Koka Sexton — November 13, 2016 Follow @kokasextonWith growing popularity of social selling, it’s no surprise that your online presence is becoming as crucial for your personal brand as your real-life presence. LinkedIn is an expanding market for companies, professionals and job seekers who want to network and gain acquaintances in professional circles.
Your LinkedIn profile picture is a decisive element for shaping your online presence and creating new career prospects. They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but can we not judge a person by his or her profile picture? Potential clients do shape a first impression about their prospective employees by their profile pictures.
To appear approachable, professional and smart, you need to invest a little time and effort in selecting the right profile picture. As opposed to Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, where profiles are more suitable for personal use rather than a professional one, LinkedIn provides a highly professional setting to individuals for their resume and profile on the networking site.
If you are puzzled as to where to start, take a minute to analyze the following most common mistakes that are made by LinkedIn users. If you find yourself making the same mistakes start reconsidering your choices and avoid them by all means.
The Oldie
Do you have a favorite old picture that you can’t get over and continue using it as a profile picture? It’s high time to realize that it should go in your computer’s ‘achieve folder’! Bear in mind that your picture should be recent where you would look like your actual self.
The Weekender
We all love going out and having fun, but let’s keep hangover pictures to our friendly circles. LinkedIn is not the right place for it. It’s probably good to tone things down a little and eliminate the party hype.
The Shadow
Your profile picture should help potential clients know who they are going to deal with. Gloomy, dark or photoshopped pictures where your face is hardly visible should be completely avoided.
The Bachelor
Your image should reflect your professionalism and build trust rather than attract dates. If you think your picture would work well for a dating website, then it’s absolutely not proper for LinkedIn.
The Frown
Try to keep it decent with your facial expression. Your future clients and networks are eager to connect to a genuine person not a freak.
The Pet Lover
Unless you are a vet, consider changing that picture of yourself with your cat or dog. You want to maintain a professional look on your profile but your loving pet may stand between you and your career.
The Selfie
If it’s hard to resist the temptation of taking selfies, you should at least save them for Instagram. It’s always obvious when you have your arm stretched to take a selfie and may lead clients to perceive you as an amateur.
The Silhouette
If you choose not to upload any profile picture you are going to miss out a lot. What can be a better back-up for your personal brand than your face? Appear more credible to future clients with your profile picture and your chances of being viewed will be 11 times higher.
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