If your LinkedIn profile is a cut-and-paste of your resume, you’re missing a huge opportunity to get noticed.

It’s a common misconception that a LinkedIn profile is a regurgitated resume with a headshot—bingo-bango and we’re done. Well that’s like saying your company’s website is the same as its trifold brochure.

A LinkedIn profile should be an interactive, web-optimized opportunity to “speak” to your network and potential employers. It’s a chance to pop your professional story off the page. Why squander it with duplicate material? (Hint: if you’re pasting sections of your resume into your LinkedIn profile, you’re doing it wrong.)

Here’s a quick guide to how your LinkedIn profile should differ from your paper resume.

What’s available online that’s not in print?

• Videos
• Images and photographs
• Hyperlinks
• Documents
• Charts
• Slideshows and presentations
• Portfolios

Did you know LinkedIn accommodates all these interactive features? Taking advantage of LinkedIn’s interactive features builds a rounder view of your work and your personality. It also offers the best opportunity for colleagues and potential employers to understand who you are and what you do.

How should online and print media look different?

People read online media differently from how they read print media, not just in where their eyes flick across the screen, but in the information they look for and how quickly they’re able to find it. If your LinkedIn profile is not playing to these strengths, it isn’t as effective as it could be.

Format

• Search engine optimization
• Organization for the way people read online
• Bullets and other characters to emphasize points
• Interactive opportunities with more impact than words on a page

Content

• Key content at a glance
• Word selection and order for greatest visibility
• Writing that captivates and conveys personality
• Greater story of the professional journey; not job tailored

In conclusion

Don’t be a brochure when you can be a website.

Pasting your resume into your LinkedIn profile is a waste of good selling space. Make the most of this valuable opportunity! Tell your story in an engaging and personal way tailored to the online experience. And if you need a hand, I can always help you tell it.