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Why CEOs Get LinkedIn Engagement But No Business Results

Posted By Elaine Walsh-McGrath, Managing Director, 10 October 2025

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.

Photo Credit: Elaine Walsh-McGrath

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Tags: business development ceo linkedin strategy ceo networking executive visibility linkedin conversion strategic communication

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Being Yourself is NOT a Business Risk

Posted By Elaine Walsh-McGrath, Managing Director, 16 September 2025

I'm working with a CEO right now whose business trajectory reads like a strategic masterclass. He's just closed a significant investment round, he's in talks about a potential merger, and he's building relationships that are uncovering opportunities with global clients. His net worth reflects decades of strategic decision-making and exceptional leadership.

But here's what's fascinating: this same executive—who can command a room, close complex deals, and navigate high-stakes negotiations—believes he needs to fundamentally alter who he is to build strategic visibility.

The Performance Trap

Here's what he told me: "I'm great at playing the game but when I'm thinking about posting on LinkedIn I can't find my voice. I don't know how to be me there."

Sound familiar? You've built exceptional business success by being an authentic leader, making genuine connections, and trusting your strategic instincts. But somewhere along the way, you've convinced yourself that the very identity that built your success is now a liability.

The result? You're treating your authentic self as a business risk rather than recognising it as your competitive advantage.

Why Traditional Business Coaching Misses the Mark

Here's the kicker: most strategic advisory approaches assume your challenge is business expertise. They want to teach you frameworks you've already mastered, systems you're already implementing, strategies you've been executing for years.

But that's not where sophisticated executives get stuck.

You don't need someone to explain competitive positioning—you've been doing it successfully for decades. You don't need help with strategic planning—you've just navigated an investment round and potential merger simultaneously.

What you need is strategic support from someone who actually understands the high-level challenges you face—not theoretically, but from years of experience operating at that level. Someone who gets the complexity of stakeholder management, the nuance of board-level communications, the reality of high-stakes negotiations.

And who can help you leverage your complete leadership identity to its full potential.

The Strategic Confidence Framework

Here's what I've learned after 25+ years developing strategic communication for global brands like L'Oréal, Colgate, and Ryanair—and working in high-stakes negotiations and award-winning strategic campaigns: the most successful strategic positioning happens when leaders can work with someone who genuinely understands the complexity of operating at their level.

It's not enough to understand strategic positioning theoretically. You need someone who gets the reality of board dynamics, the nuance of stakeholder management, the pressure of high-level decision-making—and can help you leverage your authentic leadership identity within that context.

The Real Challenge: Creating visibility that leverages your complete leadership identity.
The Missing Element: Confidence to own your authentic competitive advantage.
The Support You Actually Need: Someone who understands both the business complexity AND the identity positioning challenge

This isn't about business coaching. It's about guidance from someone who's operated at the level where these decisions actually matter.

Here's What I've Learned About Modern Professionalism

After 25+ years working with executives, here's what I've noticed: professionalism has evolved.

There are still leaders who keep personal and business completely separate—and that works for them. But they're not in the majority anymore.

Here's what successful leaders understand: you get to decide what clients you want to work with and what people you want in your business ecosystem. If someone isn't the type of person you want to do business with, that's valuable information.

Being yourself everywhere is actually a brilliant filtering mechanism. The right opportunities, the right partnerships, the right clients—they're attracted to authentic leadership, not performance.

The leaders who've figured this out realise that authenticity isn't unprofessional. It's strategically smart. It helps them build businesses filled with people they actually want to work with.

The Merger Conversation Reality

Think about it strategically: when you're in merger discussions, when you're pitching global clients, when you're leading high-stakes negotiations—you're not wearing a mask. You're leveraging every aspect of your leadership capability.

Your strategic visibility should work the same way.

The Network Effect Multiplier

Here's the kicker: the relationships you're building, the opportunities you're uncovering, the strategic partnerships you're developing—they're all based on authentic connection with the real you.

But when your online presence doesn't reflect that same authenticity, you're missing the network effect multiplier. The people who could amplify your opportunities, refer strategic partnerships, or recommend you for board positions can't connect your expertise with your visibility.

The Real Gap Isn't What You Think

The CEO I'm working with has everything in place for exceptional visibility: proven leadership, significant business success, ongoing high-level opportunities, and genuine insights.

He doesn't need business coaching—he's already the expert in his field. He doesn't need leadership development—he's successfully leading through investment rounds and potential mergers.

Here's where the gap actually is: when you're an expert in your field, when you have product experts, service experts, tech experts on your team, you don't need business advice—you have a CFO for that.

You need someone who can help you leverage your existing strengths to scale.

The challenge isn't learning new capabilities. It's amplifying the leadership identity that got you this far so it works just as powerfully online as it does in person.

Your commercial expertise got you to where you are. Scaling your authentic leadership presence is what will take you where you're going.

Ready to stop limiting your strategic visibility? My Strategic Visibility for Ambitious Leaders service helps established CEOs, MDs, NEDs, and senior consultants leverage their complete leadership identity into competitive advantage. This isn't about business fundamentals you've already mastered—it's about strategic positioning that comes from understanding both high-level business complexity and authentic leadership leverage. Book a strategic consultation to discuss how strategic identity positioning can unlock your full competitive potential. Reach out to hello@elainewalshmcgrath.com and let’s get a date in the calendar!