Do your friends own a small business? Would you like creative ways to support them in this uncertain time without spending money? Here are 8 quick ways you can do that!
Our world is completely flipped on its head right now. It is so crazy to think that even a month ago, none of this was on our radar. We small business owners, bloggers and creatives were living our best lives, planning vacations, planning content, enjoying our children being in school and then in a matter of a few days, it all changed.
Now we are worrying about things like business loans, disaster assistance and what the economic future will look like for local businesses after social distancing is over and the COVID-19 outbreak is under control.
A lot of my clients are scared and I get it. I am too. My husband works only part time and it’s across state lines where the governor of that state has put out a shelter in place until the end of April.
But because I have lots of friends who are creatives (musicians, artists, bloggers, photographers, etc) they aren’t certain what their future holds financially.
I’ve been racking my brain for almost a full week now so that I can share with you guys the best way to support small business – whether it’s a small business that your friend owns or just a local small business in your town. And news flash – these don’t require you to spend any of your own money!
8 Ways To Support Small Business For Free
If they’re bloggers, actually visit their blog.
If you’re not in the blogging world, this probably makes no sense to you, but page views matter. It helps Google see and recognize us as a legitimate source of information and really good content, not just one of the othetr 7 billion blogs out there.
If you’re on their blog, click around. Don’t just go to their home page and stay a while. Read their stuff! Your friend may be super talented and you don’t even know it because you just scroll past mindlessly when they post something on social media that says, “Visit the blog to XYZ.”
Think of clicking around on their blog as the internet equivalent to foot traffic if your friend owned a brick and mortar store.
Follow them on social media.
If you’re already on the platform and they ask you to follow them on said platform, do it! Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, whatever.
Followers don’t mean huge dollar signs necessarily, but it’s more eyes on their stuff. It’s more of a chance for them to showcase what they’re gifted in and it’s a chance for you to help a small business and show your support just in a small gesture of clicking that follow button.
Since we are living in the days of algorithms and social media robots trying to boost the content they think we want to see, if the algorithm sees that lots of people are following someone, they’re more likely to push that in front of eyes of others who may like the content as well.
You can click either of the photos below and follow me on these platforms!
Engage with them on these platforms!
This is just as important, if not more, than following. It’s all about the engagement.
Working behind the scenes for both clients and myself, I can tell you that having social media being a part of your work is exhausting and can be super time consuming.
Engage with your friends! Tag other friends in the comments. Send their posts. Save their posts. If you don’t have time to say something, the winky tongue out emoji costs you approximately $0 to type up on your keyboard. And it can mean the world to your small business owning friend.
Sign up for their email list.
I get it. Email inboxes are usually clogged with garbage, but they’re not going to be spamming you. Because they know how that feels too.
An email list is an entirely separate way that they’re creating content and sometimes writing those emails can take a really long time.
I know for my home decor email list, my goal there is to get you to laugh. Either at me, at my life, or even at yourself. But I like to show things and tell stories that don’t live on the blog, but it can be a lot of work to do.
Speaking of, if ya wanna join mine, I’ll make it real easy for you and drop it right here. No pressure of course 😉
Share their content.
And not just when they ask you to. Share something that you may find yourself because you’re clicking around on their website like we talked about earlier!
I can tell you it means so much to me when people share my stuff. It’s not that it’s giving me a huge cash flow or even an ego boost, but it’s letting me know that the hard work I’m doing putting out this stuff isn’t falling on deaf ears.
My best friend (who always supports me no matter what) shared a little DIY project that I did on my home decor account with her HOA Facebook board and it made my whole day!
Share it on Facebook. Pin it to Pinterest. Share it in your Instagram feed or stories or both! Just share it.
Try something they’ve made or done and tag them in it.
Does your friend run a recipe blog? Cook or bake something they created and tag them in it!
Is your friend a photographer who gave you some killer tips about how to shoot good photos on your iPhone and then edit them in Lightroom for free? Then show a before and after shot and tag them thanking them for the FREE tip!
Home decor or DIY bloggers as friends? Make a little DIY project and tag them in it thanking them for the inspiration.
One exception though. If your friend is a hairdresser, please don’t cut your own bangs or give yourself a bowl cut and then get pissed off cuz you did it wrong. Not her fault. But do thank them if they spend 15 minutes telling you how to curl your hair at home.
Use their affiliate links.
If you don’t know what affiliate links are, allow me to explain.
Some companies have programs in which a blogger or creator can link to a product and if someone clicks on that link and buys something using that link, the blogger will earn a small commission.
When I say small, I mean super small. We’re talking pennies here. But it can add up if they have traffic to their site.
Now, I know I talked about ways to do this without spending any money, but there’s a beauty in affiliate links. Here’s an example.
You need to buy a new frying pan from Amazon. You know ya girl has a blog, but she has linked to something completely unrelated from Amazon too. She linked to a rug.
You ready for the magical beauty of affiliate links?
If you click on your friend’s link for the rug, then go to the search bar of Amazon to type in what you need in the same browser window, she will still get credit for the sale of whatever you buy.
So, you click on her link to get you there and then buy whatever you were planning on buying. You aren’t spending money directly in their business, but you’re actually helping support them by buying what you needed. How sweet is that? It’s like you are buying a gift for your friend but you get the gift instead!
That’s math I like to do.
Finally, just friggin’ be nice to them.
This is hard for us. I know for me right now, I’m extra thankful for gift cards and keeping my eyes open for if it comes to a point where we have to apply for some of these disaster loans or the unemployment loan fund things they’re trying to get passed.
Prior to all this, being a creative was often looked down upon or shrugged off as “just someone else trying to be an influencer.”
If you only knew what goes on behind the scenes of researching a post, writing the content, styling and shooting the photographs at just the right time of day when your toddler won’t knock your tripod over but you don’t have too much sunlight, editing the photos, uploading them, and then promoting the post only to have it fall flat. It’s not for the faint of heart.
But it’s what I love. It’s what my clients love. And I’m here for the long haul and I’m sure everyone who owns a small business feels the same way.
Nerves are shot, tensions are high and sometimes us in the small business world just need a text or a DM that just says, “Hey, I see you. Love what you’re doing! I’m thankful for you!” It means SO much. And for you who have done that for me, THANK YOU.
For everyone who has replied to an email I’ve sent just with a quick thank you, I have a folder in my inbox with all of those saved. I promise.
All I’m saying is don’t leave it up to the small business administration to be the only source of small business support. Let them take care of the big financial stuff, but with these easy and free ways to support small business, you really can make a difference in the economic development of said businesses!
Thank you for sharing. It reminds me I need to get out of my comfort zone and support others too.
Yes, absolutely! SO glad you found it helpful!
This was great! Found you in Alicia’s site! I try to support others for its best to try and lead by example, lol! I will continue to be more intentional on doing your tips for others! Great post!!
Thank you so much! 🙂