A profile photo is your representative in the digital world, which is why it should be a true representation of your personality.
Profile photos are so essential to modern communication that a good one is a basic necessity. Now everybody is using social media, LinkedIn and Twitter profile pictures should be professional.
A study was carried out with rating pictures on Competence, Likability and Influence to gage people’s views on imagery.
Here were some of the results:
Sunglasses. When people think they are ‘playing it cool’ apparently eye obstruction is not good for brand image. Although you may think it portrays a suave and mysterious image, it costs you your likeability factor.
Smiling with teeth! By far the most impactful characteristic, a smile showing your teeth gained an increase in all three factors as apparently it shows more personality. To our surprise, a closed mouth smile has about half the effect on Likability and no statistically-significant effect on competence or influence. At The Headshot Guy we get you to smile with your eyes so you can achieve a ‘Duchenne Smile’.
Style of Dress.The clothes don’t make the man, but the eye has difficulty distinguishing the difference. Bold or unusual colours and trendy details were judged as slightly less formal as well, all the way to t-shirts and jeans which were marked “informal.” We recommend that you wear something that represents your business personality but that also makes your eyes and hair stand out so you don’t ‘blend’ in your image.
Black and White.There was no significant difference within people’s opinions of the colour option. We recommend colour for profile pictures online so people can get a more realistic version of you, especially if they don’t know you.
The Infographic showing results can be seen here: