{"id":8739,"date":"2011-07-07T23:33:39","date_gmt":"2011-07-07T23:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/blog\/?p=8739"},"modified":"2011-07-07T23:33:39","modified_gmt":"2011-07-07T23:33:39","slug":"9-ways-to-use-flickr-to-promote-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/marketing\/social-media\/9-ways-to-use-flickr-to-promote-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"9 ways to use Flickr to promote your business"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"David<\/a>This guest post was written by David Murton.\u00a0David has been helping companies build and maintain their online relationships with customers since 2006.\u00a0 He is also a professional writer and webmaster, with a particular interest in the open source Drupal platform.\u00a0On a more personal note, David is an avid piano and accordion player, drawn especially to music of the classical and romantic periods.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By\u00a0 David Murton<\/p>\n

Flickr is a popular but often overlooked social media website that offers image and video hosting as well as a dynamic online community.<\/p>\n

It’s often used by bloggers to promote products or businesses, because\u00a0all of their\u00a0related images are in one convenient place on the web.\u00a0 This makes it much easier for blog readers or customers to see many images that have been uploaded by the blogger by clicking on one link.<\/p>\n

\"Flickr<\/a>Many types of businesses\u00a0can benefit from using Flickr as a promotional tool because customers who search for the company’s name on a search engine such as Google will be directed to both the company’s website or blog and their Flickr page.\u00a0 Many customers want to look at images of a company’s products and may choose to look at a Flickr page before buying anything.<\/p>\n

Here are nine ways to promote your business using Flickr.
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\n1. Make Thumbnails Interesting <\/strong><\/p>\n

Thumbnails are the first images any client sees on a Flickr account before they click on any of the images.\u00a0 It’s\u00a0important that these photos accurately represent the company they’re\u00a0promoting.<\/p>\n

If you place the best photo in a group at the beginning of the photo list, it will automatically become\u00a0the thumbnail image for that group on Flickr.\u00a0 Photo settings allow the user to choose which part of a photo they will use as a thumbnail image.
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\n2. Upload Photos of Products and Services <\/strong><\/p>\n

Any photos listed on a Flickr account\u00a0should represent your\u00a0business and its products.<\/p>\n

Many companies use php5<\/a>,\u00a0a scripting language that’s\u00a0designed to handle dynamic web pages,\u00a0to manage the pictures they post on Flickr.\u00a0 This is especially helpful for companies that post many photos.\u00a0It’s\u00a0important to remember that Flickr doesn’t allow marketing and promotion of products or services, so businesses must market indirectly and not post obvious ads.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/a>Posting pictures of employees at industry functions is likely to make customers feel more connected to the business.<\/p>\n

Pictures of successful products and happy customers are a great tool. Just make sure to get permission from anyone who appears in the photos.\u00a0 Most people don’t mind having their picture posted and may even invite their friends and family to look at your company’s photos.<\/p>\n

Use\u00a0captions on every photo because they can\u00a0describe products or introduce important people in your company.\u00a0 It isn’t\u00a0necessary to include\u00a0the name and title of everyone in a large group picture. But\u00a0pictures of at least four people\u00a0should be marked with the name and title of each person, as well as other information that you\u00a0want to share with\u00a0potential customers.
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\n3. Complete the Business Profile\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Use the profile space to share information about your business and promote it, but don’t overdo it.<\/p>\n

Using your\u00a0company logo as the Flickr “buddy icon” is a great way to promote your business\u00a0without directly advertising.\u00a0 Include your\u00a0URL and other contact information as well as a short description as part of\u00a0your Flickr profile.<\/p>\n

\"Edit<\/a>
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\n4. Use an Easy-to-Remember Screen Name<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Library<\/a>Use your company name or URL\u00a0as your\u00a0screen name.\u00a0 If you use the URL,\u00a0each photo will be\u00a0shown with the screen name\u00a0in the corner.\u00a0 Flickr users are likely to visit a company’s website when they have repeatedly seen the URL while viewing the photos they have uploaded.<\/p>\n

Users who are searching for a particular company or website on Flickr will have a much easier time finding it if the screen name is the same\u00a0as the company name.\u00a0 For example, it’s easy to find famous photos from The Library of Congress<\/a>\u00a0because that’s their\u00a0easily\u00a0recognizable screen name.
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\n5. Post Images Quickly<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many people search for photos of current events and current seasons and holidays.\u00a0That’s why you should\u00a0post pictures quickly.<\/p>\n

People want to be the first to share information and photos with their friends on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.\u00a0 Configuring the company’s blog to work with Flickr by linking related Flickr images in each blog post helps to draw attention to the photos and the blog. It also\u00a0lets blog readers\u00a0see more images from the same company on Flickr.
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\n6. Tag Photos Properly<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Zombies<\/a>Tagging photos is tedious, but photo tags are the best way to drive new users to see your\u00a0photos.\u00a0 Pay\u00a0attention to which keywords people are using the most when they search, and\u00a0use those keywords if they apply.<\/p>\n

Using\u00a0keywords that don’t fit your company’s images is frustrating for Flickr users and may result in Flickr deactivating your\u00a0account.<\/p>\n

Geotagging is another great tool if you use\u00a0Flickr to promote.\u00a0It allows you to tag your photos\u00a0with keywords that include cities, states, a country, etc.\u00a0Even if your business isn’t identified with a certain location,\u00a0it\u00a0helps people\u00a0know where the photos they are looking at were taken.
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\n7. Allow\u00a0Photo\u00a0Use<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s very common for people to ask permission to use\u00a0Flickr photos.\u00a0Promptly approving these requests will encourage others\u00a0to share your photos and let more people see them.<\/p>\n

Make sure that anyone who uses the photos gives proper credit to your company,\u00a0usually\u00a0through linkbacks.\u00a0 Flickr statistics are available in the settings column of each profile so that the profile creator can see which images people are viewing\u00a0the most.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

8. Join Groups<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Groups<\/a>Joining groups that are related to your business is a great way to gain exposure for your images and company.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the photos of others shows that your business is making an effort to be part of the community.\u00a0 The people whose photos you have commented on will likely want to view your photos and make comments of their own.
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\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 Organize<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most Flickr users won’t look at photos that are disorganized, especially if they are unfamiliar with the business that has posted the images.\u00a0 Each photo album is called a set and the sets can be organized into collections that are related.<\/p>\n

Cross linking between the company’s website and Flickr page will likely result in increased traffic at both places.\u00a0 Make sure that all image collections reflect the target audience of your company and don’t forget to link the Flickr page with all newsletters and social media sites where you have a presence.<\/p>\n

Flickr says<\/a>\u00a0that about 3,000 pictures are uploaded by users every minute.\u00a0 There are more than 5 billion images posted on the site, so companies should make sure that the images they upload are well organized and appropriate for the audience they are trying to reach.<\/p>\n

What tips can you share about posting photos to Flickr? Have other people used your photos? If so, how? Has Flickr helped pull traffic to your website? What other ways do you use Flickr in\u00a0your PR or publicity campaign?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This guest post was written by David Murton.\u00a0David has been helping companies build and maintain their online relationships with customers since 2006.\u00a0 He is also a professional writer and webmaster, with a particular interest in the open source Drupal platform.\u00a0On a more personal note, David is an avid piano and accordion player, drawn especially to\u2026 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":7,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[638],"tags":[641,619,607],"class_list":{"0":"post-8739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-social-media","7":"tag-flickr","8":"tag-photos-graphics","9":"tag-promotions","10":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}