Best social media for small business: where to start

The best social media for a small business is the one your customers already open every day, and for most local businesses in the US that means starting with two places: your Google Business Profile and either Facebook or Instagram. Pick one of those two by the age of your customers. Add short video later, once the first two run on their own.

Where Americans actually spend their time

The most reliable numbers come from the Pew Research Center, which surveyed 5,022 US adults in 2025 and published the results in November.

Daily use tells you even more. In Pew's survey, 52% of US adults visit Facebook at least once a day, 48% visit YouTube and 24% visit TikTok. Those are the feeds your post can actually land in on an ordinary Tuesday.

Start with Google, even though it is not a social network

Before any of the networks above, claim your Google Business Profile. It is the box with your hours, photos, reviews and the "Directions" button that shows up when someone searches your name or "plumber near me". Google describes it as a way to manage how your business shows up on Maps and Search at no charge.

It also rewards the same habit as social media. Google's own help page says that businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local results, and suggests showing what you offer with photos and videos. The photos you take for Instagram can go on your profile too. If you have not set one up yet, read What is a Google Business Profile, and is it free? first.

Facebook or Instagram: let your customers' age decide

This is the question most owners actually have. Pew's numbers make it fairly simple:

• Most of your customers are over 50: start with Facebook. Pew found that Facebook and YouTube are the only platforms a majority of every age group uses, while only 19% of adults 65 and older use Instagram.
• Most of your customers are under 35: start with Instagram. Eight in ten adults under 30 use it.
• A mix, or you are not sure: start with Instagram and share the same posts to your Facebook Page. Both belong to Meta, and Meta Business Suite lets you schedule one post to both.

One honest caveat: these are national averages. A barber in a college town and a barber in a retirement community have different customers. Look at who walks through your door, not at the chart.

A starting pair for your kind of business

These are our suggestions, not research. They come from where each kind of customer tends to look before buying.

Notice that the Google profile is in almost every row. For a service people search for when they need it, the profile often matters more than any feed.

What about TikTok, YouTube and the rest

• TikTok can reach a lot of people who have never heard of you, but it runs on video, and it asks for more of it than the other networks. We weigh it up in Is TikTok worth it for a small business?
• YouTube is the most used platform in the country. For most small businesses the easy way in is YouTube Shorts: the same vertical clips you make for Reels.
• LinkedIn is worth it when your customers are other businesses or professionals. For a nail salon it is not.
• Pinterest works for things people plan and save: weddings, home projects, gifts, recipes.
• X and Threads rarely bring customers to a local business on their own.

Two done well beats five done badly

Every network you add needs its own sizes, its own rhythm and somebody watching the comments. A business that posts twice a week on two networks looks open and alive. A business with five accounts, three of them last updated in 2024, looks closed.

So start with two. Give them three months of steady posting before you judge them, and only then add a third. If you want a plan for those first months, How to use social media for a small business: a simple plan walks you through the first steps.

Where we come in

Our plans are built around the same idea: a few networks, posted to regularly.

• Starter: up to 2 networks
• Growth: up to 3 networks
• Daily: up to 5 networks

You send photos and short clips from your phone, and we make the posts, size them for each network and publish them once you approve. If you are not sure which networks to pick, we go through it with you when we connect your accounts. Compare the plans.