Friday, May 7, 2010

Using Flickr to Promote Your Business!


Flickr is an image sharing service, where many artists and photographers upload their work for free. It is owned by Yahoo!, which Terms of Use explicitly prohibits blatantly exploiting Flickr for any commercial purposes. As an example, uploading a photo that advertises your Web site, company, brand, product, or service would violate this agreement and would likely anger the active Flickr community.

So, how can a business or individual use Flickr to promote themselves? By becoming an active Flickr member and contributor, you can use the following strategies to reap marketing benefits without stepping on anyone's
toes. First, you can use your Web site address (e.g., www.SocialMediaMarketingResources.info or
www.MelissaBarker.com ) as your Flickr screen name, which makes every image you post an advertisement for your Web site. Second, create image tags (descriptive keywords) that include your company, brand, or product name.

Third, include your company information in your Flickr profile. Fourth, link all the images you post on Flickr back to your Web site or blog. That way, people who find your photos can follow the link back to your site, which can increase traffic and, hence, your search engine rankings. Finally, post your images using the Flickr Creative Commons (CC) license, which encourages Web site owners and bloggers to use your images to spice up their sites. The CC license requires sites that use Flickr images to credit their creators by linking back to their Flickr "photostreams." This provide yet another method to promote yourself or your company on Flickr. 

The following resources provide details and many more ideas for using Flickr to promote your Web site, company, brand, product, service, or blog:

12 comments:

  1. I visit Flickr at least once a week to get ideas for photography. I like photography as a hobby so I do not have need to visit the site much. However I'm sure someone who is a professional photographer would be there everyday looking at all kinds of things. If the business is a printing company or a photo book company, someone who takes a lot of pictures would be interested in that.
    It would be very smart to use it for spreading the word about a sale on cameras or print paper also.
    It is a very smart, free advertisement if it is being used to attract the right audience!

    Shelby Baglien

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  2. I would have never thought of Flickr as a marketing resource, but it appeals to my creative nature. I think that many companies could benefit from this type of marketing. If your photos are interesting enough that others want to use them, you can spread word about your company even farther.

    I think this media could be used for many different types of businesses. For example, I could see using this to get the word out about a yoga studio. If an owner of a yoga studio posted pictures of yoga poses in scenic spots, the pictures might draw people to research the studios website.

    I am intrigued by the possibilites.

    Athena Lorig

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  3. Shelby and Athena--thank you for the kind comments about the post. Flickr is a great social media platform for promoting a business, if you are careful to full the rules.

    Melissa

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  4. I have heard of Flickr but have never really used it or looked into it before. I think it would be a great idea to share pictures about your business on Flickr to share with people in order for them to get an idea about your business and have a better idea about what you have to offer instead of just reading words. A picture is worth a 1000 words. A picture always helps me understand what I'm looking for.

    Kim Moorhead

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  5. Sorry - clicked post comment before I was done...

    It would be interesting to use Flickr for maybe a new hotel that was opening, or a new coffee shop or flower shop. Seeing the inside of a business other than just the outside is helpful. Making sure you read all the directions carefully is important. Wouldn't be very helpful to try and use the site if you can't follow the directions.

    Kim Moorhead

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  6. I have never used Flickr or even looked at it but I was wondering what is was. It sounds like it could be a great way to advertise. I noticed one of the comments on top mentioned using it for photography ideas, I'll have to check it out now, I have a certificate in photography and been doing it since high school.

    It sounds like a great way for business to get themselves noticed and looked at more. So are the business able to put links to their web pages from Flickr? If so this sounds like the perfect way to attract more potential customers.

    Holly Holmes

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  7. This sounds like a great way for a business to get noticed. It seems like a lot of people are more likely to purchase or chose to go with a company if they can see a picture of the work. I know I would rather see something before I buy it.

    I also think Flickr is great for showing new businesses that people are courious about. I didn't know that it was able to be used for marking like this until now. Its awesome how sites like this are out there to help out business bloom.

    Sara Simpson

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  8. Holly--glad you found Flickr so interesting. Companies can often do link to Flickr, especially the images on the site. In fact, I "hot" link some of the images in this blog to Flickr images!

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  9. New ways to market and advertise a business has changed dramatic in the resent years. Now with Face book, MySpace, and all the social networking sites on the web it has become a lot easier to expose a company to the public. Being original with the way an owner exposes his or her company can determine how successful a company can be.
    Myself being a mobile DJ, this is a great way to promote my business. Showing how much fun people are having, and how my gear looks, and how I have a professional look is going to be important to my customers’ think that this is great idea and can’t wait to implement this in my own business.
    DuMar Jones

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  10. thats a great way to get a new retail bussiness started, i agree. being able to look in the store and even see some of the products can hold a great be benifit to a new business.
    DuMar Jones

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  11. DuMar--glad you found these success stories so inspiring!

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  12. Like some of the previous post from others, I have heard of Flickr before but I have never used it or looked more into it before. I believe I might have to look into it now!

    From what I have heard and read about it I could see it being extremely helpful to small bussinesses and advertisment. A picture can say a lot of different things, so having a place to advertise with the use of pictures at no charge to you... what could be better!

    Torey Chase

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