How important are photos on someone's profile?

[Andrew Widgery]

Its interesting when you look at the members page featuring all of us and how many don't have a photo attached.

It seems an anomaly in that we all seek to meet and make more business connections and yet some make it harder to connect by not having a photo.

Any of us that have at some time in our career had a job role which requires us to meet our client or supplier will have I am sure found themselves on the first meeting after numerous phone calls, commenting on how nice it is to be able to put a face to the name.

Its something we all need I think to complete that picture of who we are talking to and many women in particular have commented to me when I run Networking workshops, that they often will not connect with someone who hasn't a photo because they don't know who they are talking to on-line - an interesting perspective I thought.

Some of course simply don't have one they feel is suitable or current and some haven't mastered the method of uploading a picture or the resolution particularly from high quality digital cameras are too great for the web site's requirements.

Should anyone be in that position, send me their photo and I'll reduce the resolution for you and return one that will suit the site. Just send it to [e-mail]

My own for example was well over 4MB and reduced it to couple of hundred Kb which made the upload both quick and easy.

Try and offer a head and shoulders shot so as to fulfil its purpose which is to make it easy for those perhaps meeting you for the first time to recognise you. Long distant shots don't help though they are better than the grey silhouette that the system offers as a default!

Action shots offered by some of us gentlemen water or snow skiing are all very well if you intend turning up at an event dressed accordingly but don't serve any useful purpose in a networking sense! :)

So if you want to be found make it easier for us all and remember your face is your brand - its an important and influential part of your marketing material. If you choose not to have a photo you might just as well turn up wearing a paper bag over your head so you can retain the mystique :)

If I can assist anyone with a workshop on social media and how it can be used or how to create an on-line profile that will work for you and your business, I'm very willing to offer you some tips and guidelines,

best wishes to you all,

Andrew

[Keith Grover, NiS Founder]

Well said Andrew!

Your profile is your online 'business card on steroids'. It represents your business to all our Members and hundreds of visitors each month. Your photo is a key element of it.

We notice that Members who have a photo on their NiS profile tend to be the active ones - and those who haven't posted a photo generally don't post blogs or events either.

Just having a photo there says you're serious about your businessm and as a result you will be taken more seriously too. See my previous blog post on the subject here.

[Dean Faulkner]

Guys,

I'm with you both on this one.
A photo is a must for me. It does represent a seriousness about yourself and what you do, and that you take pride in presenting yourself which is likely to be replicated in your work.

It is also good when you go to "offline networking" events to be able to recognise those people you have been "talking" to on line.