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Headshots in the Digital Space

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I’m a big proponent of having professional headshots. They’re a must if you use LinkedIn (which more than 300 million people do). They’re also an important asset on many business websites, if you’re speaking at a conference or trade show, and for occasions when you need some sort of press kit.  Every time I speak at a conference like ClickZ Live or Search Engine Strategies, they require a new headshot.  Profiles are 7 times more likely to appear in the search results on LinkedIn if they have a photo – and not a photo of you at a party or a concert – we aren’t talking about Tinder here.

Since our team recently expanded, I wanted our team to have professional headshots that were consistent, cool, and also were somewhat reflective of our unique personalities. Naturally, I called my friend Jonathan of JoYo Creative to take our team photos and our headshots.

Cue the groans from the team.

Everyone – and most especially women – hate getting headshots taken (except me, but that’s probably because I am on a perpetual quest for the greatest headshot ever). I knew Jonathan would make it a lot of fun for us, so I wasn’t too worried that I’d be burned in effigy later. We had our photo shoot in downtown Knoxville, making use of some of the beautiful and creative art in Market Square and the natural beauty of Krutch Park, just down the street from our office. Sure enough, Jonathan kept us laughing the entire time and at the end we had some great pictures and everyone agreed that it was actually really fun.We also channeled Beyonce a little and managed to get some team shots that were a ton of fun to take and have been great at humanizing the face of our agency.

Check out Jonathan’s post about our experience here – Cool Headshots.  But if you think your headshot is not an important part of your online reputation, you are definitely mistaken.  Improper headshot etiquette can cause you to miss out on a great job, lose a job, or just get made fun of on the next Buzzfeed list of terrible LinkedIn photos.  But possibly more important than making sure your quality headshot is visible online is to make sure that the photographer you pick “gets” you and is going to make the experience evocative of who you are as a company, brand, business person, etc. If you’re in Knoxville, I strongly recommend JoYo Creative.  Headshots matter in the digital space.

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