By now you've probably seen a post or two floating around Instagram or Facebook listing off ways you can support the small businesses in your area. You might have even seen the picture posted below. (image courtesy from Barbara Burstall.) Coming from the view point of a small business owner, I cannot tell you how happy it made me, to see in my feed. Most people don't even understand the impact that doing one of those tiny things can have. Yet all my fellow small business owners were thrilled with the message it portrayed. We all understand the hustle and the hassle that goes on behind the scenes to stay relevant on social media and maintain a good spot on google. But to the average person, they are simply enjoying being on social media. To really drive it home, I thought I'd break it down so you can see just how impactful these actions are to business owners, like me. 

Share/ Like A Post/ Repost / Tag A Friend

      I'm going to be honest here, I work my butt off writing these blog posts. And if you caught my post earlier this week you'll know that I have been blogging three times a week for an entire year. That is aloooooot of content to come up with and execute. At times it feels like the only people who read my posts are my mom and a few members of my family. But when I find out that not only did you read it, but shared it?! It's like Christmas day! Just knowing that one person liked it enough to share means the world to me and makes me want to keep on writing. Then there's the literal side of having a whole new group of people be exposed to my writing and hopefully finding it beneficial. 

Comment A Nice Word or An Emoji

      If you haven't heard someone talk about the "algorithm" before, you must have better self control and don't stay on social media than the rest of us. Basically in the early days of Instagram and Facebook, posts used to be shown in chronological order. But since so many people were using social media, Instagram and Facebook decided that it would create an algorithm to show you posts that you'd want to see based on your search and viewing history. In theory it's a great idea, but for the small business, it was death row. People started getting desperate for their posts to be seen again and started participating in "comment pods" and the like. (You and a group of people comment on each other's stuff every time you post.) But the big, scary, algorithm started to notice patterns and started cracking down on people who were finding other means to gain traction. That's where our followers and friends come in to save the day. By commenting a nice word or even leaving an emoji Instagram believes our post to be relevant and will show it to a broader audience than the 10% who actually saw our post. By taking 10 seconds out of your scroll, you help deem our content worthy of attention. You have the power to do that! 

Post A Pic + Shout Them Out

     These especially resonate with me. After all, I am literally in the business of pictures. As much as I work to get my google ranking higher, word of mouth and referrals are still my number one source for new clients. When people need a plumber, they are often overwhelmed by the amount of choices and take to asking friends for recommendations. The same thing applies for photography. I'm not going to lie, there are hundreds, if not thousands of photographers in Utah. So many of them are talented and amazing. It is insanely overwhelming to try and sort through google page after google page for "Utah Photographer" to find one that is a good fit. But aren't you more likely to chose from a few that your friends recommend? This also doubles back to the first point where our content and art reaches a whole new demographic and audience. 

Refrain From Negativity 

     Personally I think this one should be relevant regardless of if I'm a small business or not. Take it back to grade school, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." ... and resume your scroll. It's hard enough being a small business owner we don't also need to be the referee for our page either. 

I've also made a list of other free things you can do to help out your small business buddies

1. follow them on Pinterest and repin their stuff

2. If you've worked with them before leave a review on Google or their Facebook page

3. Simply be their cheerleader and let them know they are doing a good job. Most small businesses start up out of the passion for their work, not the marketing. Especially being an artist where our livelihood is our art and our art is an extension of ourselves. 

So, as a small business owner and as your friend, thank you. Thank you to you for reading my posts, "like-ing" my pictures and telling your friends about me. You have no idea the impact you make on me when you do those things. It's so hard running your own business, but having friends like you give me the extra push I need.