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