Yahoo: "Don't 'screw up' Tumbler" #2

from USA Today 05/22/13 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz

#3: Identify Tumblr’s core Audience — and use it. Both Yahoo & Tumblr management must study & understand the behavior & preferences of Tumblr’s core users. Active users will be the initial targets for advertising. How many there are and what they do, are among the initial things to nail down. Yahoo claims there are 300 million unique visitors per month, while ComScore reports about 117 million worldwide unique visitors in April. That’s a lot of discrepancy,” he says. And how many of those active users are accessing (inappropriate) content?

#4. Tread very carefully in introducing Ads. Yahoo already is facing an onslaught of online petitions from Tumblr fans who are afraid of Ad intrusion (ad-infinitum) as Yahoo tries to “monetize” its acquisition. Tumblr, which relies on user-generated content, from professionally produced videos by large organizations such as Comedy Central to silly GIF images by teenagers, only started selling ads last year. But in the long run, it’s the only way either company makes money.

Add Premium Content. Yahoo has an opportunity, if done right, to prod a large base of Tumblr users to produce a volume of premium content for selling ads — “inventory” in adspeak. But the challenge will be to “thread the needle” between holding onto Tumblr’s users to create that inventory, while creating innovative ad products that appeal to ad buyers, without turning off the users.

Tumblr’s minimalist appearance has always been a selling point for users, and a sudden onslaught of randomly-placed ads could drive many of them away, says Advertising Age. There are people who will abandon any website that they feel they have personal ownership. but has become cluttered with Ads, citing MySpace as an example. Going slow is the only real way to preserve the purchase. If (Yahoo) is willing to take this temporary financial hit, they’re willing to take the financial hit in going slow (and not flood it with ads) and win in the long run.

#5: Create ads specific to Tumblr content.

(Continued in Premium Content)