I recently read an article on Forbes which was titled, “8 Mistakes You Should Never Make On Linkedin”.

Here they are:
• NOT USING A PICTURE
• PUTTING UP THE WRONG PICTURE
• SKIPPING THE STATUS
• USING THE DEFAULT CONNECTION REQUEST
• NEGLECTING THE PRIVACY SETTINGS
• SKIPPING THE SUMMARY
• ELIMINATING PAST JOBS OR VOLUNTEER WORK
• LURKING

My biggest peeve is tops on the list, not using a picture. Did you know that you are seven times more likely to have your profile viewed if you have one?

As you could imagine, being a photographer, film maker, and media consultant, I get a lot of requests for connections from my social media pages.

I’m a headshot portrait photographer who shoots a lot of business headshots. You would think that this would be a great opportunity for me make new connections, to entice these individuals who don’t have an image of themselves posted to come in for a session. To the contrary, I make it a point not to connect to someone who omits a profile image of themselves. I do this for a couple of reasons. The biggest is the question that’s always in the back of my mind; is this person hiding something about them self?

Some business people think, “I could post a picture of my dog or cat” – sorry but that is a big FAIL! Same goes for using babies, hobbies, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, well you get the picture. What kind of business connections are you trying make and what message are you sending by using a poor image of yourself, better yet, no image of yourself? In my pre-shoot consultation with clients looking to have a business headshot created, I talk about the image of them needing to make a connection with the viewer.

The next big fail is deception. This is one that I actually see and hear about from people all the time. The big deception is business people who use photos of themselves that are 10 to 20 years old. The reasoning they say is they are worried about age discrimination. Well unless you are applying for a job as a model, employers and other businesses that may want to do business with you are looking for more than a pretty, handsome face. It’s still about QUALIFICATIONS folks.

So let’s say this is you and you are now 20 years older than your college yearbook photo you’re using on your social media site. Someone on LinkedIn wants to set up a meeting with you. This could potentially be your next big contract or job interview. You show up for the meeting and the person you are meeting with is expecting to see someone else, the person who is 20 years younger, the one in your profile image, not the you that showed up today that’s 20 years older. Instead of listening to what you have to say, that individual is most likely thinking that you have deceived them. Do you really think you have any chance of getting that contract or being hired in any capacity?

As an active business person you should refresh your headshot at least every 2 to 3 years, sooner is even better. Keep in mind that if you change anything about your appearance; lose or gain weight, change your hair style, have a new smile (dental work), you need to get a new one done sooner. As tough as you may think it is, you need to look like YOU, the person you see in the mirror every day!

Even though I’m not a supporter of selfie’s for a variety of reasons, a recent crappy looking selfie is better than nothing.

If you’re thinking about having a new headshot created, you may want to get a free copy of my “Tips To A Great Business Headshot”. Just email me joe.mediatown@gmail.com to request it, I’ll be happy to send the PDF to you with no obligation or strings attached.