Jessica Hickok

By Jessica Hickok

I recently got an e-mail from my Flickr photo sharing account stating that a map company had requested to use a photo I had taken.  The photo was a tourist-y pic of Fremont Street in Las Vegas that was taken on a recent trip we made there last summer. The map company was requesting to use it for one of their online publication maps promoting the eclectic street.

Don’t get too excited, I’m not getting paid for them to use the photo, but I am getting a credit byline on the interactive online map.

Fremont Street

They asked me for the byline credit link and the default was set to my Flickr user name.  Although I like Flickr, I mostly use it for personal photos and I don’t use it that often.  So I changed the credit to be given to my Web/blog site instead of my Flickr user name.  Within weeks, I was amazed that my Web tracking stats were showing hundreds of hits on my web site that were coming from this online map Web site!

Then it hit me, posting pictures on Flickr (real estate related or not) can be just another way to drive traffic to your Web site.  I haven’t received any phone calls from someone wanting to buy that overpriced listing that’s been on the market since last summer, but you never know.  Nonetheless I am getting people hitting my Web site and all I did was upload a random photo to my Flickr account.

The moral of the story: Never underestimate the power of social media and a life well lived outside your job as REALTOR®.  You’d be amazed at how they all intertwine within themselves.  However, be warned young Jedi Warrior, it goes both ways…  You must think before posting those “other” Vegas pics.

Jessica Hickok, a self-proclaimed blogging- and Twittering-fanatic, is with Dizmang Properties in Springfield, Mo. Visit Jessica’s blog: www.jessicahickok.com.