Most 'small business social media' reports survey owners about what they use. We did something more useful: we audited 4,407 small business websites to see which platforms they actually link to from their site.
The result is a clearer picture of where small businesses are actually present, and where the opportunities are.
Overall platform link rates
Across 4,407 audited sites, the average small business links to 1.98 social platforms from their website.
| Platform | % of sites linking to it |
|---|---|
| 62.8% | |
| 54.9% | |
| YouTube | 23.9% |
| Twitter / X | 22.2% |
| 19.6% | |
| TikTok | 9.8% |
| Yelp | 4.6% |
TikTok at 9.8% is the biggest opportunity. Consumer adoption is well over 40% in most North American markets, but small business presence hasn't caught up.
Get a free quoteFacebook adoption by industry
Facebook is still the universal default, but adoption varies. Pet services and dental over-index hard; real estate and trades under-index.
| Industry | % linking to Facebook |
|---|---|
| Pet services | 76.9% |
| Dental | 75.9% |
| Medical | 69.3% |
| Contractors | 66.8% |
| HVAC | 66.4% |
| Restaurants | 63.6% |
| Salons | 60.1% |
| Cleaning | 59.8% |
| Auto | 58.6% |
| Accounting | 54.9% |
| Legal | 54.7% |
| Electricians | 54.2% |
| Plumbers | 53.4% |
| Real estate | 42.3% |
Instagram adoption by industry
Instagram favors visual industries. Salons, contractors, and pet services lead. Legal and accounting trail, though both could benefit hugely from owner/team content.
| Industry | % linking to Instagram |
|---|---|
| Pet services | 64.6% |
| Salons | 63.3% |
| Contractors | 62.1% |
| Dental | 60.8% |
| Medical | 60.0% |
| Restaurants | 58.7% |
| HVAC | 50.7% |
| Cleaning | 50.0% |
| Auto | 45.8% |
| Plumbers | 44.8% |
| Legal | 42.6% |
| Electricians | 42.5% |
| Accounting | 41.4% |
| Real estate | 36.0% |
TikTok: the biggest gap, the biggest opportunity
TikTok adoption sits at just 9.8% across all small business sites. Even in the highest-adoption industries (cleaning 15.2%, pet services 14.6%, salons 13.5%, restaurants 13.3%), the majority of businesses are not present.
This matters because consumer search behaviour, especially in restaurants, salons, and beauty, is shifting hard to TikTok and Instagram Reels. If 86% of salons aren't on TikTok and 25% of their target customers are searching for 'best salon near me' there, the math is obvious.
Add TikTok and Instagram Reels icons to your footer, they're free conversion lifts.
See web design servicesLinkedIn: where B2B small business actually lives
LinkedIn is mostly irrelevant to consumer-facing categories, but accounting, legal, and pet services dominate. Accounting at 45.1% leads every category.
| Industry | % linking to LinkedIn |
|---|---|
| Accounting | 45.1% |
| Legal | 37.8% |
| Pet services | 31.5% |
| HVAC | 24.0% |
| Cleaning | 23.9% |
| Contractors | 23.7% |
| Medical | 23.0% |
| Real estate | 22.5% |
| Dental | 17.0% |
| Auto | 16.0% |
| Plumbers | 14.7% |
| Electricians | 12.5% |
| Restaurants | 7.7% |
| Salons | 6.3% |
What we recommend
- Pick 2 platforms maximum, owning two beats neglecting six
- If you're consumer-visual (salon, restaurant, contractor): Instagram + TikTok
- If you're consumer-trades (HVAC, plumber, electrician): Facebook + Google reviews focus instead of social
- If you're B2B / professional (legal, accounting): LinkedIn + maybe a YouTube of long-form content
- Always link to your platforms from the site, but never make social your only contact method
Methodology
Sample: 4,407 small business websites audited Jan–Feb 2026. We detected social presence by parsing site footers, headers, and contact pages for known social URL patterns (facebook.com/, instagram.com/, tiktok.com/@, linkedin.com/in or /company, youtube.com/@ or /channel/, twitter.com / x.com, yelp.com/biz). 'Has platform' counts both icon links and inline mentions.
Want a site that actually drives social engagement?
Jacob
Founder of Elevate Web Design. Building fast, conversion-focused websites for small businesses across Canada and the US since 2018.