Tumblr (pronounced tum-bull-er) is a social blogging platform developed by David Karp in 2007.  The website has grown exponentially in the past couple years, becoming one of the fastest growing websites in the world.  At only four years old, Tumblr has become one of the top 25 most visited websites, does over 250 million page views a day, and at one point surpassed WordPress for number of blogs hosted, breaking the 20 million mark.  Tumblr’s users are also much more active than Twitter’s, with an 85% retention rate compared to Twitter’s 40%.  But Tumblr isn’t like other blogging platforms; it adds a social element that is central to its theme, making it a great blogging platform for marketers.  There’s a lot of hype over the young website, but is it right for your business? Let’s look a little deeper.



So, what exactly is Tumblr?

Tumblr functions like any other blog but differs on two major levels—its simplicity and its social element.   Tumblr is incredibly easy to use.  Users are able to choose from thousands of user-generated themes, making a 16 year-old’s blog look like a professional’s.  Users can post text, video, audio, ask questions, and more with just a couple clicks.  Often referred to as a micro-blogging platform because of the quick and easy posts often used.  This simplicity has allowed for low entry barriers, resulting in a flood of users of all demographics and psychographics.  This can be great for marketers, as their content is reaching a greater and more diverse audience.

But the simplicity comes with a downside; there is a limit to the customizability of the blog.  For large-scale, complex blogs, users may face some road blocks.  But for small to mid-sized businesses, Tumblr may be the perfect place to host your blog.  There is still a good deal of customizability, and HTML is supported to customize your blog in a manner that would satisfy the majority of users.

The social side to Tumblr is, in my opinion, one of the biggest advantages to marketers when using it as a blogging platform.  The dashboard functions like Facebook’s news feed, or Twitter’s Home Feed. Once users “follow” you, your posts appear in their dashboard. So users are essentially “opting-in” to see your content daily, much like an RSS feed. This provides marketers the advantage in that users don’t have to actively go to your website to view your content.  There is also the “re-blog” culture.  Re-blogging is similar to a “share” or a “re-tweet,” where users re-post your content, and is done often in the world of Tumblr.  Re-blogging allows for an incredibly fast dissemination of information.  This is great for marketers, as their post has the potential to reach a larger audience than they could have hoped, with no extra effort.  Tumblr also has an “Ask” function to facilitate engagement.  This allows you to ask your followers questions, as well as allows users to ask you questions, which you then have the option of posting on your blog.

OK, but is it SEO friendly?

Tumblr seems reasonably SEO friendly, though reviews are mixed.  You are allowed to use your own URL, and HTML can be utilized up to a point, but this is nothing new when considering other platforms. One plus is that back links are easily gained via the “re-blog” function, which posts a link to your page with every re-blog your post gets.  Though it’s worth mentioning there may be a duplicate content issue with this function, but we do not yet have a concrete answer to this question. Another potential downside is you are not allowed to access the meta data, as Tumblr automatically populates it, though many believe they do a very good job at it already.

So, should you use Tumblr as your blog?

It depends on the complexity of your blog, your target, and your expertise in creating web content.  We know Tumblr is great for reaching a large number of consumers and is incredibly easy to use.  So if you’re in B2C and need an easy and quick way to blog, Tumblr is for you.  But, if you are planning a complex blog that requires a high level of HTML and SEO capabilities, other platforms such as WordPress may be more appropriate.  Many large brands such as MTV, The Economist and Comedy Central have added Tumblr to its digital repertoire, but whether its right for you will take a bit of digging into what you’re trying to accomplish and if Tumblr can get you there.

Blog post provided by Adam Rachlitz. Adam interned at Location3 in the Summer of 2011, assisting on communications and marketing projects for the agency. Adam can be reached at @adamrachlitz.