Are you tempted to click on someone’s social media avatar before making any contact? Well, you are not alone. Studies show that facial expressions in social media avatars can convince a person to contact you more often than any other item on the profile.
In fact, people tend to search for your image online if they cannot find it on your social media account. Rather than go through all this trouble, save your fan, customer or follower the hustle, make sure that you have a quality, share-worthy portrait.
Today, most people are trying to sell their services through websites and social media. You may be a consultant, an independent contractor, a personal brand, and many other possibilities. To cut out a professional look, don’t expect it from cheap portraits taken by an amateur.
In the world of independent contracting, customers are likely to choose a person with a well-done profile as opposed to a halfway done profile. By a profile, the first thing that people click on is the portrait. If your portrait is a cat yet you market yourself as a programmer, it is hard to relate.
People want to hire you. Facial presentations give you authenticity, professionalism, and trust. After all, people want to know whom they are dealing with. By who, people relate the face with the personality.
Here is a guide to making sure you have a professional portrait in your website, social media, or general portfolio in affiliated company websites.
1. Plan on the image you want to cut
As a professional photographer, I can tell you that what works well for a rap singer may not work for an Adele type of musician. Even in the same profession, how you cut yourself is different from what someone in a niche area within the profession does it. So, choose what image you want to cut. Discuss this with your photographer. Notice that awesome photography is a product of intimate connection between the moment and the intention.
A professional photographer will guide you on the theme, colors if any, make-up and grooming, and dress code. Notice that how you dress speaks volumes about what you do. Though people have varied opinions on dress code, the accepted dressing for certain professions remains mainstream and hard to change.
2. Make a professional comprehensive portfolio
You may have 50 images from your smartphone, but none of them captures your intention. That is why you ought to engage a professional to take a comprehensive portfolio of portraits. It does not need to cost a fortune. Once you have communicated with your photographer well, the process will be easy.
A comprehensive portfolio gives you variety. For example, you can use a raft of images on your Twitter and Facebook, while another on your blog. You may reserve some portraits for your Snapshot, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, and others.
3. Make them timeless
Well done portraits can comfortably last and reflect you in the next 5-10 years. Poorly done smartphone photos can only last so much because they are of poor resolution and lack rich content common in a professional shooting.
About the author
Noelle Neff is a photographer and a traveler. She offers professional shoots in portraits as a niche area.
The black base is the best because it is always timeless. However, what you do determines the kind of portrait you require for your profile. If your avatar shows your cleavage or pectoral muscles, I may not contact you to offer statistical analysis services if that is what you are marketing.
