The introduction of social media sent waves through the business world; the way brands engage with their consumers, go-to sources of industry news and how business-to-business links were forged, changed dynamically. Indeed, any brand worth their salt respects the importance of having a presence in social media, yet do you know which platform is most appropriate for you?

Sometimes, stereotypes can prove useful gauges of suitability – Instagram is creative, who won’t rest until they’ve got the perfect shot of their dinner, and LinkedIn is the sharply dressed, savvy professional. So, which of these personas best fits your brand?

Instagram: storytelling with sharable imagery

 If you’re in the business of design, fashion or lifestyle then Instagram is your must-have social media. Users curate their personal feeds by choosing accounts to follow, based on their interests and aspirations; you can use smart hashtags on your posts to optimize your find-ability.

Instagram’s founders saw a unique opportunity to tap into the — then revolutionary — the trend of communicating via image, as well as text, by placing visuals at the heart of their platform. The result: a beautiful image sharing app, used by millions. The recent addition of shopping features mean it’s now also an ideal tool to convert shopper interest into purchase.

Make sure you’ve mastered the difference between a meme and a gif before you post! If you’re in any doubt, keep tabs on the ‘popular memes’ section over at Internationalbrief.com.

Twitter: often the informal intellectual

 Not quite the suit-wearing LinkedIn character, Twitter has nevertheless made a name for itself as the key social media for news sharing — as well as snappy comebacks, expertly executed by playful companies and celebrities.

As such, consider your brand personality when approaching Twitter. If you’re looking to open up an informed, fairly high brow, dialogue with your followers, then sharing newsworthy articles and industry updates will keep you in relevant and top of mind. If your brand is more of a joker, willing to poke fun at some competitors, Twitter conversations are certainly a good place to try this out — a word of warning though, any slight misstep you take will be noticed, so make sure you’ve hired someone who will know how to play disaster down!

Facebook: to build a conversational community

Very much the original social media, Facebook has suffered peaks and troughs over the last few years; its younger clientele have flown the nest in search of “cooler” platforms their parents aren’t also on.

Even so, Facebook offers a clear and detailed homepage for retail stores and services, in a way that Twitter and Instagram don’t, thus proving ever useful as way to compare reviews and browse frequently asked questions.

LinkedIn: business to business

If you’re looking to connect with other companies, LinkedIn is unparalleled. Since its conception, it’s adopted some features recognizable from Facebook – such as a ‘wall’ or feed — but it remains a stalwart networking tool for many industries.

Use LinkedIn to approach potential partners, but don’t spend any B2C budget in this domain.