Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Nothing is better or as invigorating as the great outdoors. If you think about it, the U.S. consists of a wide variety of geographic landscapes, natural wildlife and plants, as well as unique ecosystems. We are able to enjoy these wonders fully thanks to the efforts of the National Park System.

The National Park System is celebrating its 100th year of service on August 25 of this year. Because of their efforts, more than 307 million people are able to recreationally visit our national parks, battlefields, monuments and more. We need to stay in touch with not only nature, but also our own national history. The National Park Service achieves exactly that and more. Currently, there are 22,000 park employees and 221,000 volunteers that keep the National Park Service running smoothly.

The data used on this page was fetched from sources around the web referenced in above link. Some statistics are based on a yearly reported data and are thus averaged down to per second basis and do not represent actual real time data but rather very accurate approximation of real time growth. - See more at: http://www.coupofy.com/social-media-in-realtime/#sthash.yCfBpC0B.dpuf

When the worlds of content and data meet, infographics are born. That means 2015 was a pretty great year.

At Visually, we don’t believe in wasting time, so we’ve pulled together all the best and brightest infographics in one place. To give the search for the best a little direction, we tried to select infographics that:

-  Use design to succinctly tell a story that images, data, or words couldn’t have conveyed on their ownInclude a narrative that keeps the viewer engaged (as opposed to a list of facts or data points)

-  Require little or no additional context to be understood

-  Create an emotional connection to the information that’s being shared.

Mull over these fine specimens to get fired up for some awesome content creation in 2016. Or if you want to dig deeper, check out the complete list of our staff picks from the Visually Community. You know you want to!...

Do you want to improve the quality of the infographics you create?  Want more people to share and link to your work?

Infographics are a great way of showing the world (especially Google) that you’re an expert in your field, but only if the design is of a sufficient standard. Graphics that are hard to read or poorly designed simply won’t generate the desired results.

For help improving your infographic design skills take a read of this infographic from Venngage....

Data presentation should be elegant, detailed and beautiful. There are different ways to show the data that can be a pie charts, tables, histograms, and bar graph. However, to send a clear and effective message to your readers, you just need more than just a simple table or histogram, etc.

There are some data visualization techniques that present your data much better than expected, intelligent, beautiful, original and in an excellent way. We have gathered some of the most attractive and unique ideas of data visualization examples....

Animated and interactive infographics, especially those designed using HTML5, are quite possibly the future of infographics. Animated infographics engage with viewers better and can help add interest to topics that might otherwise come across as mundane.

Here’s a list of 20 animated and interactive infographics that you can enjoy and find some inspiration from. Do click into the links to get to the full version of the infographics, complete with the animation....

Think back to your first memory: Can you still see the watermelon pink dress you wore? Do you remember the unique checkered pattern of your father's jacket?

Our memories are often linked to visual and sensory elements, while the words spoken or read can be more hazy. That's because our brains have a high capacity for storing visuals in our long-term memory, while text enters our working memory, which is limited. 

This contributes to why infographics and the inclusion of visual content in online information has been so successful. Readers crave visual breaks from the overload of text-based information that floods our daily browsing and work-related activities. 

NeoMam Studios studied how people process visual information, how visuals affect the way we read, and why graphics are so appealing. Discover the science behind why our brains crave infographics....

Infographics are awesome, simply because they can capture and hold our attention so well - if done right. The best part is, there are so many great examples out there…

So why are some infographics destined to die in obscurity while others get passed along to every corner of the web?

Content marketing researchers have been burning the midnight oil trying to figure out how to reliably produce viral content. After observing and analyzing a thousand different infographics across multiple industries and platforms, the team at SiegeMedia collected some interesting insights and patterns. As it turns out, going viral isn't entirely up to the hands of fate - the most popular content shared certain key characteristics.

Take a look at the following visual and learn what makes an infographic popular...

The best infographics are like good novels: They grab you by the collar, transport you to another world and refuse to let go until the real world steps in and gives you a rude awakening.

This is how I felt when I picked up Gareth Cook’s The Best American Infographics 2015, the third volume in a series of infographic compilations.

Like an avid reader absorbed in a gripping tale, I found myself poring over these visual stories, eager to distill the meaning contained within each of them.

From breath-taking illustrations to ingenious visualizations, these beautiful data worlds introduced me, in each case, to a reality I didn’t know existed. At first glance, they might seem like abstract eye candy, but if you take the time to delve into each of them, they can change your perspective of the world like nothing else can....

The best infographics of 2015 are some of content marketing’s finest examples of visually engaging content. As platforms for content continue to proliferate, it’s important to test new content types while also continuing to utilize those that have served you well in the past. Infographics might not be as sexy as vines or videos, but they are solid, tried-and-true options.

Since 90% of the information we take into our brains is visual, it makes sense that these are among the best content types to deploy. As Adobe’s Social Intelligence report noted, posts that have images are 600x more likely to be shared on social media and to receive engagement elsewhere.

Here are the brands and publications that provided us with the best infographics of 2015....