I’m just crazy about Tumblr. The expression of a ”lifestream” in imagery and minimal text is both poetic and powerful – and it speaks to me. This wasn’t always the case, though. When Tumblr began to get buzz in 2009, I dismissed it as a platform for kids. All that changed in 2011 when J.Crew and Barack Obama launched Tumblrs. (I get a lot of ideas from Obama’s digital strategy, which is probably a blog post of its own.) That’s when I got the itch to use Tumblr in a legal marketing context.
Summer Associate Tumblr
I finally got my chance this year with my firm’s newly launched legal recruiting blog (see accompanying photo).
What is Tumblr? If Twitter and Pinterest had a baby dressed in WordPress themes, that would be Tumblr. It’s a quick blogging platform that combines text, imagery and social sharing to create a unique and engaging experience for bloggers and their followers.
Half of Tumblr’s visitor base is under the age of 25. On Quora, Dan Goodswen gives a pretty good breakdown of the demographics of Tumblr, ending with this claim:
Tumblr has an unchallenged dominance among the youth demographic, meaning advertisers and brands should finally sit up and take note – Tumblr is the future.
I think he’s onto something. As more and more people my age get Facebook fatigue, they are looking for other social channels on which to express themselves and connect – without the baggage of family and childhood friends to impinge on the fun. (Probably another blog post!)
As far as I can tell, Tumblr is not widely used in legal marketing, nor has it been widely discussed, suprising at a time when the legal marketing buzz is all about Pinterest, another platform that relies on visuals. Personally, I think Tumblr has a lot more potential as a legal marketing channel, especially when targeting recruits, or practices that focus on highly visual industries, such as art, fashion, music or travel. And it has some pretty impressive growth stats.
So, with this blog post, I want to introduce you to Tumblr, and give you a few ideas plus a few takeaways from my recent Tumblr launch. Continue reading to see how the Tumblr sausage gets made.
But first, a disclaimer:
