Many times I have heard people saying that we should all support the smaller businesses in our local area and that is true. We should support every single smaller company, especially if they are our close friends or even neighbors. However, it seemed like many of those same people do not understand that support is not done only through money. There are several different things you could do and methods that could help your friend’s business much better than just buying their products or services.
It is pretty clear that not everyone can support their local businesses financially. It is understandable which is why there are multiple methods for support.
To show you all of those different ways you could help your friend or your neighbor start their business, I decided to write this article and show you exactly how you can be of assistance. With just a moment of your time and a simple step, you could do a lot for them.
Follow their social media accounts
Nowadays, everyone is on the Internet and on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many others. This is why so many companies try to become a part of these social media websites because it is a great place to advertise the brand, products, or services. Considering that the advertising is entirely free, it makes sense for smaller companies to create profiles on these websites, right?
I think that it is safe to assume that your friend’s business will have such an account on Facebook or Instagram. To help them as a friend, your job will be to find all of their profiles and follow them. I know, it might not seem like much, but even one extra follower puts them a little bit higher in the ranking system of these websites and even Google.
Like their content
If you feel like following their accounts is not enough to show support, do not worry, there is still a lot more you can do. To start, you should first like everything they share. It does not matter if it is a picture, a text, video, or whatever else you can think of. You should be there to like it. That one like will improve the chances of that post being shown to other people. More like equals better advertising.
The best thing about all of this is the fact that it will not take up any of your free time. With just a press of a button, you are doing a lot more than you think. It is great support for any small business.
I suggest activating notifications for that profile, so every time they post, you can be there to press the like button.
Share their posts
While you are there liking their posts, there is one more thing you could do which could prove very useful for the future of the company. You should start sharing their posts. By doing this, you are showing the post of the business to everyone on your friends list. This is especially helpful and useful on Facebook.
But, if you prefer using Instagram, you could share their content as your story. Any time someone clicks on your story, they will be redirected to your friend’s business profile. This could considerably increase the views and clicks they get on their posts.
Leave an online review
Like I mentioned previously, everyone is on the Internet nowadays. Most people know pretty well how to navigate through it. They know what to look for and what to avoid.
One of the best ways to find reliable companies, services, or products is by reading reviews or ratings. Because of this, a lot of websites, including Google and Amazon offer a review/rating system. This allows customers to leave their personal experience with the product and also allows other customers to make a judgment based on the review.
However, getting a majority of positive reviews for a small business is not easy. To show support towards your friend’s company, I suggest purchasing some of their products or using their services and then leaving a review. Of course, you should rate it as high as possible, but you should also make it genuine.
If you want to make an even bigger impact, businesschew.com suggests that you leave reviews on several different platforms. Nowadays, there is Google, Yelp, Facebook, and many other websites.
Tell your friends
The Internet is very useful, but it is not the only way of advertising. Were to mouth is quite effective even today. It may sound outdated, but it works. So, if you want that small business to succeed, it is going to need a lot of clients. To boost the number of clients, you could start suggesting it to some of your closest friends or family members. I am certain that many of them will believe what you have to say and will try out the products or services from your friend’s small business.
Buy their products
If you feel like you are not doing enough for like you want to do more, maybe spending a few pennies is a good idea. Obviously, whether you should spend money or not, depends on the price tag of their products. The product could be something affordable which means it will not hurt your wallet too much. Anything up to 50 or $100, I would say that it is okay.
However, if they are offering some niche products and services that cost up to thousands of dollars then I guess it does not really make sense to support them by spending money. Every single one of the methods I mentioned above makes a lot more sense.
Either way, it is quite clear that it is possible to support your friend’s small business without having to spend a dime. You are doing a lot just by being active on their social media profiles, liking and sharing their posts. They will understand how much you want to help.
