According to a recent survey, a lack of local jobs is the main barrier to those living in rural Britain gaining employment.

Of the 433 people that completed the survey run by digital marketing company Konzepts, 56 percent of respondents said there was a lack of local jobs while 23percent said the lack of public transport was a barrier to rural employment. The survey also revealed that more than one fifth of respondents struggle with travel costs.

Sue Harbottle-Sear from Konzepts said: “Farmers are increasingly diversifying by adding a second string to their businesses and others are now selling direct from the farm gate in order to increase profits and keep their farms viable. I believe that, however Brexit goes, farmers need to harness the benefits of social media in order to survive.”

From Christmas tree farms to dairy producers and rural businesses, Sue discovered that rural enterprises are increasingly wanting to use social media to reach out to and carefully target consumers in a way that hasn’t been possible until recently.

“Consumers are benefitting too because they know exactly where produce has come from and when it was shipped - so it will be as fresh as possible", Sue added.

“There has been a 13 per cent global increase in social media usage since January 2017 and now even the smallest businesses can harness the marketing benefits of social media. It’s a very exciting time and means small businesses can cut out the middle men and keep more of their hard earned income.”