Coffees and Content

How to Build a Powerful Personal Brand on LinkedIn with Rosie Chong

• Loren Tomlinson | Holistic Digital Marketing and Social Media Strategies • Season 3 • Episode 2

Share episode

Send us a text

Is LinkedIn just for job seekers? Not anymore.

If you’re still thinking of LinkedIn as a corporate resume platform, you’re missing out on one of the biggest personal branding and content marketing opportunities.

This week on Coffees & Content, I sit down with Rosie Chong, a LinkedIn powerhouse with over 62,000+ followers, a personal branding strategist, and a go-to expert for professionals who want to stand out in the digital world.

We’re breaking down exactly how to build a personal brand on LinkedIn, attract opportunities, and turn engagement into real business growth — even if you’re still working a 9-to-5.


In This Episode, We Cover:

  • Why LinkedIn is the most underrated platform for personal branding (and how to leverage it now)
  • The biggest myths about LinkedIn marketing (and why most people get it wrong)
  • How to position yourself as a thought leader and build credibility—even if you’re just starting out
  • What kind of content actually performs on LinkedIn (it’s NOT just polished corporate updates)
  • The power of storytelling in personal branding and why it’s your competitive edge
  • How to grow your LinkedIn audience without spending hours on the platform
  • The secret to balancing a full-time career while building a brand (without burnout)
  • How LinkedIn can open doors to career opportunities, brand deals, and business growth

If you’ve been waiting for the right time to start building your personal brand, this is it.


Connect with Rosie Chong:

Stay Connected:

Loved this episode? Leave a review - it would mean the world!!

If this episode gave you a breakthrough moment, share your key takeaway on Instagram and tag @coffeesandcontentpod. Your insights might just shape a future episode.

 Welcome to Copies and Content, the podcast keeping you ahead in all things social media and digital marketing. Hi, I'm Lauren, digital marketing strategist, international speaker, and the owner of the Social Collective, a multi six figure marketing agency. Each week I'm breaking down all of the latest marketing trends.

Strategies, and of course those must know updates, giving you no fluff, just what works. Plus, I'm gonna be having conversations with some of the industry's top experts, sharing insights you simply won't hear anywhere else. So if you are ready to market smarter, grow faster, and show up with confidence, this is the podcast for you.

Grab your cup of coffee, hit subscribe, and let's get into it. This is coffees and content. I wanna hold the mic, but I don't think that looks right. 

Bang out like some swelling. D on  made that joke yesterday on stage. I'm like, are people laughing? I'm feeling really awkward.  

Start belting it out. Literally. I'm like, I'm made for this stage. Ah.  

You were on stage so natural too. Really? A hundred percent thanks. Like your whole energy about you was just so chill. I was like, yeah, this girl is born to be on stage. And then I was watching your reel this morning and I was like, 

yes, 

girl, you did it. 

I nearly cried making that.

You did. And I was like, did amazing. 

I was like, do I go for the heart ball stringing music or do I go for the like, Hmm. Pump up. Yeah. Get your dreams. Go girl. It's such a hard thing to decide. Right? Or I was like, do I do one of those quote things? Yeah. You believed in yourself that like an Amber Chamber podcast.

Anyway, so sorry. I love it. I'm actually, I might even keep that. 

That's so fine.  This episode is proudly brought to you by the Social Collective, which is of course my agency. We are a holistic digital marketing agency focusing on providing all things strategic support and making sure that ads, social media, email marketing content, and of course, your PR and media features are all working the best for you.

Whether you want me to coach you through it or you want to outsource it to my team and I. Chat with us. If you're looking for some marketing help, no matter how big what it is, what you need, let's have a chat. 'cause I'm all about making marketing simple. Remember, 

welcome back everybody to the Coffees and Content Podcast. I am. So insanely excited. Words cannot even begin to describe how I feel right now. I have an incredible guest on the podcast, someone who I feel like we've been trying to tee this up for a year. A year probably.  

I'm so excited Today I have the amazing Rosie Chung joining me.

Rosie is one of LinkedIn's. Top experts, especially in the personal and branding space. This incredible woman sitting in front of me is a content strategist, personal branding expert, and she has over 62,000 followers on LinkedIn, and that's just LinkedIn alone. I was looking at all your social platforms and it's like 70,000 plus people.

I'm slowly creeping up to the a hundred K mark very slowly, 

very slowly combined, and that is. But look, the dream is a hundred K on LinkedIn, but we're getting there. 

You're doing absolutely incredible. So the reason that I brought Rosie on the podcast today is because I want to talk all things personal branding.

I also wanna dive into what you do outside of the LinkedIn space, what your day-to-day looks like, and of course, how you built this brand and how those that listen to this podcast can hopefully take away some key tips on what they can be doing to really grow their own personal brand. Because for anyone who has listened to the podcast or knows me in any capacity knows, I'm such a big advocate for putting your.

Self out there. Whether you are creating your own brand, you've got a business, especially after the conversations that we've all had at the social summit recently too. Having a face to your business is so important in this day and age. So first of all, welcome to the podcast. What an intro. 

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.

Have been trying to do this since 2024 at the beginning, if not 2023. It's crazy. It's been a while. Finally, we're in the same country. I know. A time that we are both free. Exactly. Very exciting. And what an awesome studio that we get to sell. This is very cool. It's very professional. I, I know I used to record my podcast during Covid mm-hmm.

On my webcam in my office that is not even close to aesthetic. So this is a major upgrade. I feel like a celebrity. This is like, whoa. I do too. 

I feel like this is a whole step up from where I started. This is very, which is sweatpants. Little microphone, but no camera on. Oh yeah. That's where I will start.

And I love that. I think that's one of the things I've really enjoyed showing about the business and I think I love in your content as well, is being able to show people how you progress. You don't need to start at that perfection level, no content. It doesn't have to be what all the people with massive teams behind themselves are doing.

Slowly just growing and bringing your audience along with it, I think is something that you do fantastically. Thank you. 

And I think a lot of people don't realize that I am quite literally just a one woman show, and I have been the entire coming out four years now. That's amazing. On my proper LinkedIn content journey.

Mm-hmm. 

And you don't need to be paying for a hundred million things. You don't need a team behind you. It would definitely be easier if I had a team behind me trying to balance everything, but you can do it from the ground up and a lot of it is just experimentation. Yeah, I think a lot of people don't realize how many things I've had to think about behind the screen of what am I talking about?

What do I wanna be known for? How do I get known? How do I get the blue tick for being a top voice? How do I find my niche? All of that didn't just happen overnight, and I think when people see it and. Idolize, and I'm not saying people idolize me, but even when I look at others and who look so successful, who look like they have their shit figured out, I'm like, how do I do that?

It looks so easy and it's just, you then take a step back and realize, no, they're putting in the hours, they're strategizing, they're analyzing. They've got good weeks, bad weeks. They're questioning what they're doing. Everyone is just trying to work it out. And something I learned so much from the social summits, at the end of the day, we're all just people.

Yeah. And I think when you realize that and you strip back the number of followers of the shiny photos. At the end of the day, it's just a human to a human. Exactly. And we're all very similar in that way. 

Exactly. I love that. I feel like that is so well said. And I wanna go back, 'cause I know that you were talking about sort of the start of your journey.

I know that you're considered on LinkedIn, the nine to five personal branding gal. It's me. Tell me how you got started. Where did the idea for putting yourself out on LinkedIn even come from? So I can't even take credit 

for it. I've had a LinkedIn account for 10 years, but I didn't do anything about it other than, oh hey, I graduated.

Hey, I am starting a new internship. Nothing beyond what people would use it for, which is jobs essentially finding jobs, job updates. Yeah. And then I started an agency a few years ago called Cody Agency here in Melbourne, 

Uhhuh. 

Basically the founder Lisa Tay. She was big on LinkedIn, still is, and I thought, what the F is.

Being big on LinkedIn, what does that even mean? And essentially one of the services we started at the agency was LinkedIn management or personal branding management. And I was in the sales team. So it was essentially, Hey Rosie, you should learn how to use LinkedIn and experiments so you can actually sell it to clients.

But then also use it for outreach and finding clients. Because I was working in sales. Yeah, I'm terrible at sales. I don't like doing it, but put myself out there and I was like, okay, let's go. I think my first proper post was Feb or March, 2021, so pretty much four years ago, almost to the day. And so it started for work and then it just snowballed from there.

That's 

incredible. And did you ever expect that when you put your first post out, this is where you would be today? 

Not a 

single clue. 

Literally no. And I know that sounds silly and I think it's easy with hindsight to think, oh, of course it was gonna work out. At the time. I thought, oh, I'll just maybe get some clients.

And even my content has changed so much. My content was very professional, it was very sales focused intentionally. It was there to attract clients. It was there to position myself as an extension of the agency, as a professional and expert in social media management and social media. So we could sell clients and I was what, 24 at the time?

Selling to people who were twice my age or have a career that's four times mine thinking, what the hell am I doing? I remember being in meetings people saying, Hey, so lovely to meet you, but uh, is your boss coming? Is your manager coming to them? I was just another account manager. I was just another sales manager and I felt so out of place and never in my wildest dreams because I imagine where it has gotten me to.

It's been a very cool journey and it's funny 'cause I think. When I was younger, I say this pretty much on every interview when someone says, like, how do you get started? My journey started when I was 14, starting a YouTube career. Love it. And before that, my childhood dream was to be a Hollywood actress, Uhhuh.

So I think I've always wanted to be a performer in a way. Yeah, acting didn't work out for me. Singing didn't work out for me. YouTube ended very quickly when people at high school worked out that I had an account. So that got deleted very fast, and it just has kind of evolved in this. Left field way. I never thought I'd be a content creator because of LinkedIn.

I always thought it would be, being in the TV show or being an Instagram influencer, you know, there's this pipe dream that you have and I, I know it, it feels embarrassing to say this very vain goal of, oh, I just wanna be known. And it's still very weird to say that 'cause I try to be a very humble, grounded person.

But at the end of the day, I'm just a theater kid who's a Leo, so I'm very outward and you know, I love the lime.  I think what it's helped me realize is that it wasn't necessarily about this idea of chasing fame, but it was, oh, I get to have a platform to share my story to inspire others. 

Mm. 

It's not necessarily about the recognition.

It's about, oh, I get to share my voice and actually finally get to be heard. And I think there was a very full circle moment going from being one of like three Asian kids in my primary school. To now being able to speak to people around the world and actually have a seat at the table. 

Yeah. And 

be respected and be heard.

And that was a big thing I realized in my very first year of LinkedIn content creation, when I started pivoting from sales driven content to more personalized content, and I shared a lot about my journey and my story and my heritage. That was a big part of the transition I think in. Validating that I deserve to have a voice.

Yeah. And that journey of being able to inspire others and it not just being like, oh, just follow me. It's like, no, how can I help you? How do I get other people to see that this is exciting and it's beneficial and there's so much to come from it. 

I love that. 

And I'm a Leo 

and the other candidate as well,  so.

I feel like that's why I resonate so well with your content. 'cause I have the, you get it. Exact same outlook. Amazing. And I think that's so important, what you said as well with the content shift. And again, I know that was such a topic at the social summit that we've both just been at, is it's not about doing it for you.

Like we don't get, a lot of us don't get into this space because we want to do it so that we can be quote unquote famous and Yeah. Have a following. It's, we've got something that we really wanna share with our audience. And I constantly talk about that on this podcast and also with my clients. Mm-hmm. At the Social Collective agency is that it's about looking at what your clients are needing and how we can serve and support them.

Yeah. And just utilizing these tools that we have, especially when there's so many free tools that we have. Totally. To be able to use that to get that message out there. I wanna jump back quickly. You said something before around how it obviously started being professional content and then it's turned into growing a personal brand.

At what point did you switch and realize, okay, I'm gonna make this more of a personal brand. Was that a conscious decision or was it something that just evolved naturally? 

I think it was a little bit of both. I can't quite remember the exact day or week or month where my content pillars completely changed to be personal.

Mm-hmm. Or even. Becoming the nine five Brandy Girl. That didn't happen for a while. I was basically trying to give myself a title. Mm-hmm. And I just, all of them flopped for a while. I called myself the LinkedIn cheerleader and that was just, it was fun to be called that by myself. Mm. But I realized that it was not, I just had an identity crisis, but there was one post I remember making in, I think it was around September, 2021.

So. Kind of that first six months of creating, I was so burnt out. I was really miserable. I was really exhausted. I was doing five posts a week, minimum. Still working full time, just trying to do it all. 

Yeah. 

And I remember making a post about having really bad burnout or feeling really anxious, and it sounds silly, but I felt more comfortable posting that online than I did going to my manager and saying, Hey, I'm really burnt out.

Yeah. I remember getting a text from someone in the senior team, Hey, look, I didn't realize this is going on. I'm like. It's nothing personal. It's I'm a weird girl is apparently posting it on LinkedIn made more sense. But it was after I shared this post about struggling with burnout and being quite open about it.

'cause I hadn't really shared much about my journey with therapy and anxiety and Mm. And the response from that post was quite strong. Mm. It was very supportive. It was very much, wow. I feel seen. Oh, me too. Once that post had. Done well, and I crossed over this imaginary border of personal and professional.

I thought, oh, I can talk more about this. And I started updating my bio to talk about mental health, mental health advocate, not just being, you know, social media expert. When I started, I didn't even know the term personal branding. That was suggestion from Lisa saying, Hey, you should talk about personal branding.

'cause I was failing this identity crisis of. What do I talk about? I don't know. And as much as I love being in this space and working there, I don't feel passionate enough to make my entire account about social media updates. It was that realization that I can work in social and be really great at that and knowledgeable, but it doesn't mean my LinkedIn had to be in that.

And I look at people like Sophie, who runs pretty little marketer. Yeah. And her whole thing when she was starting was. Social media updates. Have you seen this platform? Have you seen this viral video? And she does a lot of that still. She's very much a leader in social media. Mm. Definitely. Like Matt Nevara as well, who talks a lot about, oh, here's a new feature.

And I was just realizing that just because someone was doing that in my work in space didn't mean I have to be in that bubble. Exactly. And so it was just kind of this accumulation of going from original, salesy kind of professional content to get clients. Realizing, oh, I can create a community for myself.

Yeah, and it just kind of went from there. I finished up at Cody at the end of that year. And part of me thought, does my LinkedIn have to go with that job? Right. Does it end? And then I thought, no, I can keep going. And I remember making a post at the end of that year. It was either like two separate posts, one saying I'm leaving, or one saying, you know, stay tuned.

Mm-hmm. But it was definitely a stay tuned post. There's stuff to come. It was really after that foundational year that I was able to. Transition into, okay, well I can have a job. Yeah, I can have a personal brand and they don't have to be mutually exclusive. Exactly. 

Speaking of which, 'cause I know that you last year were full-time now.

You are part-time. I am. You're working at the incredible Melbourne Social Code? I am. I'm very lucky to. You're so in  a talk me through that though, because I know that there's a lot of people out there that think. I have to do one or I have to do the other. I know there's this big panic that I think a lot of people get when it comes to creating something else for yourself, whether it's a brand of your own, it's just creating your own personal content.

They think, do I need to leap out of my full-time job? How do I balance them both? I'd love to know for you, what is the reason behind deciding to stay in an employment position? Mm-hmm. And then also growing your brand on the side. How did you come to that decision to do both? So it's 

actually really funny because I don't really talk about my job on my social as much, or at least in my LinkedIn.

I was at my last agency for three years and I really mentioned the clients I worked on what I was doing, which is a very intentional choice. I wanted to keep them separate. Most people actually thought I had quit already. It got to a point, I think it must've been about mid last year in 2024, where I was just feeling so again, burnt out, which is funny.

I do a lot of things. I wasn't hating my job, but I knew that I didn't have my spark anymore. And I'd spoken to this with my manager at the time saying, I'm, I'm struggling. I can comfortably do what I'm doing. I feel like I've learned a lot, but I just. Even if I got promoted, I don't know if that's what I wanna keep doing.

I think I need to change something. I think I need to try something else. And I oscillated with the idea of quitting my full-time job and just stopping there and doing my own thing. But I've got a wedding to say full. So I put on my financial hat, which is very small 'cause I suck at finances and thought, okay, is there a way where I can still have stability and income?

Experiment with finally having some more time? 'cause I've just balanced trying to do. Content creation, freelancing, attending brand events, and working full-time for three, four years. I cannot do it all. And I was feeling very torn. 'cause my heart is very much in personal branding, content creation, that world is what makes me so happy.

But for me right now, I wasn't making enough income to quit my full-time job and have enough money to literally. Pay rent, plan a wedding. Yeah. Go out with friends. And so that's why I decided to go part-time. And it sounds so dramatic on the internet. Again, I'm intentional about it. I'm not click baiting, but it's just, it brings in more eyeballs to say, Hey, I quit my full-time job.

Mm. Which is not false information, but it's less sexy to say, oh, well I still work four days a week. Yeah. Because I need money to save for. Life and living cost of living is expensive. Exactly. So it was this combination of I don't have a mortgage, don't have kids. I am at this point where I can take the gamble.

And I think I tried to take the gamble maybe a year earlier, not necessarily in quitting my job, but trying to experiment with having my own clients. It flopped. I wasn't loving what I was doing. I kind of stopped it. I would help people here and there, but I wasn't promoting it. And then everything just kind of fell in place.

The role with Melbourne Social Code kind of came up, and so I was like, you know what? Now? Or never. I can always go back to full-time if I need to, but it felt like the time to take the gamble. 

Mm-hmm. 

And just bet on myself a little bit more. I'm very lucky to have so many people in my community online who back me who say, Hey, you are great.

Hey, can I get your help? Hey, come speak at this thing. And I'd back myself. And so I. I can have a community of 60,000. Why am I not trying to do something with that? Exactly. So that's kind of where it came from. 

I love that. I really love too, what you just said about the idea of experimenting. I have so many conversations with business owners who feel like it is one or the other.

They don it doesn't have to be. Exactly. And I feel like you are just such fantastic living proof and that's I think, why I really resonate with your content because. I've been in a similar position of going out on my own and figuring out what that looks like. It's scary. Exactly. And some things you try.

This is not my first business and it probably won't be my last. Yeah. And there's nothing wrong with if things don't work out or you change plans. Yeah. Like you said, you've got a wedding, which congratulations. Thank you. By the, that is, I'm Congratulations to you.  We're both engaged Girlies, just having a little engaged girly podcast. 

But it's, I think it's so true that there's so many other factors to think about, and yes, in a dream world, I think we all think it would be amazing to just do content creation and that kind of stuff full time. 

Oh, if I could, I would love to. Exactly. There's a, there's a girl I follow. So funny. I interviewed her for a role back two years ago when I was working at DDB.

Her name's Shannon Kerr. She goes by Shannon Kerr on TikTok. She's, I would say like literally the, like the hottest girl in Melbourne right now. She's just, Uhhuh found the IT girl Pinterest advice. I love her. She's the sweetest thing. She recently quit her full-time job. She's gone fully solo. Wow. Does graphic design, but she also does brand deals.

She also models, and I just love that she's gone for that. I'm, I'm not an Alex Earl, not a Shannon. I'm not financially, economically set up enough with brand deals, but you know what, not against it. Yeah, exactly. We love to do content creation. Yeah. It's so fun. Exactly. 

I wanted to talk with you.  LinkedIn itself.

Mm-hmm. And the misconceptions, 'cause I know that you've even spoken about it yourself, of how your content has shifted and changed. Yes. And I feel like the first thing that comes up for people when we talk about LinkedIn is they all of a sudden think professional corporate job seeking kind of space.

What a content platform. Exactly. What do you think, in your opinion, is the biggest misconception that people have about LinkedIn? Oh, it's easily 

that LinkedIn is only to get jobs. Mm-hmm. That's it. It's not a real content platform. Hands down, my friends do not understand. What am I doing? That is the misconception and. 

What people, if they have the time, they can actually be open-minded is you can realize that you can land a job without applying to a job. Yeah. Essentially. I've had jobs that have started just from a conversation in dms without even a job existing. There's so much potential to LinkedIn and people don't realize it, and it bothers me so much.

What is the kind of content outside of the scope, I guess, of that professional corporate? Kind of, this is what I'm doing in my day-to-day business world, or just straight up promoting their business. What is the kind of content that you think is just not capitalized on enough when it comes to LinkedIn?

I think behind the scenes of building brands and founder stories, I know that there are some, and this is very much in my bubble of being the LinkedIn bubble of I'm exposed to people in my feed that are already posting. Yeah. So it looks like you've got this bias of, oh, well, there's so many people out there.

Reality is, I think it's 1% of the 1 billion users on LinkedIn that actually post actively. Wow. So when you think about that, it's not actually that many people that are posting. And I think beyond just LinkedIn and transcending to different social platforms and social media avenues and content platforms, that people are really curious, we're in this economy where people maybe don't wanna work a traditional job, but they still need income.

So maybe they wanna launch a business, maybe they wanna be a creator. People wanna know how. I think that is not capitalized enough. And there's going off LinkedIn, there's a girl on TikTok. Her name's Justine. Her username is Justine's camera roll. Mm-hmm. And about two years ago, if, if even that, maybe a year and a half ago, she started the video and she said, I wanna be an influencer.

I work full time. This is how I'm gonna do it. She's now verified on TikTok and Instagram. She recently went on the top brand trip. She's got 200,000 followers on TikTok. 150,000 I think, on Instagram. And it's because she showed, this is how I film, this is how I'm reaching out to brands. It was all of the how to because people, people are lazy and people want the shortcut answer to, how do I become a million dollar business?

How do I quit my job? Yeah. How do I become this aspirational dream role of getting out of the corporate, getting outta the nine to five or changing careers. And I just don't think people are doing it enough. And I think the other side to that, when bringing it back to LinkedIn is that there's this very glossy perception that being a founder is easy.

And there is a, I spoke to my friend who are founders, and there's a reason I didn't quit work altogether because it's, I'm not ready for the hustle. I'm not ready. I had a chat to Chanel Clark, who's a fellow Kiwi. Love her. Love her so much. Yeah. And she. She obviously would like back me until the day I die.

Yeah. I love her so much, but I spoke to her pretty real about it. I was like, I don't think I can do this. She was like, look, you could if you wanted to, but here is the reality of it. 'cause she's the founder. She quit her job and she, I'm so impressed with what she's managed to, to do, especially with the marketing club as well.

She, it's, it's not easy. Yeah. And she, and I liked something that she does quite well, so she shows that it's not easy. Yeah. But she's also just constantly pushing. Yeah. And I think that has just not shown. Enough, and I think people who are even in senior leadership in more traditional corporate, nine to five, you C-suite team, that kind of stuff.

Yeah. They are just, I, I understand that they're busy people, but I think they could be doing more as well because mm-hmm. There's, there's also this dream, you know, climb the, climb the ladder at your corporate. It doesn't mean you have to be a founder. A lot of people are very happy. Working for someone else.

It's stable, it's consistent. I work for someone else. It's, it's safe. It's easier, it's a lot less stress. Yeah. So it's like, well how do you actually get to be a CMO head of marketing? CEO? How do you actually upskill? 'cause I think a lot of that is, I. Missing. Yeah. And I think even our generation, what I was sold this dream of, oh, you get a job and you'll get promoted every year and you'll get, you'll just get spoonfed all of these new roles.

No, I don't think I've been promoted once in my entire career. 

Wow. 

I know. I. I don't actually know how to be promoted, just someone teach me. So I think that's also, um, underutilized in content. 

Absolutely. And I think especially in this space of digital technology and how everything is constantly growing and evolving and changing, and I know yesterday at Social Summit there's a lot of conversations around like AI and what that's gonna do.

And yeah, how I found it really interesting listening to how every business owner, or like every person that was on the, the panels that was speaking. All uses it in totally different ways. Yeah. But I think there's so much to continue to grow and upskill in. And I do think that there's a slight misconception that if you go down the sort of traditional corporate route, it is just gonna be promotion after promotion, after promotion.

Yeah. But I feel like in that sense, it's. No different to being out on your own. You have to constantly upskill and learn and hustle, and if you really want it, you have to go out and prove it. Yeah. And show the people that are within your space or like higher ups from you that you can do it. And you bring a really valuable skillset Yeah.

To that space as well. 

A hundred percent. I, I, I'd even my light bulb moment of realizing that they are basically the same. Thing you're trying to do just in different lanes. 

Exactly. Exactly. And so I wanted to pivot for a second and talk about this community that you are growing and evolving with, and there's this goal that you've got of a hundred thousand people in your community, which I think is very exciting.

Is incredible. It's a little crazy, but I'm okay with it. I think it's fantastic. I think it's so important to have those goals that feel like. I said to someone the other day, it's like a stretch goal. Mm. It's there's a goal and it's not so easy to meet that you are like, oh, I can just chill and I can relax.

Yeah. It's something that you have to consciously put in the effort and work towards a hundred percent. And I wanted to know from you, 'cause obviously you don't get to a community of like what, 60, 70,000 followers. That you've created already in the sort of four years that you've been doing this. You don't land there by mistake.

How have you created, tell me and tell the listeners what are your top tips for creating this really engaged community that you've built on LinkedIn and obviously in your other social platforms too.  

When it started, I was very, very active. I was commenting, I was spending hours, hours every day writing content, posting, commenting, connecting with people.

I hustled hard, and that's why I think I got so burnt out in that first year because I was spending every waking minute I could on LinkedIn. I was obsessed with it and I think that helped me connect with people online and make my online friends. And it's funny, you and I were talking about, I think before we started recording this idea that.

Your biggest supporters aren't necessarily your inner circle. Yeah. I love my friends and my partner, but they don't really understand what I do online. Yeah. They will, you know, they'll be, they're on the sidelines for me in real life, but they're really my common section. Yeah. And I think that's normal and I think that's okay.

It's, I don't think that's a bad thing. Mm-hmm. But  I started because I was really hustling. Yeah. And I think I've kind of kept that mentality that I view my community as friends. Even though there's like 60,000 people, which is bonkers to me. Why? Why? I don't understand. I don't, I don't get it. Um, but I treat it like we're friends.

Even if I don't really know them, we've never had a conversation. I'm just, I'm very me online and I think that's something I really try and  I  don't know, pioneer. That's a really lame word to use. I'm not a pioneer at all, but I'm very big on just. Talk like you are with a friend, talk like you're getting coffee with your bestie.

Yeah. That's how I am in my dms on meetings and podcasts. In the comment section. Yeah. I'm not a different person and it definitely didn't happen overnight. It wasn't always sunshine and rainbows. There were multiple times where I said, I can't do this. I'm gonna quit. Like I, yeah, I'm so burnt out. I have nothing to offer.

I don't care anymore. I lost that passion and I had to evolve. And I think that's the biggest thing is that I. When I've changed and evolved or when things aren't going well, I've brought my audience with me. Yeah. And I'm very big on being very open and honest. My content is not necessarily about, here's how I built my massive empire, because I don't have a massive empire, but it's just like,  oh, hey, I work a full-time job and I do this.

This is how, and it's giving people the, a lot of value in their content, but it's also just being very real. And I know that's.  Very lame to say be yourself. But I think it's important to carve out your own identity. You can be inspired by what other people are doing, but at the end of the day, you're the only one with your experience.

Yeah. Your story, your voice. So you need to be sharing that 

a hundred percent. And I think 

a lot of that on, I would, I would credit a lot of the growth to my authenticity. I think a lot of that has come in that and it's like, oh, hi, I'm doing this really exciting thing. Come along with me. Yeah. It. Not, it's not like what people like, like, um, what Jay or is doing or Lara Acosta, who are very much, they're very smart with their content.

They've been both built really incredible audiences and they've turned them into businesses. So they are splitting, Hey, I'm selling my services, but I'm also a pro in this very niche space. Whereas mine's a lot more, Hey, this is what, how you can do it like I am. And obviously it's very different and like they both share a lot of great content.

They're very good people to learn from and they're all very authentic. But I think I've just made, I personally have just found my growth has come from just being very real and very honest. And I, I think earlier on identifying that there was a gap in the content of, oh, people who work full-time and create content.

I was in a sea surrounded by people who were freelancers and founders or C-Suite, and I was like, I'm none of those. Where, where's the voice of the people who. Don't wanna quit their job. And I think putting forward this normalization that it's okay to stay in a full-time job, but also still have a personal brand.

You can have both. Yeah. I think that really helped as well. Absolutely. And there weren't a lot of people doing it. I think I came in as an early adopter almost in a way, and just kind of rolled with it. And so, I don't know. It's, it's very weird. I, I. Another thing. I think it's, and this is just goes without saying, just consistently showing up and that it's not just consistency in how many, how much you're posting.

It's consistency in having conversations. Yeah. It's consistency in how you talk. It's consistency in what you're talking about. 

Mm. 

I think people think consistency is just, oh, I have to post five times a week. There was someone who came to me as a potential client who posts 12 times a week. And I, I asked them, 'cause I, I don't believe in that, but I also respect that everyone has their own schedule.

And I said to her, why are you posting that many times? And she told me she got six, five, or six content pillars. She posts twice a day and she's very happy with that. And so she's consistently showing up that much to her audience with her content pillars. Mm.  Consistency looks different for everyone. So for her it's that many posts for me, consistently looks like being very casual in my responses.

It's using emojis in my content. It's the way I structure my content. It's posting maybe three times a week. Now that's just very different for everyone, but it's, you get out what you put in, and if you want that growth, if you wanna make it, make an audience, if you wanna. Do something more. You genuinely just have to be willing to put in the time because I think the era of mega viral LinkedIn posts and people being able to ride the coattails of that is over.

I haven't personally seen a post with over 10,000 likes in a very long time in my feed, and I don't know if that's just the people that are in my feed and the content, but I think there was an era maybe three years ago where it. Easier. Easier to get 20,000 likes, 10,000 likes a million views. And there are still people who get that kind of traction and engagement, but I don't think it's as accidental to go viral anymore.

Yeah, and I think knowing that switch, you have to be very intentional to find your cut through because. I think where I would like to think that LinkedIn's now almost in its mainstream vibe as content creators. It's no longer this new thing that everyone's experimenting, it's saturated. There are people out there, and I started with, because again, I'm in the LinkedIn bubble.

Most people in everyday life are not posting every single day on LinkedIn. It's not normal. It's not as big as your TikTok tiktoks or your Instagrams. 

Mm. 

But you've gotta be a lot more strategic and you can't just expect that you're gonna go viral by making a click baby post. 

Yep. Absolutely. And I love what you said too about how everyone has their own version of what consistency Yes.

And what showing up looks like. Because I think what one person does isn't necessarily the exact same for somebody else who's got a bigger team or a different capacity. Yep. I think that's just really important to keep in mind. And with that. I have a few quick fire questions. All right. I'm ready to wrap up the episode.

I'm so ready. I would love to know, first and foremost, for someone that wants to get started on LinkedIn, what would be your top tip above all to give to them? 

I think just try and post, literally the biggest hurdle people struggle with is not, not finding the comments post, literally, just hit the post button.

You can delete it later, it doesn't matter. But getting the first one out the way is the scariest. Yep. And that's, I'm trying to keep this quick.  

Next is, what is a LinkedIn feature that you think that everyone should be using or something they should be doing on LinkedIn? That people just aren't utilizing at the 

moment.

Schedule tool is literally, it's not perfect because I don't, I don't know how many you can schedule, but it's gotten better. You can now edit schedule post finally. Yes. Which you couldn't do before. Thank goodness. Thank God. But I find it much easier, especially as a person who doesn't necessarily batch, create that in advance.

I can still write in the morning, schedule it for 5:00 PM Yeah. And I find that it's just, it's just much easier and I set myself a little calendar reminder when it goes out so I can make sure I'm like in my comment section.  

I.  I guess the last thing that I would love to know is if you weren't in marketing, and I think I probably already know the answer because we did cover some of this earlier.

If you weren't working in marketing, you weren't in the personal branding space, what would you be doing? The first is I, 

I'd really consider, um, a career in journalism, uhhuh and news presenting. I remember doing my year 10 career testing and it said I should go into journalism, so I looked into that and the other one I think would be acting.

Which is, I think we, we all knew that I would, I, my dream was literally just to be, to have my name in the opening credits of a show or a movie. Yeah. And I know that's very faint. I don't care what you say, judge me all you like, but that was, that was my dream. I didn't wanna be a doctor. I didn't wanna be an astronaut.

I wanted to be an actor. 

Yeah. I was the exact same. We've got a, a show back home. It's. I guess like the equivalent to your neighbors or home and away. Yeah. We've got one called Shortland Street. Yes. And I was like, my, my name will be on that show. Yep. I will be like a patient lying on the bed or I'll be a doctor coming in, going, this is your problem.

But I think this is my love of social media is that it is created a space where we can still utilize all of those tools that we've created and learned and experimented with growing up. Mm-hmm. And now we can take that and we can. Utilize it to share something that we are so passionate about. And I can see from everything that you've said, you are so insanely passionate about what you do.

I love it 

so much and I, I'm always exhausted and run off my feet, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I love a hundred percent. I love living this, I think what someone called it, a portfolio career. Yeah. I do so many different things, but I love that. Yeah. It's very, it's, it's very fulfilling for me. 

Oh, I'm so happy to hear, actually, last question I have.

Yes. Because it is to do with the podcast, and I know I haven't prepped this question for you in your time. I what is your go-to coffee order or are you a tea person? Oh, I, I hate coffee. 

I, I know,  I know. Um, so my order is an o chai latte. Oh. I'm a lactose intolerant girl. And I don't like the taly coughing, so No, but a 

chai latte 

is.

Fantastic. And oat milk is better than almond milk.  Mm. Starting to what makes my tummy hurts, so, yep.  Oh, I'm the same. I'm an almond, but I'm starting to move to an oat girly. I find oat just creamier. Mm, I agree. Less watery. Agree. Yeah, a hundred percent. And for everyone that's listening to the podcast today, if they wanna follow along, they wanna learn more, they wanna watch your content.

They wanna follow your journey like I do. Where can they find you? 

I mean, LinkedIn. Obviously, of course, just Rosie Chong. Um, I'm pretty active on TikTok as well, Instagram here and there, but my usernames just Rosie Chong and if you wanna book my services, yeah, I have a website now, which is really cool.

Yay.  Rosie chong 

com au.  

That's fantastic. Sorry that it is very new for me, so I'm very excited. 

I love it. I am so excited. I think it's such a great thing to be doing though as well. Like, and talk me through really briefly what like the services are that you're providing people and how people can get your help.

Basically. I can do. Quick one-on-ones where you can pick my brain for whatever LinkedIn audits, personal branding strategy. I'm deciding. I'm gonna do a little bit of ghostwriting as well when it comes to personal branding. So it's not just a strategy, it's like how do you actually make your LinkedIn give it a face lift?

Mm. 

How do you strategically position yourself, but 

then helping you write the content? And that's fantastic. Well, to anyone that's listening to this podcast, if you are needing help with your personal branding, I cannot recommend this woman enough. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. I am so happy that we finally got to sit down and do this in such a cool studio with the video stuff.

This is finally gonna go on YouTube, which I'm so excited. YouTuber. Now I know we are finally getting in the YouTube game. But thank you so much for joining me, Rosie, and I will have to have you back on next time I'm back in Melbourne. Thanks so much for having me. Bye.  And that's officially a wrap on today's Coffees and Content episode.

If you got value from this, please make sure that you jump on social media and share everything with me. You can find me over at Lauren, the Social Collective or Coffees and Content Pod over on Instagram. Please jump into our dms and share with us your biggest takeaways, any questions you've got for upcoming episodes.

Or just what you thought. And don't forget, of course, to subscribe to wherever you are listening or watching this episode if you are loving the show. As a reminder too, a quick review goes the longest way. I would love it if you could give this episode five stars and go rate the podcast five stars. Make sure you're sharing the love in the YouTube comments as well.

But thank you so much for hanging out with me. It was wonderful to have a morning cup of coffee with you today, and I will see you of course next week for more marketing more strategy. More checks and of course more coffee. See you then. Okay. 

People on this episode

Head Shot

Loren Tomlinson

Host