Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Aivar Ruukel on April 20, 2012 at 2:59pm

Hi ! 

I have got a question - best practice examples on how to use Flickr for tourism marketing? 

Have been using it many years myself. Like it!

Now plan to use it more and wiser way in some coming projects, that is the reason to ask. 

Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Todd Lucier on April 20, 2012 at 3:19pm

That's a good one Aivar... I'm sure there are dozens of things that can be done to make the most of Flickr.

I divide those things into: SEO, adding value to your existing website, and being social.

I'll offer my ideas on SEO here:

First you've got to know the relevant keywords for your content.

Every time we post anything we generally get a chance to use keywords wisely.  Titles, Descriptions and Tags.  It's best if these differ for each photo, group of photos but consistently use the words that matter.

We can also use hyperlinks in the descriptions.  Links add SEO value to your home site and encourage click throughs.

Adding value to your existing site:

We use flickr for extended tours of our facility - linking out from our site, and we embed slide shows into blogs and web pages.  We also store all of our photos there so that we can go get them when we need to use photos on our website.

Being social:

Creating photo-sharing groups is a great way to engage your guests after they visit.  Invite them to join the groups and share your photos with the group there too.  Ask your guests if you can have permission to use some of their photos in your online marketing if it makes sense and you see some really great photos.

~ quick top of mind reflections, but a start.  How do you use flickr?

Permalink Reply by Aivar Ruukel on April 20, 2012 at 3:53pm

Thank you Todd!

I like very much your 3 division approach.

My experience so far covers a bit of all three:

Created once my Flickr URL with SEO in mind, and allways when uploading new images trying to play the keyword game too.

Using Flickr images for site and blog, experimenting with slideshow and recently with Everytrail.com gps-track + Flickr set photos, made on trips, a great way to create visually appealing route descriptions, I think.

Crowdsourcing and community building have been so far my weakest side. 

The project which now is in start phase is about European network (EDEN), where my region (Soomaa NP) belongs to. It is quite large and (100+) circle of very diverse small destinations (more http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism/eden/themes-destinat... )

Now we do have an ambition to start a collaborative online storytelling together, I put big hopes on using Flickr in this affair. 

Tried to look what national DMOs are doing, but did not found a lot to learn from, here is a post http://aivar.ruukel.ee/2012/04/3-ways-how-tourism-dmos-are-using-fl...

I am sure the must be some great cases of Flickr usage to learn from, destinations, and tourism businesses ?