Tumblr and Social Storytelling: Mix it up!
WASHINGTON, DC—Mark Coatney, Tumblr’s media director, led a #SMWWDC discussion for “Social Storytelling Q +A”. The event was moderated by Helen Nowicka, Porter Novelli’s Executive Vice President of Digital. Gather event and conversation highlights at #smwpntumblr.
Mark Coatney says that, “Tumblr is closer to storytelling in a room full of people as opposed to a broadcast storytelling.” Adding life to your story via social media, i.e., social storytelling, is important when building a community around your initiatives.
Initiatives, along with impact, are important to D.C.-based organizations. We are surrounded by government(s), think tanks, advocacy groups, non-profits, and social enterprise startups; and it can be a challenge to create an effective social media action plan when working on multiple, large concepts.
“With 80 million blogs, more than 160 million users worldwide and a committed young audience (average age: 24, core user: 17), Tumblr has a distinctive position in the social landscape that emphasizes engagement and authenticity, qualities these Millennials value. Succeeding on Tumblr involves commitment and an understanding of the visual lexicon this audience expects: infographics, images and animated .gifs.” —Helen Nowicka, February 25, 2013, Porter Novelli
How can organizations share messages/stories in innovative ways?
Coatney answered, “Don’t just push out information; engage in the message with your audience.” The discussion focused on using Tumblr as a community platform; not a static content platform. Telling your story, or sharing your message, by expressing your ideas and thoughts isn’t enough; learning and about and engaging in your community is more important. Note: If your organization is thinking about incorporating Tumblr, it links back to facebook and Twitter; you can customize it to tie into your other platforms.
What are ways to add your audience to your narrative, to make them care about your organization?
Coatney discussed some good examples of this; one being how the Obama campaign used Tumblr as a (more casual) two-way communication platform, creating connections with their followers. They also used the “Ask Me Anything” feature, which is a great way to make your organization more approachable. And, being a good listener in your community will raise your likability factor!
Tumblr’s platform allows for real time, responsive storytelling—adapting and adding to the narrative of your community—by adding a human element of collaboration and discussion.
“It’s all about collaboration, learning, and sharing ideas and information.”
How do you measure success on Tumblr?
Coatney mentioned various ways to measure impact. Ask, “Is there engagement and chatter going on?”, “Is your content being shared on multiple platforms?” An active audience, no matter how many followers, is more important than having a passive absorption of your content.
In social storytelling, measures of engagement with your audience is what matters, not number of followers, etc. For Tumblr, the number of reblogs is more important than raw followers.
One on one chat highlights
Coatney listed his favorite D.C.-based Tumblr accounts: Pew Research Center (they use infographics to spread their messages; it’s a great way to highlight information/data if you don’t have photographs.), The Heritage Foundation, American University, National Archives, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Peace Corps.
We also discussed how a narrative thread on Tumblr can take on many forms (e.g. a mixed bag of photographs, infographics, and text), which aids in your audience engagement. He said, “Tumblr is all about ‘dashboard serendipity’; two posts can speak to each other.” He wishes more people would use the side call-in feature, when you’re “just out on the street and have something to say” to add an audio element to your social storytelling approach.
It’s all about mixing it up on Tumblr!
Read more about how you can use Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/tips + www.tumblr.com/themes .
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