How to approach selling on the Tumblr platform.

2. THE TUMBLR OPPORTUNITY
120,000 signups
12 billion pageviews
7 million visitors
everyday.
Tumblr’s young audience has over $200 billion
in discretionary spending power.

3. BRANDS ON TUMBLR
Many brands use Tumblr to engage the 18-34 year old crowd that is very difficult
to reach any other way.
It’s working, Tumblr users are engaged. They spend more time per visit on Tumblr than
on any other social media site — even Facebook.

4. COMMERCE ON TUMBLR IS A MISSED OPPORTUNITY
Some aren’t sure how to approach social commerce, so they don’t.
Some display items for sale, but make you leave Tumblr to visit an external commerce
site, creating a complicated path that leads to abandonment.

5. WHAT MAKES SOCIAL COMMERCE SO HARD?
Selling in a personal space
The amount of information being processed
Selling without disrupting the social experience
Selling to an audience with a short attention span
Selling to an audience with a low tolerance for friction

6. WHY IS TUMBLR COMMERCE DIFFERENT?
Tumblr is about discovery, sharing, inspiration, and entertainment.
It’s focused on what you like rather than on friend, family, or professional updates so
commerce feels more natural.

7. MAKING TUMBLR COMMERCE WORK
Selling on Tumblr still has many of the challenges of social commerce.
For you to be successful, you must:

8. DOES TUMBLR + YOU = AWESOME?
Tumblr’s audience is young, cool, creative, and often irreverent. Do you have
an angle, a product line, a perspective that will appeal to them?
Niche tumblrs can be more interesting and attract a more specific audience.
Consider multiple blogs for different themes, product lines, or events.

9. GIVE THEM MORE THAN PRODUCT SHOTS
Show your inspiration and explain your process.
Show photos of your products in different environments.
Reblog other people’s take on your products.

10. KNOW YOUR FOLLOWERS AND KEEP THEM HAPPY
Quality of followers matters much more than quantity.
Influencers will introduce your posts to lots of new people.
True brand advocates care about your brand and will champion
it in any way they can.
Treat them well — give them access to exclusive products and offers.

11. SOCIAL MOVES FAST
There’s not a lot of decision-making time so products should require little
or no research from customers.
Products need an I-have-to-have-it factor: limited supply, limited edition.
The best thing to sell on Tumblr is something you can’t get anywhere else.

12. DO YOUR PRICES MAKE SENSE FOR SOCIAL?
Lower-priced items require less decision-making time.
Remember your audience when thinking about price point.
Offer special pricing just for your Tumblr audience.

13. NOTHING MOTIVATES LIKE A FLASH SALE
Consider 24-72 hour sales to get people to react quickly.
Try choosing one day per week to offer a product or a category of products: Thursday
Purse Day, T-shirt Tuesday, etc.
Brand the sales so your followers recognize the posts and look for them.

14. PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE
You need to connect with the right person at exactly the right time.
Use all your social channels and include a link back to your posts.
Post often to remind people and reach them at different points of their day.
Post the same product in different ways to attract different people.

15. DON’T BE SUBTLE
Let people know it’s for sale.
Post in a way that users will recognize as commerce posts and look for them.
Choose images that clearly show what you’re selling.

16. MAKE YOURSELF EASY TO FIND
Unlike most social posts, Tumblr posts come up in internet searches,
extending the life of your posts and expanding your reach.
Use tags, both broad and narrow, for the different ways people search.
Tumblr has recently improved its tag search to make it easier to find what
you’re looking for.

17. MAKE CHECKOUT EASY WITH BLKDOT
Tumblr users want to stay in Tumblr.
Let them check out with as little disruption to the experience as possible.
BlkDot is the only commerce platform that lets customers checkout from
your theme, their dashboard, and from Tumblr’s mobile apps.
Customers aren’t required to sign in or register.

18. Here’s how BlkDot works.