During my social media experiment I decided to do a little research in to tumblr.
Even though I only publish one item a day unlike the majority of tumblr users, I still get a fair few reblogs and loves and follows from the minute amount I post. I dedicate almost no time to tumblr, because it really has no growth or interest for what I wish to do or accomplish with my social media influence other than getting the word out on an item or project to various tumblr users who may be interested or perhaps if I want to get a little traffic.
Tumblr has no real way of linking you with the rest of your social networks nor does it have any advertising revenue to offer or any real benefits other than getting a whole bunch of reblogs, likes and showing your media to the tumblr world etc.
And other than being the perfect place for bloggers who just wish to blog it has no real valuable resource in my eyes for people who are trying to advertise their brand through social networks other than posting an image and linking it to an external site.
The only way people can find you on your other social networks is if you use those networks to post directly to tumblr and even then you get a tiny little grey (almost invisible) link that says it was posted from that network.
So you have to manually add your social network links to your tumblr blog page, but the problem is this. Most people love and reblog tumblr posts from the dashboard. so they dont always go to your tumblr page so again your social links are hidden.
But what is great about tumblr is you can easily share and upload various media to the tumblr sphere and link it to an external page such as informational landing page etc. Tumblr seems to have this thirsty little nation waiting for more image uploads to reblog.
Many large brands are now using tumblr as a form of advertising and in this essence, it does work well. See, with tumblrs controlling ways of the tumblr world it has created a virtual stage filled with people who spend day in and day out on tumblr just waiting for another post to reblog. And this creates a chain reaction, one person reblogs then someone else does and so on and so on.
But is it a great place for bloggers?
Well here is my little problem with Tumblr. I do like to write and the one thing I have noticed is unless you write something less than 4 lines, The tumblr nation wont read it. I have experimented this with several tumblr blogs I own and on one blog I routinely post 5 post text to 1 post image and 1 post video. All the text I post is less than 4 lines long and it seems to be a tumblr blog that gets a great deal of views, loves and reblogs.
Another tumblr blog I own I only post long text posts. And it gets only a few likes and reblogs. And the posts that do get the likes and reblogs are the posts that are in lists or point form and have interesting facts. Its called "Caroline is bored" and I post random weird facts that most people don't know. But if I choose to write a typical blog post, then it often gets ignored or neglected.
My main tumblr is mostly images, and these are images I draw. So basically I write and draw inspirational quotes and motivational's and take a photo of it. Some of them I will have someone hold the motivational or on some I take just a photo of the paper itself. It does well in Tumblr, but Have figured out it only does well if I label it well.
I have tested uploading images etc without labels and zero, zilch, nothing. Then I can re upload the very same image with some great labels that are relevant and get many loves, reblogs etc.
My other little bone to pick is the notes section on tumblr. When someone reblogs my item, its great that tumblr tries its best to show where the original came from. But it doesn't really enforce or get the user to go to you so again unless you have linked that image or post to an external site, you are loosing valuable traffic.
Also there is no easy follow system, if someone does reblog your post, there should be a little follow this blog button next to the original content poster so that people can follow that blog rather than just the blog that reposted it.
So all in all it is a great little system, I still use it and will continue to use it, but I don't waste a great deal of time on it, I primarily use it to do my motivational's, try and get my name out there as an artist and writer, as t does have a great deal of users and can at times help with recognition.
But as a blogging medium or as a "get my opinion out there" posting site, Tumblr can not compete with having your own blog or website. But here is the draw back, tumblr does certainly have all the traffic. So the trick of the matter is how to use it to funnel some of that traffic back to you and your brand.
Tumblr is basically a simplified facebook without all the apps, mess, pokes, notifications and status updates. But it has many great abilities and can definitely help you get the word out there quickly.
So how can you succeed on tumblr?
- Keep your blog posts less than 4 lines
- post various images and videos
- Reblog posts that have something relevant to your blog
- Don't be Emo -- there are way too many people with depressing photos and posts on tumblrs and The tumblr nation just cant take any more.
- Follow relevant blogs - they will generally give you ideas and inspirations
- Post comments - yes believe it or not, you can post comments on tumblr. It seems to be the one little known function most tumblr users forget exists.
- Post every day - Tumblr is a fast moving network. The average person follows roughly 100+ blogs so your post will fall low on their dashboard quick and Most users wont sit there and scroll down for too long.
- Post Several times a day if you can - the one thing I noticed is most tumblr users will post an average of 5 posts a day. This consists of original posts and reblogs
- Schedule posts - This little scheduling feature is great. I use it to schedule all my posts once a week, this way I am guaranteed that i will have a minimum of one post a day.
- Link your images - If you have a post or a website, link your image or post to that website. This will get you some extra users to your page.
- Signature your images or posts - Use a little signature - nothing to big or bulky but perhaps a one line signature with your website address and twitter address on all your posts. This will give you a chance to get extra views and followers from the reblogs.
- interact - people like it when you like their posts or share them. So will you when someone does the same back.
- Label label label - use those labels to the full extent. dont worry about having to many, break up two three word labels to individual labels
- use point form - if you do want to post something long, then use point form, keep it simple and straight to the point. Try an minimize too much text.
- Ask a question - in all the time i have owned my tumblr blogs, I have never received a question and this is more than likely because most tumblr users only view posts on their dashboard. But by asking a question, you increase the chances of the same person returning the favour.
Well good luck tumbling and here are some of my tumblr blogs and where you can find me should you want to randomly stalk me or bug me or just i dont know .. something .
Friends blogs I help with
Again you can find me on facebook and twitter and send me any comments and ideas.
http://www.facebook.com/ccordier2
https://twitter.com/cordiervoodoo
You can find my web geekiness self at http://imthewebgeek.tk or you can always just find out more about me on http://about.me/cordiervoodoo
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