How Mapping Works

Regardless of which application you’re using, start with the central idea in the middle of your map. From this subject, all other thoughts will grow. There will be other main topics related to this idea that are of equal importance to each other, often known in mind mapping parlance as “children”. These children will have “siblings” and from there you can create thoughts that drill down into even further detail, adding facts and all kinds of imagery and data to your subject.

In addition to the lines or branches that will connect these items, you can draw arrows between various thoughts and facts to show more detailed relationships and, depending on which app you’re using, you can add images, audio and other files. This makes your mind map a dynamic, colorful location to store all of your knowledge—much more interesting than a file folder. Then, depending on the capabilities of your program, you can export your map to another program or to presentation mode.

Now that you know something more about what mind mapping is, here are four reasons why this versatile platform is a great way to manage your social media plan, book, screenplay or plan a new business.

#1 Visual Connections Are Powerful

We all know that learning visually is a great way to engage with and remember information. Mind mapping delivers a double-whammy when it comes to creating/learning because you engage with it while you’re building and when you are using if afterward. Writing, by itself, is often not a very interactive experience. Sure you have to be conscious and make logical connections to get your thoughts to appear in a coherent stream. But mapping is a very tactile experience, requiring different types of actions—linking, writing, selecting, drawing, attaching. The more time you spend handling the material of your plan, the more alive it will become to you.

#2 Mind Mapping = Brain Storming

Sometimes all you need is a list of what to do next. But at other times, you need a thinking tool, one that generates ideas, helps you track them and inspires new ideas off of those. Sounds like a brainstorming meeting, right? In essence, that’s the real strength of mind mapping. Some of the products discussed below have “brainstorming” features that let you interact with others in real time via your mind map, but if you’re in front of your computer drilling down through your idea or plan by physically making the connections on your map, you’re already ‘storming away.

#3 Store All of the Elements of Your Project in One Place

Mind mapping allows you to create and store all the aspects of your social media empire in one location. You can develop blog posts, chart your build-out for a Facebook fan page or start on a book. Explore and link themes, the formats you want to express them in the and the social media tools that will get you there. Attach your editorial calendar and you can plan and work in a mind map every day. Want to add metrics and reports? Many applications have ways for you to connect it all.

This concept has been used by NASA, Disney, Microsoft, schools and the florist down the street. Depending on your preferences and price range, you can find the mind mapping tool that is just right for you.

#4 There Is a Mind Mapping Platform for Everyone

One of the many strengths of the applications out there is that you can mind map in a way that only you can understand, share it with others or create a map with your team. It really is one of the rare platforms that you can customize to the way your brain works or, if needed, to the way that most brains works. All of the products below have either trial or free versions in addition to pro versions with more options.

Tony Buzan is an author, educator and consultant who is credited with introducing the term “mind maps” and has software based on his original concepts.

iMindMap is a program with lots of flexibility in moving and reshaping branches and adding icons and images, of which there is an extensive built-in library. Arrows are easy to use and add text to, which provides detail about why your thoughts are connected.  The iMindMap unique pop-up menu makes changing formatting and adding items to your map, such as audio notes, hand sketches and images, remarkably simple.

XMind is a free program (paid version available) that has a lot of the robust possibilities found in more expensive programs. XMind offers floating topics that you can attach to your structure when you’re ready, intuitive shortcuts, vivid graphics and easy-to-use arrows. In the Pro version, you get a lot of the tools of iMindMap, such as brainstorming and presentation modes and audio notes.

Plan your social media empire with a mind map.

Inspiration has a lot of the same features of the heavy hitters for a smaller price tag, and it’s just plain eye-catching. For someone who wants to sit down and start mind mapping right away, with a very friendly interface, I like this one quite a bit. There’s an extensive and searchable drag and drop icon library, big images and bold colors and quick transfers to other programs. Inspiration has a version that’s just for kids (Kidspiration), and both programs are used a lot in schools, so the interface is appropriately engaging. Am I smarter than a fifth grader? I don’t know, but I sure like pretty pictures.

Explore your book's themes, plots and characters with a mind map.

PersonalBrain isn’t about bells and whistles; it’s about deep levels of associations. You can easily attach any kind of document; create parent, child and sibling thoughts; and search your other PersonalBrain “brains” to link the data together. You can keep track of all your contacts, projects and plans, watch them grow and connect them together. PersonalBrain strives to be a kind of literal second brain, keeping together all of your thoughts, data and plans in an encyclopedic way that is searchable, linkable and easily accessed. It comes in a free and paid version.

Spend enough time with PersonBrain and everything/everyone you know can be stored in one place.

There are many other great programs to try, such as  FreeMind, MindMeister, Novamind, Topicscape and MindManager.

Fun, right? Well, it’s meant to be. Mind mapping is really a chance to play with your thoughts, move them around and connect them in different combinations that just wouldn’t occur to you if you’re making a hierarchical list.

How have you been using mind maps or might you use them in the future?

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We could all stand to increase the power of our writing, right? You learned in early writing classes to avoid the passive voice, for instance. But while we’re at it, why not increase the interest of your writing? Whether you’re drafting a blog post or a magazine piece, here are some ideas to keep in mind, inspired by a look through Writer’s Digest Handbook of Magazine Article Writing:

1) Make the information useful. No one has much time for casual reading these days, so write pieces on subjects that people need to know more about. The rise of “news you can use” as a best-loved format of web and popular magazines is because we’re all looking for applicable information.

2) Make it usable. Anytime you cut something out to put on the refrigerator for quick reference, you know how handy that little box of tips, dates or contact detail embedded in an article is. Boxes get attention! The kind of content that would go into a box makes great tweets or fan page status updates.

3) Go short. Yes, I’ve already said it―not much reading time out there. So take your pearls of wisdom and cut them by a third before you even send to your editor. It’s painful, but satisfying too.

4) Connect with readers. Ask them questions to get responses and make sure they have your contact information.

5) Is it news? Even history is news. Say you’re writing a travel piece. Odds are good that your readers aren’t going to know about the long ago festival, battle or celebrity sighting that happened in a particular location. Maybe there’s even a contemporary link. In every story, there is a kernel of “I didn’t know that!” Find it. If you’re intrigued, your readers will be too.

6) Is it new? We all want to discover a way of doing things we didn’t know about before. Find a unique angle to your useful subject.

7) Subheads. No one has enough―Nevermind. Make your writing quick and easy to read by guiding your reader through it. She will not only know better what to skip, but those who read all the way through will be comforted by knowing what comes next.

What’s the secret weapon that makes your writing zing?

As I was waiting at a stoplight this morning with the windows rolled down, I heard a “ding, ding” that I almost couldn’t believe. It was a distant sound from my childhood–the signal bell you always used to hear in a gas station when you rolled over the hose stretched in front of the pumps. I was stopped next to a car wash that was using one. I thought back to the long-ago day when every station was a full-service one. I grew up in California, which went to self-serve when I was in junior high. But as a young child, gas stations were more interesting places. My uncle Bernie in San Diego owned an Exxon and always had plenty of stickers for me. My twin cousins knew everything about cars and probably put together every model set available in the ’70s. Arco stations used to sell/give away cool toys, like an entire Noah’s ark set that you could collect two by two.

I loved going to the gas station then. There was always someone to help, to ask questions of and to get your tank filled. Soon enough, however, taking care of business yourself became second nature, at least in California. I remember an out-of-state road trip with my University of Oregon debate team.  None of them had any idea what to do at a self-service gas station when we were in Idaho for a tournament, since they had never had to pump their own gas.  As a freshman and one of the few women on a very sharp team of extreme smart alecks, I felt quite inflated when I had to take on filling duties for our van.

As I’ve been writing about gas stations, pieces of my past that I haven’t thought of in forever have resurfaced. What about you? Is there a memory that you can use as a writing exercise? An object, image, sound or smell that triggers stories for you? Writing about what triggers a memory is a great way to connect with rich, inner content for fiction writers. For business writers, the process is no different. Are there ways that things used to be done in business or culture that you could build a newsletter or blog post around? Maybe there are new versions of old practices that we’re surrounded by now, such as the “water cooler” aspect of a Facebook discussion. It’s amazing how tapping old memories shared by others can give you a platform from which to talk about nearly anything.

What’s your favorite memory right now? Leave us a taste here!

Today, more than at any time in history, building credibility for yourself and your business means sharing your knowledge. Sharing is the backbone of social media, and the beauty of it is that while you are generously providing help and information to others, you are also building your own authority and getting your name and talents in front of an increasing number of people. What’s the best way to do it? By using all the tools at your disposal. Here are some of the most useful.

Blogging

The simplest and most effective first step in building your online presence as an authority is blogging. There are various schools of thought on the frequency required, but in my mind, unless you’re writing exclusively about tech, you can safely get away with weekly, biweekly or even monthly posts. Make your goal reasonable and attainable so that blogging doesn’t become a chore. It’s better to put up quality content with less frequency  than to force yourself into a schedule that delivers subpar pieces. The posts don’t need to be long, just useful. Remember, you are buiding a presence here; that doesn’t mean you have to be a daily destination.

Facebook Fan Page

A fan page is another outlet for your blog, allows you to easily create polls and discussion topics to show off what you know, and gives you another online destination–one that can be made key-word rich and increase your searchability.

Twitter

Twitter is a great way to send off short bursts of expertise to show what you know. Retweeting is a shortcut way to link to someone else’s knowledge or breaking news and underscore your own interests. Twitter is a great way to push to your own content on your blog, site and fan page.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn offers a lot of easy ways to be an expert. You can post messages, just like on Twitter, pushing back to your blog or site or just sharing an idea or piece of information. You can answer questions from people in your business area and also get positive attention by asking good questions. There is one on LinkedIn now that asks “Are referrals the best way to win new business?” We could all chime in on that one. The person who asked the question drew a lot of answers to his question and a lot of new eyes to his web site, since he attached his url and a call to action to read his newsletter there. You can access the question/answer part of LinkedIn via the “more” tab in the top navigation.

Social Bookmarking Sites

Commenting on others’ blog posts (and including your url in your signature) is another good way to show off what you know. So spend some time on social bookmarking sites like Digg, Stumbleupon, Reddit, Delicious and Sphinn.  Every time you leave your name in a comment, it’s also  another opportunity to get picked up by a search engine. Stumbleupon is especially useful. You can submit your site and get it considered for rotation. When Stumbleupon users click to see  sites  in your category and yours comes up, you can get in front of thousands of eyes who might not otherwise find you.

Google and Yahoo Buzz

Both of these venues give you additional visibility, but Google Buzz has better reach. You can redirect tweets, blog posts, comments and your picks from Google Reader as well, so you can create a significant trail behind you while reading and watching videos, which you would normally do anyway.

Don’t be overwhelmed!

It is easy to read a list of all the ways there are to share what you know and feel hopeless about using it all. Experiment with the possibilities here and see what you like. When you find some that you naturally return to again and again, focus on those.  In addition to your own blog,  top picks should include three of the blockbusters of social media–Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Now draft a general media plan that lists, say, the top four, five or six locations you’d like to interact with over time and your frequency there. Have fun and be patient. Building authority doesn’t happen overnight, so take it easy and enjoy the process!