11 Tips to Make Your Social Media Image Work for Your Career
How old is your online profile picture, and are you happy with it? To think of it, Social Media picture is not just a photograph, it’s your promotional tool. It is actually your image representing you. It’s your tool for visual branding. It builds your personal brand value and helps with establishing connections.
So, to look the part, you need to get the right photo and that’s presumably easy, given that we all have cameras on our smartphones. Then why there are so many unprofessionally looking images on LinkedIn? The company even experimented with sending photo buses with professional photographers to cruise the USA and help us get better pictures.
The truth is that you don’t need to hire a photographer to get a great shot. And you don’t need a professional camera. Just use common sense, use our tips and get some TLC from a professional retoucher accustomed to editing amateur photos.
I browsed hundreds of LinkedIn profiles and consulted the retouchers who work for my photo editing company and together we came up with some tips that should help business owners and professionals with their visual personal branding.
SO, A GOOD PROFILE PICTURE IS…
1) Present
Have no doubt, the absence of a profile picture make your account look fake. Amazingly, there are still lots of profiles without photos.
2) Recently Taken
You might eventually face the client at least on a video call. So, avoid future embarrassment and look your age in Social Media.
3) Recognizable
You might accidentally get a shot where you look like your favorite celebrity and it’s very tempting to show it to the World but use your better judgment and pick the one that actually looks like you.
4) Likable
Men err by trying to look cool and women try too much to look attractive. Remember, there is a look that works on dating sites and there is a look that gets you a job or a client. What you should be shooting for is a confident look. Aim for honest, cheerful and relatable!
5) Credible
Using those auto filters to iron some facial wrinkles will only do damage to your image. Such crude photo fixing is easily noticeable and will hint at your insecurities. Here is a tip: professional photographers outsource their retouching to professional photo editors who do this day in and day out. You can order online to get your portrait professionally retouched at $5.50 per photo. Leave it to the professionals to keep your image trustworthy.
6) Not Crowded
No pets, no spouses, no children, no clutter, no distracting background. Again, if you have a lucky shot that is crowded, a professional photo editor can always help by taking the “distractors” out of the photo.
7) Wearing Proper Attire
Wear clothes that are season-neutral, with no skin showing and no wrinkles. All black or all white will not do credit to your complexion. The color will help you to stand out and get noticed among a host of thumbnail images that pop up when someone does a search.
BUT, HOW TO OBTAIN A SUITABLE PHOTO?
8) Step Away
When you are close to the camera, the lens distorts your features. The face gets curved making your nose bigger and your chin and forehead short. Step away from the camera to avoid this lens distortion! The background can be cropped later for perfect image framing. For that, ask a friend to take the picture. Or, put your camera on a 10-second timer.
As a matter of fact, the selfie fad has caused a significant surge in the number of plastic surgeries while people are not happy with the way their images get captured. Amazingly, a lot of us trust photos more than the mirror.
9) Relaxed Posing
If you are not an actor, a performer or a model, you are not used to posing for pictures. We all tend to freeze in front of the camera even when we shoot a selfie.
Here’s what to do. Close your eyes and relax. Imaging a “happy place”. Murmur something to relax your lips so that your smile is not tense. This will get you prepared for the shoot.
Don’t forget to look at the lens and not into your eyes! Otherwise, you’ll appear looking outside the photo.
10) Correct Lighting
Avoid using flash if the circumstances allow! Don’t pose in the sun either! Remember, overcast weather is perfect for a photo shoot. But, of course, you can’t wait for the right weather, so make sure that both you and the person who takes your pictures are both standing in the shade. If the picture has been taken correctly, it will look slightly dim. This is what professionally shot photos look like when my retouchers get them from photographers. Then, with slight lighting, color and sharpness correction they are being turned into the shining images that you see in magazines.
11) A Big Number to Choose From
It’s a numbers game. You need sixty plus photos taken so that you have at least four decent ones to choose from. You can have them taken in four sessions so that you can review them between sessions and tune up your posing. If you need advice on which ones to pick, ask business associates and not your family and friends who view you from a domestic perspective. A cute look that appeals to your mom might not irradiate confidence that would impress a hiring manager or a potential business partner.
There is no doubt that visual communication dominates in Social Media. Visuals are easier and faster to consume and, with today’s average human attention span of eight seconds, we’d rather get our information from photos, videos, and infographics. Now, you can imagine that the first thing that a person notices about you in Social Media is your profile picture and that the first impression gets you labeled. This is why it’s so important to post the right image in your profile. After all, it’s 70% how you look, 20% how you sound and only 10% what you say.