so cialmediaexaminer.co m http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-ways-to-market-your-business-with-tumblr/

26 Ways to Market Your Business With TumblrDebbie Hemley

By Debbie HemleyPublished February 12, 2013

How much do you know about the microblogging site Tumblr?

Launched in 2007, Tumblr has experienced tremendous growth over the past several years.

Forbes reported that 120,000 new Tumblr blogs are created every day, totaling 86 million that drive 18 billionpage views per month.

In this post, I’ll take a look at 26 businesses that have created presences on Tumblr and discuss thetechniques they use f or their blogs, while also introducing many of Tumblr ’s specif ic f eatures and lexicon.

How Can Tumblr Be Used?

Jason Keath wrote, “Not every brand works on Tumblr” and suggested that three categories of blogs mayf are better than others: f ashion, large websites and publishing/broadcast media. As we’ll see with theexamples below, Tumblr ’s f eatures of f er the ability to be more visual and less verbose .

When you f irst started out on

Tumb lr is a visual b lo g g ing p latfo rm.

When you f irst started out onsocial media, Tumblr may nothave f it the description ofwhat you were looking f or.Today, you may be pleasantlysurprised to discover ablogging solution where youcan create engaging anddiverse posts in much lesstime than other platf orms,while also piggybacking on thesocial networking capabilit iesit of f ers.

Before We Begin… A FewWords About This Art icle

Given the A-Z theme of thisarticle, blogs were chosen ifthey could represent one of the 26 letters.

Due to the recent growth in Tumblr, its ease of use and wide-ranging possibilit ies, the blogs representedbelow are offered as inspiration. Recommended introductory and how-to resources f or Tumblr are listedat the bottom of the article.

Spoiler Alert: While Tumblr may speak to the issue of brevity on blogs, this post is a f ar cry f rom a brief post.In f act, it ’s exceedingly long—hopef ully, all the better to learn f rom!

Let’s dive in!

#1: Ace Hotel

The Ace Hotel celebrated their Tumblr blog’s third birthday on January 20, 2013. With three years on Tumblr,Ace Hotel utilizes many features that make their blog successful, including:

Links to Facebook, Twitter and their “A-List,” which is essentially a signup f orm to stay up todate on what’s happening at their hotels.

Link to their online shop, which is described as an “open-air f lea market where we of f er the f ruitsof our partnerships with f riends whose work inspires our own, stuf f we love, stuf f we made, curatedart, books….”

Link from the homepage to reserve a room and check availability.

#2: Boston Globe

So me b usine sse s uti l ize the Ask Que stio n fe ature o n Tumb lr. Ace Ho te l calls it " Say He llo ,"whe re yo u can e asily sub mit a p rivate me ssag e to the m.

" We ' re he re to p o int yo u to inte re sting stuff fro m o ur we b site , b o sto n.co m, o ur c ity, and o urwo rld ."

#2: Boston Globe

The Boston Globe describestheir presence on Tumblr thisway: “This isn’t about breakingnews in Boston (check uson @bostonupdate onTwitter). It ’s not about theimportant capital-J journalismof those daily printed piecesof paper (and soon to bewebsite) called The BostonGlobe. But it is about the worldwe live in, of ten (but notexclusively) f iltered by thereporters, photojournalists,reviewers, web producers atthe Globe and boston.”

The photos on BostonGlobe Tumblr are eye-catching and unique . Manyare tagged “photojournalism.”Followers like their posts andreblog them. They also usesocial media share buttons ontheir posts so visitors caneasily tweet, like or +1.

#3: CNET

One of the f irst icons you seeon CNET‘s Tumblr blog is the“random post” button thatmakes the blog “shuf f le” anddisplay a random post eachtime a reader clicks it. Theyalso utilize an archive f eaturethat displays a visual archiveof past posts by month.

CNET also provides socialmedia sharing links forFacebook, Twitter andGoogle+. Many times, theirposts are photos with

CNET use s the So laris the me .

Dark Rye use s the Insp ire We ll Tumb lr the me .

posts are photos withcaptions, and on occasion, ananimated GIF.

#4: Dark Rye

Dark Rye, an online magazinef rom Whole Foods Market, isa great example of a blog thathas created alternativemessaging f or their business.Dark Rye “brings togetherpioneers of unconventionalideas to explore the edges ofthe creative lif e.”

While many posts may includef ood-related content such asa granola recipe and JamieOliver ’s Food Tube channel onYouTube, you’ll also f indinstructions for somethingyou may have beenwondering about, such ashow to start a campfire .

#5: Elle

Elle Magazine uses Tumblr toshowcase f ashion highlightsby using photos with captions.The captions ref er to designcompanies with the “@” sign(e.g., @JasonWu). Elle tagsphotos with hashtags (e.g.,#pref all) within the caption.

By clicking on the photos,you’re taken to elleusa, theof f icial Instagram page of ElleMagazine—a great way tointegrate Instagram andTumblr.

On the upper-right corner of

Elle p ro vid e s ico ns fo r the ir p re se nce s o n Twitte r, Face b o o k and Yo uTub e .

Many o f NPR's p o sts are p ho to s that yo u can also se e as hig h-re s imag e s.

On the upper-right corner oftheir Tumblr home page, Elleprovides icons for theirpresences on Twitter,Facebook and YouTube , aswell as links that take you tothe online magazine.

There’s also a link to sign upf or their newsletter and abutton to subscribe to themagazine.

#6: Fresh Air

Fresh Air , the interview-f ormatradio show with host and co-executive producer TerryGross, has a Tumblr blog thatis curated by associateproducers Nell Boeschensteinand Heidi Saman.

It ’s a nice touch to ref erence on your home page who’s responsible f or the curated content, since manytimes visitors don’t know who the behind-the-scenes voices are on social media sites.

Many of their posts arephotos that you can also seeas high-res images with ashort amount of text (100-200words) and posted videos andsound clips.

Some other nice touches toFresh Air on Tumblr are theAsk link where visitors canemail the blog a privatequestion, see answers tofrequently asked questions,posts from other Tumblrblogs that Fresh Air likedand a list of who they’refollowing, all beautif ullydisplayed in a long graphic ofavatars that link to the blog.

#7: Glamour

Glamour‘s Tumblr is acollection of their “f ashion editors’ current obsessions.” As stated on their welcome page, “instead of justf iling away our f avorite things—be they photos, names, places, trends, styles or any other random treasure—f or a rainy day, we’ll be sharing them here.”

In some posts, the Glamour

Glamo ur inte g rate s p ho to s o n Tumb lr with the ir p re se nce o n Instag ram.

In some posts, the Glamourblog uses the tag “glamourmagazine” that shows photosf rom the magazine, links tothe f ull article and in somecases, provides prices and alink to online shopping sitessuch as Maiden Nation andNCLA.

Glamour, like Elle,integrates photos with theirpresence on Instagram.They also include thenames of four contributingphotographers and provideattribution to the photosthey’ve taken. And regardlessof the subject of thephotos—bracelets, shoes, anarchived picture of PrincessDiana—the photos are beautif ully done and you can easily see why their editors want to share them onTumblr.

#8: Huff ington Post

The Huf f ington Post‘s Tumblr blog has many cool f eatures. For one thing, the tagline tells us upf ront thatthe blog is about “news, culture and op-eds f rom the Huf f post Newsroom.”

Huf f ington Post uses a f ree

Huffing to n Po st use s the Minimalis t the me .

IBM has thre e b lo g s o n Tumb lr.

Huf f ington Post uses a f reetheme called the Minimalistand users can see what thetheme looks like and if theychoose, they can also quicklyupdate their blog to use thesame theme.

Tumblr themes have dif f erentf eatures and characteristics.Sometimes even if a f eaturethat you want isn’tavailable—f or example, theSubmit link where users cansubmit a post to yourblog—you can customize thetheme’s HTML code and makeit f unctional.

Many of the posts arenewsworthy with photos, brieftext and links. HuffingtonPost also uses the randompost function and a link totheir Twitter profile .

#9: IBM

IBM has three blogs on Tumblr.Their primary blog, A Smarter Planet , posts content related to “a planet that is instrumented, interconnectedand intelligent.” Their secondary blogs, The Social Business and The Smarter Cities Scan, make it possibleto have blogs with complementary content.

Primary and secondary blogspermit dif f erent f eatures. Forexample, primary blogs of f erf ull use of “Tumblr ’s socialf eatures, including Follow,Like, Reply, Ask, and Submit.”Secondary blogs dif f er in thatthey can be password-protected; allow multipleusers; and receive socialrequests (Follow, Like, Ask,Submit) f rom other blogs, butnot init iate social f eatures toother blogs.

The posts on A SmarterPlanet have social-sharingbuttons enabled, making it possible to tweet, like on Facebook, +1 on Google+ and pin onPinterest .

#10: J. Crew

J. Cre w's p o sts mo stly co nsist o f p ho to s o f the ir ap p are l with tip s o n ho w to we ar andacce sso rize .

The J. Crew Tumblr blog f rom all appearances has many of the f eatures that we’ve come to love andappreciate f rom a WordPress blog, such as a blogroll in the side column that they’ve tit led Cool Clicks.

The posts mostly consist ofphotos of their apparel withtips on how to wear andaccessorize, and in somecases, they may include a linkto their website where you canpurchase a product you see inthe photograph. But they usethis very sparingly so youdon’t f eel like you’re on anonline shopping website.Instead they are engagingreaders with the styles andcolors of their products.

They’re also using a fullspectrum of social-sharingbuttons—Facebook,Pinterest, Twitter,Instagram, YouTube,Google+ and RSS feed.

#11: Kmart Coupons,Deals and Coupon Codes

Kmart‘s Tumblr blog is one of the most dif f erent ones we’ve taken a look at so f ar, with a bare-bones lookand f eel.

The f ocus here is on sharing coupons, deals and coupon codes—and selling. There are no photos, allposts are text only and contain the same f our tags: kmart, coupons, deals and couponcodes. The links takeusers to shop on Contaya.

They of f er some of the

Kmart's Co up o ns b lo g fo cuse s o n sharing co up o ns, d e als and co up o n co d e s.

Lucky Mag azine 's p ho to s are l inke d to Instag ram.

They of f er some of thef eatures we’ve discussedpreviously about other sites(random, f or example), butone of the distinguishingfeatures of their blog is amobile-friendly version.

#12: Lucky Magazine

One of the f irst things you’llnotice on Lucky Magazine‘sTumblr blog is photos—BIGphotos—ones that can be ashigh as 1000 pixels and aswide as 800 pixels.

The photos are linked toInstagram with brief captions.Many contain the hashtag #luckymagcloset and some take you to Lucky, another site that describes itself as“more f rom the magazine about shopping and style.”

The blog welcomes users withthe f ollowing tagline: “Hereyou’ll f ind bits of inspirationf rom our editors, bloggers andf riends. Join us on your lunchhour, a rainy day or wheneveryou f ind a f ew spare momentsto yourself . We’re alwayshere.”

You’ll f ind social-sharingbuttons located after thetagline ; many of the usualplayers we’ve seen bef ore onother blogs. Although LuckyMagazine has also included alink to their presence onFoursquare.

#13: ModCloth

ModCloth describes theirTumblr blog as “Democratizingf ashion one indie, vintage, &retro- inspired style at a t ime!” The company uses the Juuvy theme, “A f ashionable chic modular grid withadjustable post sizes.” You can also customize the colors, f onts and background.

The page is visually appealing with posts that contain photos and captions, and the ability to see the photosin high resolution, too.

Their Ask f eature of f ers a

Mo d Clo th use s the Juuvy the me .

Their Ask f eature of f ers aunique capability, too: thepossibility to have yourquestion f eatured on theirf eed.

ModCloth uses some of thesocial-sharing buttons we’veseen used by othercompanies. One we haven’tseen bef ore on this list is alink to their Flickr photostream.By clicking on the Sharebutton at the bottom ofevery post, you’re given theshortened URL, which isalso a nice feature .

#14: New York TimesStyle Magazine

The New York Times StyleMagazine‘s Tumblr blog isanother example of one thatuses large photos. Some maybe as wide as 1020 pixels andas high as 680. The posts aregenerally photos with captionsthat consist of two to f ourtags. The links take users tothe Style Magazine’s web pages.

They utilize an RSS feed,

Links o n the Ne w Yo rk Time s Style Mag azine Tumb lr b lo g take use rs to the Style Mag azine 'swe b p ag e s.

Oscar d e la Re nta's Tumb lr b lo g re lie s he avily o n p ho to s and cap tio ns.

They utilize an RSS feed,archive, a link to theirTwitter profile and whothey’re following. There areshare buttons f rom posts toFacebook and Twitter. Theblog is simple and clean.

#15: Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta‘s Tumblrblog, PR Girl f or Oscar de laRenta, is described as “…reporting f rom inside one ofthe world’s most prestigiousf ashion houses.”

This is a blog that reliesheavily on photos andcaptions. A post may beshowcasing f ashion f or Spring2013, or bring back a photof rom 1995. In either case, thephotos generally speak f orthemselves. Some literally do,while others may have oneword (e.g., “games”) or consistof 15-20 words at the most.

Users can ask questions andf ollow on social sites. Onenetwork they make a point ofemphasizing is f ollowing themon Pinterest, where they havea large f ollowing of nearly50,000.

Pinterest and Tumblr workexceedingly well for Oscarde la Renta.

#16: Pew Internet

Tumblr isn’t all style andf ashion. Sites like Pew Internetwill appeal to business userswith the type of inf ographicsand research f indings thatPew Internet is known andrespected f or. At t imes theywill ask a question within the post and provide an answer box where users can comment.

Some posts include a link

Pe w Inte rne t use s the Minimal the me .

GQ's Tumb lr b lo g use s a mixture o f p ho to s and te xt.

Some posts include a linkwhere users can read the f ullstory on Pew Internet‘swebsite.

One very cool feature isBrowse All Tags , which is aword cloud of tags thatstretches far down thepage . There are links to theirpresences on some of theusual social sites. One thatclearly is an important venuef or Pew Internet, however,is SlideShare.

#17: (G)Q

GQ‘s Tumblr blog uses amixture of photos and textthat are generally tagged withf our to f ive words, and always “GQ.” Readers may see the f irst three paragraphs of a story and if they clickRead the Rest Here, they’re taken to GQ’s website.

GQ also uses a secondaryblog, GQ Fashion, that liketheir primary blog usesphotos. But in this case theposts don’t include text f romlonger articles. Their purposeis to demonstrate f ashion withbrief , simple captions.

The primary blog includes alink to subscribe to themagazine and another toget the apps on iTunes (butaccording to the errormessage, does not work inthe U.S. at this t ime).

#18: Rocketboom

Rocketboom, the dailyinternational news andentertainment network ofonline programming based inNew York City, has a Tumblrblog where photos can beanything f rom dogs incostumes to a photo of poetSylvia Plath commemoratingher birthday.

Ro cke tb o o m's Tumb lr b lo g o ffe rs a mo b ile -frie nd ly ve rs io n.

Shap e ways is us ing the Sing le A Tumb lr the me .

Posts may also include longerblocks of text, links to otherwebsites and videos onRocketboom’s YouTubechannel.

Rocketboom is also amonga small number on this listthat are using a mobile-friendly version of theirsite .

#19: Shapeways 3DPrintspirat ion

Shapeways 3D Printspirationis described as a “3D printingmarketplace and community.”They mostly use their Tumblrblog to show photos of their3D products, of tenaccompanied by a briefcaption.

The photos link to their Instagram account. Some posts may also contain f ull- length text that links back totheir other blog, The Shapeways Blog: 3D Printing News & Innovation.

Shapeways has presences onmultiple social networkingsites (Facebook, Flickr,Pinterest, Twitter andYouTube) and one of thenotable features on theirTumblr home page is theability to see a list of recenttweets in the side column.

#20: Tips forArchitecture School

Tips f or Architecture School isa Tumblr blog started by MarkPerrett, a designer, who useshis blog as a resource f orpeople studying architectureor planning.

Mark doesn’t have just one

Tip s fo r Archite cture Scho o l b lo g is a re so urce fo r p e o p le stud ying archite cture o r p lanning .

Mark doesn’t have just oneblog on Tumblr, he managesf our dif f erent blogs withspecif ic f ocuses. On hiswebsite he writes, “What can Isay, I’m a blogger. I love theconcept of a blog. It is like adigital avatar f or your brain.The opportunity to shareideas to everyone around theworld still amazes me.”

Even if we didn’t know thatMark loves blogs, I think itwould be easy to surmise,judging by his answers viablog posts to people who askhim questions about aneducation in architecture. If heneeds to do research toanswer a question, he’ll postthe link to the article andprovide his own commentary on the subject.

Mark exemplif ies good use of the Ask feature on Tumblr, not only responding to the individual butalso recognizing that other people would benefit by the Q&A which may appear on his page.

Tumblr recognized the popularity of the Tips f or Architecture School blog and has included a link on theirArchitecture spotlight page.

#21: Universal Music

Universal Music on Tumblr is the blog f or music company Universal Music, “home to such artists as LadyGaga, Eminem, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Andrea Bocelli, Taylor Swif t, Lil Wayne, Maroon 5 and many, manymore.”

Their posts are generally

Unive rsal Music 's Tumb lr p o sts are sho rt and to the p o int.

The Vime o Tumb lr b lo g use s the Tumb lr b o o kmarkle t.

Their posts are generallyshort and to the point, withphotos, captions and links. Insome cases, they’ll link to amusician’s Facebook page.Other t imes, they’ll let usersknow that they can listen to analbum f or f ree on Rdio. Theirimages appear to be directlyentered via Tumblr and nothoused on other sites such asFlickr or Instagram.

Universal Music provideslinks to their Facebook,Twitter and YouTube pagesand also has a mobile-friendly version of theirsite .

#22: Vimeo

Vimeo is described as “the home f or high-quality videos and the people who love them.” Their blog sharesinteresting f ilm-related news about the company and Vimeo f eatures that you may not be aware of . Forinstance, Vimeo has creative commons videos that users may be able to “share, rework and reuse legally.”

There are links to theirpresences on Facebook andTwitter. Videos are stored onVimeo (no surprise!).

One notable f eature on theirblog is the use of the Tumblrbookmarklet, which we haven’tseen used yet on any of theblogs discussed here so f ar.The bookmarklet is a buttonthat users can drag to theirBookmarks bar and quicklyshare on their blog whenthey come acrosssomething interestingthey’ve found on the site .

Vimeo also maintains asecond blog not hosted byTumblr, which is described as“Staf f Blog: Dispatches f romVimeo HQ written by the real humans who work here.”

#23: WGSN’s Tumblr Blog

WGSN describes their work as “…world’s leading f ashion trend f orecaster. A must-have resource f or designprof essionals around the world, we’re also now on Tumblr providing a live stream of the thought, insight and

WGSN's Tumb lr b lo g is curate d b y a te am o f g lo b al co ntrib uto rs.

inspiration behind our work.

Curated by a select team of expert global contributors, our coverage spans f rom the f ront row at f ashionweeks to the hottest street style trends at all the must-attend f estivals.”

What’s particularly ref reshingabout this statement is thatit ’s available via a link on theblog, About WGSN, which youmay not think is a big deal. Butsurprisingly, many brandsdon’t have a good descriptionon their page about who theyare and what they do. Maybeit’s more an issue of thethemes not providing a built- inway f or brands to provide thatinf ormation.

The posts primarily containfashion photos with one ortwo sentences of text, andsome will link to a retailer ’swebsite . In other cases, theymay ref erence their annual report and link to their website.

It ’s interesting to note too that f rom WGSN’s website, we can see that they have presences on Facebook,Twitter and LinkedIn, but have chosen not to include those links on their blog.

#24: (E)xcel Visual

Excel Visual is the blog of a f reelance photographer and videographer whose name is not present on thesite. This blog was chosen f or the article in part because it was the closest we could f ind to a name thatbegan with an “X” (to be perf ectly honest), but also because it demonstrates the work of a freelancebusinessperson!

While the URLs f or presences

Exce l Visual use s the Minimalis t the me .

While the URLs f or presenceson YouTube, Flickr andInstagram are presented in theheader of the homepage, theyare not active links.

The gallery of photos ispresented with one- to two-word descriptions, such asShopping Assistance or Brisk.This Tumblr blog may wellserve the purposes f or thef reelancer, who is using theMinimalist theme. The thememight not of f er the othertypes of f unctionality we’vediscussed in this article rightout of the box, but it is alsocustomizable.

#25: YA Highway

YA Highway‘s Tumblr blog isthe work of the YA Highway,“writers f rom dif f erent cornersof the globe, united by ouraf f inity f or travel, costumeparties and writ ing young adultf iction.”

The blog contains postsabout the writers, links to t ipsf or writers (hostedelsewhere), a directory ofwriters in the organization andother perks such as links to

YA Hig hway is us ing the Brutal Simp lic ity the me .

Zap 2It's co nte nt s tyle o n Tumb lr fe e ls s imilar to a Face b o o k p o st up d ate .

other perks such as links tomusic f or writers.

#26: Zap2It

Zap2It‘s Tumblr blog f ocuseson “TV, celebrity and moviesf or f anatics by f anatics.”Posts include photos such asBeyonce at President Obama’sf irst inauguration party,remembrance of Martin LutherKing, Jr., a picture f rom the TVshow, The Office.

Zap2It’s content style onTumblr is very similar to aFacebook post update, withmany posts ending with aquestion, minus the ability f orusers to respond to anindividual update.Nevertheless, theirquestions are thought-provoking.

The Tumblr blog has links totheir Facebook and Twitterpages.

Recommended Resources

What do you think aboutTumblr? Share yourexperiences and let us know ifyou’ve been using Tumblr andhow it ’s worked f or you. Or,whether you’ll consider givingTumblr a tumble. Leave yourcomments in the box below.

Tags: blo gging, debbie hemley,micro blo gging, pho t o websit e , so cia lmedia market ing, so cia l net wo rk,st o ryt e lling, t umblr, t umblr blo g,t umblr business blo g