Get some Tumblr magic for your brand!
Tumblr is full of niche communities and subcultures that use their own dialects (including hyperbolic language, irony, or loose grammar) and resources such as reaction GIFs or clever Tumblr domain names. This may be intimidating at first, but it also means you can experiment until you find your voice on Tumblr.
“Understanding the network and audience you’re marketing to is crucial no matter where you are, but even more so on Tumblr, which has managed to maintain an ‘underground appeal’ to a lot of niche markets.”
For the last couple of years, Tumblr has done a rather solid job of assisting brands in getting started. Here are those 10 brands which did it right:-
Burberry
When Burberry launched Art of the Trench in 2009, a blog to get people to share their stories about their trench coats, it was seen as a bold move for a fashion company. Now, many of the players have their own blogs and Tumblrs, and Burberry has moved the Art of the Trench to Tumblr. The images on the Tumblr are of people in their Burberries, but scrolling over the image, you find the name of the person who took the picture, along with that person’s occupation, favorite musical artist and particular likes (as in architecture, design, pop culture). This gives an intimate feel to the brand, as these are people, just like us — and falls back into the theme of aspiration.
Calvin Klein
Sleek and sophisticated style with a dash of sexiness (it is Calvin Klein, after all) makes the blog oh-so visually mesmerizing.
A great example of how fashion brands can thrive on Tumblr, Calvin Klein has tapped into an already existing community of style enthusiasts and lifestyle-focused fashionistas who love and engage with the variety of content CK’s Tumblr has to offer. Behind the scenes exclusives, photos from the runway, sneak peeks of upcoming collections, and models during photo shoots, there’s your fabulous fashion blog. Ultimately, Calvin Klein uses Tumblr as means of building brand identity rather than a sales pitch opportunity.
Adidas Originals
A smooth and interactive Tumblr that highlights the products that the sportswear giant currently has available. Overall, this is a beautiful Tumblr that has a lot of features to explore, but most importantly, links customers back to the brand’s e-commerce site when they’re ready to enter their credit card numbers.
MTV
http://lookdifferentmtv.tumblr.com/post/163451335295/we-stand-with-transgender-people-today-and-every
MTV came in second according to ‘Simply Measured’s’ rankings, and seventh according to Union Metrics. This brand shows their understanding of the average Twitter consumer by posting photos and Gif sets from its shows that are extremely sharable. Their Tumblr also highlights users with a simple “people we <3” bar across the top of the page, which shows fans that their voices are being heard by MTV.
Comedy Central
Comedy Central was one of the first entertainment brands to embrace Tumblr. And, since the network is home to South Park, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Tosh.0, you can get your daily laugh fix via humours GIFS and updates.
Disney
http://disneypixar.tumblr.com/post/148248110539/food-is-the-universal-language
Disney grabs the attention of the young Tumblr users: the brand is witty, trendy and empathetic.
From photographs to movie stills, short GIFs and inspirational quotes, the magic of Disney comes alive on this uplifting page. The animation giant has such a wealth of wonderful graphics spanning their long history. Fans will be delighted Disney has chosen to share a selection of its best work on Tumblr.
Sesame Street
Who doesn’t love Sesame Street? The 43-year-old children’s television show taps into the Tumblr audience’s nostalgia bone. Clearly, the Sesame Street audience is not on Tumblr, but their parents are and so are all of us who grew up on Sesame Street. Whether it’s posting clips of the show, old-school images or even, yes, PSAs, the Sesame Street Tumblr does a great job of mixing in all sorts of Sesame Street-specific content. And, boy, do their posts get shared. The one below of Super Broccoli has 31,500 notes.
Nintendo
Nintendo decided to join the modern age and finally set up a Tumblr page for its company.The first post made by the company on Tumblr included an animated GIF from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past with a message stating that it is officially on Tumblr. It’s possible that Nintendo plans on increasing its appearances on social media, especially now that the company has announced Nintendo NX, its next major console, which promises to separate itself from the Wii and Wii U.
Sharpie
Sharpie uncaps what’s inside Tumblr’s artistic community with quirky, fun art.
With the huge artist community on Tumblr, it’s no surprise that Sharpie thrives there. In addition to posting original content Sharpie also succeeds on Tumblr because of how much they embrace fan art and promote artists. From reblogging to accepting submissions, Sharpie shows off all of their fans who post artwork made with Sharpies. This is a win-win because it gets fans and artists publicity while showcasing the quality of Sharpie’s markers and pens.
Sprite
http://sprite.tumblr.com/post/152736101235
Simply Measured cited Sprite as an especially good example of brand success on Tumblr. Sprite dominated the Tumblr scene with 85,541 reblogs (compared to 62,421 for MTV and just 17,074 for Disney, the two brands occupying the next highest spots). Most of these reblogs were attributed to a single post made before the study was conducted, but that post actually continued to gain reblogs during the study period. Sprite excels in their Tumblr presence because they provide many interactive, animated elements such as a spin the bottle game.
Coca-Cola
The soft giant has a fun and lighthearted Tumblr that celebrates the happier moments in life, which somehow also involve a refreshing Coca-Cola. Coke really goes above and beyond most other brands on Tumblr – particularly in the animated GIF department. Coke posts cute or funny image memes, speaks Tumblr’s language and reblogs fan photos of Coke products. You can definitely taste the feeling here!
If you have the right audience, it’s time for you to go all out. Take a pinch of inspiration from these brands, and build your brand strategy. Align it to your niche-audience and create a killer image!
