Where US Small Business Owners Go Online: To Solve Problems, Not to Scroll

The 34.8 million small business owners in the US spend their online time differently than everyone else. Here's where they actually are, why they're there, and what it means if you're trying to reach them.

By Mackenzie Bowes · mackenzie@mackenziebowes.com · @_mackenziebowes on X

One owner stands at a bench with a stack of six work blocks while a stream of cards slides past. Most pass by; three that fix something are taken onto the bench, and a block comes off the stack for each. A last empty slot at the end of the bench is labelled you.

Most of what passes owners by has nothing for them. Cards that solve a problem get taken. Illustrative.

Contents

Small business owners spend about two hours a day on social media, and they spend it solving problems: finding workers, vetting tools, getting advice from people who've done it, automating what they have no time for. I pulled the data behind that from DataReportal, the U.S. Bank Small Business Survey, LinkedIn's pressroom and about 50 other sources, to find the places where those 34.8 million owners actually are.

Why does this matter?

I work with rural and remote business owners. They're plumbers in Kelowna, motel owners in Montana, brewery founders in the Kootenays. They're not terminally online. They're busy.

But I kept running into the same question: if I want to reach these people - or help them reach their customers - where do they actually show up? The marketing world loves to talk about "meeting your customers where they are." Okay. But where is that, exactly?

So I pulled the research: not blog posts about blog posts, but the data itself, from DataReportal, the U.S. Bank Small Business Survey, LinkedIn's pressroom, Reddit's business documentation and about 50 other sources.

Five blog posts hang in a ring, each tied to the next by a citation string. A bead follows the strings from post to post and arrives back where it started: blog posts about blog posts. The author turns away from the ring to a table, and four ledgers drop onto it, DataReportal, the U.S. Bank survey, LinkedIn's pressroom and Reddit, followed by 50 small tiles: about 50 more.

Marketing blogs mostly cite each other. The answers here come from the data: four named sources and about 50 more.

How much time do small business owners spend online?

About two hours and nine minutes per day on social media specifically. That's slightly less than the global average of 141 minutes.

But the number doesn't tell you much on its own. The context matters more: these people work 50-60 hours a week. Half of them are personally filling gaps left by staff shortages. 98% are worried about the economy.

They don't have time to waste. Every minute online needs to return something - a solution, a connection, a piece of intelligence they can use tomorrow.

This created what the research calls a "utilitarian migration." The passive scrolling is over. Business owners are moving toward platforms that solve specific problems: finding workers, vetting tools, getting unfiltered advice, automating tasks they don't have time for.

Five business owners, drawn as solid figures, stand before a phone whose screen shows a stack of feed cards, labelled passive scrolling. Four walk right, one after another, to four booths labelled find workers, vet tools, unfiltered advice and automate tasks, each with one owner at the counter and its tool lit. One faded figure stays by the phone, labelled some still scrolling.

Owners are moving from the feed toward places that solve a specific problem. The even split is illustrative; the research doesn't give one.

That was my first realization: they're not online for entertainment. They're online to work.

What owners do on each platform - Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, podcasts and newsletters is on its own page.

Where do business owners get unfiltered advice?

This is where things got interesting.

I kept seeing references to Reddit in the research. 91.2 million daily active users. 138,000 active subreddits. The upvote/downvote system acts as a quality filter for advice.

Google's been prioritizing Reddit content since 2024, which means business owners are finding it through search even if they don't have accounts. They search for terms like "lessons learned" or "first year advice" to find non-obvious operational tips.

The key communities I found:

r/Entrepreneur - 4.9 million members, strategic planning
r/smallbusiness - 2.2 million members, operational stuff
r/marketing - 1.8 million members, digital strategy
r/IndieHackers - 230,000 members, bootstrapped founders

What I learned: Reddit is where business owners go to find out what actually works - not what marketing departments say works. If you're selling to them, study these communities. See what questions they're asking.

A column of eight advice cards. Upvote and downvote marks tick beside them and the cards re-sort until the ones that worked are on top. The top is labelled what actually works, the bottom not what marketing departments say works.

Votes act as a quality filter. Which cards worked is illustrative.

Are there private communities too?

Yes, and they're more important than I realized.

36% of solopreneurs seek support through online communities. Platforms like Slack and Discord have become the digital watercooler for people who work alone.

Communities like Online Geniuses (35,000 marketing agency owners), Furlough (50,000 professionals), and Startup Chat (5,000 founders) are where owners stay accountable, see different perspectives, and share knowledge with people behind them in the journey.

These solve what researchers call the "self-isolation gap" that got worse after the pandemic.

The catch: These are private spaces. You can't advertise into them. But if you're genuinely helpful, you might get invited into them. That's where trust actually gets built.

A low fence with a closed gate. Inside, five owners stand in a ring round a table. A figure with a loud banner walks up and is turned away. A second figure carrying a small tool is let in and joins the ring.

You can't advertise into private communities. Being useful may get you invited.

Are small business owners using AI?

This was the biggest shift I found.

77% of business owners have integrated AI into operations. That's nearly double from the previous year.

They're using it for:

Content creation (44%)
Data analysis (41%)
Sales and marketing strategy (39%)

68% spend less than $50/month on these tools. 76% say AI helps smaller brands compete with larger ones. 88% say these tools let them reclaim time for "personal connections" with customers.

I'd assumed AI adoption would be slow among traditional business owners. The data says otherwise. They're becoming AI-fluent fast.

What this means: If you're selling to business owners, you're not explaining what AI is anymore - you're showing how yours saves time they don't have.

A row of ten small shopfronts, each with a small tool on its counter. Last year four tools are on, in accent. Four more switch on in turn until eight are on, labelled 77 percent.

77% have brought AI into operations, nearly double the year before. The four-to-eight split is illustrative.

How does this apply to rural business owners?

I work primarily with rural and remote businesses, so I kept asking: is this different for them?

The platforms are the same, but the stakes are higher.

Local agencies often don't exist in rural areas, or they're stuck on outdated tech. Your customers are discovering you on Facebook and TikTok, not in the phone book. Your competitors might be in the next town over - or they might be a direct-to-consumer brand that ships nationwide.

The "digital Main Street" matters more when the physical one is smaller. Platforms like Alignable (7 million members, mostly US entrepreneurs) have become the town square for referral networks and local business advice.

You're not just competing with the business down the road anymore. You're competing with everyone who can ship to your customers.

But you have advantages they don't: local presence, community ties, and the trust that comes from being part of the place.

A short street with a local booth and two houses. Two delivery vans arrive from far off and leave a parcel at each door. A customer walks next door to the booth.

Shipped competition arrives anywhere. The local booth is still next door.

What did I learn overall?

Small business owners don't have attention to spare. They're not scrolling - they're solving.

If you want to reach them:

Show up where they're already solving problems (Reddit communities, YouTube tutorials, LinkedIn thought leadership)
Offer something specific and actionable, not vague brand awareness
Understand that their time is the scarcest resource they have
Recognize that they're increasingly AI-fluent and tool-savvy

Two people try to reach a busy owner. One stands at a phone showing a feed and holds up a big blank banner: vague brand awareness. Nobody comes, and the banner slowly sinks. The other walks to the bench where the owner is working, where they solve problems, and sets down a small green card with a wrench on it: something specific. It slides to the owner, who takes it, and one block of work comes off the stack.

They're not scrolling, they're solving. Bring something specific to where they solve problems.

They're online. They're just not there for entertainment. They're there to find tools, answers, and people who can help them survive another quarter.

If you're trying to reach small business owners, I'd like to hear where you've found them: mackenzie@mackenziebowes.com or @_mackenziebowes.