LinkedIn profiles can be so more than just a boring online version of your résumé.

Use LinkedIn profile like Coke, Ford and many others do: to promote themselves. Company websites and commercials contain customer testimonials, product demonstrations, and visual proof of their products. They use video, presentations and images to convey their message.

So can you! It just takes a little creativity…

What Media Can You Add?

LinkedIn now supports  images, video, audio, presentations and documents by certain providers listed here; others may work too. You have the choice to upload a file or use a URL if already published to the web.

These nifty media clips can be placed in various places in your profile. They can be part of your summary, incorporated into each position listed in your experience section, and in your education section. Just go to edit your profile and look for the little blue box. See image below.

What to Showcase?

Think about the problems or challenges of the audience you want to do business with. Does you company already have assets you can use, perhaps on YouTube  or perhaps they have material available on Slideshare. What value can you provide that differentiates you from the hundreds and thousands of other people who have the same job title as you?

LinkedIn is one of the first stops your client will make when they look you up. Why not go one step further and create you own original content. You can create a PowerPoint highlighting your knowledge or accomplishments and publish it to SlideShare. This is fairly simple to do. The most difficult part is figuring out what you will put into your PowerPoint presentation. Search around SlideShare and get ideas from other people who have created online content in your area of expertise. If you are interested in creating something a bit jazzier than PowerPoint, you may want to test Prezi.

Think of your profile as you window of credibility, what would you want someone to find if they were searching for you on the web?

Make your LinkedIn profile rock… with a media rich profile!