’s nature, timeliness is less important on the channel than on others like Facebook and Twitter. So have fun, and breathe easy.
Join PR News for the May 19, 2015 webinar, “Tumblr for (Fun & Creative) Brand Communications."
Follow Steve Goldstein: @SGoldsteinAI