5 Easy Ways to Support Small Businesses with Social Media

During the current holiday season, many consumers are making a point to shop local and shop small for their holiday shopping. The small businesses that ramped up their digital presence during the pandemic saw the most success during Black Friday & Small Business Saturday. Many small businesses have also turned to social media to drive sales and web traffic to their online shops. But small businesses will still need our support year-round if they are to survive the extended lockdown restrictions of this pandemic. Toward this end, social media can be a great tool to support and promote local small businesses to others in your social networks.

Support Small Businesses with Social Media

Here are 5 easy ways that you can support small businesses with social media throughout the holiday season and well beyond.

Engage.

Follow & Like their Pages on Instagram and Facebook. Like and Comment on their posts. SHARE or retweet their content on to your own accounts. This helps up-value their content on platform algorithms; which will in turn increase their visibility on those platforms.

Refer.

Tell your own followers, friends, and family about local businesses by posting about them. Don’t forget to tag their Pages in your copy! There has been a surge of community-led Facebook Groups to support local restaurants offering carryout, minority-owned businesses, and other small businesses. Search them out on Facebook, join them, and engage regularly to help drive traffic to those local businesses.

Subscribe.

Because so many small businesses rely on email marketing to communicate with and expand their audiences, they focus on building up their email lists with content marketing and other promotions. Sign-up for their newsletters and other content, and forward relevant content to your friends.

Review.

Online reviews are enormously vital to business success. Did you know that more than 3/4 of consumers check out online reviews before making a purchase? Post positive, detailed reviews on Google, Yelp, and other review sites. Bonus points if you share a picture with your review! Recommend a business’ Page on Facebook. Working with a consultant or freelancer? Connect with them on LinkedIn and write them a recommendation.

Shop.

Never made a purchase via Facebook or Instagram? Try it! Shoppable posts and Shop tabs make the buying experience super easy and streamlined. Look for Shop Now buttons to go directly to their e-commerce sites or mobile apps; which put the shopping cart in the palm of your hand. Check Facebook Marketplace for items posted by local businesses, artists, and artisans. Buy gift cards online. Order delivery from the Order Online buttons in their profiles. Tip generously.

Any and all of the actions above help to elevate a business’s content on social media. These actions signal content value to the platforms’ algorithms, which then serves up their content to a larger audience.

The Future of Small Business Marketing

Small businesses are arguably the backbone of the US economy, and they have been the hardest hit from the COVID pandemic. A recent Yelp study estimates that 60% of small business closures are now permanent; a troubling statistic for our communities and our country.

Surely, social media has proven to be an effective marketing tool for increasing brand awareness for a business. As pandemic restrictions continue, it will most likely continue to play a vital role in small business marketing and in turn, contribute to a business’ long-term survival. Social media is a convenient means for consumers to support small businesses in the online environment. With these easy, small actions, we can all help support the small business owners in our own communities and encourage others to do so as well.

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