Research Report: Taylor Swift's Tumblr's Brightest Star

By Jaclyn Ben-Porat, Team McSwift: Marketing Analysis of Franchise vs Artist

Abstract: 

This article discusses musician Taylor Swift joining the social networking site Tumblr and the impact she has had on the online community since doing so. It details what she has done to appeal to an online audience and how she behaves while on Tumblr interacting with her fans. It also describes the benefits of using Tumblr as opposed to other social networking sites for a celebrity of Swift’s caliber. The article phrases each of the benefits in a business ideology so that readers can utilize Tumblr for their own business purposes.

Description: 

     Swift has become a force to be reckoned with through her social media presence, and the millions of followers she has on Facebook and Twitter are largely responsible for her continued astronomical success. However, her choice to join Tumblr is possibly the smartest career decision she’s made as of late according to Helmrich, who says, “Swift's success on Tumblr is not just because she's a 20-something like many of her followers, or because she already has a huge fan base (though that doesn't hurt.) It's because she encapsulates everything that a typical Tumblr user is: She's open, funny, personable, interactive and willing to share her interests with the world.” All of these qualities combine to make Swift an ideal candidate for Tumblr celebrity stardom. She has been able to market herself by simply being herself, which is a revolutionary strategy in today’s age of personable media forms.

     Tumblr is an ideal website for creating this type of marketable persona due to the way it is designed, which allows for easy, user-friendly activity. Its users are there largely to discuss different forms of media, such as films, television and music, and there are several types of methods in which a person can share their thoughts about these forms via Tumblr. Says Helmrich, “When you log in to your Tumblr dashboard, you have several options at your disposal: You can share text posts, links, photos, videos and audio posts.” This variety of options makes the possibilities for a user to cultivate a following endless, as they can create content that is applicable to every type of person. Furthermore, Tumblr allows users to reblog posts, which means they can share posts they enjoy with their followers and add commentary to those posts if they choose. They can impart as much or as little of themselves as they want in order to generate a following based on their likes and dislikes.

     Your following becomes part of your Tumblr community, and the family-like aspect of the site allows for a more personal feeling to interactions than you might encounter on sites such as Twitter or Facebook. Tumblr is the birthplace of fandoms, which are smaller communities of users who bond over shared interests and often form friendships that they take outside of the site and into the real world. There is a level of openness on Tumblr that is vastly different from other social networking sites in that it encourages users to share their opinions and is widely accepting of more than one central ideology. Despite the free community aspect, there is still room for individuality in the site’s customizable themes that are displayed on each user’s individual Tumblr blog. HTML editing, as well as Tumblr’s built-in interface, can be used to alter a blog to the user’s specifications while still keeping the individual linked with the community through the use of unique tags to track what users discuss.

     Swift’s presence on Tumblr has been embraced so well because she opened herself up to the community and attempted to immerse herself in everything it held dear to blend in with her fans. With her first post, she asked them to help her understand the many overwhelming elements that makes Tumblr so popular. Says Helmrich, “When Swift ventured into the complicated and quirky world of Tumblr, she didn't just start posting her own content. She sent a message out to her fans that read: ‘Taylor here. I'm locking myself in my room and not leaving until I figure out how to use my Tumblr. Well, I might leave for a second to get a snack or something, but that is IT. I am FOCUSED. I have lots of questions, help me.’” This method of talking to her fans in the manner in which they speak to one another brought her down to their level and took away a barrier that might have been imposed had her introductory Tumblr post been made by someone from her team instead of Swift herself.

     She further separates herself from her celebrity status by being willing to poke fun at herself and acknowledge embarrassing moments that other stars might gloss over in order to cultivate a more polished image. Swift, as a Tumblr user, seeks out posts about herself and adds commentary that gives her fans an insight into her humor. Says Helmrich, “For example, Swift recently reblogged a funny photo set that another user posted of Swift and her cat, Olivia. Swift wrote, ‘Are you slowly becoming your cat? Is your cat slowly becoming you?' (Questions this post evokes),’ and tagged it ‘#yes and yes.’” She makes her followers feel as though they are in on her jokes and each added tidbit from Swift’s mind that she shares with the Tumblr community makes her seem more friendly and normal than one might think. She also frequently responds to posts her fans make specifically for her about reasons why they support her, or about something that has happened in their life which was made better by her music or personality. In this way, Tumblr is the easiest way for Swift to receive fan mail, and the most direct way in which she can respond to the outpouring of love she gets.

     In terms of Swift’s blog theme, the customizable aspects of Tumblr do not end up distinguishing her as too much of an individual, as in her case that level of individuality might highlight her celebrity status and take away from her relatable qualities. Her blog is not heavily focused on her music and does not feature direct links to purchase her album. Instead, it is designed to seem as though it is just another blog in the Tumblr world. It does not feel corporate, instead more of a piece of Swift that she has allowed her fans to view through the Internet. That type of connection is few and far between when celebrities create accounts on the site, largely due to the fact that their respective marketing teams step in and manage the pages for them. Swift does not allow this type of control to take place. She is behind each post, and she does not come off as more concerned with selling albums than simply connecting with the people who have given her the life she lives.

Commentary:

     For my team’s project, this article offers a marketing view of Swift’s presence on Tumblr. It provides business expertise by breaking down the reasons behind her success on Tumblr versus another social networking site. It focuses on a marketing strategy that is not often embraced by other musicians in Swift’s position, and is therefore a unique resource to touch upon. The only downside to this article is that it cannot provide us with the numbers behind Swift’s Tumblr, as those are private and not viewable to anyone but her. To prove the effectiveness of a marketing technique, we will heavily rely on statistics, and Helmrich could not provide us with any.

Resources For Further Study

1. Helmrich, Brittney. "How Taylor Swift Rocks Social Marketing ... And How You Can, Too." BusinessNewsDaily.com. Business News Daily, 4 Nov. 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.

2. Cragg, Michael. "We Read Every Taylor Swift Thinkpiece so You Don't Have to." The Guardian. The Guardian, 31 Oct. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

3. Ugwu, Reggie. "Tell Us About Yourself(ie): Taylor Swift." BuzzFeed. Buzzfeed, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.