Which social media is best for a local business?
Pick one or two platforms by the kind of business you run, using Pew’s figures on who uses each, set them up so customers can reach you, and keep them current.
For most local businesses, Facebook plus one other platform is enough: Instagram where the work photographs well, Nextdoor for trades and home services, and TikTok only if your customers are young and someone likes filming. Set each profile up so customers can call, message or book from it, keep it current in 30 minutes a week, and judge it by calls, messages and bookings, not followers.
For most local businesses, the best social media is Facebook plus one other platform: Instagram for a salon, studio, café or shop whose work photographs well, Nextdoor for trades and home services. In Pew Research Center’s 2026 survey, 70% of US adults use Facebook, including most adults in every age group, and 51% use Instagram. Pick one or two, set them up so a customer can call, message or book from them, and keep them current in half an hour a week. Do it after your map listing, reviews and website are in order, and judge it by calls, messages and bookings, not followers.
Social media comes after the basics
When someone nearby needs a plumber or a haircut, they usually search Google or a map app first. What decides whether they call is your map listing, your reviews and your website, so those come first; if your listing isn’t finished, start with setting up your Google Business Profile, field by field. Google’s own page on what decides local results names three factors, relevance, distance and prominence (how well known a business is, judged partly by links and reviews), and doesn’t mention social media.
Social media does a different job. It’s where a customer checks that you’re open, sees what your work looks like and sends a message instead of calling. That’s why the Local Scorecard asks only one question about it: would someone checking your Facebook or Instagram see that you’re open and how to reach you?
Who uses each platform
Pew Research Center surveyed 5,511 US adults between January 30 and June 18, 2026, and published the results in its Social Media Fact Sheet. The share who say they ever use each platform:
| Platform | All adults | Ages 18–29 | 30–49 | 50–64 | 65+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 84% | 95% | 91% | 85% | 65% |
| 70% | 69% | 78% | 71% | 59% | |
| 51% | 79% | 64% | 41% | 21% | |
| TikTok | 37% | 65% | 45% | 31% | 11% |
| 31% | 41% | 37% | 32% | 13% | |
| Nextdoor | 18% | 10% | 21% | 19% | 18% |
Four things stand out for a local business. YouTube tops the list, but it’s a place to watch videos rather than to check a business’s hours, so it earns your time only if you already make how-to videos. Facebook reaches most adults of every age, and 76% of rural adults. Instagram and TikTok lean young. Nextdoor is small overall but steady from 30 upward, and strongest in the suburbs, at 23%. These are national figures for people who ever use each app, not people looking for a business, so ask your own customers which ones they open.
Pick by the kind of business you run
| Business | Start with | Add if you have time |
|---|---|---|
| Trades and home services | Nextdoor | |
| Salons, barbers and studios | ||
| Cafés and restaurants | Instagram and Facebook | TikTok, if you’ll film |
| Shops | ||
| Clinics and offices | LinkedIn, for firms |
Trades and home services
Plumbers, electricians, cleaners and landscapers get work from neighbors asking for a recommendation, which happens in Facebook groups and on Nextdoor. A Facebook page with before-and-after photos and your service area, and a free Nextdoor business page where neighbors can recommend you, cover most of it.
Salons, barbers and studios
The work is the advertisement, and people choose by looking at it. Instagram, with a booking link, is the place to show it; Facebook carries the same posts for older clients.
Cafés, restaurants and shops
Instagram and Facebook for the menu, specials, new stock and hours, both posted at once. TikTok suits a place with something to film and someone who enjoys filming it; skip it otherwise.
Clinics and offices
Facebook for hours, closures and news. Accountants, lawyers and other firms that serve businesses can add LinkedIn. A clinic never posts anything that identifies a patient without the patient’s written authorization.
Set the profile up so people can reach you
- Use the same business name, phone number, website and hours as your Google Business Profile, so a customer sees one business everywhere.
- On Instagram, switch to a professional account, which is free and adds contact buttons and insights.
- Fill in the category, phone number, address or service area, and hours. Link to the page that matters most, usually your booking page or your homepage.
- Add an action button so a customer can call, message or book in one tap.
- Use your logo as the profile picture and a photo of your work or your storefront as the cover.
- Pin a post that says what you do, where, and how to book.
- Answer messages within a day, or set an automatic reply that gives your phone number.
- Give at least two people access, on accounts the business controls, so a page never leaves with an employee.
What to post that brings calls and bookings
- Finished work: a haircut, a new deck, a cake, a rewired electrical panel, with what it was and where.
- Openings: “Two slots left Thursday afternoon,” with the booking link.
- Seasonal reminders: gutter cleaning before winter, holiday hours, the fall menu.
- The people: who’s behind the counter or in the van, so customers know who’s coming.
- Answers: the questions customers ask on the phone, answered once in a post.
End each with how to call or book. Get a customer’s permission before posting their face, their home or their car.
A 30-minute weekly routine
Pick one time each week, such as Monday morning before the phones start:
- Ten minutes: choose two or three photos from last week’s work.
- Ten minutes: write a line or two for each, ending with how to book, and schedule them for the week. Meta Business Suite schedules Facebook and Instagram posts for free; Buffer’s free plan covers three channels with ten scheduled posts each, and it can post to your Google Business Profile too.
- Five minutes: reply to comments and any messages that slipped through.
- Five minutes: check the profile: hours (holiday hours especially), the pinned post and the link.
Tip: take the photos as you go. A minute at the end of each job, with the light behind you, saves the weekly half hour from becoming a search through your camera roll.
The Tools page lists our picks for scheduling, including Buffer and Metricool.
How to tell if it’s working
Count what customers do, not what they like:
- Ask “How did you hear about us?” when people book or call, and keep a tally.
- Check the insights each app gives you for taps on your call, message, website and directions buttons, and count the messages that became bookings.
- Look at your website analytics for visits arriving from each platform.
Give a platform three months. If it brings no calls, messages or bookings in that time, stop posting there and put the half hour into asking for reviews or building your email list, which reaches customers without an app deciding who sees it. The rest of the Social Media guides cover each platform in more depth.
Questions
Does a local business need to be on TikTok?
No. In Pew Research Center’s 2026 survey, 37% of US adults use TikTok: 65% of those aged 18 to 29 but 11% of those 65 and older. It runs on short video, so it’s worth trying if your customers skew young and someone on your team enjoys filming; otherwise Facebook and Instagram, which more adults in every age group use, are a better place for your time.
Is Nextdoor worth it for a local business?
Often, for home services, trades and neighborhood shops. Pew’s 2026 survey finds 18% of US adults use Nextdoor, more in the suburbs (23%) than in cities (15%) or rural areas (11%). The business page, posts and neighbors’ recommendations are free, so claim the page, keep the details current and tell customers you’re on it; ads are paid and can wait.
How often should a local business post?
As often as you can keep up every week. Once or twice a week on one platform is a pace most owners can hold, and it keeps a profile looking open. There’s no official number; what matters is that the latest post is recent and the hours and phone number are right.
Does posting on social media help my Google ranking?
Google doesn’t list it. Its help page says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity; under prominence (how well known a business is) it names the websites that link to you and the number of reviews you have, and social posts aren’t mentioned. Social media earns its place in other ways: customers check it before they call, and a good post can lead to a review or a mention.
Should I delete accounts I no longer use?
Update them or close them, but don’t leave them showing old hours or an old number. If you’d rather keep the name, correct the phone, website and hours, pin a post saying where you post now, and set an automatic reply to messages if the platform offers one. One account kept current beats four left to go stale.
Sources
- Social Media Fact Sheet, Pew Research Center,
- Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help
- Nextdoor for small businesses, Nextdoor
