Don’t Underestimate Us – The Power of LinkedIn, Flickr, and Periscope in Marketing

Yesterday, I highlighted three social media platforms which are often overlooked when it comes to digital social media marketing. Today, I’ll highlight three more social media underdogs: LinkedIn, Flickr, and Periscope. All three platforms can become marketing gold mines if used correctly.

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LinkedIn

• What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a business and employment-oriented social networking service that operates via websites. It’s the world’s largest professional network with 400 million users (source).

• How Can LinkedIn Help Market my Business or Product?

Brandon Doyle, blogger at Business 2 Community, advises not to underestimate the marketing power of LinkedIn. In an article titled How to Use LinkedIn as a Digital Marketing Tool, Doyle gives three simple steps on how to use LinkedIn to your advantage.

1. Keep Your Profile Updated

Unfortunately, once businesses create a profile, they then forget about it. Make sure that your profile stays up-to-date. Check the information periodically to make sure nothing has changed (addresss, phone number, etc). Keep you status updated and fresh. This will keep your followers engaged in your business.

Doyle also recommends that you Tweet more since LinkedIn integrates Tweets from your professional Twitter account into your LinkedIn account. He advises that you allow Twitter to do “double duty” for you. I’m not sure I completely agree with this. I don’t see a problem integrating Twitter with LinkedIn, but I’m not sure I would want the same content from Twitter being reused on LinkedIn. Keep your content fresh. If you do integrate, make sure you’re also providing new information and fresh content.

2. Increase Visability Through Community Features

Community features allow you to interact with specific audiences. Some examples of community features include

• groups
• answers (this allows you to ask questions to get feedback and allows for interaction with others in your niche)
• company pages

One great way you can use company pages is to keep an eye on your competitors. See what is working for them (or not working). Watch how they interact with their customers and followers. Do a little reconnaissance.



3. Market, Market, Market!

Use LinkedIn for its marketing power. Reach out to prospective clients through mutual connections. Use LinkedIn’s paid advertisement feature. Take advantage of LinkedIn’s own anayltics tools. Use the information provided by this tool to check how you’re doing against your competitors and to identify your target market. If you’re not hitting the mark then you need to reassess and refine your strategy.

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Flickr

• What is Flickr?

Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website and web services suite. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, and effectively an online community, the service is widely used by photo researchers and by bloggers to host images that they embed in blogs and social media (source).

Flickr’s website boasts of 13 billion photos, 120 million people, and 2 million groups.

• How Can Flickr Help Market my Business or Product?

I love Flickr’s tagline: “Find Your Inspiration”. Isn’t that awesome?

Brian Conlin, content marketing manager for Cision (a PR software and service provider), in an article Cheat Sheet: Flickr for Marketing and PR says that Flickr is best used for visual storytelling. Due to the fact that Flickr allows for 1 terabyte of free storage (which allows for high-resolution uploads), Flickr has a leg up on its Facebook and Google+ competitors.

You can present your story in its full glory, not in the reduced resolution version that Facebook offers. Even Google+ pales in comparison to Flickr. While you can upload full-resolution photos to Google+, they count toward the space available with your Google account.

Conlin offers other tips to utilize Flickr’s social media marketing appeal.

• Make Your Photos Easy to Find

Use relevant tags and file the photos under proper catagories. You want your target audience to find your pictures easily.

• License Your Photos

You don’t want to only use Flickr for archive purposes; your want to share them. Make them available with a Creative Commons License.

• Use Groups

Conlin suggests “if you want to create connections and empower your fans, join groups or start one“. Groups bring users together to share a common theme and find stories that are relevant to them.

• Avoid “Salesy” Photos

Flickr is primarily a photo sharing site; it’s not a selling site. Flickr can get pretty finicky about this, so be sure that you’re avoiding the salesman pitch. Instead, post print-quality photos for your users to enjoy, and treat Flickr like a supplement to your combined social media presence.

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Periscope

• What is Periscope?

Periscope is a live video streaming app for iOS and Android developed by Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein and acquired by Twitter before launch in 2015. It currently has 10 million users (source).

• How Can Periscope Help Market my Business or Product?

Crystal Washington, social media marketing strategist for Personal Branding Blog, in an article entitled 4 Simple Ways to Use Periscope for Business says that Periscope allows businesses to “have the capability to share their stories and perspectives to add value to their viewers in the form of entertainment and/or education” through video. She offers four tips to help businesses add Periscope to their social media campaign.

1. Utilize Insider Videos

Allow your followers to see Live videos showing how your product is made or used. Let them see behind-the-scenes action at your company or give a product demonstration. Letting people have a peek at some insider information can be attractive to new customers. Use it!

2. Provide Q&A Sessions

This is an excellent way to interact and create a relationship with your target audience. Washington suggests that you allow viewers to submit questions during a live broadcast and then answer them “on air”. This showcases your knowledge and expertise in your given field/area.

3. Hold Focus Groups



This can be especially useful if you’re debuting a new product or service. Utilize the Live feature of Periscope to allow for instant feedback. You can allow viewers to vote on style, color, and other features. This shows your customers that their opinion matters, and it may inspire loyal followers.

4. Create How-To Videos

While YouTube appears to be king of how-to videos, Periscope allows viewers the ability to ask questions for clarification during the spot during a how-to video. YouTube does not include that feature.

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Conclusion

LinkedIn, Flickr, and Periscope all offer unique features that can add richness to a social media campaign. Used wisely, you can focus on your target audience’s needs while showcasing your business or product. Develop your social media campaign from every angle using all the tools at your disposal to create a three dimensional experience for your audience. With that kind of surround-sound experience, your business or product will be irresistable!

Thoughts, comments, or questions? Leave them below!

(orginal header image can be found here. Images are not my own and are used for educational purposes only)