Regardless of what social media platform you are using, your profile picture is likely to be the first thing people look at. You know that saying, “first impression counts”.
Here are a few tips to ensure your profile picture works for you:
1. Show your face
Because people connect with people, it is much more personal and approachable with a profile picture that show your face as opposed to your business logo, your pet or your favorite object. You want your viewer to connect with you, a real person.
2. Quality photos
Professional photos for your profile speak creditability. Remember it is what people will see in the first instance. So it needs to be good quality, not blurry, not dark and shadowy or any bad DIY quality photos. It also needs to be properly framed, that is not too close to the extent that we can only see part of your head. It should not be too far either as the viewers won’t be able to see your face properly because it is too small in the frame.
3. Smile
Your facial expression is the key to connect to your viewer. You want to show you are friendly, approachable and open to connections . So think about your most friendly smiles. But at the same time, do consider what is appropriate for your profession. For instance, if you are in a very serious profession such as lawyer or a security personnel, then you might consider a more subtle smile rather than the big smile with open mouth!
4. Bring brand element into your photo
There’s obviously limited thing you can do with a profile picture that are meant to mainly show your face. But your profile picture doesn’t have to be as boring as a passport photo. Include your brand element by wearing a top with a splash of your brand colour. Make use of the background and the profile page banner to show your logo.
5. Photos that reflect how you look like in-person
This sounds obvious, but I’ve seen profile picture that is very outdated and has very little resemblance of what the person looks like in person. Although, it is not advised to change your profile picture on a daily, weekly or monthly basis, you need to ensure you are not using an image of you 10 years ago! Ideally, you should update your profile photos every couple of years or so provided that you haven’t drastically change how you look.
6. Use the same profile picture across all platforms
Last but not least, make sure you use the same profile picture across different platforms. It makes you more memorable and recognizable to viewers if your presence are consistent across the board.
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