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tumble, tumbling, tumbled

By Charlene Owen

Facebook, Multiply, and Twitter are social networking sites that have more or less established themselves able to skew towards marketing  ventures.  Almost all businesses have gone digitally social through them.  Unfortunately, not all realize that the internet is a big, big world with a lot more to offer — such as a deceivingly straightforward blog platform called Tumblr.

Here are a few facts: Tumblr is a cross between a blog and a social media site with a simple interface that makes it addicting and conducive to online pass-on readership.  Its blogging component is presented on the “dashboard,” which offers options to post text content, photos, quotes, links, chats, music and videos.

Sharing and networking is powered by the “follow” function, which allows you see posts of blogs you like on your dashboard, while the “reblog” function immediately allows others to share what you have posted on their respective Tumblrs.

Tumblr has more than 6 million users from all parts of the globe, and approximately 1.5 billion pageviews in a month.  That’s a big audience for anyone to tap – from established marketing firms to upstart creative groups.

Freelance writers and design groups such as Pencil Head Creative Studio have already taken their artistic know-how to the World Wide Web mainly to touch base with global markets.  It would be easy for a large company to conquer Tumblr by complex viral marketing schemes, but for people who write and design for a living, wouldn’t its almost indiscriminate sharing prowess be a tad bit frightening?

The answer is no.  Tumblr is in fact very conducive to freelance writers and designers.  Aside from the fact that it gives them a large playing field to market themselves in, it also protects the one thing that they hold very dear – copyright.

are you ready to tumble?!

Tumblr shows exactly from which blog the post has come from amidst all reposts, and though it is very easy to copy and paste content, it comes as a comfort that the platform has efforts to help freelance writers and designers fight plagiarism and copyright infringement.

Other interesting Tumblr Goodies are applications that sync the platform to your Facebook News Feed as well as to your Twitter account.  This can help in rounding up your online marketing efforts.  There are also applications for Iphones and Blackberry phones, as well as a third party application for Andriod phones for those times that you have to be on the go.  Site traffic can be measured via Google Analytics, which can be embedded on your Tumblr account.

Tumblr is indeed a good place to invest your time in, but remember: as in any social networking platform, it cannot replace having your own website or domain that you can call your home.  Tumblr is best used as a supplementary marketing tool for wide-range publicity, not as the end-all and be-all of your campaign.   Also remember that Tumblr has a great and active community which can either worship you or tear you to bits, so post discriminately and with taste.  Lastly, be creative.  You are showing more than 6 million people what you’ve got, after all.

So, are you ready to Tumble?

 

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