Welcome to another week of this mini-series within a series. We’ve talked about Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Let’s move on to another choice in spreading the word about your smutty writing – Tumblr!
But first, an update!
When we discussed Facebook and advertising as a sex blogger or erotic author, I mentioned that I would try to boost a blog post through my Facebook page. Well, hell, I did – for one of the podcast episodes and it worked. I didn’t even create a new post for it. I took the one that was auto-generated when the blog post published and simply boosted it. The Facebook gods allowed it. So keep trying to boost posts and find out what works best for you.
Okay, on to Tumblr.
Tumblr is it’s own animal. It seems you’re either there for the porn and erotica or you’re there for cat pictures and gifs. (Some of us are there for both.) As an author or a blogger, you can use it to promote yourself, but if that’s all you’re doing in the space, you’ll have an uphill climb. For those who haven’t considered it before, Tumblr may be worth another look.
Nudity is Good
Well, nudity is good if that’s your thing, but Tumblr is a little bit of the Wild West of social media. They’re happy to let you share dick pics, double penetration, blatant masturbation, and squirting, so much squirting. Their rule about it is simple.
If you’re going to share that kind of material, mark your account as NSFW in the settings.
Share what you want but don’t pretend you’re something you’re not. Now, yes, there are downsides to being marked NSFW. Your Tumblr won’t show up in searches, for instance. But if you build an audience with good content, it won’t really matter. You will be found.
Don’t Spam
Y’all, like every other social media site on the planet, the key to success is to share more than your own stuff. When someone comes across your page, they shouldn’t see post after post of the same book cover, the same request to read your post or visit your site, or whatever you’re promoting that day.
That much self-promotion is spammy. Don’t be a spammer.
Instead, decide what you want to be known for (BDSM smut, porn, black and white erotic imagery, gay, lesbian, whatever) and start following blogs who share the kinds of images you want to be known for. Follow and begin the reblog process. The more you share, the more followers you’ll get.
Give Credit Where Credit is Due
It’s possible that you want to upload images, gifs, and videos directly to your Tumblr page (instead of reblogging images) so others can reblog and share. This is actually a pretty good method for growing your followers – if you manage to share a popular image that people really like.
When you do this, please do one thing to keep your account active and your credibility intact: Give proper credit for images. Don’t upload an image and not cite the source. If you get caught “stealing” an image without proper citation and credit (and these days it’s more common than you know), the image will be removed. If you get caught too many times, your account can and will be shut down.
What to Share
For authors, I know it’s tempting to slap up your book cover and a few buy links as a Tumblr post. Believe me, I’ve done it. Every once in a while, especially for new releases, it’s not a bad idea, but it shouldn’t be your go-to option.
For the bloggers, if you had an image to your blog post and that’s all you share on Tumblr, you might get shares, but you’ll get very few clicks to your blog.
The best thing I’ve found for actually getting people to click away from Tumblr (I mean, hello, so much smutty goodness, who wants to leave? Amiright?) is to combine excerpts and images. Sexy image and sexy words with a link will likely be shared a lot, and eventually, interested readers will click on links. (If you link your WordPress (self-hosted or not) to your Tumblr account, this will happen every time you hit “Publish.”)
I follow plenty of writers on Tumblr who are known for their stories (or musings) combined with a good image (remember to cite the source, y’all). People aren’t just there for the free porn. Plenty of people will read.
Advertising on Tumblr
While Tumblr does offer sponsored posts to gain more visibility, NSFW accounts and sexually explicit material aren’t allowed. (Are you even shocked by this anymore?)
Acceptable Content
Tumblr is visited by millions of people around the world, each with his or her own culture, background, and point of view concerning appropriate content. While we strive to promote a free and open discussion online, content that falls into the following categories won’t be approved to run as Sponsored Posts. All posts are subject to Tumblr’s approval.
- Sexually-explicit or NSFW content.
- Content related to death.
- Offensive slang or religious alignments.
- Content related to drugs or alcohol.
If you haven’t thought about Tumblr but are curious, check it out. For me, it’s a nice distraction and great for finding smutty images (especially for Masturbation Monday). And if you’ve used it to promote yourself as an author or blogger and found success, let us know in the comments below!
You can follow me on Tumblr, too, and get an idea of what I share: Kayla Lords (A Sexual Being)
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