What is Flickr? – The Basics

Have you utilized Flickr to showcase your handmade items?  Etsy seller Noica from Noa Brumberg thinks Flickr is a great way to market her Etsy products.  “If you have the time and knowledge, make a small movie or animation to go with your product,” Noica says.  “I think it makes it more spacial.”  She shared her Flickr with us as well as a simple stop motion she made.

Haven’t tried using Flickr yet?  Here are some Flickr basics:

What is the purpose of Flickr?

Flickr is a website owned by Yahoo! and was created with the goal of being the best online photo management and sharing application on the Internet.  The site does this by ensuring users can make their content available to people around the world.  The best part about Flickr is that anyone can use it.  Flickr sees beginners to professionals – so every handmade seller can benefit from Flickr!

What can a user do on Flickr?

There are a number of things a user can do on Flickr.  Users can post photos and videos and share as much (or as little) as they want.  “Maybe they want to keep a blog of moments captured on their cameraphone,” the Flickr website reads, “or maybe they want to show off their best pictures or video to the whole world in a bid for web celebrity. Or maybe they want to securely and privately share photos of their kids with their family across the country.”  Your options with how and what to share becomes easy with the site.

Flickr also has great photo or video organization benefits.  Flickr makes this process collaborative.  When you use Flickr, you can give your friends, family, and other contacts permission to organize your content.  Unlike other sites where other users can just add comments, Flickr gives the option to use notes and tags too.

How does a user get videos or photos to Flickr?

Videos and photos can be taken from the Internet, mobile devices, and from a home computers.  From there, Flickr aims to “push them out in as many ways as possible.”  This includes posting the content on the Flickr website, in RSS feeds, by email, and by posting to blogs. Like the Flickr website says, “Flickr is the WD-40 that makes it easy to get photos or video from one person to another in whatever way they want.”

How can handmade sellers use Flickr as a marketing opportunity?

Handmade sellers should think of Flickr as an Internet community.  The users of Flickr tend to be very active, similar to Facebook.  When a site’s user base is active and strong, the chances of someone stumbling across your content is high.  In additon, the chances of someone sharing your content is also high.

Recently, Flickr was named the fastest-growing photo sharing site on the web.  In May 2006, Flicker reported 5 million unique visitors.

Flickr is also a great marketing tool because it is free to join!  Once you’ve joined, users use a simple upload system to post videos and photos.  You can also use Flickr as a networking opprotunity by searching for Flickr groups to join.  After joining a Flickr group, you have the opportunity to add to group discussion and sharing your photo albums (or “sets”) with the group.  This is a great way to snag exposure for your handmade products.  Think of Flickr as free handmade shop advertising!

For more ideas for using Flickr to market your handmade products, check out our “Flickr – Market Your Item Photos” article.

What are unique ways to make photos or videos stand out?

Keep in mind, Flickr has a policy against commencial use.  To use Flickr to advertise your handmade shop would be violating the website’s guidelines.  However, our team has thought of some unique and easy ways to keep in line with Flickr’s policies and use it as a marketing tool.