Are You Using Your Avatar Correctly to Promote Your Business?

Unless you are a neophyte to Social Media, you already have an avatar for your business. An avatar is the alter-ego of you, the writer; some representation of yourself when you are on the computer and the image that you want to project to the internet world. However, people do not seem to be aware that avatars can be very important and form a first impression of you by your readers. Whatever avatar you put up as your representation is going to define you and your business, so it is extremely important that you carefully choose what you want people to see. If you are not using an appropriate avatar for the correct situation, you could lose your potential reader and ultimately, business from that potential client.

For example, see what you think of these avatars. On Facebook and more so on MySpace, many people seem to have what you would consider "fun" pictures as their avatars. This seems especially prevalent with the younger generation where avatars are often times groups of seemingly very drunk people all holding glasses of alcohol. Definitely a "fun" avatar of a great party person, but would that be the image of what you want to portray to the world in order to get business?

Or, you may have a dynamite business. You want to connect to as many people as you can, but could anyone really take you seriously as a potential business partner if your avatar is that of you with your shirt off (male) or with your boobs hanging out of a low cut shirt (female)? While you may feel an avatar such as that may show off your best features, you may find that the business you are looking for just does not happen. Those avatars may attract lots of people. However, most likely those people you attract would not be the type of customers you would want for your business (unless, of course, that is what you are trying to sell!).

What then would be a good avatar for your business? Here are some suggestions:

• Your Head Shot

Obviously, a head shot of you is the simplest and safest avatar you can have. But it doesn’t have to be a boring shot of you just staring into the camera. Have some fun with it. Use a prop. Smile or laugh. Remember, your avatar is going to define your personality and make people remember you. Bring your personality into your avatar so that your readers want to get to know you better.

• A Body Shot

While a body shot may be more interesting than just a head shot, you have to watch out that you are not too far away so that there is no definition of you. In that case, you may as well not have an avatar! Remember, these pictures are tiny little squares, so if you use a body shot, make sure you can be clearly seen. Again, do something exciting. Use a prop. Dress in what your business does, or be doing something so interesting that your reader has to say, “Oh cool. That person is someone I want to get to know better”.

• An Illustration/Item or Object

Remember, people want to connect to you, the writer, not with your favorite pair of shoes. If you have an object or illustration as an avatar, people can not see your personality. They will not be able to get a feeling of who you are. Many times, people will remember your avatar but not your name. Therefore, you want that avatar to be you when you start to build your relationship with your reader.

• A Logo

There are times when a logo can be perfectly acceptable as an avatar. The key is whether you are your business or whether your business is independent of you. For example, Coca-cola’s avatar is not a picture of Coke’s CEO, but rather a picture of their well recognized logo. In that case, the business is Coke, not the CEO. But using a logo for a one person law office would not be effective. In that case, the lawyer IS the business. A head or body shot would be much more appropriate an avatar in that situation.

Obviously, these rules would not apply if you are just using Social Media to have fun and maybe just blog about yourself. Then your avatar can be as fun as you want it to be. In that case, you are not trying to build any relationships but rather just sharing. But remember, for business purposes, Social Media is all about building relationships. Your avatar is the very first step in building those relationships, so choose wisely. Your business could depend upon your choice!

Why did you choose the avatar you have?