How to Make a Powerful Digital First Impression

Idea

Your brand has moved online. Your career has moved online. And your ability to be successful has moved online.

More people will meet you online before they ever connect with you over Zoom or in person, so you want to make sure that your online brand is congruent with who you are in the real world.

Example

We all know how important first impressions are. And typically, when somebody wants to learn about you in a professional capacity, they’ll go directly to LinkedIn.

Even if they start at Google, your LinkedIn profile is going to show up in one of the top three spots, which means that LinkedIn is your digital first impression.

Action

So focus on one tool: LinkedIn.

And within LinkedIn, there are three things you need to work on:

1. Your Headline – Your headline needs to go beyond your job title and your company. Think of it like a headline of an ad. What’s going to make me want to read more? Make it interesting and compelling.
2. Your Headshot – We want to connect with people. We want to look into their eyes. So you want a headshot where 60 to 80% of the frame is your face, you’re facing forward, and you’re smiling. The smile is a universal welcome symbol.
3. Your About – You have to focus on the first three lines because LinkedIn doesn’t show your entire About. And if the three lines they do show are not compelling, magnetic, interesting, and exciting, no one’s going to click “See More” to read the rest. So talk about your purpose, or your passion, or the value you deliver. Make it gripping so that people want to know more.

If you focus on just those three elements, your headline, your headshot and your About in your LinkedIn profile, you will deliver a powerful on brand digital first impression.