Have you ever heard of the term Catfishing? If not, keep reading...

According to Teen Vogue, “Catfishing is the act of creating a false identity in order to lure people into relationships online”. It’s also viewed as, “a person who sets up a false personal profile on a social networking site for fraudulent or deceptive purposes”, according to Merriam-Webster. 

Now, while I don’t suggest you’re doing that with your LinkedIn profile by any means, I do encourage entrepreneurs to update their profile picture at minimum on an annual basis.  You want to make sure that when you show up consistently on video you dont look like a different person than in your profile picture!

Here are 5 ways to enhance your LinkedIn Profile picture…

1. One more time for the people in the back, make sure it’s recent! 

In the spirit of creating know, like and trust with our ideal client and audience, we want to make sure who we are, in all our glory, comes across clearly. Part of that is keeping an updated profile picture every single year. We want to know there’s a real human being on the other side of that profile that understands and can relate to similar challenges and desires! Keeping a picture from 10 years ago as your profile picture with a different hairstyle, color, or general look will give your ideal client and audience a funny taste in their mouth when they meet you for the first time over a Zoom call and realize you look nothing like your profile picture! 

2. It’s a picture of ONLY you - no group or wedding photos with your head cropped 

While my mission is to get more entrepreneurs using LinkedIn and constantly fighting  the “LinkedIn is so professional” line, this is the one aspect that should remain “professional” and to me, always should. What do I mean by professional? Not business professional attire - no, but that you are representing your brand…keyword being YOU. Only YOU should be in the picture and in the photo altogether. So, while I know some of the best photos of you might have been from your wedding or an event 8 years ago, people want to know who you are today (aka within the last 12 months).

Professional tip: you don’t need a professional photographer to take a great headshot anymore. All you need is good lighting and the camera on your phone. Set it on selfie mode, put the timer on and start snappin!

3. Have your face take up most of the circle - the rule of thirds here does not apply

If you’ve spent some time in the social media circles and creating your own content, you may be familiar with the term, the rule of thirds. In photography, In photography, the rule of thirds is a type of layout  in which an image is divided evenly into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, and the subject of the image is placed at the intersection of those dividing lines, or along one of the lines itself. Again, this does not apply with your LinkedIn profile picture. We want to make sure your face is bright, clear, and easy to see!

4. Too much makeup or jewelry can be distracting...

Remember that term, “less is more”? Well that certainly applies with your profile photo! Too much makeup can make you look overdone and aged (eek!). Too much jewelry can be distracting. The same is true when you’re creating video content as well! Make sure you keep the makeup as neutral as possible and any jewelry is simple and not to take away from Y-O-U!

5. What’s behind you...your background matters

When it comes to social media, you’ll start to see some profile picture trends throughout the year. Backgrounds of a profile picture being one of them. You’ll see it on Instagram specifically and not to say these trends can’t translate to LinkedIn, they can! However, regardless of the current trend, the best rule of thumb for background photos is one that doesn’t detract from your face. See the example below…

GOOD VS NOT SO GREAT background photo

BONUS TIP: Make sure your LinkedIn profile photo is set to PUBLIC. LinkedIn profiles that do so are 21x more likely to get a connection request or follow than those that are set to private or don't have a profile photo at all!

As you start to enhance your LinkedIn profile from an entrepreneur standpoint, take these tips and apply them to your photo!

If you’re looking for some additional help with your LinkedIn profile but worry about the time it will take to get it set up, there may be a way for you to have an optimized LinkedIn profile in less than 20 minutes per day over 5 days.