Lollies, croissants and clothing: The most clickable Aussie SMEs in 2022

An innovative Sydney lolly store, a croissant business with a cult following and a fast-growing retailer of baby goods are among the most clicked on SMEs this year.

That’s according to social media unicorn Linktree, which has today released its first-ever ‘Link Back’ end-of-year report, sharing insights on which brands received the most clicks via its widely used link-in-bio platform.

Nine SMEs were counted as being among the most “clickable”, including clothing brands Dissh and Geedup Co.

Sydney-based confectionery store Sticky — a former winner of SmartCompany‘s Resilience Awards that has amassed millions of social followers thanks to its videos of making artisanal rock candy — as did cult croissant business, Lune Croissanterie, which was founded by former F1 aeronautical engineer Kate Reid.

Bubble tea kit business Cup49 also made the list, as did travel business Perthisok.stays, Brisbane cocktail and whiskey bar Death and Taxes and Brisbane restaurant Comuna Cantina.

Rounding out the list of most clickable SMEs is The Memo, a fast-growing retail business founded by Kate Casey and Phoebe Simmonds, which aims to provide “everything [a mum] needs, and nothing that they don’t.”

Entrepreneurs flock to Linktree

As Linktree climbed to more than 30 million users in 2022, the data in the “Link-Back” report confirmed the world mostly opened back up after nearly two years of COVID restrictions and took full advantage of it.

Linktree co-founder Anthony Zaccaria tells SmartCompany, this includes a growing number of business owners and entrepreneurs using the platform. 

“While we might be known as a platform for creators, Linktree is home to countless entrepreneurs and small-to-medium businesses that use Linktree as a way to share their products and services, and to grow their audiences,” he said. 

“Our users span over 250 verticals and the business professional category is one of our fastest growing.”

According to the report, Airbnb ranked number one in travel on Linktree and travel-related links increased by 55% in the past year. Linktree averaged 19.7 million clicks to monetisation links monthly, and garnered 21.2 million clicks in October alone.

Two-year-old photo-sharing service BeReal also saw a whopping 1232% increase in monthly link creations, while the number of links to popular entertainment-related sites increased by 75% in 2022, with Eventbrite the most popular site for entertainment, closely followed by Ticketmaster.

Popular dining booking site links increased by 41%, with reservation dining sites such as OpenTable, Resy, and Seven Rooms seeing a huge uptick in links and clicks.

Source: Linktree

The report also confirmed that, with the gaming industry expected to grow by 7.5% per year until 2025, the trend doesn’t look like it will slow down any time soon. This year, the number of gaming and esports links increased by 6%. 

Zaccaria says every year the company is blown away by how many Linkers — Linktree users — are using the platform to reach new audiences in creative ways — whether it is via travel guides, restaurant menus or the platform’s recent TikTok integration.

“We’ve become so much more than just a “link-in-bio” tool with now over 30 million people using our platform to link to everything they are,” he said.

“The data reveals the creator economy is thriving as users build deeper connections with their audiences, diversify what they link to and how they monetise their craft. With the cost of living top of mind for many, we’re seeing more creators looking for new ways to expand their revenue streams as well. ”