How Nike, Lucky Charms and JCPenney are winning on Tumblr
Brands such as Nike, Lucky Charms and JCPenney crushed it on Tumblr in 2015 with sponsored posts that drew significant engagement by pairing visually appealing imagery with humorous copy ? both unflinchingly brief.
Tumblr recently named its top sponsored posts of 2015 in an entertaining gallery of striking images, funny 30-second videos and clever taglines.Brands are embracing Tumblr even though it has a relatively small user base compared to other social networks because of its strong storytelling capabilities.
?When creative teams are building out ads for each channel it is tempting to repurpose the same creative for each place you are going to advertise on,? said Shuli Lowy, marketing director for mobile at Ping Mobile. ?However, in doing so, marketers can easily loose sight of the context in which the ad is placed in ? which is imperative to an ad?s success.
?The top Tubmlr sponsored posts take into consideration the context in which the ads are being viewed ? making the ads far more successful,? she said.
?Brands that are building a strong presence on Tumblr are taking a mobile-first approach, understanding that a substantial portion of their content is consumed on a mobile device. Many of the top posts incorporate best practices for mobile.?
Tumblr is a Yahoo-owned microblogging site that is popular with many younger consumers and mobile-savvy millennials.
The right notes
One of the most popular sponsored posts comes from Nike and is an inspirational video for women interested in exercising but slowed down by their own self-judgment. It drew 115,074 notes, indicating the number of times it was either liked or reblogged by another user.
Lucky Charms makes the list with a colorful image of a rainbow of marshmallow shapes flow out of a box, drawing 110,902 notes.
JCPenney wins with a simple teal and white image covered by a simple message: ?Smile, happiness looks gorgeous on you.? The effort tallied up 70,942 notes.
DiGorno connected with users via a GIF showing a cooked pizza getting sliced and a pun that reads: ?Take it slice and cheesy." It earned 60,541 noties.
?Most of the videos are limited to 30 seconds or 1 minute,? Ms. Lowy said. ?Short videos are ideal for mobile consumption and make a video far more likely to be viewed and completed.
?The posts also incorporate crisp, beautiful imagery with short, witty phrases,? she said. ?These are key elements for catching a consumer?s attention in a native browsing experience and also make the content fit right in with other posts readers are encountering on Tumblr.?
Spiffy GIFs
Savvy marketers know that GIFs can be a great way to connect with mobile users, especially on social sites.
GIFs are playful looping animations that do not require a lot of production time, meaning brands can get a message out quickly.
The use of GIFs on social has been growing over the past 12 to 18 months.
?Consumers are more likely to engage with sponsored content when it fits in with the content around it,? Ms. Lowy said. ?Many of the posts go a step further and incorporate GIFs.
?GIFs are a Tumblr specialty and the content platform has made a particular efforts to push GIF usage amongst advertisers this year,? she said.
Above all else, the most popular sponsored posts on Tumblr reflect how when brands take the time to align their content with the platform, success often follows.
?Understanding the context of an ad not only empowers marketers to create content that interests users but it also empowers marketers to choose optimal creative unit sizes,? Ms. Lowy said.
?While Tumblr supports horizontally elongated images, astute marketers understand that consumers engage with the content through a vertical scroll,? she said. ?That means that a square or vertically elongated image will provide more digital real estate with which to engage the user.?
Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York