This timely post from Mari Smith illustrates just how important a good social media strategy is for a brand to succeed online. Whether or not you agree that every employee represents the company even during off hours, brands still need to be aware that social media doesn’t sleep. Perhaps more importantly, social media doesn’t always come with the benefit of the doubt, either.

Check out Mari’s post and the accompanying infographic on 2012’s Social Media Wins and Fails. This one is definitely going on my social media board I have at work. We may learn more from failures than successes, but the lesson doesn’t seem to come easy!