How to Use Portrait Photography to Maximize First Impression?

First impressions are paramount. You never get a second chance, so make it count!

You’ll never get a second chance again! In the blink of an eye, we form a first impression.

Why?

Because we’ve evolved over millennia to be able to tell. These days, on social media, your profile and bio are where people first see you. It’s like you’re not even a person, but an avatar.

Did you know? According to Dr. Albert Mehrabian’s 7-38-55 Rule of Personal Communication:

– 55 percent of first impressions are made by what we see (visual).

– 38 percent is the way we hear your first words (vocal).

– 7 percent is the actual words you say (verbal).

Think about it! That means, 93% of how people form an opinion about you, has nothing to do with what you actually say!

My question to you is: Does your avatar represent the BEST VERSION OF YOU?

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Here are a few best practices to consider:

1. Looking good is important.
2. Smiling is Important.
3. Most communication is non-verbal.
4. Humans brains are wired for visual communication.

5. Wealthier people communicate even better! People can very quickly distinguish authenticity by knowing how to read non-verbals.
6. Nonverbal intuition is a biological product of evolution. (You can be coached to improve it!).
7. Eyes are the windows to the soul.

Do you want to be the norm or do you want to dominate your market, step it up and get a high-end profile pic?

The proof is in the pudding

Science proves it:

1. Anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell found the average sentence takes only 2.5 seconds. He estimated we are capable of making and recognize around 250,000 facial expressions.
2. Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov revealed when you look at a stranger’s face for a tenth of a second, that’s all it takes to form an impression of them.
3. People judge “Baby-faced” folks less severely than those with “mature” faces.
4. Willis and Todorov found that participants judged subjects of unfamiliar faces for 100 milliseconds (1/10 of a second), 500 milliseconds (half a second), or 1,000 milliseconds (a full second) and found that they could tell if the subject was trustworthy -or not. The authors suggest, based on evolutionary psychology, that an accelerated and accurate ability to judge trustworthiness in others may have evolved as an essential survival mechanism.
5. First impressions of an applicant’s integrity, loyalty, and honesty predict the likelihood and amount of peer-to-peer financial lending (Duarte, Siegel & Young, 2012; Yang, 2014)
6. Facial attractiveness will influence hiring and promotion decisions (Gilmore, Beehr & Love, 1986; Hochschild & Borch, 2011; Lutz, 2010).

Here are a few more takeaways to know:

1. Your eyes communicate your confidence.  Looking wide-eyed is going to reduce the influence your photo will make to communicate you are a confident individual.
   
2. Your eyes convey your approachability.  You’ve heard of the smize, that smiling you do with your eyes.  Next time you are with a group of people, look at the eyes of the person smiling or laughing.

3. Your mouth also expresses your kind disposition.  By having those corners of your mouth curving up and back towards your ears… you communicate you are approachable. 

4. Using a calm, receptive posture also helps make the first impression you have a welcoming personality.

5. Color has the ability to communicate so much!  Too much to say here in this post about color. Signup for my newsletter and I will share the psychology of color with you!

Do you want to be average? Do you want to be the norm or do you want to dominate your market, step it up and get a kick-ass profile pic?