Instagram is the clear leader in SME searches

The study "SME Digital Pulse 2025" makes it clear that social media is not only a source of inspiration and entertainment, but is also used specifically as a search engine for services offered by Swiss SMEs. «SMEs that are neither present nor active on social media are missing out on valuable visibility and thus digital market potential. They risk losing competitiveness in the digital world,» concludes Stefano Santinelli, CEO of localsearch.

Under 30s: social media usage more than twice as high as average

Digital information about SME services is important to the vast majority of the population (82%), as shown by the «SME Digital Pulse 2025» study. This need is particularly pronounced among 30- to 44-year-olds: in this age group, 91% would like to be able to obtain information about SMEs digitally. Interest is also high among 18- to 29-year-olds (86 %) and 45- to 59-year-olds (80 %). Even in the 60- to 79-year-old age group, 70 % consider digital information from SMEs to be at least important.

When Swiss people are looking for an SME and do not yet know a provider, eight out of ten (80%) first use a search engine such as Google. Only 13% of respondents use social media as their first port of call when searching for SME services (see Figure 1).

Does this mean that social media has had its day as a search engine for SMEs? localsearch CEO Stefano Santinelli disagrees and points to a clear generational difference: «Younger people are completely at home on social media, which also shapes their search behavior.» This is evident in the fact that 29% of 18- to 29-year-olds use social media when searching for an SME for the first time – more than twice as many as in the general population. Even among 30- to 44-year-olds, the proportion is above average at 15%. It is only with increasing age that usage drops significantly: to 8% among 45- to 59-year-olds and to 5% among 60- to 79-year-olds.

There is a noticeable gender difference: women (16 %) use social media more often than men (10 %) when searching for SMEs. Regional differences are also apparent: in Ticino, 19% of respondents use social media for this purpose – more than in French-speaking Switzerland (15%) and German-speaking Switzerland (12%). 

Social media ranking: Instagram significantly ahead of Facebook and others.

When searching for SME services via social media, Instagram is clearly in the lead: 77% of social media users rely on the platform. This is followed at a considerable distance by Facebook (49%), LinkedIn (28%), YouTube (23%), TikTok (15%), Pinterest (8%), X (5%), and Snapchat (2%), as shown in Figure 3. These figures are consistent with the media usage study «IGEM-Digimonitor 2025,» which identifies Instagram as the most widely used social media platform across all age groups. «KMU Digital Pulse 2025» shows this specifically in the context of searching for services from Swiss SMEs.

Instagram's dominance is even more evident among 18- to 29-year-old social media users: 88% of this age group use the platform to search for SME services. Facebook follows far behind in second place (26%), with TikTok close behind in third place with 24%. Compared to the overall population, where TikTok ranks only fifth, this shows that the platform performs significantly better among young adults. People aged 30 and over (age groups 30-44, 45-59, 60-79) search for SMEs on Facebook significantly more often (60 %) than 18- to 29-year-olds (26 %).

Speaking of Instagram, the frontrunner: even among 44- to 59-year-olds, more than 70% use the platform to search for SME services. Across all age groups, women (82%) use Instagram significantly more often than men (70%). The situation is similar with Pinterest, which tends to be used more by women (111%) than men (4%) to search for SMEs.

When comparing age groups on other social media platforms, the picture is reversed. Men use the respective platforms more frequently than women to search for SME services: this is particularly evident on LinkedIn (38% men, 22% women), YouTube (31% vs. 18%), and X (10% vs. 2%). Men also tend to use Facebook more (58% vs. 45%).

Social media: More than just a search channel—also useful for maintaining contacts

Social media is not only relevant for searching for SME services, but is also becoming increasingly important as a channel for digital contact management, according to the «SME Digital Pulse 2025» study. For 65% of respondents, it is important that SMEs offer digital options for maintaining contacts – even among those over 60, this figure is a remarkable 62%. In addition to traditional channels such as email and SMS, social media is also valued as a means of customer retention: 13% of respondents would like to use social media specifically to stay in touch with an SME.

«The fact that social media is not only used for inspiration and entertainment, but also for searching, clearly shows that SMEs should integrate social media into their communication and marketing mix—not least because it is also relevant for digital relationship management,» says localsearch CEO Stefano Santinelli.

Not entirely altruistically, localsearch refers to the new version of its digitalONE product in the context of the study. This will make it even easier for SMEs to maintain a presence on social media, publish professional posts on Instagram, Facebook, etc., and respond quickly and competently to reviews and customer feedback, according to the company.

Source: localsearch.ch