Creating and Sharing Valuable Content on Tumblr

November 11, 2011 By Chris Vaughn 1 Comment

This is Part 3 in a series introducing and discussing Tumblr and how it applies in our social media efforts. See part 1 here and part 2 here.

When I left you last, I had just finished the basic design of DigitalSherpa’s Tumblr page and was looking forward to creating and sharing content in the hopes of reaching new audiences.

I’ve since made some changes to the look of the blog (one of the great joys of Tumblr is the control over the design of your page, you’ll find yourself tweaking it constantly). Now that I’ve met the design standards I created, it’s time to set forth and delve in to the content arena of Tumblr. (That is the whole point, right?)

What to Post

Posting on Tumblr won’t be that different from posting on your other blogs or social sites. You’ll want to stay consistent with the voice and reach of your bramd.

Tumblr is different in the following ways:

Multimedia: Tumblr is built and designed in a way that makes videos/pictures/slideshows all the more engaging. You might create a blog post on your website full of valuable copy and data, but when you go to repurpose that on Tumblr you might want to use a compelling or engaging graphic as the centerpiece. Be creative on Tumblr.
Curate: The ‘Reblog’ feature on Tumblr makes it very easy to share all the valuable content you find on Tumblr. It also makes other bloggers and their readers aware of your generosity, and might lend you their ears.
Have an Opinion: Tumblr has a reputation for initializing a lot of discussion, from topics like ‘how to cook _____‘ all the way to ‘What is Occupy Wall Street?’ When you curate other content, use that opportunity to embed your own opinion or voice along with the share. This will engage the original blogger’s readers as well as yours.
Quotes: Tumblr features a really neat option that you won’t see anywhere else. And this is the ability to ‘quote’ others. It’s a simple way to begin the day or make a simple post, the the Tumblr interface is built so that this quoting feature is really effective.

How to Post

Tag, tag, tag: You’ll know what I mean once you start exploring Tumblr. This is how you assign ‘categories’ to your content, and it’s how people on Tumblr search. Tag extensively, but keep it relevant. (People won’t like you if you tag a post about ‘Kitchen Renovation’ with ‘NFL Teams’.) But use as many keywords and search-friendly. The easiest way of doing this is to imagine what you’d search for with your post in mind.
Link Creation: You’ll want to fill your content with links, not just to your website and other social sites, but to other blogs or people in your network. Each time your post is ‘reblogged’ it will carry these links with them. (Also remember to link back to your own Tumblr when you can, in the case that your content becomes far removed from your own blog after multiple shares)
Comment Engagement: Tumblr has a reputation for being a place people go to learn and discuss. End your posts or reblogs with questions designed to initiate discussion with your readers.

——————————————————————

Time to practice what I preach. I’m going to post two pieces of content right now to begin my Tumblr journey.

I’ll begin with a quote. I want to choose something that sets the stage for our brand philosophy as well as something that relays the right message effectively to new readers. (Which is 0 as of now, so we have to start strong)

From my Tumblr dashboard, I click on the option to post a quote, and I’ve chosen:

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.”

- Benjamin Franklin

It’s succinct and relays a message that’s appropriate to business bloggers and one that mirrors an ideal my brand holds in its marketing efforts.

Now, I want to publish my first (substantial) blog post. I’ll choose the first blog of this series (introducing Tumblr) as it’s appropriate and might drive a couple readers to my blog I otherwise would not have found. This will allow me to link to my original content, provide a new graphic or two, and give some commentary and experiment with tagging.

So, I go to my Tumblr dashboard and choose to post a ‘Link’. I provide the URL and title and notice some fields to enter a description (where I can insert images and such, you’ll notice a toolbar very familiar to any blogging platform).

When all said and done, I now have an official DigitalSherpa Tumblr with two posts and am well on my way to creating another branch and forum for engagements and (hopefully) new prospects!

In the next and final post, I’ll close up with some data to completely convince you to give this exciting social network a try, as well as provide you with some links of some awesome Tumblr blogs that you might enjoy.