Many small businesses in Greece start on Instagram and stay there. It makes sense: it is free, you post photos from your phone, and people are already there. According to DataReportal, at the end of 2025 Instagram ads reached 4.6 million people in Greece, almost 46% of the population.
I am not going to tell you Instagram is a mistake. I am going to tell you where it ends, because that is where the customers you lose without knowing it begin.
When Instagram is enough
There are cases where a good profile is enough, at least to start with:
- You are starting out and testing an idea. You do not yet know what you will sell, or to whom.
- Your customers are local and already know you. The neighbourhood hairdresser, the bakery, the nail studio, where people come by word of mouth.
- You work with a few appointments and can answer messages the same day.
- You post regularly. A lively Instagram beats a website that has not changed since 2019.
If that is you, the website can wait. If not, read on.
1. Google does not find you the way you think
Since July 2025, Instagram lets Google and Bing show the public posts of professional accounts. That helps, but a post is not a page.
When someone searches "electrician Larissa" or "taverna open Monday evening", Google looks for pages with text that answers exactly that: what you do, where, when, and for how much. On Instagram, those details are scattered across captions, stories that vanish after 24 hours, and a 150-character bio. I wrote in detail about why a business does not show up on Google. Most of those reasons apply twice over to a business that only has Instagram.
2. Your followers do not see what you post
Having 2,000 followers does not mean 2,000 people see your post. In a Socialinsider analysis of about 870,000 business posts, an Instagram post reached on average 3.2% of followers in August 2026, 14% less than a year earlier.
With 2,000 followers, that is around 64 people per post. The average hides big differences, but the trend is clear: to be seen, you either post constantly or pay for ads. A website has no algorithm between you and the customer who is looking for you.
3. The account is not yours
Your profile lives by Meta's rules. Meta itself says it may remove an account after repeated violations, and that some violations are serious enough to disable it after the first one. Add the accounts that get hacked every day, and you have a business that can lose its front door overnight.
A website on your own domain is yours. If you change designer, hosting company or anything else, the address stays, and with it everything you have built up on Google.
4. New customers search differently
The people who follow you already know you. The ones who do not, a visitor, a customer from the other side of town, a company looking for a supplier, search on Google and on the map, and they want quick answers: prices, opening hours, where exactly, whether you speak English.
If the only answer is "send us a message", many will not. They will go to the next business that spells it out.
5. Bookings and sales in your messages
While there are few, messages work. When there are many, things get lost: a forgotten appointment, a price quoted two different ways, a customer who waited two days for a reply.
And something people forget: when you sell as a business through messages, the law treats it as a distance sale, just like an online shop. The customer has 14 days to cancel without giving a reason, and has to know who is selling to them. A website with a form, terms and your business details handles this properly.
The combination that works
For most businesses the answer is not "or", it is "and". Instagram shows; the website answers.
- On Instagram: photos, everyday life, new dishes and products, the person behind the business. In the bio, a link to your site.
- On the website: what you do, prices or a menu, opening hours, a map, a form for appointments or bookings, in whatever languages your customers need.
- On your Google Business Profile: a link to the website, so people find you on the map.
For a small business, three to five pages are usually enough. You do not need a portal, and I explain the cost in detail in the post on how much a website costs in 2026.
Five questions to decide
- Do people keep asking you the same things in messages: price, hours, where you are?
- Do you have customers who do not speak Greek, or customers from another town?
- Do you take bookings, appointments or orders?
- If you lost your account tomorrow, would your business stop?
- Do people search Google for what you do, with your town next to it?
If you answered "yes" to two or more, Instagram is already costing you customers you cannot see.
The takeaway
Keep Instagram if it works for you. Just do not let it be your only door. A small, fast website with the basics, and a link to it from your bio, solves most of the problems above.
If you would like us to look at what your business would need, send me a couple of lines through the contact form.