Meta channels lead the pack as 97% of SMEs now use social media for their business

• 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
• Microbusinesses are five times less likely to use social media than their medium-sized counterparts

New research from iwoca reveals the overwhelming majority of UK SMEs are leveraging social media, as 97% say they use platforms to boost their business.

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 ten (60%) younger SME owners, aged 18 to 34 are on the platform, though that number drops to just 17% among business leaders over 55.

Business size also determines how social media is leveraged, and microbusinesses are five times less likely to use social media channels than their larger counterparts. Over a tenth (11%) of businesses with two to ten team members don’t use social media, compared to just 2% for companies of 51 to 249.

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. 

Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow us to upload stories and reels of clients enjoying our product, which can boost employee engagement. LinkedIn is a great tool to distribute our industry insights that can often lead to interest in our offering, and then sales - the LinkedIn audience is our target market. TikTok isn’t as big a platform for us yet, as it can be trickier to crack; learning how to hashtag correctly and play the algorithm takes time. 

We’ve learnt lessons along the way:

1. Social media serves as a record of your wins, so it’s important to keep posting about clients using products. For us, that means photos or videos of our corporate clients enjoying our lunches, and providing quotes and testimonials for our business.
2. Posting on social media is more than a brand awareness exercise - it’s about building communities. Because these platforms are discursive, we can interact directly with potential customers - some of our most valuable leads have come from someone tagging a colleague under one of our posts.
3. Organic, personal content on LinkedIn gets better engagement than posts from business accounts. The key is finding the content that gets good organic reach, and then using paid ads to boost that content. Endless A/B testing can be expensive, and this has consistently worked for us.
4. Using social media platforms isn’t just about boosting sales. It’s also an invaluable tool to keep an eye on what our competitors are doing, and make sure we’re being as innovative as possible.” 

Most used social channels: Facebook (69%), Instagram (67%), YouTube (63%), WhatsApp (58%), LinkedIn (52%), X (Twitter) (50%), TikTok (49%), Snapchat (23%), Pinterest (20%), Reddit (16%) and Nextdoor (7%).