Five free ways to support small businesses

Everyone you know is starting a small business these days; friends, family, colleagues. As much as you love some of your favourite small businesses, you can’t always spare the money to buy their products or services. That’s totally okay! That doesn’t mean you can’t continue to support them in other ways.

Here are five ways to support your favourite small business for free!

Share and engage with their posts

This may seem obvious but how often do you just like a post and move onto the next? Liking a post is great but even better is commenting on the post, sharing the post to your stories or retweeting. Saving a post on Instagram using the wee bookmark button is currently the best way to tell Instagram a post is high quality content that’s worth sharing with others and makes it more likely to get featured on the explore page.

So like, comment, share, bookmark, retweet all the things! Share that shop update to your stories, retweet that tweet announcing their commissions are open, comment how much you love their new service and can’t wait to get involved!

Recommend them to your friends

If you can’t buy your favourite small businesses products or hire them for their services what’s the next best thing? Tell all your friends and family and colleagues about them! Does the receptionist at work need a gift for her husband’s birthday and you know exactly the shop they should be looking at? Recommend them!

If you stumble upon a new business that you fall in love with let your friends know. Often a business you love, they’ll love too!

Sign up to their email list

I know I know, not another email… But these ones are worth it! The chain store emails you get on a daily basis aren’t fun - but time, effort, and love are pored into emails from small businesses. If they’re small enough it’s usually the business owner, that one gal band running everything that’s taken the time to sit down and tell you advice and share their newest service.

Signing up to their mailing list means you never miss any updates and often you may even get a discount to purchase that item you’ve had your eyes on for months!

Tell them you love their business

Already leaving comments on your favourite small businesses posts? Excellent, that’s great! If you’re not, get to it. Often small business owners might be anxious about their work, worry that no one will like their product. Commenting or DMing a business about how much you love their latest release could just make their day!

Don’t go too over the top though, there’s number one fan and then there’s number one stalker. But if you know the business owner well, go for it, hype them up on a daily basis baby!

Write a review

If you’ve actually purchased a product or service from a small business the second best thing you can do is leave a review! Post about your purchase of a product on social media, tag the business, compliment them on their packaging and their product. Let everyone know they’re worth spending hard earned money with. If it’s a service send them feedback they can use as a testimonial on their website to promote their service.

That’s it! Five quick and easy ways you can support your top small businesses without spending a cent.

- Sophie

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