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Lessons From a Viral LinkedIn Post: Authenticity Is More Important Than Ever Sharing a bit of vulnerability can propel your career and your business marketing.

By Gregg Schwartz

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Maskot | Getty Images

My sister recently posted a simple but heartfelt update on LinkedIn, not expecting much from it. In it, she talks about how she decided to change her LinkedIn profile picture from standard professional headshot to a more casual selfie, indicating that she was working from home and looking more "personal" these days.

She described how her new photo is less conventionally "professional" but more in line with the reality of today — working from home, not dressing in so-called business attire often and generally blending our personal and professional lives in new ways. She shared some casual observations and a bit of vulnerability about her own work situation in these strange times, and it went viral! She even got featured on Good Morning America!

This is one of those amazing moments that happen out of nowhere. My sister wasn't even trying to promote anything by making that post. But her post really resonated with people for a lot of reasons. I believe that there are larger lessons to be learned about the power of authenticity in how we build our professional images and how we conduct marketing for our businesses.

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