I thought I'd write something up about tumblr and how to use it because people often find it very confusing to begin with. But I think it's a great promotional tool and personally better than something like Twitter because it's so visual. After all, we want to grab people's attention with all the pretty things we have to sell, don't we?
What is it?
Tumblr is a micro blogging platform. People usually make short posts of either simply pictures, music, videos, links to articles, etc, but you can post longer text posts if you wish. Once you find some blogs you like, you follow them and their posts appear on your dashboard. From your dashboard you can like a person's post, reply to it, or reblog it on to your own blog. Reblogging is how things go viral, and with any luck you will have something people love and want to share with everyone else!
Each post has an option to add tags, and to add a source. So you can tag your item posts with things it may be (ie: jewelry, vintage... many of us use etsy as a tag too), and put the link to the item in the source, so that when people click onthe image it goes to your listing.
Like with other social media, the key is to not have it be all about your store. Post up things that inspire you, reply or reblog other people's works. This will get people interested in you, and you start to build a following.
How to get started
Once you've created your account, you want to work on your page. click on your blog's name at the top of the page next to dashboard, and then click on customize appearance. There you can pick themes, add a title and description about yourself and your blog, and a link to your etsy store if you wish. You can also add the code from etsy mini under that to add that to your store.
Then you can go back to your dashboard and start posting! If you look on the right hand side there is a search tags button. There you can search for posts of things you might like. If you click on the person's username, it will take you to their blog, and you can follow them from there (there will be a follow button in the corner of the page).
And Finally:
I'm sure it goes without saying, but it's good etiquette to credit. If you find some amazing picture, or link somewhere, let people know who made it or where it came from! We'd all like the same to be done for our own creations after all.
And to help get you started, here are some pages you might want to follow: (warning, some of these may be not safe for work)
Vintage, Old Hollywood, and Fashion History:
http://valentinovamp.tumblr.com/http://blackandwtf.tumblr.com/http://fripperiesandfobs.tumblr.com/http://remembertheladies.tumblr.com/http://1940to1949.tumblr.com/http://ornamentedbeing.tumblr.com/http://forties-fifties-sixties-love.tumblr.com/http://fymeninolduniforms.tumblr.com/http://ofanotherfashion.tumblr.com/http://hatsfromhistory.tumblr.com/http://the-vintage-dress.tumblr.com/http://fuckyeah60sfashion.tumblr.com/http://omgthatdress.tumblr.com/http://defunctfashion.tumblr.com/http://vintageladies.tumblr.com/http://myvintagevogue.tumblr.com/http://oldhollywood.tumblr.com/Modern Fashion:
http://thechicdepartment.tumblr.com/http://miahanamura.tumblr.com/http://todaystie.tumblr.com/http://thecuttingclass.com/http://fashionblind.tumblr.com/http://hauteavenueparis.tumblr.com/Art:
http://theworldwelivein.tumblr.com/http://silent-musings.tumblr.com/http://the-art-of-romance.tumblr.com/http://harmboss.tumblr.com/http://malebeautyinart.tumblr.com/http://kunstlerromance.tumblr.com/A bit of everything:
http://yukidoll.tumblr.com/http://authenticfauxhemian.tumblr.com/http://my-ear-trumpet.tumblr.com/http://decembered.tumblr.com/http://welldressedfortheapocalypse.tumblr.com/http://suicideblonde.tumblr.com/http://sanguinesangha.tumblr.com/Hope that wasn't too overwhelming. And if you make a tumblr account, or you already have one, let me know and I'll follow you. :) Mine is kawaiimon.tumblr.com
