I Ran A Popular Harry Potter Tumblr For Years And Here Are 15 Things I Learned Along The Way

Trust me, I learned a LOT

Hi I'm Abigail, and about five or six years ago, a friend of mine on Tumblr reached out and asked if I would be interested in starting a "Harry Potter" tumblr page with her. I said yes, and we found two more people, in order to cover all four Hogwarts houses, and got the page started. The page is titled @hogwartswelcomesyou and most of the posts are from the page!

1. At the start, focus on what makes your blog special

Hogwartswelcomesyou

When we first started the page, we really had to focus on the special things that made us as a team unique, otherwise why not follow a different page. We ended up creating playlists for each of the houses, something we hadn't seen before, and really revved up our content with that. It was extremely difficult as what we really wanted to do was do sorting's just like the other bloggers, but we ended up beginning to do that in the later stages of the blog.

2. Always use hashtags

Hogwartswelcomesyou

Before Tumblr, I really didn't understand hashtags, but with Tumblr, they are SO necessary. Our team ended up using the Hogwarts house and a few characters on almost every post to make sure Harry Potter fans were actively seeing our content. Then to make our content stand out, we created our own hashtags for each of the writers, which gave our viewers the ability to find a post they like, and read all the content from that writer.

3. Find a team you trust

Vantage Circle / Via blog.vantagecircle.com

Our account went through a bunch of changes throughout its popularity. Initially, we had four people, but then people left, or became inactive and needed to be replaced, then eventually we decided to add a second set of four, that way we would have at least one representative from each house at all times, and then people left again, and eventually the page became completely inactive in 2019. On that, if you choose to do a page individually, no worries. But, if you work with a team, make sure it's people you trust, that you know will be dedicated, even if they can't always be active.

P.S. these people you trust don't always have to be friends, but if they are, make sure they willing to be active, and aren't just going to quit in a week or two.

4. Find Unique Content

Hogwartswelcomesyou

One of the hardest things about running a "Harry Potter" Tumblr, was that new content was SO difficult to construct. Ever "Harry Potter" account had already done sorting's, so we offered those, but they never became super popular. It was only when we introduced Patronus Analysis, where we would do in-depth research on your patronus, and explain how it corresponded to the persons Hogwarts house. As well as Wand Readings, where we could explain your word, core, and length and the specific meanings and how they correspond to your house. Those two things brought about a lot of popularity because no one else was doing it.

We realized quickly that we were not the best account for sorting (which had already been done.. A Lot) so we found our own lane.

5. Don't respond to comments, unless they are questions or compliments

Hogwartswelcomesyou

As a very young team, we learned very quickly that haters were relentless. Initially, we attempted to respond to comments, and defend our account, but it was useless. We eventually learned to just block the rude accounts, and focus on the people who enjoyed our content and listen to their requests, questions, and comments.

6. Don't try to do too much

HBR / Via hbr.org

As a team, we had a million ideas that we wanted to incorporate in the blog and didn't really know how to time them out. We quickly learned that we needed to space out our newer content instead of just posting it all at once. As we began to do that, we got more viewers because we focused on one topic at a time, rather than trying to go multiple different directions at once.

7. When the blog is starting something new, make an announcement

Hogwartswelcomesyou

Making an announcement when you are doing something new seems incredibly simple, but is insane how much it can make an impact on your viewers. It gets you fans, followers, and viewers excited and involved in the new idea, and you will likely get lots of excited shares and comments.

8. Retweet Other accounts content

Hogwartswelcomesyou on Tumblr

We learned extremely early that we would not be able to create enough content to keep up with our active fan base. We ended up each trying to take time to retweet content from other accounts in order to keep our account busy, even if it wasn't with our content, it kept the account busy, and followers active.

9. Use the queue

Hogwartswelcomesyou

Tumblr has something called the queue where you can stock up things would like to post in the future, and choose how many of the posts within the queue you would like to be posted, and at which times. When we began using this, it really allowed us to perfectly space out our content, that way a million things weren't posted all at once. This also allowed us to create content ahead of time, and have it posted at a later date, that way we wouldn't have to log in just to post something.

10. Drafts make group work easier

Hogwartswelcomesyou

Working as a team was extremely difficult especially because we didn't really know each other. When we began truly collaborating on content, we really had to use our drafts. This allowed each person to add their portion of the post with no difficulty. The only problem with this feature is that you can't have two people working on the post at the same time, which makes things a bit difficult, but overall it's a big help.

11. Communicate

Nextiva / Via nextiva.com

Our account's biggest downfall, communication. This was one area we really struggled with. There were a lot of factors that made it so difficult including decent age gaps between members, huge inactive periods, and some bad attitudes, which seemed to make communication impossible. The biggest takeaway was just to communicate, if you need to leave the blog, communicate if you are going through a busy time, communicate. When you have a team depending on you, communication HAS to happen.

12. Be Kind

Wit and Delight / Via witanddelight.com

When you are working with a team, especially one where you are working with strangers, it can be somewhat difficult to always be kind. When the blog is busy, it is so easy to get in the swing of things and initially comment things on other peoples posts that can come across as rude and unkind, even if it wasn't meant that way. This is where you truly have to look at what you are typing and make sure that no matter how it is read, it comes across the way you intend.

13. Get a team with varied skillsets

Ere / Via ere.net

In the early stages of the blog, the biggest difficulty with creating content was that almost every in the original staff had very similar skill sets. We all enjoyed writing sortings and playlists, we all watched similar t.v. shows, and movies, read similar books and were far too similar. Though the reason we found each other was because we were so similar, it became difficult for us each to make varied content. So when we had to find our second set of staff, we looked for people who knew different shows than us and was interested in creating different content. So, before you create a team, make sure that you are creating a unique group that doesn't have too many similarities.

14. Do stuff that excites you

Hogwartswelcomesyou

Right at the start, so much of what we created was in an attempt to be unique, and we began that not everything our followers loved, we really enjoyed doing. The longer we continued the more we began splitting everything up into what we enjoyed the most. I loved created sortings, and gif posts so I began to focus on those, while other members of the team focused on wand readings and patronus analysis'.

15. Respond to follower requests in a timely manner

Amino Apps / Via aminoapps.com

This was another thing we really struggled with. When our account got big, everything happened very quickly, and we went from having one to two requests from our followers a day to more than one hundred showing up over the course of two days. It was overwhelming, and we didn't have enough manpower to handle the requests as quickly as we wanted, so we got frustrated and let the requests sit for far too long. This made it difficult for us to keep followers happy, and eventually resulted in the loss of followers because we just took so long. I would definitely recommend allocating each of the different requests to different people and creating a schedule for when they would be posted, to keep members accountable.