Are you Catfishing with Your Profile Pic?

‘Catfishing’ meaning ‘the practice of pretending on social media to be someone different, in order to trick or attract another person.’
What am I going on about?

Simply this: does your profile pic on LinkedIn or your website or whatever professional digital media you use still look like you?

Why am I asking? Well, I work with lots of clients on their personal brand (we are all brands now, folks, whether we like it or not!) and that involves working on their digital profile and how they are showing up. And one of the first things we talk about is having an up-to-date photo that actually looks like them.

​Why does it matter? Well, if you have an ancient photo or one that is you done up to the nines which bears no resemblance to the actual you who’s going to show up in meetings, on Zoom, to an interview or with a client, then, I’m proposing it’s inadvertent professional ‘catfishing’!

Of course, looks are only skin deep, BUT we talk a lot about how important authenticity is in modern leadership and showing up as our true selves, so to me, that doesn’t chime with a photo that shows you 20 years ago.

I was reminded of this recently when I was on a webinar talking about LinkedIn and showing my own page. I suddenly realised the photos I had were from five years ago, and I look different now, even in the little speaker window on Zoom. I’m five years older, my hair is shorter, and I’m much rounder. The same goes for my website photos—peppered with me from five years ago.

So this week, I drafted my favourite photographer, Gemma Day (IG handle: @gemmadayphoto - this is not an ad, it’s authentic), and we updated my shots. No hair, no makeup, no trailer.

So this week, I propose you:

1. Take a look at your profile pics and then look in the mirror. Do you look the same? If not, consider updating them.

2. Check your digital profile and footprint. Google yourself and see what comes up. If the search throws up ancient photos, old news about you in a job you did years ago and nothing that is relevant to where you are now and how you want to be represented, then you have some work to do.

3. You don’t have to hire a professional photographer although I really would recommend it. It doesn’t have to be expensive. I worked with Gemma for 2 hours and got 115 fab photos. If you are going to do this option, be organised, get a few outfits together in advance so you can change really quickly.

4. If you don’t want to use a photographer, then most smartphones are amazing. Get a friend or try some selfies and try out different lighting. You can normally get good headshots that way.

5. Accept yourself in how you look NOW! I know this is the hardest thing of all but I spent a good 40 years of my life hating lots of photos that took me ‘from a bad angle’ and only liked the ones that I thought I looked good in but remember, people are seeing you 360 on all days of the week from all angles. Embrace what you have, dress in the right size for you, do your hair flip and radiate YOU.

Okay, let me know what you decide and what you do. And if you update your pics, please share before and afters!

Take care.

Tracy