How to Support Small Businesses for FREE
As I write this it’s Cyber Monday and chances are you’ve spent the past weekend or week being bombarded with deals from all over including your favorite small businesses. But what happens when the funds are tapped and you still want to support those businesses you care about so much. Believe it or not there are ways to help small business in real, tangible ways that are completely free to you and it all goes back to social media.
Social media is the new school word of mouth. Recommendations and being someone’s hype man has been digitized. Don’t get me wrong- we still want the whole cheer squad IRL but a virtual platform allows you reach more people, quicker and easier. So lets get to how.
Like a post. Liking posts obviously shows that you like it and we love the support. From a tech POV though it shows the algorithm that people like it. Why should you care about the algorithm? Because the happier the algorithm the more this business and their work gets shown to a wider base (like on the “For You” page) which can result in more clients. Liking a post makes the algorithm happy.
Ya know what else makes the algorithm happy? Commenting on posts says to the algorithmm that not only did you like the post. but that you liked it SO much that you felt the need to start a dialogue and let the poster know. From a human perspective it starts a conversation between you and the poster as well as anyone who may come across the post. It brings the post off the page if you will and makes it more like people are chatting over coffee. So while a triple heart situation is fine and nice an actual thoughtful comment is better.
You can also share posts. Share posts directly with people you think will love it allows that post and business to reach people directly who they otherwise perhaps wouldn’t. Sharing the post to your stories exposes the business and their work to your entire circle. Chances are if you love them that multiple members of your circle will as well. Also this makes the algorithm even more happy than the prior .
There’s also the ability to save a post. You can save it for later to revisit so you don’t need to go searching or scrolling. This makes the algorithm extra happy because not only did you like it, comment on it, share it but you are so in love with it that you wanted to share it for a revisit.
Beyond those basics a lot of things with the algorithm and the best way to help is to interact. The algorithm tries to create a predictable formula for human actions… which yes is a bit of a contraditction in and of itself. Though once you know this you know how to help which is by interacting since that’s what the algorithm tries to foster. All of the above things are interacting.
Other ways to interact are to watch the stories. Honestly you don’t actually have to “watch” . Just click the “stories” in your home feed and it will continue to scroll through them all. If you are actually watching the stories then interact with them. Vote in the polls, slide the slider, answer the questions and so on.
Finally make sure to follow the business you love on social media and even sign up for newsletters (and open them ). They all help to grow the community and grow the business. All of this helps those small businesses without spending a dime… just a few moments of your time. Even if you can’t do every single one, every single time doing just one or a couple helps. As a small business I think I speak for all businesses when I say this - Thank you for all your support.