Email: A Few Thoughts on Tumblr

The following is the body (excluding names and specific details) of an email to a few colleagues on the rise, win, fail, and how-to of Tumblr. This is an off-the-cuff communication and hasn’t been copy or line edited. The following is simply a few thoughts to friends about Tumblr:

Hey dudes -

Since May - but really since August - I’ve been thinking about/using Tumblr in a few targeted ways. Talking w ____ about it over the summer got me thinking about a few things, testing a few other things, and talking to some people. The past few months - obviously - this thing has been on the ascendency - they have major problems, but with $25 mil & a buck twenty-five valuation they have major WIN too. I see Tumblr really as MySpace 2.0 + content stream (at least in much of the demographics and front end). So maybe MySpace + Twitter real time + Facebook content. But they have an eye on Wordpress.com, identity server, platform, and CMS. And they now they have the funding to achieve this. So a publishing system (the Theme/front end) with built-in distribution (the Dashboard).

The Win:

The Emphasis on content

The Amalgamation of a built-in content stream + front end ‘website’

The Speed

The Community

The Team

The Fail:

The Stability

The Porn

Poor media/content management

The alleged (and oft discussed) Poor SEO

How to Succeed:

Because this is a small but growing platform, early influence can be leveraged for long-term success. I’ve managed to leverage a pretty simple formula to gain followers and minor influence (and direct value! Tumblr is work but it’s also a ton of fun.)

So start with a blank slate account

Brand it

Buy a pro theme - the themes by Jonathan Moore are great

Customize your theme and add some content

Follow friends and accounts of people you know and care about - let them know you’re on the system

Just like Twitter, blah blah blah there are influencers within the system - follow them and say ‘hi’

Find good content from your friends - like and reblog it

Go to the directory and pick up to 3 categories

Follow the recommended accounts

Then follow the people who bought stickers recommended blog - these are the most engaged and interesting users

Discover, Like, and ReBlog good content in your subject areas - stay tight and focused on a few topics

Pictures work really well - video works well - links work well - long form not so well but can be integrated tightly with Instapaper

Every Tuesday email a few close friends and ask them the ‘Recommend’ you in one specific category for Tumblr Tuesday - have them buy a sticker

Accumulate followers and post good content - be cool for 1-4 weeks

As soon as you hit 200 followers you are elegible to be ‘featured’ (really an ad at the top of a directory category) for $9-19 - do this for two weeks

Repeat