The Ledger

By Becky Holland

For 13 years, I have hustled like a lot of you to learn the ins and outs of social media — for myself, for my businesses and for my clients.

Some ideas have worked beautifully. Some have taken a little tweaking. And some, well, let’s just say they fell flat and we quietly moved on.

That is part of social media.

The truth is, social media is not really that hard. We just make it harder than it has to be.

One of the easiest ways you can help your favorite local restaurant, store, small business, organization or online newspaper — hint, hint — is simply to interact with what they post online.

Like it. Better yet, love it. Wow it!

And if it is something you think other people would enjoy or need to know about, share it.

Share it to your personal Facebook page. Share it in a local group when it is appropriate. Share it from your business or professional page if it fits your audience.

That one little share can do more than people realize.

When a post is shared, it has a chance to reach people who may not follow that business or organization already. More eyes can mean more customers walking through a restaurant door, more people shopping at a local store, more attendance at a community event, more awareness about a service and, yes, more readers clicking on a local news story.

For small businesses especially, visibility matters.

Most local businesses do not have giant advertising budgets or teams of people working behind the scenes to make sure every post is seen. They are often doing everything themselves — serving customers, answering phones, paying bills, ordering inventory and trying to remember to post something on Facebook before the day gets away from them.

A share costs you nothing, but it can help them tremendously.

The same goes for local organizations, nonprofits, schools and community groups. If you see an important announcement, an event, a fundraiser or useful information, sharing it can help that message travel farther than the original page ever could on its own.

And yes, that includes local news.

If you read a story from The Ledger that you think your friends would find interesting, helpful or important, sharing the link is one of the best ways you can support what we are trying to do.

It really is that simple.

You do not have to buy something every time. You do not have to write a long review. You do not have to spend money at every local business every week.

Sometimes support looks like a click.

So the next time you see a post from a local restaurant you love, a store you enjoy, a small business you want to see succeed or a community organization doing good work, do not just scroll past.

Like it. Love it. Wow it! Share it.

A few seconds of your time may help put that business in front of its next customer.

Share local. Support local. Help local survive.