Since its introduction in early 2007, blogging platform Tumblr has played a modest role in the social media landscape. After the takeover by Yahoo last May, that changed. And recent research shows that more and more international brands are seizing the opportunities. Adoption by major brands in our country is still limited. A shame, if you consider the possibilities the platform has to strengthen the bond with your target group.
In motion
Tumblr is a very visual blogging platform with a generally young user base (18-34 years). Users share photos, videos and links, but also copy contributions from others and edit them: so-called reblogging . Profiles can be fully customized: where some users opt for the traditional look of a blog, others emphasize telling a story in (moving) images.
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In the first quarter of 2013, Tumblr had over 34 million active users (Source: Global Web Index).
Why leave Tumblr alone?
Of the top 100 most valuable brands in the world, 31 have a Tumblr account, which is mainly used in combination with Facebook and Twitter. The Netherlands has between 120,000 and 150,000 active users per day, compared to approximately 60,000 for Pinterest and 120,000 for Instagram . Users in our country are relatively active on Tumblr, which was reason for the platform to also introduce a Dutch version in 2012. Nevertheless, brands such as KLM, IKEA and De Efteling – very active on Facebook and Twitter, for example – still ignore Tumblr.
The power
And that's a shame when you consider the platform's advantages. Tumblr's strength south korea mobile phone number list lies in its ability to share much more interactive content. In addition, its user base is generally very involved. In the US, Tumblr is the second largest social media platform after Facebook, and in the Netherlands it occupies fifth place , behind Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Hyves respectively. Pinterest may have a higher adoption rate in the Netherlands, but its active use is significantly lower. In addition, it does not offer the option to place moving images.
It is also interesting to see that Facebook's user base is getting older, while Tumblr has a whopping 65 percent of its users between 18 and 34. This is an opportunity for brands that (also) target young people.
Another thing that makes Tumblr so appealing is that reblogs create long-term engagement. Existing content is reposted over and over again, and a third of reblogs occur more than 30 days after the original post. A good example of this is Sprite's "spin the bottle" post , which generated a lot of engagement several times after it was posted. This shows that posts on the network can achieve a much higher (and longer-lasting) virality than posts on Facebook and Twitter. So there can be a lot of payoff in subtly branding your content.
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Simple yet effective, Sprite's spin the bottle post continues to generate engagement even after two months.