Use our ideas and advice to take centre stage on Facebook and Instagram. Learn how to take the best profile pic, natural look, glamour shot, original framing and dream decor. Take impressive, beautiful, artsy, funny and quirky photos of yourself that your social media fans will love, comment on and share.
This is the "like"-generating photo par excellence. Don’t look directly into the lens—turn your face slightly to the side to make your traits appear finer and more harmonious with natural light and shadowing. Practice in the mirror, find your good side and blow your friends away with your most winning smile.
Try to be as natural as possible. Your friends love you just the way you are. If people think your pose is too stiff, or if your smile comes off forced, they’ll be less likely to "like" it.
It takes two, or more, to tango. Get together with your friends and find scenarios that put you centre stage. Warning—if your photo is too crowded or the staging is off, you run the risk of other people stealing the limelight. Make sure you direct the shot and keep creative control over your little work of art.
Ask a photographically inclined friend to take a series of artsy shots of you—wow-factor guaranteed. Don’t hesitate to credit and thank them in the photo description, it’s the easiest way to get a free session in the future.
Think of a way to make your friends smile with an amusing profile pic. Sure-fire poses include mimicking the stance of a heroic athlete or an original shot of you and your pet. Caution—don’t get too ridiculous—there’s a thin line between laughing with something and laughing at it.
Sometimes, if you can’t get the photo to work, the right framing can be your saving grace. An angled shot can make your sports photo even more dynamic. Why don’t you try flipping your profile photo on its head? Go all the way and make people believe that you’ve actually turned the world upside down.
Always a better option than your bedroom or bathroom, the dream background is a big part of your friends appreciating your photo. If you’re on vacation by the sea, at a magical mountain locale or sitting atop a skyscraper, seize the moment for the most gorgeous of selfies.
If you want a photo to be seen and "liked" to the max, it all comes down to timing. On Facebook, for example, it’s not recommended to change your profile pic too often—people get annoyed. What you want to do is wait for an important event that explains the change: a wedding, pregnancy, baby’s arrival, a new flame, an A+ on a test, a sporting triumph, and so on.
Photo editing software, like Photoshop and Lightroom, or mobile apps like Instagram, Camera+ and Color Blast, are there to provide you with a wide range of photo retouching effects and colour filters. Social media starlets beware—an overly photoshopped image might lead to lesser-liked pics. Pro tip: go for subtly sublime, but stay natural.
Lastly, to ensure that your picture is seen by the masses, don’t forget the power of the hashtag. A hashtag, the pound sign (#) followed by a keyword, is an excellent way to categorize your image and get it into search engines.
