December 2018 update: New Tumblr account for Paula Writes
I’ve been focusing more than usual upon Tumblr of late, so thought that I would build upon the information given in my Social Media for Writers post.
But, before we get into Tumblr for writers…
Google Plus
Thank you for the positive feedback and interest, that my recent post about Google Plus received. I am fully invested in this network right now, becoming more active, and improving the quality of my content. I have created more Collections, and am adding to some of my key Collections, as and when, instead of just letting them sit there.
January 2019 update: See my post from October 2018, about the planned closure of Google Plus.
Now, back on topic…
Tumblr: Is it a social media site, or a blogging platform?
Honestly, the answer is both. Tumblr is Tumblr, pretty much. Part of getting it, lies in using it. But it does fall somewhere between being a social media platform, and a blog hosting site. Understanding this is important, because it affects how Tumblr works, and how we should approach using the site, if we would like to make it part of our author platform.
Hashtags are effective on Tumblr, for increasing your reach.
As I mentioned in my Social Media for Writers post, I personally use 2 to 4 hashtags per post. The general ones that I recommend for writers are: #writing, #amwriting, #prose, #poetry, and #lit.
I use queues.
It’s kind of scheduling, except that you don’t have to specifically choose the times for each individual post to be sent. Tumblr takes care of this.
You need to set the systems in place, and let Tumblr know how many posts per day you would like to share, and between which hours. Tumblr will then space them out, and distribute them, within your specified time frame.
When you want to queue a new post, simply use the “drop down” menu, on the button that you would click on to post in real time, and select “Queue”, instead of “Post”.
If you can manage to do so, having between 10 and 30 posts sent daily will help your Tumblr following to grow. Simply decrease the frequency, during periods when you’re unable to maintain this level of activity.
Reblogs – which is what shares are known as on Tumblr – can be included in your queues.
The maximum number of posts that can be held in a queue, at any one time, is 300.
So, content: what to post on Tumblr.
Poetry, and inspirational and writing quotes, tend to be popular, and I focus primarily on these, personally. Links are less so. Don’t expect much traffic to your blog, from links shared on Tumblr. Some of this comes back to the fact that many people are actually using Tumblr as a blogging platform, in its own right. In that way, it might come across as equivalent to going on to a WordPress blog, and telling people to check out your site on Wix or Blogger instead. That said, you occasionally can encourage Tumblr followers to visit external links, and I currently do post links to this blog, on my Tumblr page.
Research Tumblr SEO.
This is a new area to me, and I certainly intend to learn more. A major advantage to the fact that many people are using Tumblr for blogging purposes, is that they then become interested in SEO. In truth, SEO for Tumblr blogs is never likely to compare with SEO for sites on WordPress, or even Blogger. However, there are always strategies for improving SEO rankings, and this applies to Tumblr. Google “Tumblr SEO”, and you’ll find some excellent resources, to build upon what I’ve merely mentioned, in this post.
I hope that this advice will be useful, if you’re hoping to use Tumblr, as part of your author platform. It’s a fun site, and very visual. If you enjoy Tumblr, it’s a great place to connect with other writers.
You’re welcome to follow me on Tumblr, or any of my other social media sites.
If you’ve benefited from this post, or/and know others who could, please consider sharing it, on any of your own social media platforms. I deeply appreciate your support, and sharing my posts, in this way, really helps me out.
Also, I have a posts about Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for writers, which might be of interest.
Paula Writes 