The social network Tumblr, launched in 2007, is gaining ground in a crowded field: The site’s page views reached more than 16 billion in May 2012. Tumblr is completely customizable, so every page does not look the same. And while the platform has a reputation for hosting offbeat blogs, it is useful for businesses as well. What sets Tumblr apart from other sites is that sharing is strongly encouraged. Therefore, if you can create a message that people want to see, it can reach viral status on Tumblr quickly and easily. In today’s ever-changing world of social networking, going viral is the goal, and Tumblr is a tool that can help you reach it.

Creating Your Account

When you first open your Tumblr account, you are able to personalize it for your business by choosing the address, shown as yourname. tumbler.com. This is very memorable and makes it quite easy for your customers to find you on the platform. You can choose the colors and font for your theme, so it is much easier to match the design of your normal web page (unlike with Facebook or Twitter, where you are stuck with a generic layout).

Posting

Once you have your account, what should you post? Tumblr is a blogging platform, but unlike blogger or live journal, it isn’t often filled with long musings and rants. Instead, most users choose to use Tumblr to share photos, quotes or short texts. The best thing about Tumblr, however, is this very freedom. If you want to share a full article, feel free. You can post nearly anything you can imagine, and your followers will see the post in their feed, or if they come directly to your page.

Sharing

The feature that is most appealing to a growing business is the sharing ability. This is why you want to choose content that is interesting. Tumblrs will share your post with their followers, and some of these followers will wind up coming by to check out your page. That’s why you want to keep your page looking sharp and attractive. Gaining these shares will help you obtain a larger following.

Pages

A feature that many buisiness owners miss when they are creating an account is “Tumblr Pages.” This allows you to make a fully customizable page within Twitter. Create one of these to serve as an “about me,” “contact us” or other section. Using Tumblr Pages, you can essentially create a fully functioning website within the Tumblr community.

Like all social media platforms, you get what you give. If you spend time building your presence and making connections with your followers, Tumblr can become a successful part of your online content marketing plan.

Tracy S is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.

Tags: social media

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2012 at 10:00 am and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.