Advertise on Tumblr and Reach a New Audience

Are you trying to expand your small business to more social media platforms? How can you advertise on Tumblr and gain a new audience?

Tumblr’s not as big as some of the other platforms, but your brand should still advertise on Tumblr. It has several features that distinguish it from other social media platforms such as a customizable homepage and it has a young, urban audience.

Keep reading to learn how to advertise on Tumblr.

How to Best Advertise on Tumblr

Note: The information in this article is from the book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk. The book was published in 2013 and some statistics and information may be out of date but the advice is still valuable.

Unlike the other platforms like Facebook or Instagram, Tumblr wasn’t originally a social media platform, but a blogging platform. In January 2012, Tumblr redesigned its dashboard to become more social. This made it much easier to advertise on Tumblr.

The audience: Tumblr has 132 million monthly users as of June 2013 and every day, 60 million new posts go up. Tumblr’s not as big as some of the other platforms, but your brand should still advertise on Tumblr. 

Who uses it: Tumblr is mainly used by 18-to-34-year-olds. Slightly more women than men use it, and many artists use it. The tone is urban, ironic, and hipster. 

Why they use it: Tumblr is more a publishing platform than a consuming one, but people do consume media on it, and quickly.

Notable Features

Tumblr has several features that distinguish it from other social media platforms:

• Customizable homepage. Unlike Twitter or Facebook, you can choose your art, logo placement, color, format, and font, which allows you to better express your brand’s identity and advertise on Tumblr.
• Interest-based connections. Connections are made based on interest, not who you already know. If you post content people are interested in and tag it appropriately, they’ll find it, whether or not they follow you.
• GIF support. GIFs are soundless videos that play on a loop without having to be clicked. They can be either animated or live-action and often captioned. (Note: In 2013, when Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook was published, Tumblr was the only platform that supported GIFs. Today, most of the platforms listed in this summary support them too.)
• Relatively new. Fewer businesses are on Tumblr than other platforms, so you have a chance to corner the market before your competitors arrive to advertise on Tumblr.

Tips for Creating Good Tumblr Content

To create effective and engaging Tumblr content, use the following tips:

Tip #1: Customize your homepage to showcase your brand identity.

• (Example of good content: The New Yorker’s homepage uses its iconic font and cartoons to show off its identity.)
  [image] jabjab-new yorker.png

Tip #2: Use GIFs. GIFs are popular with Tumblr users, so if you use them too, your content will be more native and interesting.

Example of bad content: Smirnoff posted a boring, still product photo of a Smirnoff bottle.

[image] jabjab-smirnoff.png

• Example of good content: NPR’s Fresh Air talk show posted a GIF of a scene from A Room with a View to commemorate the death of the screenplay writer.
• Tip #3: Be cool. Tumblr’s audience is young, cool, and interested in exclusive content.

Example of good content: Life magazine posted a never-before-seen image of Marlon Brando on his birthday.

[image] jabjab-life.png

Tip #4: Consider black and white images. Black and white images can be dramatic and good to advertise on Tumblr.

• (Shortform example of good content: Taylor Swift posted a dramatic black and white photo to promote her new album.)
  [image] jabjab-taylorswift.png

Tip #5: Use appropriate tags. Tags help people find your posts.Example of good content: GQ posted a photo of Mad Men characters at a cocktail hour just before the sixth season premiered. They tagged the post with the name of the show, the names of characters, and “television.”