5 Reasons Why Your Image Is Important
Branding matters, and that rings true for both companies and individuals.
The way you present yourself has a profound impact on your career. And it's not just your body language or how you dress, the Internet has presented folks with countless new ways to bolster their personal brand -- or completely ruin it.
Social networks, YouTube, blogs and other online tools help us project things out into the world with ease, but putting yourself out there so prominently makes it easier for people -- and potential employers -- to judge you by your cover.
Here are five reasons why your image is incredibly important.
Reason 1:
It takes 0.1 seconds to form a lasting impression of a stranger.
First impressions matter. It takes less than a second to form an impression of a stranger from their face. Longer exposures doesn't significantly alter those impressions.
Reason 2:
Remember, if it’s on the Internet, it could be there forever.
What you say or do online (even behind "privacy walls") could end up living for decades on the Internet. The Internet never forgets.
Reason 3:
45% of employers said they use social networks to screen job candidates.
More and more employers every year are turning to the Internet when making hiring decisions. In a recent survey, 45 percent of supervisors said they use social networks, like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, to screen job candidates.
Reason 4:
They are just as interested in ‘who’ you are.
First impressions will always be important but now that we conduct so many of our initial interactions online, virtual personal branding has become as important as the firm handshake once was in introducing yourself to the world.
A professional business photograph is an opportunity to portray a brand image to potential customers who aren’t just researching ‘what’ you do. They are just as interested in ‘who’ you are.
Reason 5:
Don't try and save on the wrong end.
In business we spend a lot of money on branding across logos, websites, literature, packaging and premises. Is the photographic representation of you – the person at the helm or the worker running the daily grind – is that really the place to save on branding?Probably not.