New research from iwoca finds that the overwhelming majority (97%) of small and medium-sized firms use social media to boost business, with Facebook and Instagram proving most popular.
Nearly half (49%) of firm leaders hold a TikTok account for their business, though younger business owners are more likely to use the platform.
The survey of SME owners, conducted by iwoca – one of Europe’s large SME lenders – shows Meta channels dominate the top four. Facebook leads as the top SME platform with 69% of SMEs on the network, while Instagram ranks second with 67% and WhatsApp ranks fourth with 58% of firms using the channel.
Video platforms prove useful to many SMEs: Nearly two-thirds (63%) of businesses use YouTube, while short-form platform TikTok’s adoption is slightly lower at 49% on average. TikTok’s popularity varies by age of SME owner: Six in 10 (60%) younger SME owners, aged 18 to 34 are on the platform, though that number drops to just 17% among business leaders over 55.
Oli Perron, Owner of catering company, Lunch’d, said: “We’ve built our business on social media, these platforms account for around 90% of our marketing strategy, while the other 10% comes from in-person sampling of our product.
“Social platforms are absolutely vital to building brand awareness and documenting our journey, which ultimately filters to leads and sales. Each platform serves its purpose.”
