Ask a local advertiser which social platform is dying, and the answer comes fast. Ask where the growth is, and most will point to video. Borrell Associates’ latest small business research says the real gainer is far less flashy, and it is pulling actual ad dollars.
Borrell Associates EVP of Market Intelligence Corey Elliott shared the findings from the firm’s small and midsize business panel on the latest Local Marketing Minute. Borrell has asked local advertisers the same question in 2024, 2025, and 2026, which social platforms they are cutting, and X topped the list all three years.
Among businesses still on X, 38% say they are using it less. Only 14% of those surveyed use the platform at all, and just 4% buy ads there. Elliott noted the steepest drop came between 2024 and 2025, with the decline continuing this year.
When asked which new platforms they are considering, local advertisers put TikTok and YouTube at the top. Ad dollars tell a different story. Facebook ranks first for local ad spending and Instagram second, while TikTok, like X, draws usage but little paid investment.
LinkedIn is where the real movement is happening. Overall usage among local advertisers climbed from 35% in 2025 to 41% in 2026, and ad buying on the platform rose to 14%, higher than in either of the two previous years. Borrell found Instagram and YouTube also gained, though by smaller margins.
For sellers pitching digital and social campaigns alongside broadcast, Elliott’s takeaway is to follow the spending rather than the hype. His advice is to steer clients toward the platforms their own budgets are already moving to, or to ask them why the money is shifting.
In August, Borrell Business Barometer data showed small businesses holding their ad budgets steady even as confidence in the economy fell. Here Elliott noted, “So basically follow the money, not the buzz. Don’t sell a client a platform they’re just curious about. Sell one that their own ad dollars are already moving towards.”
