Now, more than ever, small businesses need your help. Times are hard for everyone, and with more and more small businesses shutting up shop permanently, we all need to do more to support each other. Did you know that 60% of small businesses fear closure within the next year? That's a lot.
Here are some of our favourite ways you can support small businesses without spending any money.
1- Follow them on socials. Social media platforms are a small business lifeline and valuable form of free advertising. Oh, did we mention that we are @Pogofandango on Instagram and Facebook? #justsayin'
2- Social media interactions. Now you've followed your favourite friendly small business folk, interact with their posts! Like, comment, share. Doing so helps to appease the algorithm gods and makes that page more discoverable and visible. If you're feeling super generous, you can also hit the save button for extra algorithm brownie points.
3- Tell people about the wonderful small business that you discovered! Word of mouth is a fantastic way to build a reputation. So if, for example, you happen to hear Julie in your office say that she needs to pick up a birthday card for Auntie Mabel's birthday next week, and perhaps you know of a lovely small business that might make some nice personalised cards (maybe of the papercut variety...) then tell Julie all about said business! You get to look like a hero because now Julie can send Auntie Mabel the best card ever, and it didn't cost you a penny! It's a win-win situation.
4- Leave a review. If you have bought something from a small business (thank you) then you will more than likely get the opportunity to leave a review. Reviews also keep the algorithm nice and satisfied, so go nuts, share your feelings about your purchase, tell the world if they went above and beyond. Shout about it from the rooftops!
5- Google reviews. See above, but for Google. No purchase necessary here, just google the business and leave a Google review. Could I have written Google any more times? Google Google Google.
6- Sign up for their newsletter and read their emails. Please don't mark them as spam though, this hurts both personally and algorithmically (totally a word)
7- Visit their website and read their blog posts. Sometimes there's some quite useful stuff in there. Maybe even give their blog posts a little share if you're feeling extra kind today...
If you only take one thing from this blog post, it's this:
Keep shouting about the small businesses you love to help keep them open.