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Professional Alert: Ignoring Tumblr isn’t a good idea

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Tumblr question

 

Honestly speaking, I joined Tumblr quite late – February 2014. I was a contestant in Firepole Online Marketing Scavenger Hunt. Tumblr was the platform for posting evidence of task completion.

As a non-online savvy business person, I had a steep learning curve while I figured out how to make videos, memes and tons of other stuff. Well worth the effort because I was a winner – 3rd place after 5 of us tied for 1st place and went through the death rounds. The more important fact is that I was hooked on Tumblr. You can read about the contest and results at Mirasee’s (formerly Firepole Marketing) website – The Great Online Marketing Scavenger Hunt 2014 Winners.

So I was surprised when researching one of my programs on job hunting using social media that none of the responses to my survey included Tumblr as a brand building or job hunting resource. LinkedIn ranked first and I wondered whether it was because my sample audience had not quite understood the power of this platform.

Whether you are a business person or a career professional, I don’t think Tumblr can be ignored although choosing to use or not to use it as a job search or marketing tool is a personal or professional decision.

 

The accountant in me says – give them the numbers to munch on.

So here are some facts – I’ve updated them to reflect the latest information as at March 2018

 

  • Tumblr was founded in New York City in February 2007
  • Yahoo purchased Tumblr for USD 1.1 billion in 2013
  • 550 million monthly users (December 2015)
  • 402.4  million blogs (February 2018)
  • 30.2 million daily posts (February 2018)
  • 69% of Tumblr users are Millennials
  • This platform is available in 18 languages

Source: By the numbers: 96 Amazing Tumblr Statistics & Facts  and Tumblr’s Press Information Page

 

Even more interesting is the fact that although Tumblr doesn’t feature in the top 3 in job surveys, young professionals straight out of college are using Tumblr in their job searches and there are businesses out there who also maintain a presence to connect with their customers.

Tumblr, like Pinterest and Twitter is a microblogging site that allows the user to share images, posts, videos, links and short text posts. If you aren’t into writing long posts and want an alternative to Blogger, WordPress and Wix, then this service can be customized as a professional blogging platform complete with choice of theme and visuals.

Although you can get your Tumblr posts indexed by Google, one caveat I must mention is that unlike traditional blogging platforms, Tumblr doesn’t have an option to leave comments so having a discussion can be difficult but your posts can be liked, reblogged (similar to a retweet or share) and you can engage in messaging.

There is a workaround the comments challenge by adding apps like Discus and guess what, Google Analytics: can be added into the code section of your Tumblr page to study website traffic and marketing initiatives.

You can also link your account to Twitter and share your content with your audience there. Use hashtags to enable extra visibility for you and your posts.

If you want a quick look at this site and its options, here’s a Slideshare presentation I had created for one of the challenges in the contest which is still relevant.

 

 

 

 

The Career Professional and Tumblr

Career professionals can use this site in many ways.

Professional job hunting site blogs and The Experts often recommend having your own website or blog and talk about WordPress.com, WordPress.org and even Blogger.

This requires an investment on outlay which can be avoided by setting up your blog on Tumblr to showcase your professional skills and talents.

Describe and highlight your career accomplishments and even position yourself as a thought leader through your posts if LinkedIn Publisher scares you or you want a different audience.

Even if you are not in the job search space, you can use this site to create and showcase your portfolio and professional views. Share your images and curate articles that are of relevance to your industry with your own comments like you do on LinkedIn. Use the media options to create an awesome portfolio.

 

Suggestion for job seeker using tumblr

 

 

The last time I checked, quite a few recruiters and career coaches were present on this platform and if you use hashtags related to job hunts like ‘hiring’ or ‘jobs’ you might just find something worth following up. Tumblr lists its own jobs too on its site: https://www.tumblr.com/jobs

Since this site is Google optimized and indexed, if you manage your account properly, your profile can appear in the top searches for your name and who knows, a potential employer might just stumble upon you and reach out.

 

7 Tips to Get the most out of your Tumblr Experience

As with other social media sites, there are some rules and etiquette to follow and if you decide to use this site for professional purposes, do visit their Terms and Conditions and rules and acquaint yourself with them. If you read my other posts in the social media category of my blog, you’ll get the general idea but there are a few that need a special mention.

Keep it professional – just like for Facebook you may decide to keep a personal and a professional profile, here too, maintain a professional account. You can always link the two but make sure that there is nothing in your personal account that can embarrass you or create the wrong impression on a recruiter or potential employer.

100% complete profile – complete your profile the way you would on LinkedIn. In other words, a professional profile photo, a suitable cover and if possible, claim your vanity url.

Be active – don’t let your blog stagnate. Keep it active and share your professional passion as if it were your own website. You never know who is watching even if they don’t press the Love button or reblog it.

Follow and interact – Follow professionals, thought leaders, brands and companies of interest to you and do interact.

Make sure you have an alternative email address or contact available in case someone wants to discuss a job with you outside of the platform.

Be respectful and courteous when sending or answering messages. Did I really have to say that? Well, if you see some of what goes on back at LinkedIn, you’ll understand.

Oh, and don’t spam!

 

WIFM for a small business owner or sole proprietor?

If the big brands are there, then why shouldn’t you? The way I see it, a business can never get enough visibility and we never know where we will get noticed.

For me the big eye opener was to learn from Sprout Social that in 2015 Nescafe became the first global brand to move all of its international and local sites to the Tumblr platform. The new global Nescafé Tumblr platform allows fans to share images, videos, GIFs and other coffee-related content.

You can find out more about how businesses are using this platform in their post Do People Still Use Tumblr for Business?

Back at Tumblr, it’s like getting Pinterest and Twitter all rolled into one. Visuals are always popular and you can tell your brand story, share links to your own website blog posts and generally reach out to a new audience.

Much of what I wrote for the career professional applies here as well.

Engage with visual content by with posts that are short but full of images.

You can connect with customers privately using the Messages option and enable the “Ask” feature to allow customers to ask your business questions. The choice of responding publicly or privately is at your discretion.

Just like Mirasee (formerly Firepole Marketing) ran their competition, you can use the “Submit” feature to run contests and get content from your followers and customers. You can approve content before it is published to your blog so the issue of spam is mitigated.

Use the right hashtags and post content specific to your target market and your audience and potential clients will find you.

For time managing multi-tasking business owners, what is better than being able to repurpose content to share and link with Facebook and Twitter so that your posts are seen on these platforms too?

So there in a nutshell, we have it! If your objective is to reach a younger demographic audience and the platform aligns with your marketing objective, have a shot at considering it as one more marketing tool for your business.

The only other thing you need to do is make sure that Google and the search engines can find you and index your blog. In the Settings section, make sure you check the box that says “Allow search engines to index your blog”. It doesn’t get simpler.

Your turn. Have you tried Tumblr? Do you have a presence there. If yes, do post a link to it in the comments box below and in the meantime, follow me at Tumblr by clicking on the image below. I go by the name of karmicallyours that I created for the competition and kept it because I loved it.

 

Vatsala Shukla Karmic Ally at Tumblr

 

 

 

 

Additional Job Searching Resource

Sharing an achievement and a resource with you if you are in presently in the process of job searching and need more than Tumblr. On February 28th 2016, I released my 5th Kindle book which looks at 5 Reasons your job hunt isn’t giving desired results and 10 Strategies to strengthen your game plan. Do have a look at it – there may be a strategy that can tweak your game. Did I tell you there are 2 free gifts in the Kindle book too?

 

 

 

 

10 Responses to “Professional Alert: Ignoring Tumblr isn’t a good idea”

  1. jayashree says:

    Hello Vatsala,
    Thats a nice post of tumblr. I have an account but not been regular, I think I need to be active here. Thanks dear

    • Karmic Ally says:

      Thanks Jayashree. I created it myself! I do see your recipes every now and then as well as posts from the Firepole Marketing Scavengers. So I guess we are all still there in our own way. 🙂

  2. Thank you so much for your reply. I need Just a bit more claification, if you’d be so kind. My goal in using Tumblr would be to get more eyes on our blog, get brand recognized & discover a new audience.
    So, Im stuck on the first step. When I publish my blog, do I share it to Tumble or go to tumblr & put the blog url in? In other words, You said share a link to blog post & I dont know where or exactly what this means, from my blog to Tumblr or visa versa.
    Again, thanks for sharing your wisdom, Roz

    • Karmic Ally says:

      You can do both Roslyn. Normally I share my blog post on Tumblr from the share button on my website and then because it is only the link that is shown with the title, I add a few words as well as an image and hashtags. Tumblr actually suggests popular hashtags to use when you start typing.

      You can also go into Tumblr and post the link using their link button and following the same procedure.

      You can also post upto 10 images with the post. I recommend playing around a little on that site. Some bloggers who have established websites actually use Tumblr to post content that might not fit in with their main blog but is creative and leads back to them with a link to their main website. Have a shot!

  3. Tamuria says:

    It was really interesting reading about Tumblr as I haven’t investigated it at all – so many platforms, so little time. It sounds easy to use and another great way to get your brand recognised.

    • Karmic Ally says:

      Hopefully this post on Tumblr has provided information as your starting point for research, Tamuria. Indeed Tumblr is a great way to get your brand recognised and discover a new audience.

  4. Kimberly says:

    Thanks for this! I have had a Tumblr account for a while and have never really been sure how to use it… I will start!

    • Karmic Ally says:

      Awesome Kimberly! Do come back and share your profile and experience with me.

  5. Posting blogs to Tumbler is a goal of ours and this is an awesome helpful explanation. I know to wait a few weeks to publish a blog to LI, so as not to confuse Google’s SEO tracking. Do you wait to post a blog on Tumblr or immediately upon publishing is good? Do people share your blogs on social media from Tumblr?

    • Karmic Ally says:

      Delighted to have provided helpful explanations, Roslyn. Tumblr is different from the other social media platforms and provides DoFollow links but I wouldn’t use it the way we use LinkedIn to republish our blog content as it can result in Google penalties since the set up is different and their blog is a real blog. A lot depends upon your goal for using Tumblr and how you intend to use it to bring traffic back to your website. The way some of my colleagues and I use it is to share a link to our blog post when we publish it and to share content that is visual and interesting. I’ve seen my posts loved and reblogged which is my goal for using Tumblr.

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