Being active on LinkedIn doesn’t pay the bills
AM Survivor #6
You could say it’s all Steve Jobs and Elon Musk’s fault. They built a world in which products—especially technological ones—are sold primarily through the personality of the company’s founder.
It’s a closed loop: a genius creates brilliant products, which are considered brilliant because they were created by a genius.
Jobs built Apple’s iconic marketing around his own persona, though he used traditional methods—press, television, trade shows, and conferences. Elon Musk, on the other hand, created a cult around himself through social media. To such an extent, in fact, that he eventually bought one of the platforms.
So, for at least a decade, the prevailing standard has been that visibility on social media is the key to success in business.
When it comes to the AM industry, LinkedIn emerges in this context as a mandatory tool: a platform where professionals gather, where knowledge can be shared, relationships built, and one's position strengthened.
In practice, however, this shiny façade of online activity often hides a void in terms of real financial outcomes. Startup founders, company managers, and consultants invest hundreds of hours into creating posts, analyzing engagement statistics, and participating in online discussions, all while struggling with overdue invoices, high leasing payments, and a lack of stable orders.
Heavy presence on LinkedIn provides a pleasant sense of belonging to an elite group, confirms expert status, and fosters the illusion of success. But when it's time to settle the books, it turns out that “likes” and “comments” don’t pay the bills.
What’s more, sooner or later comes the sad realization that, despite great effort and dedication, there was only one Steve Jobs and there is only one Elon Musk. And 3D printing doesn’t need either of them.
Artificial career
When companies in the AM industry begin their LinkedIn journey, they often take a reasonable approach: the platform is free, easily accessible, and used by the biggest global brands and experts—so why not take advantage of it?
Unfortunately, this ease conceals a trap.
LinkedIn’s algorithm rewards regularity and engagement—the more you publish and the more active you are in comments, the wider the reach of your content.
As a result, companies race to churn out posts, market analyses, webinar announcements, and reviews of new hardware, while their efforts to promote their services and products are reduced to superficial marketing mentions that rarely lead to concrete business inquiries.
In reality, LinkedIn generates what are known as “cold leads”: people who interact with posts but lack the will, the budget or purchasing authority to become clients.
Consequently, entrepreneurs spend time maintaining the illusion of engagement, neglecting key sales activities—meetings with potential buyers.
To make matters worse, LinkedIn constantly changes its algorithm, so the strategies that worked well in January collapse by April and become completely ineffective by September. And we can only guess when and how this is happening, since LinkedIn doesn’t publish official guidance...
Another risk that comes with intensive “social media marketing” is the effect of a false mirror, where the entrepreneur sees only a flattering reflection of their activity. With each share and like, the feeling grows that the company is appreciated, stands out from the competition, and that “something is happening.”
Meanwhile, behind this virtual perfection lie real problems: overdue invoices, lease payments due on time, rising operating and payroll costs.
These obligations don’t disappear because a post reached staggering 55,000 views.
At best, the entrepreneur receives an invitation to another panel discussion or a nomination for an industry award—things that look great on LinkedIn but do not fill the wallet.
For many AM sector companies, the financial crisis hits unexpectedly. Social media activity has built a brand and relationships, and in the end, it turns out that the reach achieved doesn’t translate into a sales process.
That potential customer who commented on every post turns out to be a great enthusiast of 3D printing—but only in their personal life. The CEO of a large company or the production director at a major corporation is simply trying to stay informed or is building their own brand on LinkedIn as well.
None of them ever intended to buy anything.
And so, the illusion of online success gives way to the harsh reality.
The real LinkedIn
On the other hand, it must be acknowledged that abandoning LinkedIn is not the solution. The platform remains a source of knowledge, a place to make first contact, and to build brand awareness.
The problem lies in the lack of a coherent strategy that ties content efforts to real business goals. Too often, we observe situations where every online activity occurs outside of any measurable system or KPIs. There are no clearly defined results: how many new business inquiries are expected to be generated in a month, what portion of them should result in meetings, and how many should lead to signed contracts.
As a result, entrepreneurs sink hour after hour into content creation without knowing what real benefits those publications are producing.
Therefore, the first step to escape the trap of “visibility at all costs” is recognizing that it’s not reach, but leads and revenue, that determine a company’s strength.
Every post, article, or webinar should be designed with a specific audience in mind—a decision-maker ready to consider investing in 3D printing technology. The content should lead to a clear call to action: an invitation to a meeting, downloading technical specifications, filling out a contact form, or requesting a free material sample.
Otherwise, all the “likes” will be merely decorative, and “reach” will become just another way to stretch out the workday—not a tool for growing the business.
Another essential element of a proper strategy is analyzing sales and marketing data under one roof. On the surface, LinkedIn provides plenty of statistics—audience demographics, views, engagement. But without linking this data to actual sales results, it's just trivia.
You need to combine CRM data with social media activity to find out which content truly attracts potential customers and at what stage of the sales funnel you lose their interest. Without such analysis, even the most engaging content won’t help identify weak points in the sales process or take corrective actions.
Finally, remember the importance of channel diversity. Relying solely on one platform, even one as popular as LinkedIn, limits your reach and exposes your company to the risk of algorithm changes or shifts in social media trends.
Good complements might include newsletters sent directly to your email base, email automation campaigns aimed at people who downloaded technical materials, and personal invitations to webinars and industry conferences. In each case, the primary goal should be to thoughtfully move the recipient from being a passive observer to an active business partner.
High activity on LinkedIn is a double-edged sword.
On one hand, it enables brand building, showcasing expertise, and initiating first contacts; on the other, it can distract from key tasks, consume time and resources, and serve only to maintain the illusion of success.
The price of this visibility is not only the time that could have been spent meeting clients or developing the product, but also the mental attachment to “likes” as a health indicator for the company.
Real results are measured by invoices paid on time, new contracts signed for printers or consumables, and maintained financial liquidity.
Unless content activity is balanced with measurable sales goals, one remains stuck in a digital deadlock: visible, but unpaid.
I strongly agree.
I think most of us have no clue how to use social media in a way that drives sales.
Most large companies too, they seem to see "activity" as the end goal.
I think consistent activity serves a function (it says to customers that we are a real, non-defunct business) but it is not the same as real marketing.