Using a Mind Map for Social Media, Blogging, and Content Marketing

The internet probably wasn’t designed to be a virtual playground for social media and content marketers, but it is now. Yet, as it constantly evolves and we communicate more, an entirely new set of challenges arises; and as the amount of information multiplies and attention spans shrink, marketers will be all the more pressed to stand out.

The 3-5-7 rule illustrates how to navigate a crowded environment of sales pitches. It claims that you only have 3 seconds to get someone’s attention, 5 seconds to continue engaging them, and past 7 seconds, if they are still engaged, then your mission will have been accomplished. That may seem unfair to have so little time available to effectively market a valuable service or product, but, truthfully, that is the state of the world we now live in requiring us to constantly innovate.

Innovating means reassessing stagnant methods, making improvements, and redesigning for ergonomic or economic purposes. Essentially, innovation is about taking inspired action; it’s what provokes the internet marketer to ask: what hooks a potential buyer to focus in on my product in the middle of the hoopla? When content is the keyword of content marketing, a mind map holds a viable solution to rid the marketing madness shuffle once and for all; it is the alternative way of creating the right hook that marketers are looking for.

Realistically, it’s going to take time for someone to learn about a topic well enough to understand it. When you want to educate your consumers–some of whom are averse to paying attention long enough to learn anything at all–the trick is being able to guide them and get them to tune out the endless 140-character messages, pop-up ads, or those incessant notifications blaring from each one of their digital devices.

You must tell these casual internet browsers that their time will be well-spent paying attention to what you’re selling. As the 3-5-7 rule predicts, you have a decent chance to convert them from browsers into buyers if they are still hanging around after 7 seconds. You won’t be able to rely on fancy words and stellar copy alone, though. Because of this, mind maps increase your advantage and the impact of your sales pitch by giving the viewer alternative ways to process new information.

Understanding Visual Learning to Improve Your Content Marketing

Western society is expected to be predominantly literate, but literacy doesn’t automatically entail the interest to read. Penn State York presents a case about how people who learn primarily from a visual stimulus, indicating that they tend to more easily remember information presented in pictures, charts, or diagrams. There is some debate among neuroscientists and psychologists about whether or not there are any hierarchies of the learning styles many educational systems have adapted. There may be such a thing as a kinesthetic learner, an auditory learner, and a visual learner. On the other hand, as some might argue, there might be no such thing.

Regardless, some individuals are going to have more visual-spatial intelligence than others. Anyone with sight is going to retain information at least to some degree from illustrative images. Tap into the psychology of what makes strong, captivating content marketing and you will hack your way into the minds of your new customers. 

Mind Maps: A Versatile Marketing Resource

Mind maps are good tools for organizing business meetings as well as other general concepts into a more cohesive idea. Ironically enough, mind maps are useful for more than mind mapping itself. If you were to construct a mind map and embed it in a website or blog, you instantly have for yourself an infographic. Another good reason to appreciate visuals is that they encourage social sharing. A link on Twitter to your blog won’t be as impactful especially when the rocking content you’ve curated can’t be seen firsthand. When you or your audience share images on content-driven sites like Pinterest, Instagram, and Flickr, your reach will expand even further. The very fact that there are social media platforms created just for images should motivate you to factor in visual data in all your sales and marketing goals.

4 Ways to Use Mind Maps in Digital Marketing

• Devise a social media marketing strategy using a mind map.
  There are many social media sites and few more pops up every day. Keeping track of them and updating them is a total headache. You can create a mind map template for this task. For instance, you can create a simple mind map with few social networks for everyday updates while maintaining a bit more complex one with all social sites for important updates. There are endless options so you can take a pick.
• Develop or refine the niche for your blog’s content.
  We all have suffered the writers’ block at some point. Which is why it’s critical to have a strategy to brainstorm ideas for your next blog posts or article. Mind maps are perfect for that too. Or you can consider creating a concept map which is very similar to a mind map. Keep in mind that mind maps drawn using Creately can be shared with others for instant feedback. Finding and collaborating on ideas just got easier.
• Design an infographic.
  Info-graphics are a powerful marketing tool. However creating info-graphics is a complex time-consuming task. It’s a combination of many tasks like finding data, analyzing and extracting data, initial mock-up and finally creating the info-graphics. And these main tasks have subtle sub-tasks attached to them. If your planning on using them heavily in marketing it’s a good idea to maintain a mind map so you can easily repeat the steps.
• Explain a business model or its services page for your website.
  Want to explain your business model in a visual manner? Mind maps are perfect for that too. If creativity is your thing you can probably use a mind map for your FAQ page as well. Time and again studies have proved that visually appealing content makes it easier to grasp an idea. So showcase your business model using a mind map and see the difference.

  How to plan a web design projects ( click on image to use as a template )

Let your mind map guide you to clarity about new business developments. Use it to compliment your sales copy. Let it be the tool that gives you that precious 7 seconds that will convert your browsers into buyers. Creately offers remarkable mind mapping software to help you do all these things and more. Contact support to learn more about the neat visuals, diagrams, and charts that you can construct using our product. We would also love to hear your feedback and stay connected. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.

Ken Myers is a father, husband, and entrepreneur. He has combined his passion for helping families find in-home care with his experience to build a business. Learn more about him by visiting @KenneyMyers on Twitter.