I love LinkedIn and have been an avid user of it for 6 years. I have greatly valued it as a useful tool, but I’m now becoming extremely alarmed at the total disregard which some users have for it and how they’re abusing it. This is quite evident by those who are now gaming the system and loading it with repetitive keywords throughout their profiles to gain a competitive advantage at the expensive of more ethical individuals.
Sure, I could do the same, and I do use keywords in strategic places to enhance my own SEO, but I have respect for the tool and for the people that use it, so I don’t go out and add keywords like there’s no tomorrow. So-called Social Media Experts are among the most notorious for doing this, however, many from other professions have now jumped on the bandwagon. Something should be done by LinkedIn to clean up these profiles and return a bit of sanity to the platform, but, also, those of us in the marketing field should point out blatant violators. It’s time for some ethics within this field! I’m afraid that if there’s not some “self-policing”, or if LinkedIn fails to act in this area, LinkedIn’s usefulness as a search tool will be severely impacted as more and more people learn how to game the system and negatively impact the credibility of the search results.

To show some examples of what I’m talking about, I copied portions of a few profiles out of many that I looked at and pasted short portions of them below. I have edited the headlines and other information so as not to “expose” these individuals, but I wanted to share an inkling of what I’m seeing.  Although the time frames for employment at the companies are the same, some are adding numerous titles for basically the same job functions at the same company and “stuffing” it with one or two keywords or keyword strings as shown below.

What do you think? Do you feel we need a code of ethics? Also, should LinkedIn police this practice and return some sanity to the use of keywords?

Examples Of Keyword Abuse

Example #1

2011 – 2011 (less than a year)

Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing Social media marketing

Example #2

Social Media Strategies | Social Media Content 

XYZ Company

March 2007 – Present (5 years)

Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Twitter, Social Media Marketing Facebook, Social Media Marketing Linkedin, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Content, Social Media Marketing Speaker, Social Media Marketing author, Social Media Marketing training, Social Media Marketing coach, Social Media Marketing CEO, Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing Strategist, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing

Social Media Speaker 

XYZ Company

March 2007 – Present (5 years)

Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Twitter, Social Media Marketing Facebook, Social Media Marketing Linkedin, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Content, Social Media Marketing Speaker, Social Media Marketing author, Social Media Marketing training, Social Media Marketing coach, Social Media Marketing CEO, Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing Strategist, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing Producer & Video Content Marketing

XYZ Company

March 2007 – Present (5 years)

Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Twitter, Social Media Marketing Facebook, Social Media Marketing Linkedin, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Content, Social Media Marketing Speaker, Social Media Marketing author, Social Media Marketing training, Social Media Marketing coach, Social Media Marketing CEO, Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing Strategist, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing

Twitter Marketing LinkedIn Marketing Facebook Marketing

XYZ Company

March 2007 – Present (5 years)

Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Twitter, Social Media Marketing Facebook, Social Media Marketing Linkedin, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Content, Social Media Marketing Speaker, Social Media Marketing author, Social Media Marketing training, Social Media Marketing coach, Social Media Marketing CEO, Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing Strategist, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing

Youtube Marketing Video Marketing Internet Marketing 

XYZ Company

March 2007- Present (5 Years)

Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Twitter, Social Media Marketing Facebook, Social Media Marketing Linkedin, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Marketing Content, Social Media Marketing Speaker, Social Media Marketing author, Social Media Marketing training, Social Media Marketing coach, Social Media Marketing CEO, Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing Strategist, Social Media Marketing Strategy, Social Media Marketing

 Example #3

Plant Controller/Senior Financial Analyst/ Accounting Manager/Controller/Cost Accounting Manager

Plant Controller/Senior Financial Analyst/ Accounting Manager/Controller/Cost Accounting

August 2009 – Present (2 years 8 months)

Plant Controller, Senior Financial Analyst, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager.

 Controller, Senior Financial Analyst, Accounting Manager, Plant Controller, Cost Account Manager

Controller, Senior Financial Analyst, Accounting Manager, Plant Controller, Cost Accounting Manager

August 2009 – Present (2 years 8 months)

Controller,  Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager. Senior Financial Analyst, Plant Controller, Accounting Manager, Controller, Cost Accounting Manager.

Tags: Keywords, LinkedIn, Personal Branding, Social Media Marketing

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Posted in Branding LinkedIn Social Media by Jeff No Comments Yet