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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 coach, 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 – 3^rd place after 5 of us tied for 1^st 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.

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 businessperson 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 numbers to munch on.

So here are some facts – I’ve updated them to reflect the latest information as at April 2024

• Tumblr was founded in New York City in February 2007
• Yahoo purchased Tumblr for USD 1.1 billion in 2013
• Yahoo sold Tumblr to Automattic, the company behind WordPress in 2019 for USD 3 million
• 437 million monthly users (2019)
• 536 million blogs (October 2021)
• 11.7 million daily posts (July 2021)
• 69% of Tumblr users are Millennials
• 48% of active users are Gen Z
• This platform is available in 18 languages

Source: Tumblr Statistics and User Count for 2024  and Tumblr’s Press Information Page

An even more interesting fact I found about Tumblr 

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. There are also 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 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, there is one caveat

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.

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 investing 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. 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.

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. 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.

When you decide to use this site for professional purposes, 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. Make sure there’s nothing embarrassing in your personal account 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. 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. 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. In the meantime, follow me at Tumblr by clicking on the image below. I go by the name of karmicallyours .I created it for the competition and kept it because I loved it.

Additional Job Searching Resource

Here’s a resource 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, 5 Reasons your job hunt isn’t giving desired results and 10 Strategies to strengthen your game plan.

Check it out – there may be a strategy that can tweak your game. Did I tell you there are 2 free gifts in the Kindle book too?