Flickr is a popular photo sharing website owned by Yahoo. The site allows you to organize, edit and share photos with millions of people around the world. In June of 2011, Yahoo reported that Flickr had roughly 51 million members. For a small business, Flickr offers another excellent avenue to market to the masses. BizBytes has come up with five ways to help you get started.

Get a screen name for your business. Because your screen name is going to accompany every photo you upload, every message you post and anything else you do while using Flickr, it is important that it reflect what you do. Use your business name or website URL as your screen name.

Use your Flickr profile to promote your business. When you sign up for an account with Flickr, you’ll get a profile page that you can customize. Build your profile page to include pertinent information about your business. Think about your Flickr profile page as a place for others to get information about your company, not a place where they are greeted with an in-your-face sales pitch that may turn them off. Make sure your company logo, website and links to your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages are prominently featured on your profile page so that potential customers can connect with you across social media platforms.

Upload photos of your products and services. Were you recently hired to perform a service on behalf of a client? Upload photos of your employees at work on Flickr. Did your company take part in an event or roll out a new product? Make sure you share photos of it on Flickr. You can also share photos instructing others how to use your product. For instance, if you make and sell baked goods, why not use Flickr to share photos of your baking process?

Become an active part of the Flickr community. Flickr’s got thousands of communities focused on different topics including pets, food, cars and even candy. A great way to promote your business using Flickr is to get involved in one or more of the communities that are related to what you do. Post comments to other people’s photos and join discussions about topics that interest you to get started.

Use photo descriptions and tags wisely. Whenever you upload a photo to Flickr, you’ve got to describe it. Use descriptive text that includes keywords for your business to provide information about each photo you upload. For example, if you’re rolling out a new product, make sure you describe the product, but also include your company name in it. You can also use tags to describe your photos. Make sure tags include the city where you do business, your website URL and even an e-mail address for your company.

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