I think it is fair to say 'hats off to all small business owners and independents who have taken a huge risk and leap of faith to set up a business'. Particularly here in France. Let’s face it it is not easy! A lot of heart and soul goes into a setting up a business, finding clients and managing the many bureaucratic hurdles that manage to manifest just when you think you have got it sussed.

Customers don’t get to see the heartache, the pain, the planning, the issues behind the scenes, the administration, the sacrifices and to be honest, why should they? Customers have their own set of needs to be met.

Although as a customer when you use the services of a small business owner or independent who has gone above and beyond or is generally a great business to deal with, do let them know. The smallest act of appreciation will put a huge smile on any business owners face whether it is customer to business or business to business.

As a customer when a business owner takes time to build a relationship with you, and goes that extra mile when things go wrong, is easily accessible by phone and/or you know you will get a reply to your email when compared to other much larger organisations that often lack simple customer care skills. All of this adds up to a business owner treasuring their customers.

Some things to consider. Small businesses and independents:

• are run by real people not CEOs
• have what it takes to show sincere and authentic behaviour
• often provide employment
• appreciate the support for keeping their livelihoods going
• are often the life blood of small communities
• know that every single customer matters

By supporting hard-working small business owners/independents, you as a customer are helping keep someone's dream alive and food on the table.

If you are reading this please do think about the small business and independents that you have used and let them know you appreciate them.

• Send them a thank you card
• Pick up the phone and let them know
• Leave positive reviews on Google or Facebook, trip advisor
• If you are asked to leave a review by a business owner do try to action the request
• Tell your friends and family
• Shop with small business owners/independents whenever you can

Yours socially
Micala 

During these unusual times, many businesses are unable to sell BUT you can build stronger connections and create a collaborative environment through tagging.

I did this yesterday on my personal timeline and tagged in Arbres et Abeilles as I had purchased a number of shrubs & trees before Christmas and the good weather of the past few days meant I could plant them in. So I tagged them in to give a bit of exposure and they responded.

First though your page needs to be taggable. Head to settings and click on Others Tagging This Page and make sure you have ticked the box to enable other people and pages to tag this page. Click save.

Think about what you want to ask? Create the question on your own Facebook Business page and be cleart that they share on their own timeline and tag your business page with @nameofbusiness.

You may want to include in your post why you are doing this – it’s about keeping your business out there. You as a business appreciate your customers and followers and during these unprecedented times as a business you are keeping in contact and their participation is hugely appreciated. 

If appropriate share that post to your personal timeline.
If appropriate share to groups – customers may have come from groups. [Be respectful of group rules and only apply to any relevant themed posts that they may]

By them posting on their timeline and tagging your business page in, it will be seen by their friends and family and by you!

Here are some suggestions – you may well have others, but this is just to get those creative juices flowing:

• Share a picture or a memory of a time that you stayed with us - it could be a place, or food related and tag in your page [be mindful of the kind of content to be shared – respecting privacy of certain types of pictures]
• Have you planted something from us? If so, share a picture on your timeline of what you have planted and tag us in @nameofbusiness
• Have you purchased one of my paintings? Share a picture on your timeline and tag us in @nameofbusiness
• Have you purchased one of my handmade crafts? Share on your timeline and tag us in @nameofbusiness
• Share a picture of your pooch that has been groomed by me and tag me in @nameofbusiness

By asking your fans/customers to share like this you are expanding the reach of your business. So be sure to respond to every single tag and keep the conversation and engagement going.

Have other creative questions ready to post out over coming weeks, ideally once a week if appropriate.   And over the next week or so, I am going to give some thought to other businesses that I have collaborated with or purchased from, post about it and tag them in. Every little helps. 

Let me know how you get on.

Yours socially
Micala 

For those who have ventured into creating blog articles you might be thinking “what do I do with it now?” It is published on my website, but I want others to see it. Of course you do.

Once you have created your article it will sit permanently on your website for visitors to see and read. But you want your blog to have a wider reach than just your website visitors.

So how can you achieve this? Here’s a useful list of where you can manually share your blog article to expand it’s reach. Some may apply to you, all may apply. Try to space out your activity. Don’t tick off the list all in one go, leave a day or 2 between each activity.

Wherever you share it – add some insight with your link. Don’t just say here’s a latest article. Add what it means for the reader – share a compelling line from the article and leave the reader wanting to click on read more.

• Add link to your email signature.

• If you are sending out regular newsletters a prize blog article has a place on your newsletter.

• Share it to your Facebook page. Don’t forget that just because you have posted it once, doesn’t mean you cannot post it again. Dependent on the relevancy it might be useful to post monthly, or quarterly. Each time use a different image and a different perspective. Facebook users won’t necessarily scroll through continuously in June to read a blog post that you posted in January. So if it is relevant for continuous use, do so.

• Share across your other social media networks – LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram. Some articles may have a place in your bios.

• Add to your Google My Business space. There is an area in your profile space to add image and some words. Unfortunately with Google My Business character space is limited so you can only use the first couple of paragraphs and add the link back to your article.

• Share into Facebook groups that you are party to, particularly where there are opportunities that allow you to regularly place your blog creations.

• Do you have a trusted circle of business owners who would be happy to share your content on their page or through their social platforms?

Tip: sometimes your blog link can look long and bulky and doesn’t look particularly pleasing to the eye of a reader. I use something call bitly. Bitly is a URL shortener and takes your 30something blog link and shrinks it to a smaller one or you can create your own custom link with them. Each time I use bitly I can then copy and share a custom link across my various platforms and track clicks.

Continue to enjoy your blogging journey and feel free to share any other tips that you have found to be useful in increasing your blog reach. If you have any questions, let me know.

You might also like to read Why You Should Be Business Blogging in 2020

Yours socially
Micala