Online photo sharing platforms
It can be difficult to determine where you should display your photos online. A good first step is to review the different options that are out there.
While this is certainly not a complete list, here are some of the more popular places to display and share your photos online.
If your photos include a lot of people in them who would be happy to share them with their friends, then you should share them through your organization’s Facebook Page.
Either post them on your wall or upload them into an album, then tag any people you recognize in them. You may have to switch from your Page to your personal account to tag people in the photo.
Then when people comment on the photo, make sure you respond and interact with them. Respond either as your page, or through your individual account, whatever makes the most sense.
Flickr
Flickr is designed for organizing and sharing photos. While you don’t have as many people already there like you do on Facebook, the actual features are quite a bit more robust.
Those features include albums, slideshows, tags, titles and descriptions. You can also embed Flickr albums into your blog article or website.
Instagram is a social media photo sharing platform that tends to appeal to the younger crowd. It can be effectively used in ongoing campaigns geared toward those in their mid twenties and below. So if your brand needs to be perceived as trendy, it may be a good fit.
However, the platform is viewed by much of the professional world as a fad, and unprofessional. So if your primary target market is not teenagers and twenty-somethings, it may not be the best option for you.
Another social media option for photo sharing is Pinterest. On Pinterest, you can link images to a specific page on your website, and it’s built for people to repin, or share, photos they like. You can add the ability for visitors to share images directly from your website, using a “Pin It” button.
Keep in mind that at this point, the majority of users are women, and they’re often looking for crafty or do-it-yourself ideas. In addition, an individual Pinterest user is more likely to be ready to buy than a Facebook user.
Your website
While you still have to get people there, and new capabilities may require a financial investment on your part, your website is the location you have the most control over. And if your primary purpose for displaying the photos is to get people to take action on your website, then it should be the primary location for those photos.
Other Places to Share Photos
Here is a list of some other places you can share photos. I don’t recommend these as your primary location, as they’re either not geared toward photos as much, or are just viewed as less professional
You should determine a primary location that the majority of your photos will be displayed based on your primary purpose for sharing them. But once you’ve determined that, you may want to share them other places to get people to your website or primary location.