Your Profile photo for your LinkedIn Dialog Box Looks like this. Make sure you face is not too small in the box.
I have had several SRK Headshot Day customers ask me how to use their professional headshot as a profile photo for social media. Here are some tips and instructions for each of the main social media outlets. On each example below, I have included a hyperlink to my Social Media page so you can see how I did it. Please connect to me or follow while you are there!
Although there are specific instructions for our SRK Headshot Day customers, the instructions for each social media outlet below, will work for any photo you are posting as a profile picture. I have put the specific instructions for SRK Headshot Day customer in italics.
When you receive your retouched photos from SRK Headshot Day, you will receive two versions. One folder will say “Edits_Web”. This is the one you want to use for posting on social media. (The “Edits_Hi_Res” is for printing or other uses that require large files.) In the edits web file there at least two crops. The original wide crop with a name like Scott_R_Kline_1234_Web. And the square or “social media” crop called Scott_R_Kline_1234_SQ1_Web. This last one is the one meant for the social media below. But if you want a wider crop, the original can serve that purpose. I think on the tiny window of social media profile pictures, you want to fill that square with your beautiful face: especially when they are viewed on a smartphone.
The first step is to download the photos to your Hard Drive. From the Dropbox folder “Edits_Web” on the Dropbox website, highlight the files you want to download. Click the download icon and the files are copied to your hard drive. Locate them and move them to the place you want to keep them. In all the examples below, you will select from the photos in the folder on your hard drive. Now go to the social media site where you want to use the new profile picture.
Change your profile photo on LinkedIn
This dialog box appears when you click on your LinkedIn Profile photo to change it.
LinkedIn. – Log in to your account. At the top menu select View Profile. Click on your photo. A dialog box appears with your previous photo in the middle. Click the white box that says “Change Photo”. This will allow you to find the photo you saved on your hard drive. Select it. Your new photo appears in the dialog box. You can drag to reposition. You can zoom in or straighten. Try to fill the box with your face. Hit Save. You are all done.
Change your profile photo on Facebook
Facebook – Very simple process. From the home page, click on your profile photo. From your profile page, your photo will have a camera icon when you mouse over. Click on that. Select “Upload photo” for the choices. Locate the profile photo on your computer. If you use the square copped photo, you should be all set. Your new photo appears in the dialog box. You can drag to reposition. You can also make the image larger using the slider. Add a description if you like. Hit save.
Change your profile photo on Instagram
Instagram – A little more complicated. As far as I can tell, you cannot do it from your computer. So you do it from the app on the phone. Click the little icon with your current profile photo in the lower right hand corner of the app. This brings up your profile. Now tap and hold down your current profile photo in the upper left. You get a dialog box that asks you how to choose the photo. You are given lots of choices. The easiest is to use your Facebook Profile photo, if you like it or have already changed it. If not, you need to have your photo you want to use on your phone. You can do this by emailing it to yourself and saving it to your phone or if you have your Dropbox link we send you with the edited photos, you can call up the photo and save it to your phone. Next you get a dialog box showing the photos in your Library. Find the downloaded photo and tap it. You can drag and resize using the squeeze and expand function with your fingers. When you have the photo looking good, click done.
One hint on any round profiles like what is on Instagram, you might want to start with the widest crop photo you have and adjust it. You can do this by pinching and opening your thumb and index finger on the photo and moving it around with one finger.
Change your profile photo on Twitter
Our client, impact investing guru Sonya Driezler has a great looking Twitter Profile Photo and Header
Twitter – Log on to your twitter account. Along the left are several icons in a vertical column. Click on your photo. You will get your Profile screen. Hit the Edit Profile Button. Your profile photo now has a camera icon. Click on that and select your photo, once again, I recommend the square crop we gave you. Hit apply. You are done. If you want you can adjust it in tighter with the slider right below the photo.
Change your profile photo on Pinterest
Pinterest – Log into your account. In the upper right, click on your photo. Select from the drop down menu represented by three dots in the upper right. Select Edit Settings. Next to your Pinterest Profile Photo select the button “Change”. Next hit “Choose File”. Find the photo on your computer and hit “choose”. Click Done. In Pinterest you cannot adjust the crop as far as I can tell. So use a pre-cropped photo here. Your square one is the best bet.
I know I could cover Reddit, Tumbler, etc. But once you have mastered these, the rest kind of make sense. Also, invariably, the sites change the way they work every time you get them figured out. So in three months, these instructions may be out-of-date. I will try to update periodically. Please let me know if you find anything here that should be updated.
