# Tumblr, can it work for you?



## 2wicky (Jul 21, 2009)

So when I first started with my store website I needed to incorporate a blog into it. I had some trouble with integration and started to try out alternatives. I decided on Tumblr because of the inherent networking aspect and was so surprised at how great it has been for building a base community around my brand.

First, I need to explain Tumblr. It is a very rich blogging tool but you have to understand that it is more of a image posting blog site than text or other medias. It supports everything (text, photo, mp3, video, quotes and stores on their side) but almost everyone just spams pictures on their blogs of their various interests. Most users use it as a personal blog and post images of what they like but the key to this system is that everything is connected socially, so if you post up an original picture that people like they can like it or re-blog it themselves and *do the marketing for you*. This is the key function for businesses as any product or brand photo you put out there that people re-blog or like spreads your stuff non-offensively, it builds a network around your image or post by your prospective customers. On the downside, the majority of Tumblr users is a set demographic with many 16-21 year olds (mainly girls) as their base. It also is a very NSFW site as a 3rd of most images are racy in content, this is due to the alt genre that teens are going nuts for currently (plugs, tats, models, etc.) so it may not fit into your brands demographic whatsoever. Make sure that your brand makes sense in this space if you are consider using it as a marketing tool.

Something to point out from my experience, I have not opened my store yet and have only been working on brand building for the past 2 months. I set-up a tumblr, themed it to my brand and included a link to my store. I then began posting up images and finding other tumblr users into my theme and began to build a culture around that imagery. As I began to post pictures (not of any of my product, just pics from my brands related culture) this allowed users also interested in it to follow me and get regular updates. Once I started releasing teaser shots from my 1st line of products all of these people started to re-blog my stuff and then their followers came and checked out my blog and store. In 2 months I have had 400+ followers and over 12,000 hits just to the blog. It has not translated to many hits to the store (as I am not promoting it openly until its open) but it definitely has helped me build my brand better than I have been doing on Facebook and Twitter. Again, make sure it is the right space for you before getting into it and also remember the general rule for social networking a business, be a human and not a bot, engage your customers as regular people and be ACTIVE.


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## TeesForChange (Jan 17, 2007)

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with Tumblr. I just opened an account yesterday and am looking forward to taking advantage of all that it offers!


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## dlystrgl (Feb 26, 2007)

I've been using it for close to a month now. Not sure how precise the demographics are, but all I have to say is Tumblr is a "marketer on a budget" Godsend!


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