Are you on LinkedIn? If “yes” – why? Are you promoting your business? Looking for a job? Wanting to reconnect with people?
What ever your reason for being on LinkedIn is, you want to make sure that you are making an impact.
Take a look at these statistics, posted by Giselle Abramovich from CMO.COM (find the link to the full article here):
1. LinkedIn’s user base now stands at more than 259 million people and counting, up 38 percent year over year.
It’s easy to get lost in this crowd!
3. The biggest group (47.6 percent) only spend between zero and two hours on the network per week. Only 10.5 percent of users spend more than eight hours on LinkedIn each week.
It’s a fast-paced environment.
4. LinkedIn is now responsible for a staggering 64 percent of all visits from social media channels to corporate websites. In contrast, Facebook accounts for 17 percent of such visits, while Twitter is just 14 percent.
PEOPLE WILL HEAD TO YOUR WEBSITE IF THEY’RE INTERESTED!
Now take a look at your profile. How do you look? Is your profile photo professional? Does it give the right message about you?
Do you have one at all???? Personally, I won’t connect with someone who doesn’t have a photo of themselves on their profile. It’s not that I’m shallow, I just want to know who I am connecting with and whether they take themselves seriously or not.
Here’s a screen shot from LinkedIn. Who would you connect with?
Don’t be the faceless guy! Or the one on holiday for that matter!
Who would you Link with?
I have blogged in the past about how easy it is to take your own head shot.
- Have someone you like take it – this helps to look relaxed. Don’t do the “computer-cam selfie”!
- Sit near a window with lots of natural light – means that you don’t need to use any fancy flashes.
- Sit or stand up straight, shoulders back and belly in! Lean slightly forwards towards the camera to make the image more friendly.
- Consider your clothing – does it “say” what you want it to? If you are corporate – this is probably the day to iron the shirt!
- Check the background – posters of Madonna or yesterday’s lunch on your desk is not always the best look.
So in summary – put the effort in to have great, appropriate photos on your profiles. Keep your personal images with the family, the dog, the surfboard, the car etc for FaceBook, where people care!