Do These 3 Things on Your LinkedIn Profile Pic to Get More Connections
By: Don Sevcik
Tags: Linkedin Marketing, Marketing, Networking, LinkedIn

Do These 3 Things on Your LinkedIn Profile Pic to Get More Connections

Using a rating tool and three simple tweaks can grow your network fast

Photo by Sarah Brown on Unsplash

Picture this: You walk into a restaurant to pick up your food. You see two lines open with nobody waiting in either line.

In each line awaits a cashier. For the sake of this example, assume both cashiers have equal talent. As you look at the cashier section, you see the following:

The first cashier has piercings in their face and disheveled hair, and they’re scowling as they look at you.

The second cashier is clean-cut and dressed well, and they have a bright smile and are looking right at you.

Which cashier do you pick to pay your bill?

Human nature demands you choose cashier number two. And if you felt guilty judging solely on looks, fear not. Because it’s in your DNA. We flock to safety, security, and pleasant vibes. We’re wired that way.

Now, why am I telling you this?

Because it’s the secret behind exploding your network with one photo using the built-in human biases. I’ll tell you the photo in a moment, but first, here’s something to chew on…

Did you know the inherent face-to-face bias we saw in the cashier example extends to photos?

In a series of experiments studying judgment from facial appearances, Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov found it only takes 100 milliseconds to form an impression of someone just by looking at a photo of their face.

The good news is you can tilt the odds in your favor by mastering your LinkedIn profile photo.

How important is this photo?

In a blog post, LinkedIn revealed profiles with a LinkedIn photo rake in the following benefits:

21 times more views

Nine times more connection requests

36 times more messages

Think about this, those numbers happened with any type of photo. Now imagine what happens if you optimize your photo. You see, in any kind of marketing, you’ll boost results with something called an A/B test. A/B take an established asset like a headline, layout, or product. We call this the control. And the A/B makes one change to the control. Then you test the versions against each other. The winner becomes the new control.

What if you could A/B test various photos upfront? And after a few iterations, you pick the winner. What would this upfront testing do to inflate your connection numbers?

The good news is you can A/B test LinkedIn profile photos. With a site called PhotoFeeler, you can test and optimize your LinkedIn photo.

Here’s what to do:

Take a profile photo and submit it to PhotoFeeler. Then sit back and let the crowd be the judge. If you don’t like the scores, you make a change to your control photo and submit the new photo. PhotoFeeler rates you on three categories:

Competence Likeability Influence

Check out the statistics behind the ratings and you’ll confirm what we’ve known for a long time: Human nature never changes. We judge a book by the cover and we let emotions drive our decision making.

And the good news is, just like the cashier example earlier, you can rig the odds in your favor. Because the higher score you get on PhotoFeeler, the more connection requests you’ll get.

And the beauty of what I’m about to tell you is…

You don’t need to make one personality change to boost your scores.