It might seem obvious, but the rules of face-to-face networking apply equally to LinkedIn too.
If you wouldn’t walk into a meeting or a networking event wearing a brown paper bag over your head, why would you do this on LinkedIn?
The equivalent of a brown paper bag is having a LinkedIn profile with no photo.
LinkedIn members who include a photo receive up to 21 times more profile views and up to 36 times more messages.
But what about if you do have a pic on your LinkedIn profile?
Would it qualify as good, bad or ugly?
Here are the worst types of offenders I see on a daily basis on my virtual ‘travels’ around LinkedIn:
Mr. Glum
Mr. Glum looks so miserable, why would anyone want to connect?!
The Glamour Puss
With cleavage, short skirt and oodles of makeup, the Glamour Puss looks more at home in an Ann Summers’ brochure.
She might look sexy, but will she be taken seriously?
The Party Animal
We all love the party animal – but at the party, not the workplace.
The Beach Bum
That holiday in Mauritius may have been fantastic and that pic of you basking in your trunks may optimise your most relaxed self, but save it for Facebook.
Mr and Mrs!
I love romance and it’s great to celebrate your love, but pics of your wedding are more suited to your lounge wall and Facebook page.
The Daredevil
Skiing, paragliding, off-roading, the activities are endless and it’s great the people push their comfort zones.
However, think twice before posting to LinkedIn.
The ‘Brand’!
I really receive invitation requests from a person who has a logo for their profile picture.
No, no, no!
The reason being that people buy from people, NOT a logo!
If you want to have your logo in your pic, have it added into your head and shoulders pic, placing it bottom left or right.
Remember you never get a second chance to make a first impression!
We’ve looked at what it’s best to avoid, so what should you do?
3 Top Tips
There are LOTS of top tips about your LinkedIn personal profile, here are just three to get you started:
- Upload a professional, approachable head and shoulders pic, this way you’re recognisable even when you’re pic’s shown as a thumbnail
- When you upload your profile picture, add your identified keywords into the filename, which helps boost your profile in search results
- Having an all-star completed profile and 500+ 1st degree connections mean big rewards from LinkedIn, as these two actions will leapfrog you higher in the search results.
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