Tag: small business marketing

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Using Flickr Images for Content Creation

Sunrise at Mooloolaba Beach

 

Flickr photos are often high quality and make superb images for online content creation such as blog posts, e-books, articles or videos.  The following discussion provides some ideas on how to use Flickr for content creation for small business marketing.

1. Check license arrangements

Before you use a Flickr image make sure you check the license agreement.  You need to be aware whether or not the image can be remixed (to create a derivative product) and whether or not you can use the image (remixed or not) for commercial use.  The ShareAlike component of a license means that, “If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.”  The range of licenses looks like this:

  1. Attribution License
  2. Attribution-NoDerivs License
  3. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
  4. Attribution-NonCommercial License
  5. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License
  6. Attribution-ShareAlike License

 

2. Advise when you have used an image

In all the above licenses, you have to make an attribution to the originator in the form they request – usually a hyperlink to their Flickr site showing their username and photo title.  Of late, I have been making the habit of commenting on the photo I use and leaving a link to my blog post or other URL where I have used the image.  Often, the originator will respond with some form of appreciation.

3. Be creative in your use of Flickr images (within the terms of the license)

There are endless ways you can use Flickr images.  A common way is to integrate them in a PowerPoint presentation and make an attribution list at the end.  You could use them within an eBook (abiding by the “fair use” rule).  Wizzley, a writer’s community, has a built-in module for displaying Flickr photos which provides a range of options.  The most frequent use of Flickr photos is in blog posts and a number of the top bloggers illustrate their posts with Flickr photos.

4. Showcase a photographer via Squidoo

If you come across an outstanding photographer or one who is creating images relevant to your focus/niche, you could build a Squidoo lens to showcase their photography.  When I was working towards my 50th Squidoo lens (GiantSquid) I developed a series of lenses focused on the towns/beaches on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland (the home State for my small business).  In the process I came across the stunning photography of BarbaraJH on Flickr.  Barbara lives at Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast and at last count had more than 7,700 photos on Flickr with 81 sets.  Her photography is exquisite, so I asked her whether she would agree to my building a Squidoo lens to showcase her work.  She readily agreed.  The lens provides a great insight into the quality of her photography:

http://www.squidoo.com/BarbaraJH-Maroochydore

Barbara’s public comment on seeing the early version of the completed lens was:

Thank you Ron, you’ve made a simply wonderful showcase of my photos, hopefully others will now get to enjoy seeing just a glimpse of the beautiful area in which I live.

Her personal appreciation via email was particularly moving.  This is one example of how you can build social equity through your innovative content creation using Flickr.   You can imagine that if your small business was located at Maroochydore, illustrating a top Flickr photographer from that area could bring a lot of traffic to your personal profile(s).

Flickr makes it easy for you to create online content with quality illustrations.

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10 Tips for Building Your Personal Brand on Flickr

Picnic spot at Montville Mountain Village
The real value of Flickr in terms of small business marketing is the ability to create a personal brand and build a following around common interests.  This post offers 10 tips for developing your personal brand on Flickr. They are offered in line with the small bsuiness marketing ideas discussed in the previous post.

1. Build your profile with care

Your photos are your marketing medium but your profile is your marketing message.  Take time and care in creating your profile and keep refining it to keep it up-to-date with your online marketing strategy.

Focus is important here as is clarity.  Take advantage of Flickr’s format offer in the profile area and add bold and italics and URL’s where appropriate … and images.  Flickr adds “no follow” code to all links, so your focus should be on the reader, not search engine optimization (SEO).  Whatever you do, keep in mind that your profile is the main way a Flickr visitor has to find out who you are and what you have to offer.

Your Flickr profile itself will also be indexed by Google.   Here’s an example of a Flickr search result on my own name – the link leads directly to my profile:

Flickr: ronpass
Everyone’s Uploads Groups Flickr Members For a Location Applications · ronpass’ Photostream · to ronpass’ photostream page. About ronpass / Ron Passfield …
http.www.flickr.com/people/ronpass/ –

Part of your broad social media marketing strategy should be to have a presence on as many high traffic locations on the Internet as possible.  Flickr provides an opportunity for further exposure if you have photos to share.

2. Get a Flicker Pro account

A Pro account costs about $25 per year at time of writing.  This enables you to overcome the limitations of the free account – which are 100 MB monthly photo upload limit (10MB per photo), 2 video uploads each month (90 seconds max, 150MB per video) and post any photo to up to 10 groups.  The Pro account gives you some authority on the site as you get a “PRO” icon added to your name and account.  Here are the PRO account benefits:

  • Unlimited photo uploads (20MB per photo)
  • Unlimited video uploads (90 seconds max, 500MB per video)
  • The ability to show HD Video
  • Unlimited storage and  Unlimited bandwidth
  • Archiving of high-resolution original images
  • The ability to replace a photo
  • Post any of your photos or videos in up to 60 group pools
  • Ad-free browsing and sharing
  • View count and referrer statistics.

With a Pro account, you can get access to your Flickr account stats.  It pays to check these stats regularly.  Here’s what Flickr has to say about their stats (provided in tabular form and visually):

Stats on Flickr are designed to give you insight into the ways that people are finding your photos. There are stats available for people surfing on Flickr itself – where the referrer is flickr.com – and stats about people coming from other websites. We can show you the sorts of things people search for on search engines where your photos turn up, and tell you how many views your photos have. 

3. Participate in Groups

Groups are the major medium for communication on Flickr.  They represent people of like interests sharing their passions.  Choose groups wisely and be willing to participate through sharing and commenting (remember comments brand you).  Flickr facilitates easy participation in groups.  Once you upload a photo you can specify what groups you want it to go to with an easy click.  The more groups, the more exposure, but keep them relevant to your profile and purpose.  When joining a group, make sure you take a note of their rules, e.g. limits on the number of photos you can add to a group in a day (e.g. 2 or 3).

4. Titles, Tags and descriptions are important for traffic

Flickr gives priority to photo titles when activating search results.  However, people on Flickr will often find your images through your tags – so be industrious here.  Check tags in use to see whether you can link to them.  Descriptions are also important because they inform the viewer and give them a better context and understanding to view your images.  You don’t want them to go away bewildered – they may not return.  Providing an interesting description could hold their attention and stimulate their curiosity.

5. Create sets of photos

Sets are groups of photos around a theme much like an album.  This makes it easier for the viewer to look at related photos.  If you have a Pro account, you can also create collections which are groups of sets.  Both sets and collections have their own URL and a mosaic created from the photos that make up the set or collection.   Collections are particularly useful where you have a large number of photos.

6. Be topical and creative

Creativity and humor attract people to you (as evidenced by some of the top YouTube videos).  A way to attract lots of traffic is to create an interesting and creative set of photos around a topical event.  You will attract attention if you adopt an innovative perspective (in line with Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow”).

7. Encourage others to reuse your images

Flickr offers a range of options in relation to licensing your photos.  The least restrictive license is known as “Creative Commons – Attribution” which effectively means:

You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work – and derivative works based upon it – but only if they give you credit.

So you make your photography available to others as long as they acknowledge the source.  People can then use your photos on their websites and blog posts, in eBooks or in remixing to make other products.  You thus place no restriction on commercial use of your photos as long as the attribution is given.  This can have a viral effect as more and more people come to see your photography through a diverse range of outlets.  You might be lucky and have one of the top bloggers like Brian Clark of Copyblogger pick up your Flickr photo and use it in one of his blog posts (he has 130,000+ subscribers).

8.  Maintain your contribution

As with any social media site, it is important to maintain your momentum and contribute regularly through uploads, joining groups, commenting on others’ photos and using Flickr images in your content creation.

9. Add video to your Flickr site

As mentioned earlier, with a free account you can upload 2 videos each month (90 seconds max, 150MB per video).  However, with a PRO account, you can upload an unlimited number of videos (still 90 seconds max) with a limit of 500MB per video.  Flickr is a great way to leverage animated music videos created from photos via Animoto.  In a previous post, I explained that with the free account at Animoto you can make an unlimited number of 30 second videos or with the All Access Pass, an unlimited number of videos of any length.

10. Improve the quality of your photos

Space does not permit a full discussion of this issue but here are some thoughts:

  • Observe “the Rule of Thirds”:  http://www.digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds
  • Fill the frame: http://www.digital-photography-school.com/fill-your-frame
  • Crop your photos : This is one way to achieve “fill your frame”.  It is also important for quality presentation.  Flickr uses thumbnail images for individual photos, sets and collections.  It pays to be conscious of this and crop your shots so that you get the best result from your photography.  It’s amazing how cropping can totally change an image and even convert a poor shot into a great one.
  • Frame your subject: Find something in the scene to provide a natural frame for your shot.  The image for this post is an example.  It is one of the photos that I took on holidays from a lookout in a mountain village, Montville, Queensland … the photo is aptly named, “Picnic on the Edge”.

The 10 tips in this post offer ways to build your personal brand and Internet profile on Flickr and, like any form of small business marketing, demand consistent and persistent action.

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Flickr – Photo Sharing to Build Your Small Business Profile

bulimba sunrise

Flickr is the premier, dedicated photo-sharing site on the Internet. It provides an ideal medium for personal branding and a great source of images for content creation.  So you can approach Flickr, a social networking site, as both a contributor and a consumer.  

Why would you bother with Flickr?

  • Flickr is ranked the 35th most visited site on the Internet (26th in theUSA)
  • Flickr has a PR 9 ranking (Google Page Rank – 9/10)

These statistics highlight the potential of Flickr as a medium for marketing but there are some caveats (warnings) which I will explore shortly.

Demographics of the Flickr audience

Here are some interesting trends in user behavior on Flickr that are relevant to marketers:

  • Flickr visitors view an average of 9 unique pages per visit and spend about five minutes on the site
  • Visitors tend to be disproportionately childless women under the age of 35 who are highly educated and view Flickr from work and home (see source below)
  • Compared to the general Internet population the age groups 18-24 & 25-34 are over-represented on Flickr while the over 55 group are considerably under-represented
  • Flickr as a source of traffic is ranked higher in thePhilippines,UKandSpainthan in the US (Alexa ranking by country)
  • US accounts for 29.3% of users andIndia (5.7%), UK (5%) andGermany (4.3%) are the next highest users

Source: (used with some statistical license): http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/flickr.com

It is important to take these demographics into account when developing your marketing strategy.  Does your target demographic frequent Flickr?  Alternatively, are there areas of interest to your own customer demographic that you can portray on Flickr?  When considering your marketing strategy, you need to remember Google’s universal search focus and the fact that Flickr images rate highly on Google’s image results.

Warning – Flickr’s Guidelines

Flickr has a strong anti-commercial stance and, in this respect, differs greatly from the Facebook’s Fan Pages option.  This position on commercial use of the site is stated very clearly and unequivocally in the following Flickr guideline:

“Don’t use Flickr for commercial purposes.

Flickr is for personal use only. If we find you selling products, services, or yourself through your photostream, we will terminate your account.”

This guideline is consistent with the rules covering most social networking sites – they are not designed for direct marketing of a small business or products/services.  They are designed to enable you to create connections with people who share a common interest, such as photography, a hobby, sports or a location.

But there are things you can do as a marketer that fall within the Flickr Guidelines and that are a natural consequence of a site which involves sharing photos/videos and personal interests.

If you use direct selling on Flickr, you will stand out “like a sore thumb” and also eventually have your account terminated.  People will avoid you as you will have broken the established etiquette of the site.

The secret to credibility on Flickr is to develop quality, topical, non-marketing images.  The emphasis here is on quality – because your quality photos lead to Flickr users adding your photos as favorites (for others to see), adding you as a contact (so that your updates are shown to them) and sharing via other social networking sites. 

The Flickr site facilitates return visits and enables viral marketing through other people creating online content with your photos. So as always with social networking sites, the idea is to share something valuable and personal.  In this way, you can present

yourself as a real person with interests that are shared by others.  There is a real synergy when using Flickr where your interests align with your small business focus.

The promotion side is achieved indirectly through your profile and your participation in groups who share a common interest.  So your images and your contributions to groups determine whether or not people will explore their curiosity about you and visit your profile. 

A key strategy on Flickr is to share photos of the locality of your small business – this enables visitors to relate your business to that location (a form of local business marketing).  As 80% of customers for a small business tend to come from within 5 miles of the business location, this could prove to be a productive strategy.

As your profile is your dominant indirect marketing message, it is critical for marketing on the Flickr site.  So in the final analysis, Flickr is a great tool for establishing your personal brand – enabling people to get to know you and your interests.

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Commenting on Blogs and Social Media Sites

commenting on social media

One of the most effective means of small business marketing is commenting on blogs and social media sites.  However, commenting is something that has to be done consciously, not as a “throw away” activity.   It should be done with full awarness of the impact of your comments on your brand, on the receiver and on the social media site.

Central to this small business marketing idea is the notion that when you comment on blogs or social media sites, you are branding yourself and your small business in the eyes of your reader (potential customer).

When you comment on blogs, for example, you are not only displaying your knowledge and expertise (or lack of it) but also who you are and what you value.  This disclosure (intended or unintended) flows over to your business brand.

I have written more extensively about the impact of commenting on branding in the following article:

Branding You, Branding Me, Branding Wizzley

There is an art to effective commenting and previously I have identifed three core strategies:

  1. Consider the author
  2. Share something of yourself
  3. Consciously add value

These guidelines for effective commenting are developed and illustrated in another article I wrote earlier:

How to create quality comments

In the final analysis, when you comment you should be attempting to add value for the originating author, the social media site and your own brand.

There is strong evidence that effective commenting on blogs and social media sites can build your brand, create connections with customers, increae your web traffic and boost your sales as a small business owner.

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10 Top Tips for Small Business Marketing on LinkedIn

 Here are 10 top  tips for building your LinkedIn presence together with tactics and strategies for marketing your small business.  LinkedIn is growing in status and size, so a presence on this site is becoming increasingly important for small business owners.

#1. Make the most of your LinkedIn Profile

Your profile is the core of your presence on LinkedIn – it is what people will visit to connect with you or to view what you have to offer.  LinkedIn understandably provides a comprehensive profile area – covering aspects such as current and past positions, education, specializations, experience and websites.  Make good use of the summary area which allows you to personalize the information by adding applications (”add sections”) that enrich your profile presentation.  The additional information area is where you add your websites, interest, groups/associations and awards.

The website descriptors are “my website”, “my blog” , etc.  – choose “other” instead and add a keyword rich title for your website(s).  Here are some other suggestions for your profile:

  • hyperlink wherever possible using anchor text
  • use keywords in description areas such as summary, specialties and experience
  • add an image for your profile (critical for this professional network)
  • create a personalized URL for your LinkedIn public profile (option provided), e.g. http://au.linkedin.com/in/ronpassfield
  • consciously determine your public profile settings to ensure you display the aspects you want to be visible to the public.

#2. Create your small business profile

LinkedIn, like Facebook, provides the opportunity to create a Company Page.  You can build your small business profile on this page and add your blog feed and other content.  As discussed in a previous post, a key aspect of your small business page should be your Company Status Updates.  This operates like Twitter but enables you to include a website image and description.

#3. Build your network

A key strategy for LinkedIn marketing is building your network.  Your connections are a reflection of who you are and your small business brand.  You can connect with customers who know you, business associates, employees/contractors, professional colleagues, potential joint venture partners and contacts from other social networks such as Squidoo, Facebook and Twitter.  You can really get to know your “friends” through their work experience, background and current business pursuits. 

You can grow your network by direct invitation to individuals, active participation in relevant LinkedIn groups or through people finding you via the LinkedIn search option (reinforces the importance of your keywords!).  LinkedIn, like Facebook, suggests connections based on your key interests, business associations and existing connections.  Your role is to consciously develop and shape your network.

#4. Create a group and participate

Another key LinkedIn marketing strategy, once you have developed your LinkedIn network, is to create a group.   You can build a group around your brand, particular product/services or professional affiliation.  However, you need to be active in your group to stimulate participation by others.  This could involve starting discussions, sharing news, creating sub-groups and posting relevant valuable information and resources.  When people join your group, this will be visible to their own network via the news feed.

#5. Use Slideshare to upload content such as presentations and videos

SlideShare is the world’s largest community for sharing presentations. You can:

  • share presentations & documents with your LinkedIn network
  • upload portfolios, resume, conference talks, PDFs, marketing/sales presentations and display them on your LinkedIn profile
  • use a range of formats such as ppt, pps, pptx, odp, pdf, doc, docx, odt, Keynote, iWork pages
  • embed YouTube videos in presentations or add audio to make a webinar
  • upload your videos.

If you have a SlideShare.net account, you can import your existing presentations into LinkedIn.  If you don’t have one, you can signup from LinkedIn to share your presentations worldwide and get more views/traffic.  You can add the SlideShare presentations to either your profile or your home page.  Your SlideShare uploads show up on the LinkedIn pages of your connections (if they have added the SlideShare application).

You can use SlideShare on both Linkedin and Facebook.  You can synchronize these with SlideShare so you have a three-way leverage.  If you upload anything to any one of the networks — SlideShare, Facebook or LinkedIn – it shows up instantly on all three.

#6. Promote your LinkedIn profile

You can promote your LinkedIn profile on your website, blog or Squidoo lenses by adding the LinkedIn button or text link.  Alternatively, you can use one of the many social media icon sets to encourage readers to connect to you and your small business on LinkedIn.

#7. Use LinkedIn applications

LinkedIn has a range of applications that you can use to brighten up your profile.  These include Portfolio Display, Blog Link (sync with your blog posts from Blogger, etc), WordPress (sync your WordPress posts), Reading List by Amazon (share the books you are reading), Company Buzz (Twitter activity about your company), Polls (create a poll for market research) and Tweets (display your tweets and view and comment on your connections’ tweets).

#8. Provide and seek recommendations

Recommendations are central to the purpose of LinkedIn as they contribute to your credibility and can reinforce your brand in the eyes of potential consumers/customers.  They strengthen your personal profile and give you increased visibility.  An integral principle of social media marketing is reciprocation, so you should both give and seek recommendations to build your profile on LinkedIn.    Your recommendations will appear on your profile page and can often say as much about you as they do about the recipient – as they disclose what you see, and value, in other people.  As with any social networking site that you are trying to build a presence on, it is important to maintain your contribution with regular sharing.

#9. Ask questions and and respond to others

When you join a group it is very useful to ask, and respond to, questions and to be active in discussions.  In this way, you can display your expertise, engage others and connect with potential customers who share your interests and/or perspectives.

#10. Create LinkedIn Ad Campaigns

Contrary to popular belief, LinkedIn has ad placements that you can purchase, either by way of cost per click (CPC) or cost per impressions (CPI or CPM).  You can target your audience by:

  • Geography
  • Job function or seniority
  • Industry and company size
  • Gender and age

You should keep in mind the demographics of LinkedIn when using the site for paid advertising.  It pays to read the FAQ’s to learn about ad placement, advertising conditions and recommendations for writing ads.

LinkedIn is a valuable way to build your small business brand, make new connections, increase the online visibility of your small business and develop relationships with customers