LinkedIn and TikTok to Grow in Usage for Franchise Development Lead Generation in 2026
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
March 18, 2026 – Franchise systems responding to the 2026 Franchise Development Lead Generation Survey reported increased overall spending on lead sources in 2025, along with changes in forecast usage in 2026. When asked about 2026 plans, more than 45% of teams reported increasing budgets for one or more of their chosen sources as they seek to diversify and assure a stream of qualified prospects for franchise growth. Among sources surveyed, LinkedIn and TikTok are the least used platforms, but each will see growth in 2026.
While franchise directories or “portals” as a category are expected to grow to the highest usage in 2026, TikTok is forecast to grow by the highest percentage.
TikTok shrank in usage from 21.7% in 2024 to 20.8% in 2025 and was the smallest in usage overall among the top six sources for franchise lDead generation in 2025. Concerns about data privacy and protecting minors from harmful content plagued the Chinese-owned company through early 2026. Potential spying on U.S. citizens by the Chinese government compelled legislators to insist on domestic ownership of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to prevent a total ban from the Google and Apple app stores.
Ultimately, a U.S. investment consortium gained control of ByteDance on January 22, 2026, resolving the pending legislative ban.
With the clouds potentially clearing, 25.6% of franchise development teams indicated they would be experimenting with TikTok, up from the 20.8% figure. Our survey was completed one week before the announcement, though headlines were circulating that a deal was imminent.
LinkedIn is projected to be used by 60.3% of franchise development teams in 2026, up from 53% in 2025, an increase of 3.3%. This change in usage includes 30.8% of respondents who say their usage will be “increased somewhat” in 2026.
Google is the only source expected to decline in usage in 2026, and LinkedIn usage is forecast to grow to 60.3%.
In summary, all but Google among the major franchise prospect lead pipelines are expected to grow in usage in 2026. While the percentages are small, the dollars are huge, and represent a significant franchise development cost
Supporting the validity of data from the Franchise Insights 2026 Franchise Development Lead Generation Sources survey, a broad cross-section of franchise development teams participated, from emerging systems to well-established franchises with many thousands of units.
FranchiseInsights.com surveys franchisors periodically to get a pulse on the industry, provide benchmarking and identify franchise development best practices. This survey was conducted in early January 2026.
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Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.
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Published on Tuesday, March 17th, 2026.