In our daily working life we seem to spend a lot of time recommending tools for business. One of these is Flickr, although Flickr is not really a sales tool, in fact Flickr take great pains to say that if you are seen to be using it in in a ‘sales’ way then they will remove your account. So, to that end there are some dos and don’ts in how to make Flickr work for you.
Why use Flickr
There are a few reasons why Flickr is a great way of storing your photos and making them available to your customers but the main ones are:
- You can have as many photos as you want and filed in folders and groups available online to anyone – keeps storage issues on your own website hosting to a minimum
- Flickr is owned by Yahoo, one of the major search engines and therefore your photos will be more readily accessible in searches
- You can tag each photo individually and can place a link to an appropriate page on your website – great linking and SEO value
However, it should be noted that Flickr do not endorse promotion or selling online and therefore there is a fine line between actively using Flickr as a business tool and using Flickr as a sales channel.
Use Flickr to upload interesting photos relating to your business, not just of your product but also ‘behind the scenes’ shots. Flickr is not an online brochure it is to share you, your brand and your enthusiasm for your product and business.
How to start with Flickr
You need a Yahoo id in order to set up a Flickr account. Go to http://uk.yahoo.com/ and sign up for a Yahoo account.
Then proceed to http://www.flickr.com/ and create an account. You will be asked to set up your own Flickr web address, if you are using Flickr for business use try and make sure this is easily recognisable i.e. use your business name, or a search phrase that is relevant to your business.
Follow all the instructions during set up and make sure you fill in all available areas to shout about who you are and what you do making sure you put a link to your website in and a way of letting people get in touch with you. Do not make anything private, make sure you are sharing everything with everyone otherwise you will not be found in searches and that then renders the plus points of a Flickr account useless.
To come back to the set up process at any point from the home page click You and then go to Your Account. Things to note:
- If you are not regularly checking your Yahoo Id email then change your primary email address to the one you use regularly. From Your Account click the Emails & Notifications tab and click edit next to Your contact email(s).
- Still on the Emails & Notifications tab you will see options to Upload by Email options. This is particularly useful if you have a smart phone and are able to email from the phone. Set up the Your Flickr upload email so that you can upload even when you are on the move – just remember to log in to your account later and tag the photos you uploaded properly!
- You can’t link Flickr to a business Facebook page – well not yet anyway – this might change in the future.
- You can link Flickr to Twitter. To do this go to You → Your Account → Sharing & Extending → Configure your Flickr-to-blog-settings →  Set up your blog →  drop down menu → Twitter → Next → Go to Twitter to Autorize → Allow
Note: You will still have to manually ‘tweet’ the images one by one this is not an automatic post to Twitter.
Uploading Photos
Once you have logged into to Flickr you will ‘land’ on an overview page. You can get back to this overview page at any point by clicking Home under the Flickr logo.
On your computer make sure you have saved and renamed if necessary the photos you wish to upload. You can upload straight from your camera if you want to;
To upload an individual or a group of photos click the arrow next to You and scroll down the list until you read Upload Photos and Videos click on this.
- Click Choose photos and videos and navigate through your computer to where you have saved the images you want uploading or navigate straight to the camera. Select all the photos you want to upload and press enter.
- There is a maximum limit of uploading 300MB per month, however, it is unlikely you will reach this limit although Flickr will tell you if you are close.
- In the set privacy section select which one you want. If you are using for your business then it is in your interests to make sure they are set to public. Then click Upload Photos and Videos and wait for all photos to be uploaded.
- It will now say Finished! Next add a description perhaps? Click on add a description and you will see a small version of each photo that you have uploaded.
- Under the words batch operations there is an area to add tags. Add the main keyword tags that are used for your web pages, if we have set this up for you we can provide you with a list or use the rule of thumb that is ‘if I were typing into Google, what words would I use to find your website’. Remember to put your company name and your location into these tags as well. Separate each tag with a space and if you want to join 2 words together in one tag use double quotes each side of the words i.e. “luxury hotelâ€
- There is also an area to Add to a Set and if you have carried out a bulk upload of images it is worth sorting them into appropriate sets although this can be completed individually later on if you want to. It is easy to add a new set here but try and keep it simple – if you are a hotel for example have sets such as rooms, food, local area – make them logical so that there is no confusion.
- Under each image you now have the ability to sell your business. Make sure that the title is a proper title and not just an image number pulled in from your camera. In the description wax lyrical about your business, product, why someone should purchase from you, book with you etc. Remember to put a link to your website in here…. and don’t always link to your home page. If for example you are a hotel and you upload a picture of a bedroom, make the link a link to your accommodation page. Also remember to include your telephone number in this description as well. You may feel like you are repeating yourself sometimes but be aware that someone may come across an individual image in a search they carry out rather than the whole set or your whole profile, so each photo you upload has to have the ability to ‘stand alone’.
- Once you have completed all the sections then press save at the bottom of the page.
- If you want to add a picture to Twitter you will have to manually do this by selecting the Share this option at the top of an image, then clicking Blog It and then clicking on your Twitter link and add a bit of text to go with the tweet and then Post Entry. Note: this will only work if you have set up your link to Twitter as detailed above.
If at any point you need to change the description or edit a tag or delete the photo completely or add it to a new set you have made up then you just click on the description under the photo on your home page. This will bring up the image with the words Actions and share this above it. Click Actions and a full list will appear for you to edit the photo with.
Sharing your photos
To direct people to your Flickr photos you can add links to your website either to your overall Flickr profile or to the individual sets you have set up.
Whilst using Flickr carry out a search from the home page for your business and see if anyone else has uploaded photos from their experience with you. If you find photos of your business or product that you would like to keep a track of then you can add these photos into a gallery.
- Click on the image so that you have a full size on your screen. Click Actions and you will be presented with a drop down menu.
- Click Add to a gallery and either add to a gallery you have already created or create a new gallery and call it ‘guest photos’ or something similar.
You will see on the right hand side of the screen who took the photo in the By xxxx area. Underneath their name there is the option to + Add Contact. A small box will come up on your screen and the Add as a Contact box will already be ticked, you just have to press the blue button.
Manage your contacts
By uploading images on a regular basis all your contacts will be receiving a weekly email from Flickr announcing new uploads from their contacts. This will include a list of all the new images you have uploaded and therefore should prompt them to visit you again or purchase from you again. They will only get this is you upload regularly so aim for a minimum of 1 new photo a week just so that you appear in this weekly email all the time.
From the home screen if you use the drop down arrow next to Contacts there are various suggestions of how to find contacts, probably the most logical one when you are first setting up is to use the Find Your Friends option and use the email or Facebook upload icon that is applicable to you, i.e. the Yahoo mail or Windows mail option. This will search your email address book and anyone who has a Flickr account will be presented to you. Just follow the instructions as Flickr will step you through this process.
It is worth exploring Flickr and using the search option to see who would be interested in your photo stream and adding them as a contact. For example is someone is always uploading pictures of a luxury hotels around the world, and you are a luxury hotel, then you want them to see your photos. Just add them as a contact as above – if they want to be your friend they will be, if they don’t then you’ve lost nothing.
Joining groups
It is worth joining groups on Flickr because it means your photos are viewed by a wider audience who are interested in your area or expertise.
From the home screen use the drop down arrow next to Groups and select Search for a Group from the menu.
Type in your search phrase i.e. luxury hotel and see what comes up. Each group will have different rules about being a member, many of the groups have a limit on how many photos you can add to the group each month so it is worth going back on a regular basis to find out what’s new and to add new photos, join in discussions and view other peoples work so you can build your contact list.
Conclusion
As with all forms of social media this works as well as the amount of time you dedicate to it. We can help to manage your Flickr account with you as long as we are provided with a fresh supply of photos on a regular basis.
Remember that Flickr is not an extension of a business brochure; it is to share photos of your everyday life from a business point of view. Flickr was never set up to be used solely by businesses so the slant is very much on the personal user and you will be penalised by Flickr if you are seen to be using it in a purely commercial way.
Get involved with other people on Flickr, actively contact people who have put photos of you, your business or your product online. If appropriate put tent cards up around your business with links to your Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, Trip Advisor and ask people to get involved.
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