Tumblr for business. It may surprise you!

Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking website. In other words, tumblr is another version of blogger, but so much better and much more exciting. If Instagram and Blogger had a baby, tumblr would be that baby. Tumblr allows you to express yourself in whatever way pleases you – text, photos (which is the most popular), quotes, videos, audio, providing links to your followers or even chatting (which is rarely used).

Tumblr has been good to fashion and interior design bloggers. Many businesses such as GQ, Vogue and Fader magazine use tumblr to market to a younger audience. Since tumblr is such a vibrant and exciting blogging platform, companies have been using tumblr to gain fresh, creative ideas relating to typography, photography, creative trends etc.

Sharing is caring

reblog buttonJust like Twitter, it is so easy to share and be shared on tumblr. The power of the “reblog” button is an amazing power to have. Not only does this button let you add any blog post to your own blog, but it also allows you to share with everyone else on your dashboard (the tumblr version of a Twitter timeline). This never ending cycle of sharing enables 138.2 million blogs users to view your post which is pretty amazing. This equals publicity, which means more business, that then leads to world domination… ok maybe I went too far, but you know what I mean.

In motion

tumblr_videoUs humans love imagery especially if it moves; short mini clips are a great way to become interactive with your followers and potential clients. Making 30 second clips of the latest services or products you have to offer is a quick and easy way to show off what you’ve got in a fun and engaging way.

The ‘how-to’ post

Dark RyeDark Rye, an online magazine from Whole Foods Markets (an American version of Woolies) using the strategy of instructional posting. They provide awesome photography along with tips and recipes for ingredients that followers can purchase from their Whole Foods stores. The idea of giving instructions to your followers on how to use your product is another great form of promotion.

See how other businesses are using tumbler for some more ideas relevant to your industry.

Get started!

tumblr_signup_3To start up your own tumblr is super easy and 100% free. As a “tumblr expert” (I’m the only person who calls myself that) I’m going to showing step by step how to set up your first tumblr blog.

When you first enter the tumblr website you’ll see the tumblr sign up page shown on the left, don’t worry if you don’t see this funky background on your own screen it changes every time you refresh the page. Awesome, right?

  • Here you’ll enter your email address, choose a password and select a unique URL. Don’t freak if you don’t like your URL, you can easily change it whenever you want under the blog settings.
  • Next you’ll need to pick out an a display picture and a creative title or just use your business name.
  •  Next is my favourite thing about setting up a tumblr blog… the themes. tumblr gives you an amazing variety of themes which are all free, however there are premium themes that cost around $8-$12.
  • You can customise your theme however you like with fonts, colour, size to the amounts columns you want. If you’re wiz at coding and using HTML like the geniuses at Orion Creative, then you can take it a step further and do some extreme customising.
  • This is where you start posting some content. You can post whatever your heart desires, there is no limit to what you can post on tumblr. Just make sure your followers are not looking at blocks of texts, because that will lose you viewers’ attention.
  • Now it’s time to start following other blogs that are similar to yours or even look at blogs that have nothing to do with your business, because those blog can be a source of inspiration for any projects.
  • All you have to do now is share your tumblr blog over every social media site you know and let the world know you’ve arrived on tumblr.
  • You’re done! You officially have a tumblr blog *the crowd cheers*

If a 16 year old can become “tumblr famous” by just posting uber cool and super posed pictures of themselves, I’m pretty sure you can make your company “tumblr famous” too. I hope my tips somehow helped you, but just remember all you need to do is follow the right people and make your post eye-catching and creative. Good luck and don’t forget, world domination!

All images from tumblr