How to market your way into a better post!
Time to time again, Tumblr just STUMPS me with how bad they are at marketing their own stuff.
Not as in ''selling it'' literally, but as in ''getting attention''. They forget TARGET AUDIENCE ALL THE TIME, while you can add the simplest steps to even a normal post to market it right!
Links! Are! Crucial!
Take, for example, @seitosokusha, who is a master at basic marketing of her au's. Let me get a random AU post from her to show you what I mean: Made of Sea and Stars hcs
At the bottom of the post, she ALWAYS posts a link to the AU tag it belongs to, so if people like it, they can go to the place where MORE of that content is. This is the perfect move, because if the people who read it got to the bottom of it, they are DEFINITELY the target audience, who most likely would like to read more.
MARKETED!
This strategy is not only applicable to things like AU’s and headcanons, but also to almost any other kind of post! For example, a while ago I did nearly daily simple KHR edits, which I marketed in the same way: KHR Manga Edits
Want to get more asks for an ask meme?
Do as @adelmortescryche often does for an ask meme! The same strategy, as can be seen here: One Piece Eleven Supernova Crew AU Please.
(Fic) Rec posts, how to make them work!
For the same reason, I don't understand why ANYBODY making fic rec posts, doesn't take a freaking SECOND to look over each fic's author's profile to see if they've got a Tumblr.
If you @ them on the post, not only will they see it and probably be happier for it, they'll most likely reblog it as well. Seeing as this author wrote one of the fic on the rec posts, their followers are most likely part of the target audience for the other recs on the list as well.
An example: Altean Lance fic recs.
Viola! Target audience reached! Successful post, MARKETED!
Tumblr has a link option, PLEASE make use of it!
Presentation
Another thing when marketing, please remember: some types of posts can benefit greatly from some thought about what your target audience might want!
Let’s take fic rec posts again, because I actually have an example of those! Now, you might ask, some thought? Do you mean on what to rec? No, that’s not it. Any rec post will have a target audience, I’m talking about the way you PRESENT it to make it more approachable for that audience! Take a look at one of my fic rec posts:
(You can find the full post here: Altean Lance fic recs)
I quickly made some screenshots of the categories in which I put all my rec lists! Why do I do this, you might ask? Well, for the same reason as the ‘’You-Probably-Haven’t-Read-This-Yet’’ category is first! How many rec posts have you read in which the ones you already read where on top/all there was on the post?
By making that the first category, I made sure my more experienced readers within this genre knew I had some stuff that was most likely new- the thing they were actually reading the post FOR!
After that came the Fluff category- which is for fics that definitely deserve to be mentioned, but are more sweet/funny so the readers who are looking for that can find it quickly too, without having to scroll through the heavy fics.
And then, last but not least, some popular fic loving at the bottom! By placing this category last, I do not bother my more experienced readers, but DO recommend these beautiful pieces of work to the readers who ARE new to this genre and want to know what’s good!
Presentation is crucial with certain kinds of posts, so to make the best posts you can, this is definitely a factor to take into consideration!
Now please, go into the world and market away!
For more handy tutorials: OnceABlueMoonWrites Tutorials
