Flickr – The Best Kept Social Networking Secret?
Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by Matthew Toren in Business, Entrepreneurship, Internet, SEO & Rank, Social Media
Chances are good that when you think of social networks, you think of Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, and when you think of Flickr, you think photo sharing. We recently posted an article on paid and free image sites, in which Flickr was included (with a few caveats) as a great source of free images. And this is, for the most part, the extent to which entrepreneurs see Flickr as useful to their businesses. After all, you can’t use Flickr for marketing, right? Well, actually, you can.
First, think about the stats: Any site with over 40 million users, an Alexa rank of 32 (23 for U.S. traffic), and over 4 billion photos uploaded, is worth taking a closer look at. If there is any way at all to tap into that kind of user base, it makes sense to do so. The good news is that there is a way.
Because Flickr results are heavily indexed in search engines, often surpassing other non-image links, Flickr can be a powerful SEO tool. However, Flickr is one of the least-utilized SEO tools around. Part of the reason companies overlook this powerful resource is because of the time it takes to set up and maintain a photo-stream in such a way that optimizes SEO and social media results. But again, if you can access the power of this tool, it’s worth the time.
Tagging, descriptions, and grouping of photos
For each photo you upload to Flickr, you can create custom tags and descriptions. These can include pretty much anything you want, so can be optimized to ensure your company’s photos are found in searches relating to your chosen keywords. Descriptions can also link directly to your website. You can create picture sets within your account as well, further optimizing search results and providing an additional opportunity for detailed descriptions with links. Additionally, Flickr gives you the ability to geo-tag your content – an important feature for any business with physical locations.
Ongoing maintenance and optimization
An important part of optimizing your Flickr account, both within the Flickr community and for the search engines, is through activity in some of the thousands of Flickr groups. Posting pictures in relevant groups is vital for proper optimization, so it’s a good idea to post your pictures in groups that will serve to enhance your position, such as industry-specific or product-specific groups. Because pictures get buried quickly within groups, and (unless you have a pro account) a picture can only be in ten groups at once (and many groups have rules about how many pictures you can post in their group at any given time), ongoing maintenance should include moving your pictures on a regular basis for optimum exposure. You’ll also want to monitor activity on individual pictures and adjust your efforts accordingly, ensuring search engines and Flickr users are easily finding your account. Perhaps the most important part of Flickr though, is the potential for network building. Flickr is, after all, a social network, so connecting with other users is critical to a successful Flickr campaign. With this in mind, build a network of connections through “favoriting” others’ works, adding contacts, commenting within groups and individual photo-streams, and responding to comments on your account.
If you work it right, you can effectively be seen as an industry leader within the community, and that, more than just about anything, can have a dramatic effect on your business. Of course this all might sound like a lot of work, but really, once your photos are uploaded, an hour a week or so should be plenty of time to devote to Flickr. It’s not like Facebook and Twitter, where an account without a comment for a few days is seen as dormant. In any case, it’s one more possible tool in the ever-expanding bag of tricks that is social network marketing, and one that just might pay off big!
Image attribution: EXKARRAVELHO via Flickr.com
Popularity: 6% [?]
33 Responses to “Flickr – The Best Kept Social Networking Secret?”
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Justin Popovic
14. Jul, 2010
This is a great tip. I have just started scratching the surface with what’s possible with Flickr. What I really enjoy about the site is that it is photo based and pictures can be really interesting to work with.
Also, when it comes to content creation, all you need to do is start carrying a digital camera around with you and there are an infinite number of ways to capture footage to use a traffic generating content! Quite amazing when you think about it.
Your tips about tags and description are great. Could have some major SEO implications (in a good way).
StartupSidekick
14. Jul, 2010
Interesting idea Matt, especially for a business that will specialize in digital media. I have to wonder about the ability to draw in potential leads though (as opposed to just bringing in random visitors from Flickr’s large population base) for other types of businesses.
Nevertheless, this is certainly worth checking out, because as you mentioned there is not a lot of effort required to get going. A few hours is a small investment of time when you consider the implications of tapping a percentage of Flickr’s massive user base.
Jason
Laptop Briefcases
14. Jul, 2010
Yes I hadn’t really thought of using flickr as a marketing tool. Of course it’s going to work better with certain niches, but for many niches it is at least worth a try. It’s yet another way to reach people and get your product/service/name in front of more eyes.
Credit Girl
14. Jul, 2010
That’s awesome! I can definitely tell you that I’ve never thought of Flickr in that way. What about Photobucket then? Can the same strategies be applied there as well?
Marriage Information
15. Jul, 2010
Flickr is a great place to network, gain traffic, and even collect links! I have been a member for a couple of years and I love it.
Travel Opportunities
15. Jul, 2010
One of my favorite features of Flickr is the creative Commons images that I use on many of my blogs.
JohnAtBlogtrepreneur
15. Jul, 2010
@Credit Girl: Great question. I’m not that familiar with Photobucket, but what they need to have that Flickr has to make it useful for biz is the ability to add whatever tags and descriptions you want, including being able to include a URL in your description. Also, to make it a good social network, of course you need to be able to connect with other users and “friend” them and join groups. If you can do all that, it should be pretty useful.
bootstrapperboy
15. Jul, 2010
very cool post, I come across Flickr all the time but I’ve never really thought of including it in my marketing mix, which is kind of strange as I have a picture blog. I’ll be sure to have a closer look, thanks for the heads up Matthew.
Credit Girl
15. Jul, 2010
Great point. For some reason, when I think of Flickr I see it as a more professional site for picture hosting. Photographers often times will use their Flickr account to display their talents and show their clients through Flickr. However, when I think of Photobucket I certainly do not see that professional element. It’s more personal and funsies kinda things. You are able to share images with people on photobucket but I have yet to befriend people through that. I’d definitely conclude that it’s for more private use.
Andre
17. Jul, 2010
Great post – I didn’t know, that it is possible to use links in the descriptions. I have one addition. What do you think about creating groups as a business and try to engage the flickr users. For example: If you are in the marketing of a tourist destination, you can create a group where users have the possibility to upload pictures of your destination. Maybe you can start a competition as well and award the best pictures. What do you think about?
thebloggingrobot
17. Jul, 2010
I agree because I have not even thought of flickr as social networking, so I’m glad I read this article.
tires
17. Jul, 2010
Flickr is definitely a place that many webmasters can use to capitalize on, but it’s definitely something that is not for everybody. I could totally see somebody who has a photography business for example making great use of flickr, as many people already are.
Till then,
Jean
car battery
18. Jul, 2010
I used to think of Flickr as just another image hosting site and never thought about the possibilities. It sounds really great now. Certainly, it’ll be hard work at first to figure out how to work it just right but just like Facebook and Twitter, Flickr and even other similar sites like Photobucket and Fotki could be the next big marketing tool.
cleaning services
18. Jul, 2010
this is definitely one of the sites i had not considered using for SEO purposes. Good write up though – I will have to look into it further. Cheers.
SEO Tips
18. Jul, 2010
I don’t usually see Flickr in the search engines much, but this might be useful. I have a few photo-based sites that could use Flickr to tap into a a bigger userbase and get some needed traffic.
Bidet
19. Jul, 2010
Using Flickr for SEO is a great idea, I never really thought of it before. Its another great tool for promoting your site and getting more traffic. Thanks for sharing this great idea with us.
Kelvin Forex Indicator
19. Jul, 2010
Wow, flickr is something that I miss out and thank for your great SEO idea. I have never thought that I could be rank for a photo.
Chelsea Langevin
19. Jul, 2010
Matthew,
Entrepreneurs really have a lot to gain from analyzing and leveraging a networking site’s strengths.
Flickr is a great platform to build a brand’s image and gain visibility. It’s hard to conceptualize what appears to be a photo hosting site as a social networking site, but Web 2.0 is all about the user’s content and interaction–that’s what Flickr does.
-Chelsea Langevin
Car Rental
19. Jul, 2010
I am really loving your post because I never knew that even flickr can be used as an SEO or free marketing tool. You are a genius mate.
Beaded Napkin Rings
21. Jul, 2010
I used to do something like this at Photobucket and i would put alt tags for my images everywhere i could, like hubpages, squidoo, gather…But this is something different, also, i didnt know you can put links in description on flickr. Pitty theyre nofolow though, but oh well.
sell things on ebay
03. Aug, 2010
Sounds good in theory, but will time spent using a site like Flickr, be as beneficial as other SEO methods you could be using? Or is it more about reputation management, and trying to build an online presence as the expert in a niche, across some of the other social media platforms other than Twitter and Facebook. I think you’re right though, any site with those kinds of numbers, and growing, has to be looked at to see if there is a tangible marketing benefit.
M
Tej Kohli
04. Aug, 2010
I am also Using Flicker and find its best means for Image sharing and Branding
LS 2208
06. Aug, 2010
I’m a total noob when it comes to Flickr. Will have to look into it further, however I kind of agree with the comment above – there is no shortage of SEO strategies, but is 1 hours spend on this better than 1 hour spent on other SEO techniques?
That’s the real question. The challenge for most SEO efforts is that we have 1,000 techniques but only X number of hours to work with, so the biggest thing is to pick strategies that not only work, but also produce the most SEO “ROI” for time invested.
Good find though.
-Paul
Legitiamte Work From Home Jobs
08. Aug, 2010
A while back I read of someone using Flickr as part of his SEO tactics. However, until now I had no idea how to go about incorporating it into the whole process. Sounds like a lot of work to keep it going…not sure I’m “there” yet.
Computer Tips Tricks
09. Aug, 2010
Flickr is indeed a very good blog/website promoting medium. But it requires some skills there. Anyway, it’s a good article here.
My Online Business Strategy
08. Sep, 2010
This is something I had just noticed the other day myself as an option and I have started using it and noticed some of my images now first in Google for their keywords.
I also agree with Paul above regarding “…the biggest thing is to pick strategies that not only work, but also produce the most SEO “ROI” for time invested” Thats why I use posterous or ping.fm to autopost to multiple Web2.0 sites which speeds up the back linking and posting process.
buy p90x
15. Oct, 2010
I can see how flickr can be a valuable asset in SEO. My friend has a sight based on graphics and is able to generate a lot of traffic from flickr. I do realize that this is pretty much the same as most people use flickr for. But I do see how powerful flickr can be for SEO.
- Robert
Pet Camera
15. Oct, 2010
I had no idea the Alexa ranking of Flickr was 23! That stat by itself speaks to the powerful level of social traffic it receives. I also know you can geo-tag photos on there which helps with rankings on Google Maps.
Steffen
22. Mar, 2011
i am also experimenting with flickr for seo at this time. i have not really found out if it works but i will keep an eye on it and will post my experiences about it.
Nick
17. Jul, 2011
I researched Flickr as an SEO opportunity a while back and found a lot of people mentioning that Flickr started cracking down on marketers by terminating accounts. Anyone else hear about that?
Charleen Larson
17. Aug, 2011
Flickr for SEO? Intriguing. Not sure I’ll be able to find the time to implement and maintain this — just taking and uploading photos I wouldn’t normally take on a regular basis would be a pain. But it’s good to have that option.
beverage marketing
12. Jan, 2012
I love Flickr! I use my account a lot, as much as FB.
-A
All Access
20. Jan, 2012
I have a landscape and concrete business. It does take a lot of work to get going that being said its great google normanlly comes by every three days. Be sure to title all your pictures. I upload here first becuse of that . Been using it for two years…