3 reasons why your profile photo needs to change NOW
How do you feel about the current headshot you’re using as a profile picture?
Let’s check in after you read this and see if you feel the same way :)
Your profile photo is the front door to your entire online presence.
For many people, it represents the first image of you that they ever see. And once they land on it, it has less than 7 seconds to either pull them deeper into your world…
…or push them away for one reason or another.
I know - no pressure, right? :)
Regardless, it’s an important aspect of your marketing strategy and needs to be treated as such when selecting the best photo for the job…
…and yet, there’s a ton of not great profile pictures circulating through the expert-based business owner community.
Great people, yes. Great work they do? Yeah absolutely. Great profile photos? Ehh.
So how do you know if you have an effective headshot as a profile photo, or if it’s time to go hunting for a new one?
1 - It’s a self-portrait taken with your phone
I’m actually shocked that I even need to mention this, but one quick browse through some speaker's LinkedIn profiles informs me that I need to do so.
Firstly, using self-portraits is an ABSOLUTE must throughout your online content. There are moments in your life and business that you want to share with your audience and a professional photographer isn’t there to capture it. Cool - grab it on your phone then.
AND…
Should you want to use a self-portrait for the profile photos for your personal accounts, that’s cool, too. I did for about 2 years, and the world kept spinning just fine.
BUT…
That does NOT apply to your professional page, profile pictures.
As mentioned above, this is the front door to your business and brand, and an ill-cropped selfie taken at a cocktail party where you can still see someone’s arm draped around your shoulder is a bad look.
It creates a not-so-prestigious, first impression on those who don’t know who you are yet.
Keep the self-portraits for your personal pages and sprinkle into your professional online content, but keep them FAR away when choosing a professional profile photo.
2 - The shot is too wide and your face is too small in the frame
The whole point of a profile photo is to give the viewer a chance to make direct eye contact with you to determine whether or not they want to learn more about who you are and how you help.
If you post a profile photo where you’re 30 feet away from the camera, your face represents a tiny speck of dust in the photo. Not helpful, at all.
Well, I can simply crop into the photo to make my face more visible!
Not necessarily.
It depends on the quality of the image and the file size of the photo. If the quality is grainy and the file size is tiny, your face will look like a pixelated, crappy mess. So be careful with zooming into the shot.
My advice? If you love the wide shot, use it online in another way in your content, and find a more suitable profile picture instead.
3 - You don’t look like yourself
I saved the best - and most important - one for last.
Whether the photo is 10 years old, you’ve lost/gained weight, or there’s been wrinkles added to the brow over time, you can’t keep rolling along with a photo that doesn’t look like the way you do today.
You need to look the same in your photos as you do when you walk into a room of clients…
…or you will lose the room before you even open your mouth.
So, if your photo is out of date or over-baked with ridiculous amounts of retouching, toss it and get another one in there that tells a more accurate visual story.
I know this one is tough for some to hear, but the reality is that these photos are for THEM, not YOU.
Your profile photo is meant to give potential clients, members, subscribers, participants and partners a chance to meet you without seeing you in person.
If you set up false expectations, how can you expect them to trust you moving forward?
I think you know the answer to that one :)
So, are you still happy with the headshot you’re using as a professional profile photo? Or, have you reached the conclusion that it’s time for a refresh?
If it’s the latter, take a peek at your image portfolio to see if you have any tightly cropped photos where you’re making direct eye contact with the camera while wearing a client-facing outfit.
Then, check the facial expressions. You want one that conveys equal parts confidence, approachability and likability.
Find any winners? Or do you got nuthin???
Well, I’m here to help.
While I don’t do them very often anymore, I still offer a handful of headshot slots to those just looking for the quick fix.
Want to learn more about the headshot session?