I realize I'm not the only one who has written about Flickr and the awesomness that it is, but I wanted to share my personal story about how I've used it in the past and how it can generate HUGE traffic to not only Flickr but to your website as well.
I've used Flickr for all kinds of businesses and with every business, they've been able to generate more engagement & more website views straight from using Flickr effectively.
I tell a lot of clients about Flickr and most of them don't quite realize why Flickr would be another useful social media platform for their business.
"But, if I post my pics on Facebook, why would I want to post them on Flickr, too?"
Facebook is a great way to get your photos out there and noticed to your community. However, Facebook is just one platform in which you can share your pictures.
However, Flickr is a third party site in which can reach a whole new audience outside of Facebook!
Because let's face it, pictures attract some of the most interaction - no matter what social platform you use.
Obviously, there's Pinterest, as well as many other photo sharing websites - but none of them quite match up to the powerfulness of Flickr. And guess what? Flickr is not just for photographers!
Here are my top ten ways to use Flickr to your businesses advantage:
1. Post the pics from your blog: Every blog post has at least one picture to go along with it, right? Well, upload that picture to Flickr, post a excerpt of that blog post and then put a link directly to that blog post (or to your website in general). Be sure to tag it & title it appropriately! This is a great way to get some more exposure for your blog.
2. Post the pics from your event: Whether you're in a band, you have a new conference you need to promote or maybe you're a motivational speaker - add enticing photos that best represent your event and then post an appropriate link, description, tags & titles to
3. Get involved in groups & create your own: Flickr Groups are amazing! There are so many to choose from and you can even create your own! In the Flickr groups, you add your own photos to the group & you can request others to add their photos to your group. They also have a forum for each group in which the members can communicate with each other.
4. Comment on other photos: Just like any other social network, you'll want to take a few minutes out of your day/week to engage with other people, and with Flickr, you do this by finding photos to comment on. Flickr is a great community in the sense that when you comment on other people's photos, they will more than likely comment on yours as well.
5. Add friends: Find a user on Flickr that has some interesting photos and add them as a friend. This way you'll see new photos that they upload so you can comment on them. This way you're keeping them as top of mind and in return they'll keep you as top of mind.
6. Add favorites: By adding other people's pictures to your favorites, it notifies them and in turn, will entice them to check out your profile. Like I said above about the comments,
7. Post short videos: You can post short videos to Flickr to add even more depth to your profile. Plus, this adds that much more exposure to your video.
8. Flickr has an app for Android & iPhone: What does this mean for you? No matter where you are, you can take a photo on your phone and post it directly to Flickr!
9. You can contact users personally: There is an inbox in which you can contact users personally. I would suggest using this system to tell them how awesome you think their photos are. Get the conversation started! But DO NOT market AT ALL! If they ask, then tell them, but do not market what you do. Just get to know them.
10. An amazing community: If I haven't made it clear already, Flickr is an amazing community of people and the more you engage and the more you get out there and keep in touch with your Flickr community, the more people will check you out and maybe check out what you have to offer.
11. Great for Google: Flickr images very often come up in Google, if they're tagged, titled & described correctly, that is. Also, whenever you put your website or blog post URL in the description portion of your image (which you should always do) then it's an easy link back for SEO juice!
In conclusion, let Flickr be an extension of who you are. There is an app for Flickr in which you can add to your Facebook business page, which can be even more exposure to your photos. Because hey, maybe you don't want to spam your Facebook fans with a bunch of photos & videos on your Facebook? Flickr is the answer!
Flickr can be a great extension of YOU and your BUSINESS. They can certainly coincide with each other and in time, you can grow a huge community that is driving traffic to your website.
Want to know more about how to tag, title & add an appropriate description to your Flickr Photos? Just contact me.
Are you using Flickr?