Photo Sharing Networks

Facebook and Twitter may gain you exposure and help grow your list with email marketing but there are new networks worth checking out. One of the advantages of these networks is they have targeted audiences, and because they are new-comers to the scene they are gaining popularity.

Some of the big names are already engaging with these niche social media sites and communicating directly with their target audience. Pinterest - Lets you build boards and pin pictures to them. A very simple idea but one that is growing fast. These can then be liked, re-pinned and commented upon.

You can follow and be followed in a similar way to other social media networks. If your business has products, photographs can be pinned to your boards which in turn will be liked and re-pinned. Connect with your customers by responding and re-pinning content. All items pinned link back to the originating source, your website. Your personality can be expressed with a board of the things you like on the web:

• your style;
• what or who motivates you;
• your likes and ambitions.

I find it a very positive network, very refreshing! The site has 10.4 million registered users and 12 million unique visits monthly. 97% of the site's Facebook 'likes' are female as are most of the sites users. ( http://www.business2community.com for Stats )

Instagram - With around 10 million active users (Sept 2011), Instagram was launched in 2010 in Apple's app store. By August 2011 users had uploaded 150 million photos.By April 2012 they have reached 30 million users.

As the mobile market develops the ability to share, follow and comment on photographs with your iPhone, has seen Instagram become a fast growing share network.
Several of the large brands are using the site to communicate with their customers, sharing photos that represent their brand and inform followers of other aspects of their business. For example, Burberry's stream has shots from behind-the-scenes at a fashion shoot, showing customers and followers interesting aspects of their brand.

Since the acquisition of Instagram by Facebook the new version of the App took advantage of the benefits of Facebook's Open Graph. You can now post your Instagram Likes directly to your Facebook account, all in one place. And if you manage a Facebook Page - you can post to your Page without leaving the App.
Personalise your stream with photos that you like, that express your personality and branding. Communicating in this way makes your business more approachable, more human.
Other photo sharing sites Flickr and Fotolog can be used in the same way to communicate with your customers. The internet is rapidly becoming a visually colourful shared world.

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