How to (and not to) Support your Friends Business on Social Media

Did you know that when you “like” your friends business page, you’re probably hurting their page?

We all have friends that own a business that we want to show our support for on social media. This is a quick guide to help you support your friends on each social network.

First, a very important disclaimer.  If you are not within your friends target audience for their business or do not plan to actively engage with their content, DO NOT LIKE THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE, or follow them on Twitter or Instagram.  While yes, their account will grow by one like/follower, you actually will reduce their reach of their page and there within hurt their social media.

Why liking your friends Facebook Page can hurt their page:  The reach (views) of a Facebook Page, Instagram Profile, and to a lesser extent a Twitter Page, increase when those who have liked or followed view and engage with the content as it appears in their feed.  When a followers consistently engages with the content as it appears in their feed (*Note: going to the page/profile directly and engaging does not help the reach), the organic reach of the page/profile increases.  If the person who liked/followed the page/profile does not view or engage with the content as it appears in their feed, the organic reach decreases (the social networks begin to show the posts to fewer and fewer people).

Only like a Page or follow a Profile if you plan to consistently engage with their content. 

• Facebook
  • Like the page.
  • Click on any post from your friends business when you see it in your feed.
    • Like the post and leave a comment.
  • Share one of the pages posts per month on your Facebook Profile

• Instagram
  • Follow the profile.
  • Click on any post from the profile that appears in your feed.
    • Like the post and leave a comment.
  • Share about their business, including sharing their Instagram Username, once in a post and/or an Instagram Story.  If it is a business you really want to support, consider doing this once per month.
  • View all of their Instagram Stories.

• Twitter
  • Follow the profile
    • Reply to or Retweet any Tweet you see in your feed.
      • Do not exceed doing this to more than 2 Tweets per day as that may be excessive for your audience and replying to or retweeting just one or two times per week is more than enough to help boost the reach of the businesses Twitter profile.
    • Mention their Twitter Username in a promotional tweet, including their website.  If you really want to support the business, do this once per month.

This may seem like a lot to keep up with to support your friends business on social media.  The basic concept to understand is to take action when you see your friends business posts in your feed.  Each time you take an action, be it clicking on it, commenting, or just liking the post, you’re helping the business. Each time you see their post in your feed and just scroll past it, you’re hurting the their reach.

Follow.  Consistently Engage.