Everyone knows about Flickr by now. The photo and video sharing community started up in 2004, was bought by Yahoo a year later, and has since grown into one of the biggest online communities in the world. Flickr boasts 50 million registered users and whilst it doesn't have the sheer size of Facebook, nor the rapid response of Twitter, it can be an equally (or even more) powerful tool to connect with and engage your customers. Why? Photography can open up whole new worlds.
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| Flickr Mobile Interface |
Like any other social network, Flickr should not be considered a marketing platform. It's not a place to tout and sell products. It's a place that can help you develop your brand and get close to your customers. And most importantly, it's a place for them to interact with you and become a part of your brands experience.
Although you cannot use Flickr to advertise (emphasised consistently throughout their terms and conditions), this does not mean you cannot indirectly promote your business. Flat out advertising will see you kicked off the site in no time but if you want to promote your business, these four tips will help you do so within Flickr's rules, while improving your company's overall visibility.
#1. Reverse Marketing
In order to draw people on third-party sites to your Flickr page, embed the link in photos you use on blogs, share the photo on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and connect other photography accounts with your Flickr account in the descriptions. This ensures that people viewing the photos have access to your other photos as well.
In addition to this you can use your Pinterest account to share these photos thanks to Pinterest's new feature which allows sharing from Flickr, whilst automatically offering proper credit and a link back to the original photographer.
Find out how to add Flickr images to your blog here.
Find out how to share Flickr images on Pinterest here.
#2. Tell Your Company's Story, Through Pictures.
Every brand has a story and Flickr presents you with an opportunity to share it with your customers, and more importantly, allow them to become a part of your journey. Flickr is particularly strong at telling stories visually, and the use of compelling photos that represent the identity of your company will allow you to illustrate where your company's roots are and where the company's headed.
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| Flickr: Virgin Galactic |
Furthermore, be sure to get your customers involved too! Have them submit their pictures interacting with your brand, and encourage them to talk to each other, and you, about it.
It is important to note that you only get 100MB of free storage on Flickr, and videos are only available for paying customers. There's also been some controversey because of Flickr taking down images due to 'questionable content', but dont let this put you off!
In order to make people talk to your brand, you have to make things personal. Your voice must be real, and human!
#3. Properly Tag and Organise Your Photos
A surprisingly common mistake people make is in tagging and grouping their photos. These little details make it more difficult for images to appear in search, consequently limiting exposure even when placed in correct groups. You have to ensure that you are putting precise and appropriate tags in each photo when you first upload them.
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| How To Tag Images On Flickr |
Although there are many ways to upload photos to Flickr, there is no way to batch download photos, even for paying members! Furthermore, you can only view photos in one size so it would be nice to see Flickr accomodate the use of different sized images.
Find out how to add descriptive and accurate titles and ALT tags here.
#4. Integrate Flickr Into Everything Your Doing On The Web
To get all the value you can out of Flickr, use it to connect with your other social media platforms. Make sure that each part of your digital network is linked, from your website to your blog to Facebook to Twitter to Flickr. Tell your customers that these places exist and encourage them to share content and interact with these pages.
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| Social Media Icons |
At the same time, make sure that you are using each social channel for its strength. For example, if you have both a YouTube channel and a Flickr page, it's okay to post videos on Flickr, but keep it primarily focused on photos because thats the reason that people are going to your page. Beyond that, you can use Flickr as a resource for your other social channels!
A note to photographers and other users who upload batches of images - There's no way to give multiple images the same name so you'll end up spending lots of your time tagging each image! As well as this, Flickr does not allow you to control the images that are displayed on your start page, and the website often arranges them by upload date. Although some of you may find this useful in displaying new content, others of you may want to customise your profile which Flickr limits you to do!
#. Conclusion
People love Flickr for both its personal and professional use. For the average user, it has limitless potential for self promotion and sharing creative inspiration with others. For businesses, it is a social tool that can draw others to products and services through indirect marketing.
However you choose to use it, the usefulness of Flickr is undeniable! Start increasing your visibility using the four key points above, and begin reaping the benefits.
#. References
Bhasin, K. (2011). How To Use Flickr To Improve Your Small Business. Available: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/how-to-use-flickr-to-improve-your-small-business/. Last accessed 4th May 2014.
Jones, H. (2012). A Simple Guide to Using Flickr to Improve your Business. Available: http://www.31days2.com/2012/04/11/a-simple-guide-to-using-flickr-to-improve-your-business/. Last accessed 4th May 2014.
Smarty, A. (2012). 5 Tips To Increase your Visibility On Flickr. Available: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/08/06/5-tips-to-increase-your-visibility-on-flickr/. Last accessed 4th May 2014.
