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Original Platform Data · Recomputed July 2026

State of Local Business
Social Media 2026

We analyzed anonymized, aggregated data from local businesses using Boomp. Here's what's actually working — and what's surprising.

July 2026 · Recomputed23 local businesses · 14 with a live connection972 platform-posts measured since 1 June10 platforms tracked · 2 return no data
4.1
platforms connected per business, across the 14 with any connection
13/17
are on the default Mon/Wed/Fri schedule — nobody changed it
347
posts to Google Business Profile and Pinterest since June — none reported back
2.6%
engagement rate on Instagram — the best-measured platform

Platform engagement rate

Average engagement rate (likes + comments + shares ÷ impressions) across all posts with measurable data. Higher is better. Minimum 15 posts per platform to qualify.

Instagram
2.60%
LinkedIn
2.58%
Facebook
2.10%
TikTok
0.42%
YouTube
0.17%
Threads
0.00%
The three measurable platforms are within half a point of each other. Instagram 2.6%, LinkedIn 2.58%, Facebook 2.1% — close enough that platform choice is not where the difference is made. An earlier version of this report led with Pinterest at 7.7%. That figure came from a period whose analytics were later corrected, and Pinterest has since returned no engagement data at all, so we have withdrawn it rather than restate it.

Average impressions per post

How many people see each post on average, by platform. Impressions measure reach — how many eyeballs your content actually gets.

TikTok
444
YouTube
359
Instagram
111
LinkedIn
38
Facebook
12
Threads
6
Reach is smaller than the industry implies. A typical Instagram post from a local business reached 111 accounts in this window; LinkedIn 38; Facebook 12. TikTok and YouTube look higher but rest on 7 and 15 posts. An earlier version of this report published an average of 4,573 impressions for Google Business Profile. That platform has never returned an impression figure to us, and the number should not have been there.

Which platforms local businesses connect

Number of businesses with each platform connected in Boomp. Reflects where businesses believe they need to be present.

Instagram
12
Facebook
11
LinkedIn
8
Twitter / X
5
Google Business
5
Pinterest
4
Threads
4
YouTube
4
TikTok
3
Five businesses are posting into a blind spot.Five have Google Business Profile connected and four have Pinterest, and neither platform has returned a single engagement figure. Those posts are publishing — we can confirm that — but nobody, including us, can tell those owners whether they worked. That is the finding we would most like someone to disprove.

How often local businesses post

Posting frequency settings across the 17 businesses with a live schedule. Counts, not percentages — 17 is too small a base for a percentage to carry meaning.

3 days / week
14 of 17
5 days / week
1 of 17
2 days / week
1 of 17
Daily (7 days)
1 of 17
Mostly, nobody changed the setting. Fourteen of 17 businesses post three days a week — but 13 of the 17 are on the exact Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule Boomp sets by default. This chart measures how rarely a default gets changed, which is worth knowing, but it is not evidence that three days a week is optimal. We have seen that number quoted as a benchmark, including by us. It should not be.

Engagement by Hook Type

A separate controlled analysis compares hook types within standard text-and-image posts from the exact 648-row cohort first studied on July 22. These are current cumulative metrics read on August 10, 2026, not the withdrawn figures from this report’s earlier version.

Problem
4.3%
Comparison
3.5%
How-to
3.1%
No deliberate hook
2.9%
Contrarian
2.8%
Myth-busting
2.7%
Question
2.2%

Problem-first openings led this cohort

Problem hooks averaged 4.3% engagement, nearly twice the 2.2% question-hook average. Comparison hooks followed at 3.5%. The analysis controls for format, but it does not prove that a hook causes the result.

Read the full 648-post hook benchmark for group sizes, comments, format comparisons, the aggregate CSV, and the historical-snapshot limitation.

Methodology & DisclosureRecomputed on 28 July 2026 from live production data. The population is 23 local businesses using Boomp, of which 14 hold at least one live platform connection and 17 have a live posting schedule. Internal, test and agency sub-accounts are excluded. All data is aggregate — no individual business, user, or account is identified.

Engagement rate is total engagements (likes, comments, shares, saves) divided by total impressions for that platform — not a mean of per-post rates, which would let one small-reach post distort the figure. Mean impressions counts only posts that returned at least one impression.

Window: posts published on or after 1 June 2026 — 972 platform-posts. Analytics recorded before that date were inflated by a sync defect that has since been corrected, and mixing the two windows produces figures we cannot stand behind. The earlier version of this report, published in April 2026, drew on that inflated period; several of its numbers were materially wrong and have been withdrawn rather than adjusted.

Two platforms report nothing. Google Business Profile (195 posts) and Pinterest (152 posts) returned zero impressions and zero engagement on every post in the window. They are shown in the connection chart and excluded from every performance chart. We have not established whether the gap is at the platform or in the pipeline that reads it, so we make no claim about the cause.

Small samples: TikTok (8 posts) and YouTube (15) are directional only. Anything under about 30 posts here should be read as a hint, not a benchmark.

Data collected under Boomp's Privacy policy, which explicitly covers anonymized aggregate research use.
Best platforms for local businesses in 2026How to choose where to post when engagement, reach, and buyer intent do not point to the same channel.Google Business Profile posts still matterWhy GBP is worth posting to on intent grounds, and why nobody can show you a reach figure for it.How often should a local business post?The practical posting cadence most businesses can sustain, plus when daily posting is worth it.Which social media hooks actually work?The controlled 648-post comparison, its aggregate data, and the limits on what it can prove.Get ten free finished postsEnter your website to see and download ten posts before an account, card, or plan.

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