elneco: Tumblr Becomes the 4th Place for Brands

Tumblr Becomes the 4th Place for Brands:

I just spent the last hour browsing my dashboard in Tumblr,
“hearting” many posts and reblogging a couple that live up to what I am trying
to publish in my Tumblr. I follow artists, designers, comic book artists, architects,
map enthusiasts, photographers of empty spaces and much more. For me, it’s about inspiration. And pausing
from the frenetic pace and tension of my life to remember what I care about
deeply.

"EVENT: Don't miss my interview this week with Tumblr founder, David Karp.
A Conversation with David Karp, Founder of Tumblr: Brands Connecting Inside the Index of Passions -- Ogilvy & Mather Theater NYC February 20 -Time: 10:30am – 11:30am
Join us as for a candid conversation with David Karp who has created one of the fastest growing communities of people sharing what they care about most. How can brands participate in Tumblr with meaningful brand or business impact and how do we do it without spoiling the beauty of Tumblr? Join Social@Ogilvy’s John Bell as he asks David Karp about his vision for brands and Tumblr."

Tumblr is a place of passions, things we care about. Sure,
it’s about “creators” but a broad, generous definition of creativity. As such
it’s a network of people who care about the affinity that draws them there.
Many brands are more than experimenting with the site. You
can browse some of the brand pages via the Brands on Tumblr page. The
advantages are clear:

Tumblr hosts interest and passion-driven content through the
personalized dashboard
Connecting with relevant microcommunities will become
essential for brands in the next phase of data-driven social media marketing
Tumblr pages are indexed by Google and enhance a brand’s
discoverability
They can be masked within a brand domain and therefore be
part of the corporate domain
The network of 150 million, highly engaged users has
appreciable reach and a built-in social behavior - reblogging
The simplicity of the platform supports brand ambitions to
embrace content marketing
They visual design of the service lends itself to visual
expression and emotion
There are some simple advertising solutions – two – that
help brands be discovered

The 4^th Place
If Facebook is the key social network that brands want to
master due to its broad global reach, Twitter is likely number two due to broad
global relevance, it’s influencer status and suitability for service brand
care. YouTube comes in next as the defacto platform for serving up video inside
the world’s #2 search engine.
Pinterest? Instagram? Tumblr stands a better chance at
earning the 4^th place position in social brand architecture for
companies who know they need a searchable content place and who want to be
inside a network of passions.
There are over 93 million Tumblrs (Tumblr blogs), users
average 23 minutes on the platform per session and they clock 18 billion page
views a month. It’s got reach and engagement. (Get some strong stats here)
Many arts-related brands have made a home here. Fashion
brands are a strong niche.

Burberry: they established the Art of the Trench, the
emotional “home” of the brand and are asking people to submit their photos of
their ‘trench.’

Chanel: they keep it simple and post images that people can
lust after and reblog

Dolce & Gabbana: An endless flow of fashion covers and
spreads ready for reblogging and ‘hearting.’

Tory Burch: Torypedia is personal and luscious. Big, rebloggable
pictures which si just what we want from fashion

Urban Outfitters: their pages start with the UP Community
which aggregates a growing collection of pages that tie seamlessly into the
ecommerce site. Check out the Swim Look Book in their site. Now check out the
Tumblr.

Not just Fashion
Now is the time to explore in Tumblr. Brands like Ford, IBM, Amex and others are exploring how to use great content within this interest community.

The Lincoln Motor Company: our team did this work and
created a poetic and beautiful site for Lincoln that taps the heritage of the
brand.

Beautiful Creatures, the Movie: Hollywood embraces Tumblr as
the platform of choice for new releases. Think about all those wasted dollars
creating the Flash sites of yesteryear.

Coca Cola: the brand that embraced content marketing (see
Content 2020) brings you a tumblr full of shareable images and gifs

Whole Foods: the Dark Rye Tumblr aggregates "pioneers of unconventional ideas..." thus building on the brand story of Whole Foods as a disrupter.

I know the guys/gals at Tumblr and have a lot of faith in
their plans. They are embracing brands while staying committed to their
original vision of a platform for creative-types. They have created an index of
passions in my own words. That means emotion is part of what you will find
there and as brands re-embrace the power of emotion and, perhaps, how to create
great brand experience in a social world, Tumblr is the place to do that. They are innovating and working with brands now. That's why our team participates on their A-List and produces Tumblr-based ideas for Ford, IBM and other brands.
Facebook and Twitter serve to point to other content. Tumblr
is content.
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