Before we begin let’s get a few introductions out of the way. I'm Chloe and I'm currently with Cosmic for a 4 week placement to finish off my second year at university. I'm studying Communication and Media in Bournemouth at the moment hoping to get a job in social media, or online somewhere once I finish next year.
Tumblr is one of the lesser used social networks, especially in the corporate world. In my experience Tumblr is a great way of sharing your thoughts and interests across the internet. As a 20 year old student it has become my key procrastination tool. The site itself compiles images, text posts and videos, allowing users to like or reblog posts onto their own blogs.
Posts are collated through tagging. You can then search or track these, leading you to other posts tagged the same. What makes this site different from Facebook and Twitter is that it’s far less focused on sharing things with people you already know, but sharing them with others with the same interests.
When it comes to business I think Tumblr could be great for some and not for others. For online retailers, it could definitely be a plus, especially if you can take some high quality images of your products. Tumblr’s homepage is an infinitely scrolling dashboard. Every post from all the blogs you’re following is compiled chronologically to look through. In my experience things like links can easily get lost, however if you pair that with an eye catching image it’s more likely to be seen.
The reblogging aspect could definitely be helpful to businesses especially if the post is a hit. As a post gains more and more traffic it can get spread further across the variety of blogs signed up to the site. This way of advertising your business is more of a case of pot luck though. On Facebook you can target specific groups, whether that is women, men or different age groups. On Tumblr you are much more reliant on people liking the content you’re providing and sharing it around. This can be great for niche markets though.
Businesses like Coca Cola are some of the companies doing well on Tumblr and other businesses with a solid brand identity could definitely benefit the same. On Coca Cola’s blog they work with the image heavy style, keeping their content light-hearted and amusing. They keep to the same themes as the rest of their advertising, whilst also accepting submissions from followers and reblogging posts that feature their brand.
Tumblr may look scary for the onlookers. It’s got a sometimes complex and often frustrating search and tagging system; there’s a large amount of content constantly ticking through user’s dashboards; and there’s a huge audience of creative young minds. That being said with the right attitude and product, businesses could really utilise it well.