If you are interested in using Web 2.0 to market your products online, you need to think beyond traditional, one-way internet marketing techniques. You can now get written, audio, and visual content about your product on the web for free. You have the potential to expose yourself to millions of potential customers.



Blogs, social networking websites, and other products of the latest internet technology shift have changed the way we think about online marketing, and marketing in general. In fact, it is now accepted that traditional marketing techniques are losing their effectiveness as young people spend less time in front of the TV and more time in front of the PC.

One of the most popular free ways to market products is on Flickr. Ultimately, Flickr combines social networking and media sharing by allowing users to upload photographs.

So what does this mean for you? If you want to increase exposure, especially if you sell a product, you can simply publish product photographs on Flickr. If you can provide useful captions for your photographs, you'll be ahead of the curve. You also have to be different.

What's wrong with traditional product images on retailers' websites? They're too small. Why do you think most sites have a "see larger image" link? Because most people want to be able to look at something as if they're holding it in their hands.

However, the benefits of Flickr run deeper than photographs. Web 2.0 has given consumers a voice that they previously didn't have. If people like a product it will create a buzz, or a viral effect, immediately boosting its exposure and popularity. Many consumers are proud of their "stuff". Whether it's a nice car or the latest gadget, if they like it they will tell people about it. Even if you don't post product photos on Flickr, someone else may post your product's pictures.

Many marketers have posted photos of their products on Flickr and invited other users to leave comments. There is, of course, an inherent danger to this that runs through much of Web 2.0 marketing. If people don't like your product, or they don't like you, they now have the ability to let you, and the rest of the world, know. Because of this, you need to make sure you have damage control measures in place. Just because Web 2.0 has opened up more doors doesn't mean you need to let everyone in.

There is little doubt that a savvy marketer can use Flickr to their advantage. From the smallest one person home business to major multi-national corporations, more and more people are using websites like Flickr to get their marketing message across.