Online Presence

We all know appearances and first impressions are important. It is no different with your online presence. In the last few years many companies have realised that their target market are easily accessible through social media, websites such as Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and google+ are ever increasingly popular for business marketing.

As with real life, people buy from people, so on the majority of these popular social media websites you need to fill in personal details and upload a picture. How you behave, what you say and what you look like all represent your company, whether you are aware of this or not.

Online Presence

A good picture can enhance your profile and the perception you create. Whilst it is important to be yourself, however it is important that we can see ‘you’. Here are my tips for giving the best possible online presence:

• Make sure your picture is of you, rather than your logo people want to feel connected to you, they rarely feel connected to a logo, unless of course it is a popular brand.
• One at a time – make sure your picture has only one person in it, it’s nice to include a group photo on your profile but the main picture should be just you!
• Make sure it is clear, not grainy and high enough resolution so people can see you, after all the idea is to generate more business and ultimately a meeting one presumes, be good to be able to recognise you
• Quirky, fun, original are good! Stand out from the herd
• Inappropriate, drunk are bad… not really the best impression.
• Use the same picture across all the social media platforms you use, recognition and continuity are important

All that said it can be hard to select which picture to use, we are our own worst critics, focusing on what we perceive to be flaws when in reality few will notice or even care. Writing this blog has reinforced what I have known for quite a while and still have not got around to achieving… a professional head shot. So time to practice what I preach… I am booked in with James Thorpe for a session in his Northampton studio, for what I am assured (by James) will be a fun experience. This will be quite an uncomfortable experience as I detest having my picture taken, still, I am sure it will be worth it. I will, of course post James’ results and share my experience… until then…

Jules White (Thomas)

The Last Hurdle™

If you would like to contact James Thorpe for a photo shoot for your own online presence then email him on james@jthorpe.net you can visit his website here http://www.jthorpe.net/