How To Use Internet To Expand Your Rural Business

Just last week, I traveled to Washington, DC for few days. This was my first time traveling during the pandemic, and it was certainly different, and definitely more cautious, but more than anything else, it gave me an opportunity to be more observant. I stayed at the hotel, and as someone who has serious dietary restrictions, I had to do even more careful research prior to my trip when it came to making decisions on where to get my food. I usually do this research prior to any trip, because I cannot just decide at the last minute to grab something, and majority of fast food is definitely out of the question. However, this time around, due to COVID-19 restrictions, I also had to look into whether the restaurants were open for takeout or delivery, what were their reviews regarding cleanliness and disinfection, and how they accepted their payments.

The ease with which I was able to do all of this has been amazing. I have used Maps feature on my iPhone,as well as Yelp, Trip Advisor, Facebook, Instagram, and the individual establishment’s websites. I was able to order deliveries straight from the restaurant, but also UberEats, GrubHub, DoorDash, and similar services. And on top of it, I was able to pay with credit card, PayPal, and CashApp. All of these were available to me just by simple touch of the phone.

But then I came home to West Virginia, and it became even more obvious than before as to how much our area is missing out on economic opportunities and development due to majority of businesses lacking digital connectivity with their customers. I love West Virginia. I would not trade this state for any other in the nation. In many aspects of life, we are shining example for the nation. But, in other, we could do so much better. And it is not like we are not connected to the Internet. We are. West Virginia is #1 in the country regarding Facebook usage. Even though we do lack in broadband significantly, 70% of the population does have access to broadband internet. And even more, smartphones and internet connected phones are now available to everyone, which makes access to the internet available even in the most rural areas.

So I started to do some research over the last week, and found out that majority of the businesses in the area do not even have an official website, and very limited presence on other websites like Yelp. Then I embarked on researching social media presence, and aside of the few businesses that have, for this area, large following on Facebook (between 2,000-5,000), majority of them linger between 100 and 500 followers, which is a very low number if one attempts to reach their audience.

Additionally, there is virtually no local business presence on other social media platforms outside of Facebook. But the biggest issue that I encountered is very limited posting – at times, there are several months between two posts – and even when the businesses have more consistent posting, there is usually between 1-5 likes, and maybe a couple of shares, and virtually no comments – all of which signify that the posts are not seen by large number of people, and that they are falling through the cracks of Facebook algorithms.

Even when it came to individual businesses ventures and mom’s and pop’s businesses, I realized that many of them do not accept any other kind of payment, other than cash or check, and occasional credit card, and do not list different payment options on their social media. Furthermore, there is no existence of automated delivery services, short of businesses doing it themselves, and for which they often have to pay large insurance premiums. There is no one in the area doing DoorDash or GrubHub, Postmates or Instacart, or even localized version of any of those apps, and it certainly made me wonder how many restaurants and shops would not have had to close their doors due to COVID-19 pandemic, or limit their services, and how much more money they could have made if any of those delivery and pick-up services have been available in this area.

The big question now – is what can be done? Rural area definitely presents its challenges due to lack of reliable public transportation or taxi services, low population density, and often lower income scale. None of those can be immediately, or at all, fixed by small businesses themselves. What businesses can do to increase the economic purchase power, and to start scaling up, and with that, help the economy of the entire area, is to step forward toward taking advantage of digital marketing and web presence.

One thing that is certain, is that building up social media presence and maintaining the website is huge undertaking that takes enormous amount of time. Hiring a professional to do it is almost impossible for majority of rural businesses, as the price tags for outsourcing it goes anywhere from $700 and up. For businesses whose profits run at less than $3000 per month, dishing out that kind of money is virtually impossible. On top of it, finding out that there are only handful of the companies and individuals in the entire state that do social media management was an extreme eye-opener. The statistics in this report done by US Chamber of Commerce state that unlocking the digital potential in the state of West Virginia could result in 16,000 new jobs, additional $500 million in annual wages, and $3 billion in annual sales. Now – those numbers sound absolutely amazing.

The biggest reason why I started Covered Bridge Media is because I see the potential in rural America, and especially in my home state of West Virginia. I see how much more prosperous the rural areas can become. Right now, in digital terms, rural America and West Virginia are about 7-10 years behind the suburban and urban areas, but all of that can be changed, and these areas can experience economic boom just like other places in the country do.

If you are interested in learning how to utilize social media to scale up your business, we are offering a weekly free class. There will also be a number of minimal cost classes (which are for time being held virtually) that will go through various aspects of digital marketing, online pay, website set-ups, social media management, and more. We also offer extremely affordable consulting sessions, where we can show you how to set up and improve your digital footprint. You can sign up on our website for either consultation services or for classes. You can also email info@coveredbridgemedia.org for more questions, or send us a message on Facebook.