Branding and social media — they seem to go together so well, yet they’re both widely misunderstood. While social media can serve as a gigantic megaphone for your brand, social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter can also give a company a golden opportunity to shoot itself in the figurative foot.

How are people using social media to interact with brands, and how are companies using the power of social media to reach more customers? Who is most receptive to brands on Twitter? How about on Facebook?

via Branding: How It Works in the Social Media Age [INFOGRAPHIC].

So if “going viral” is your goal, how can you optimize a campaign to transform into a Web meme goldmine? Smart money would select an environment where lots of group sharing is going on. Places such as Facebook and Twitter are no-brainers, but the value of Reddit as a veritable meme factory is on the rise. Combining the right design and tone with the proper platform is one of the trickiest parts of creating a successful viral campaign, but when it’s all aligned, success is more likely.

via Going Viral Visualized.

Among certain circles my family, some of my coworkers, etc. I’m known for my Googling skills. I can find anything, anywhere, in no time flat. My Google-fu is a helpful skill, but not one that’s shrouded in too much mystery — I’ve just mastered some very helpful search tricks and shortcuts and learned to quickly identify the best info in a list of results.Sadly, though web searches have become and integral part of the academic research landscape, the art of the Google search is an increasingly lost one. A recent study at Illinois Wesleyan University found that fewer than 25% of students could perform a “reasonably well-executed search.” Wrote researchers, “The majority of students — of all levels — exhibited significant difficulties that ranged across nearly every aspect of the search process.”

via How to Use Google Search More Effectively [INFOGRAPHIC].

What you need to know about managing your e-personality [infographic] – Holy Kaw!.

But truthfully, not all infographics are such big hits. In fact, there are quite a few factors that contribute to whether an infographic is a huge success …or a total flop. Infographics take time, effort, and skill to create, so the next time you decide to create one for your business to boost traffic and inbound links to your website, make sure it encompasses the following 10 traits.

via 10 Traits of Amazingly Awesome Infographics.

You don’t have to be running for president to care about your online reputation. Almost everything you do online is easy to track, especially when you’re using social media sites. This infographic shows you how to manage your “e-reputation,” perhaps saving you some embarrassment, or even your career.Gathered by digital marketing firm KBSD, it’s a treasure trove of tips, techniques and information about what companies and individuals are looking for inside your personal profiles and social information, and what you can do to show off your best side to those who might want to find out unflattering things about you. It’s not too late to protect yourself and polish up your online image.

via Protecting Your Online Reputation: 4 Things You Need to Know.

Thanks to the Internet, marketing has evolved over the years. Consumers no longer rely on billboards and TV spots — a.k.a. outbound marketing — to learn about new products, because the web has empowered them. It’s given them alternative methods for finding, buying and researching brands and products. The new marketing communication — inbound marketing — has become a two-way dialogue, much of which is facilitated by social media.

via Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC].

You likely know that Facebook is the world’s largest social network with more than 800 million users, but did you know that more than 250 million photos are uploaded every single day? Or that the average American spends seven hours and 46 minutes browsing her friends’ profiles per month?

Facebook has become an integral part of our lives — some people more than others. It’s where we learn what our friends are doing, who they’re dating and even what they’re listening to.

We wanted to dive deeper into the Facebook phenomenon, so we collected some stats about the social network and put them together in one infographic. Check out what makes Facebook tick (and what celebrity is the king of Facebook with 47+ million fans) below.

via Facebook by the Numbers [INFOGRAPHIC].

Smashing Magazine offered advice on the “Dos And Don’ts Of Infographic Design“, but they forgot to include the former. It’s as if I wrote a fake post and someone mistook it for a serious guide. Written by Amy Balliett, it seems to me that the post is basically about a couple of tips on how to create linkbait that doesn’t work. Or at least I hope it doesn’t. Many of the dos are actually dont’s, and judging by some of the comments that the article had received, it’s worth pointing out what’s what.

via The Do’s And Don’ts Of Infographic Design: Revisited – Smashing Magazine.

When are people most likely to share content on the web? How do they prefer to share it? What services are they sharing to most frequently? These are the burning questions of the age of social media. Bookmarking and sharing service AddThis just might have the answers.

AddThis is celebrating its fifth birthday with a deep dive into its data pool. The Clearspring service has analyzed five years’ worth of sharing data — and has summarized its findings in the infographic below.

via Sharing on the Web: How, When, Where and Why We Do It [INFOGRAPHIC].