Social Business Success

Do you like having your picture taken?   Smile!  Now that’s a wonderful picture.

“I can’t believe I look that bad in that picture”.  Do those words sound familiar?  Most of us don’t like our picture taken and more of us don’t like how we look in photographs.

Do you look sharp for your LinkedIn photo?

When a person becomes involved in social media, it’s important he or she uploads a picture onto that social media network.  Take LinkedIn for example.  LinkedIn is a professional social network where individuals are looking to sell their products or services, land a new position or recruit someone to work for their firm or client.  So how important is having a photograph of yourself on LinkedIn?  In using social media, we can’t see the person we are recruiting, with whom we would like to do business or develop a relationship.  Our photo is the only way the user can see who we are.  It personally relaxes me when I see an individual’s photo of themselves.  Users of social media will not take a person seriously if he or she doesn’t have a picture of themselves uploaded to that social media site.

Most people at first are afraid of uploading a picture of themselves to a social media site.  They don’t like how they look and are really afraid of opening themselves up to the world.  If you’re going to be on social media you’ll need to upload a photo of yourself.  I have a few words of advice for you, get over it!

Let’s get back to discussing why LinkedIn users should upload their photo to their LinkedIn profile.  If you are a person looking to land a position think about this.  In an article written by Vivian Giang in Business Insider titled 8 Profile Picture Rules Every Professional Should Follow she found that “an eye-tracking heatmap created by job site The Ladders found that recruiters spend 19% of their time on your online profile looking at your picture. Not as much time is spent on your skills or past work experience”.  Does this statement tell you how an important your photograph is on LinkedIn (especially if you’re looking for a new position)?

When someone performs an advanced search on LinkedIn they (whether it’s a recruiter or any other individual) there are two main things people will see:  Your profile headline and photograph.  If you aren’t smiling in that picture, not dressed professionally and / or the quality of the photograph is poor, people will not view your profile.

A professional setting for your LinkedIn photo.

Donna Seruda says in her article Top 5 Tips to a POWERFUL LinkedIn Profile Picture that “your photograph directly affects your profile open rates”.

A very common question people ask is “what type of photo of myself should I use on LinkedIn”?  A person needs to upload a recent picture of him/herself.  Since LinkedIn is a professional social networking site, the person needs to be dressed professionally or what is appropriate for their field.  Career coach Barbara Pachter outlines guidelines for professional profile pictures in her latest book The Essentials of Business Etiquette.  She says “appear as you usually would in a business situation.”

A crucial point that is overlooked by many people is that it’s important to smile in the picture.  People like to be around people that make them feel good.  If you are dead pan or frowning in the picture, people will move right past your profile.  Barbara Pachter says use a pleasant facial expression.

Make sure the photograph is a color photo, you should sitting up straight, and your photograph should be a head or shoulder shot.  Allison Doyle’s article How to Take and Choose a Professional Photo for LinkedIn says because the profile photos on LinkedIn appear as thumbnails, your photo should be of your head, neck and a bit of your shoulders.”

Remember that the photograph you upload to LinkedIn or any social media network is a direct reflection of yourself.  What image do you want to portray?