New Yahoo7 report, Social Norms: The Status of Social in 2015, has found social media is driving higher levels of brand engagement and brand recall compared to traditional advertising, with Tumblr users more likely to buy and recommend entertaining brands.

Yahoo acquired Tumblr in 2013. Earlier this year, the partnership launched Tumblr as a new platform giving brands an opportunity to get creative with advertising. Ed Harrison, CEO of Yahoo7 said the partnership will enable the company to incorporate Tumblr into sponsorship packages, alongside the numerous other advertising offering the business already has. Yahoo7 is putting some of its own brands on the platform; Home & Away, Yahoo7Entertainment, Dancing with the Stars and 7News Raw. 

The Social Norms study found that content is a key priority for social media users – especially if that content is entertaining, informative and amusing.  When it comes to engaging with the content, 61 per cent of social media users claimed that gestures (like/follow/share) demonstrated their level of ‘passion and love’ for the content with share being the most impactful.

The study also revealed that social media users are savvy to branded content, with almost 1 in 2 social media users recalling such content in the last 30 days.  This is particularly true for younger consumers (14 – 34 year old) who had higher recall of branded content, relative to older (35 – 65 year old) users.  Strong branded content also encourages consumers to take action, with 63 per cent of social media users more likely to ‘try brands that I haven’t tried before if they share interesting content’, and 61 per cent buying more from brands that ‘entertain me’.

Paul Sigaloff, commercial director for Yahoo7 said: “Our new Social Norms report really highlights the value of social media for advertisers online. Not only are consumers more open to branded content on social media but they readily engage with it when it is entertaining and informative. From a Yahoo7 perspective, it’s fantastic to have hard numbers to show the value of Tumblr for brands; we already know that the platform is incredibly valuable for advertisers but the numbers show just how much potential it offers brands who want to engage audiences online.”

The majority of Tumblr users (55 per cent) regularly searched for content, and believed that the platform offered a new dimension to a brand unavailable elsewhere. Users were also found to be highly influenced by that content, with respondents 29 per cent more likely to purchase and 36 per cent more likely to recommend a brand that shared interesting and entertaining updates on Tumblr.

Peter Hammer, head of insights and analytics for Yahoo7 said: “This research highlights content is a key priority for social media users, and that the different gestures such as ‘like’, ‘follow’ and ‘share’ offer different ways for consumers to demonstrate their passion for that content.  It’s great to see that Tumblr users are more likely to engage with content via the highly-impactful share gesture, and that the audience are more likely to take action after seeing branded content.”

Tumblr users were found to be more engaged; with a greater number of users visiting the platform daily (+13 per cent) and 37 per cent more users engaging in ‘longer’ (20+ minutes) sessions when compared to the competitive social media average.  Tumblr consumers were also more mobile, attracting 15 per cent more users on smartphones.