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 behavior — 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.