It was Day 1 (of 5) at South by Southwest 2015. Cat Matson and Suzi Dafnis provide their highlights from that day’s presentations. Cat felt enriched from the experience of seeing Al Gore present in person. While Suzi got to see Daniel Pink – who she interviewed twice for her webinars – present. What was fascinating was how Daniel discussed ways to motivate and change people’s behaviour. An example provided was harnessing fear in the right way to get people’s focus to narrow. In an emergency situation, before briefing passengers on a plane, to narrow their focus, fear must be used in the right away. On the flipside, if you want to rally your employees during a tough period, fear should not be used because it’s going to narrow people’s focus. Positivity expands, Daniel explains. To expand people’s positive thinking, the thought style of interrogative thinking should be employed as it helps to demonstrate your own self-worth. Ask yourself the question: can I do this? If I can, how will I? These two questions elicit a series of responses that encourage you to demonstrate your competency. Suzi was lucky enough to hear authors preview their books. What was particularly intriguing was Elle Luna’s book ‘Crossroads of Should and Must’. Transitioning from having a normal job to finding her true calling in art, Elle demonstrates how to transition from not just having a job, to building a career, but doing your calling – your life’s work. Her book shows you how to do just that. A wealth of social media strategies were gleaned on day 1 at SXSW. To find out how to build a following around your idea, you must watch this recap of day 1. It’s not simply just about broadcasting your idea but finding ways to get others to spread your idea. How do you create something so wonderful that people are doing your advocacy for you? Will your content encourage others to re-share it? Is your content powerful to the extent that it’ll get your audience to do all the galvanising and rallying? It is important to be mindful of what you publish because it says something about you. In essence, the art of social media comes down to three factors: being bold, being real and being valuable.
This post was co-authored by Yenée Saw. Yenée is currently completing a content marketing internship at the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. She studies an Arts/Law degree at the University of New South Wales.
About the Author
HerBusiness (formerly Australian Businesswomen’s Network) is a membership community that provides education, training, resources, mentoring and support for women business owners.
