Why CEOs Get LinkedIn Engagement But No Business Results

Here's what I've learned after 25+ years working with serious businesses: most CEOs are brilliant at creating content, terrible at converting it.

I see this pattern constantly. A CEO posts something on LinkedIn that gets proper traction. Multiple comments from exactly the people they want to work with. Someone even mentions a specific pain point their business solves.

And then... nothing. The conversation dies in the comments. All that effort creating the post, getting the engagement - left sitting there like someone who knits half a jumper and leaves the arms off.

The Gap Between Visibility and Business Outcomes

You're already in the right rooms. You're posting content. You're getting engagement. You're doing all the LinkedIn things.

But here's what you're probably not doing: converting that activity into the calls, partnerships, and opportunities that actually grow your business.

Your expertise deserves better execution than this.

The Moment Most Executives Miss

Here's what typically happens:

Someone comments publicly on your post about a problem your business solves. A genuine pain point. The perfect opening for a conversation.

But you treat it like a social media moment instead of a business development opportunity.

Here's what you should do: reply publicly with something brief - "That's interesting... I'm messaging you" - then move the conversation private. Because that's where the real discussions happen. That's where you build relationships. That's where you book calls.

Instead, the conversation stays public, goes nowhere, and eventually dies. The opportunity sits there unconverted.

Three Things You're Missing (That Are Costing You Real Opportunities)

1. You're Not Following The Trail

You post content. It performs well. People engage. And then you move on to creating the next post.

Meanwhile, the people who engaged with your content - the ones who took time to comment, to share, to react - they're sitting there. Some of them would genuinely love to talk to you about working together.

But you're not following up because you think it would be "pushy."

Here's the truth: reaching out to someone who engaged with your content isn't pushy. It's professional. It's what serious business leaders do when they understand that public posts build visibility, but private conversations build business.

Set aside 15 minutes on a Monday. Connect with new people. Another 15 minutes on Wednesday - go and like one of their posts. Not randomly. Strategically. The people who could be clients, partners, referral sources.

This isn't networking for the sake of it. It's business development with a system behind it.

2. You're Treating LinkedIn Like A Performance, Not A Platform

I see this constantly with the CEOs and MDs who come to me. They nail the content creation. They show up. They share insights.

But when I ask "are you following up with the people who engaged?" - that's where the system has been breaking down.

They've been treating the post as the finish line. Once it goes live and gets engagement, they think the work is done.

But that's actually when the real work starts. That's when you see who's in the room. Who's paying attention. Who's raising their hand by engaging with your content.

Your existing clients would be genuinely impressed by what you're sharing. Potential clients would find it valuable. But if you're not actively connecting that content to conversations, you're leaving those opportunities completely unconverted.

The executives who get this right? They use public content to attract attention, then strategically move qualified conversations to DMs, emails, calls - wherever the real business discussion can happen.

3. You're Missing The 'Why' Behind Everything

Why are you posting on LinkedIn? Why are you connecting with people? Why are you creating content?

If your answer is anything other than "to create relationships that lead to calls, referrals, and business opportunities," then you're doing it wrong.

Every single action should have a business purpose. High-reach content builds your audience. Sales-focused content converts that audience. Outreach and follow-up turns engagement into revenue.

But here's where it gets interesting - most CEOs do one or two of these things brilliantly. Then completely ignore the others.

You can't do one without the other. Otherwise you end up with great content, solid engagement, zero conversion. You're doing half the work and wondering why you're not seeing the business outcomes your expertise warrants.

The Pushback I Hear Most Often

"I just don't want to seem disingenuous."

And I get it. We've all been socialised to think that reaching into the DMs is somehow sleazy.

But here's the thing - we've all had conversations that we didn't enjoy at one time or another. A sales call that was over the top. A pitch that felt pushy. But that doesn't make us stop having conversations.

When someone engages with your professional content about a topic you're expert in, and you follow up professionally to continue that conversation? That's not disingenuous. That's business.

The cost of not doing it? You're leaving your own opportunities unconverted. You're making it harder to hit your revenue targets. You're working twice as hard because you're not following through on the visibility work you've already done.

What Changes When You Get This Right

The fix is simpler than you think:

• Diarise 15-minute slots for LinkedIn activity (not content creation - follow-up and outreach)
• Create a lead bucket in Sales Navigator for people worth connecting with
• Set a goal: one meaningful business conversation per week from LinkedIn activity
• Stop treating engagement as the end goal and start treating it as the beginning

When CEOs implement this properly, they start booking consultations from people who'd previously engaged with their content. Qualified prospects. Conversations that would never have happened if they'd kept treating LinkedIn like a performance rather than a platform for business development.

Your LinkedIn Activity Should Be Working As Hard As You Are

You're already in the right rooms. You're already creating content. You're already getting engagement.

The question isn't whether you have the expertise or the opportunities. It's whether you're systematically converting them into the business outcomes your expertise deserves.

You're doing the hard work of building visibility. Now it's time to build the conversion system that turns that visibility into actual business results.

That's not a visibility problem. It's an execution problem. And execution problems have systematic solutions.

Ready to ensure your visibility translates to business outcomes?

After 25+ years developing strategic communication for global brands like L'Oréal, Colgate, Volkswagen, and Ryanair, I've learned that successful leaders aren't just excellent at creating visibility - they're excellent at converting it into business results. My Strategic Visibility for Ambitious Leaders service helps established CEOs, MDs, NEDs, and senior consultants build systematic approaches to ensuring their expertise generates the recognition and opportunities it deserves. This isn't about building a personal brand - it's about creating the infrastructure that converts your existing visibility into tangible business outcomes. Book a strategic consultation to discuss how systematic conversion processes can transform your LinkedIn presence from activity to revenue.