RISMEDIA, June 2, 2009-Is one of your talents being a good photographer? Build your brand and business using your love for photography. You can do this by sharing your photos through a social networking site called Flickr.
Visit Flickr and set up an account. Make sure you add your photo and your profile so people can search for you and find you. Make sure you include key words in your bio, like the towns you service, the type of real estate you specialize in and what you have a passion about.
Once you set up your account you can upload your photos and start a photo stream.
Flickr can become your photo online storage cabinet. Many of us take digital photos and just leave them on our computer and forget to back them up. When you use Flickr, they are now active on the Internet and you will always have a copy of it. Flickr allows you to archive your photos by date taken and date uploaded by year and month. Sometimes you can find a photo easier in your archive on Flickr than you can on your computer hard drive.
So, how can your photographs help promote your business?
By Search Engine Optimization (SEO). When you upload your photos to Flickr you are given the ability to title and tag your photos. This becomes extremely rich content for Google. Google can find them quickly and so can consumers.
Be sure to set up a Flickr account for both yourself and your brokerage.
Must-dos when uploading a photo:
Title – Make sure you change the name of the photo from IMG0004.jpg to something descriptive. If it is a listing photo the address and type of room is good. Example: Bostonrdlivingroom
Description – Write as many words as you need to describe your photos, use keywords to aid in search. No 3 br with 2 ba, please.
Tag it – This enables the power of the Google Search. Add as many as you can think of and separate them by commas. The address, county, town, subdivision, type of home, brokerage name
Imagine if a buyer is searching for a town and a subdivision. Your photos may very well show up in their search. What a great passive prospecting tool. As people are looking for information on an area, people will find you in a Google search
Sets – each listing gets set up as a set. Add as many photos as you want, and create slide shows
Join Groups
Start with Photography for real estate. This particular group is a wonderful place to upload your photo and have them reviewed by other photographers. If you want you can also just learn from reading the comments if you are not brave enough to post your own
Search
Have some fun, and use the search function. You can search for People, type of photos and groups. Join some local groups or set up a group for your town or area. Lots of photographers will join your group and share photos. This could be one of your virtual farms! What a great way to meet more prospects.
Farm and Geographic area
Start a conversation with other people taking photos in your area. Real estate is a relationship business. What better way to network but with other people who love what you love doing. Remember if someone favorites your photo send them a message and thank them. Build the relationship.
Photo Walks
Check in your area for photo walks by local photographers. It is what is says, go and network with locals and take a walk and take photos as you go, and meet people in your farm area.
Newspapers and bloggers search Flickr for photographs to use. Make sure they know what your rules are. Check out the Creative Commons Pool – a new way of sharing photos. You can set up licenses on your photos either all rights reserved or consider allowing creative commons. This allows other people to use your photos on their website and blog and even newspapers. They will give you credit.
Flickr is easy to use. Don’t be afraid; just discover all the things it can do for your business. So here is a recap:
– Upload photos
– Write good titles
– Learn how to write tags
– Have fun and meet new people!
Amy Chorew is a national trainer who is highly experienced at helping managers and agents maximize the opportunities that technology offers them. Her relaxed and confident training style allows students to learn in a stress free and enjoyable environment. For more information, call 800-253-2350 ext 303, e-mail Amy@AmyChorew.com, or visit www.theTechByte.com.
