A Picture is Worth 1000 Words: Make the Most of Photos

Getting started. Flickr is owned by Yahoo, and it's free and fun to use. All you have to do is register with Yahoo, if you have not done so already. At Fletcher Prince, we have a "pro" account on Flickr, which allows us to upload more than 200 images. It is not expensive ($24.95/year) and I think the convenience is worth it, particularly if you are going to make high resolution logos and images available to your staff and the media.

Naming your account. If possible, create a user name for your

account (it does not have to be the same user name as your sign-in user name) that is related to your company or organization. For example, ours is Fletcher Prince. That will help increase your hits in search engine results. While you are at it, upload a "favicon" (a small square, thumbnail version of your company logo) to identify and brand your profile. If you don't have one, we can design one for you. A favicon is useful for branding all kinds of online applications, such as Twitter.

Uploading images. To start, you'll want to upload headshots of yourself and your executives and managers (call us if you need Fletcher Prince to come in and take these photos for you); your company's logos; some photos of your company; and perhaps some photos of your products, or a portfolio. Be sure these are high-resolution versions, in case the media wants them, or in case you need them for printing purposes. Then, include any newsworthy photographs that you may have -- speaking engagements, award ceremonies, special events, community volunteer activities, etc.

It is quite easy to upload photos, even high-resolution versions. If you have a pro account, I recommend uploading high-resolution versions because Flickr automatically resizes them in small, medium, large, and original sizes, as well as a thumbnail. You can crop photos later, although I think it's worth the extra effort to crop and enhance photos before you upload them. All sizes have links. It is fine to include useful information in the photo descriptions, but be careful not to be overly promotional in this content, because that may violate Flickr's terms of service. You can mark your photos as private, for your friends only, or for public view. Of course, if you want them to be searchable, make them public!

Video. Although you can only load 1-1/2 minutes of video on Flickr, I really recommend uploading at least excerpts of your videos on Flickr, as we do. The player is very good quality. It won't replace YouTube, but it's a nice alternative.

Tagging and titling your photos. One pitfall to avoid is in tagging. On Flickr, you must put tags with multiple words in quotation marks. So, for example, if I were to tag a photo of David, if I just typed David

Hyson, Flickr would tag it "David," then "Hyson," and that's how it would come up in search engine results. So if I'm trying to build exposure for David Hyson, I have to be sure to tag his photos properly, in quotation marks (I also tag them with our company name, "Fletcher Prince.") Be sure to put proper names and organization names (e.g. "Public Relations Society of America") in quotation marks. Go for the long tail for more relevant hits -- make those tags as descriptive as possible. Your photos and images. will appear in Google search results quite quickly for those keywords, if you take this extra step (be sure to use Google Alerts so you'll know when they do pop up). Titling is another way to get more search engine results. Don't settle for "img 329" -- title those photos, using keywords when possible.

Adjusting your photos. Cropping your photos on Flickr is easy. With Flickr's photo editing feature, "Picnick," you can create web-ready banner art or adjust images to a desired size (e.g. for profile photos).

Organizing your photos. Taking time to organize your photos into "sets" and "categories" will serve you well, especially as your collection grows. On our account, we have organized our photos by staff, logos, events, and portolio images. Each collection has its group of sets. In this way, we can link to specific images or entire sets from our website, online newsroom, and online press releases. We also have a collection that is designated especially for the media (staff head shots and logos). It also makes these images very easy to find.

Share your photos. Flickr is a social media community, and just like all social networks, its foundation is sharing. One of the best ways to create value for the organizations you belong to, your clients, your staff, and the media, is to take plenty of photos, especially at special events, and share your flickr links with people. It is easy to share your Flickr photos on your blog and Facebook account. Bloggers and newsletter writers are always looking for great, web-ready photos, so if you pass these on, it can really help you gain exposure, and it also creates good will for your organization.