Should Your Business Be on Tumblr?

Tumblr is often regarded as one of the underdogs of social media, and it is as much maligned as it is celebrated—but you write it off at your own peril. Since it was launched in 2007, the site has consistently ranked among the top 15 websites in the United States—no small thing. Right now there are more than 132 million Tumblr blogs, so in terms of popularity alone, Tumblr is a heavy hitter.

That doesn’t mean that every small business needs to implement Tumblr, any more than every small business needs its own podcast, its own YouTube page, or its own Instagram account. It’s not for everyone, but it is advantageous for many—and understanding the pros and cons of Tumblr can help you determine whether it’s a good fit for your own content marketing toolbox.

Weighing Tumblr—the Good and the Bad

In case you don’t know, Tumblr is essentially a micro-blogging site, allowing users to post video, audio, images, and short pieces of written content. The idea behind Tumblr is that you’re creating a catalog of compact, standalone, easily digestible pieces of content.

There are some obvious points of appeal:

• Tumblr is popular among many users because of its incredible simplicity; it’s quick and easy to set up and customize a Tumblr page and then to update it regularly. Like Twitter, it flourishes because it keeps things fairly simple and straightforward.
• Tumblr offers an important way to reach a young demographic. There are more than 34 million Internet users across the world who say they actively use Tumblr on a monthly basis, and nearly half of them are between 16 and 24. Some companies won’t have much interest in reaching this user group, but many will.
• Tumblr allows you to use Google Analytics to track key metrics.
• Tumblr pages are indexed by Google and provide some significant SEO momentum.
• Finally: It’s free!

With those benefits duly noted, small businesses thinking about adding Tumblr to their content marketing arsenal may also want to heed these caveats:

• While updating Tumblr is fairly easy, it does take a real commitment to regular updates. While companies can often get away with just a single Facebook or Google+ post per day—with much more than that turning off users—the Tumblr community accepts and perhaps even embraces more frequent posting, to the tune of 10 or 15 posts per day.
• Tumblr is not a place for sharing news or trending articles; it’s a place for content with a fairly long shelf life. In other words, you need to be willing to produce evergreen content if you’re using Tumblr.
• The youth-oriented approach of Tumblr—combined with the fact that it has at various times been popular among adult entertainment companies—means that it doesn’t quite have the same reputation as other social networks. It is useful, no question—but could it also be somewhat undignified for certain industries that aren’t chasing young consumers?

Ultimately, the question of Tumblr’s appropriateness is one that individual businesses must answer for themselves—but make sure your answer is an informed one. To learn more about Tumblr, contact Grammar Chic, Inc. today and inquire about a free content marketing consultation: Call 804-831-7444 or visit www.grammarchic.net.