With Small Business Saturday coming up, we wanted to showcase great ways to support the amazing small businesses local to Charleston. And if this is the first you’re hearing about Small Business Saturday, put it on your calendar for each year after Black Friday and get out there and support! Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom for our list of partner businesses that you can support this SBS.
Of course, the most obvious thing to do is visit the store and buy from these businesses. While most small businesses are easy to spot, if you’re not certain if your favorite “small business” may be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, utilize our favorite resources below:
The best thing you can do for your beloved small businesses is to leave them a shining 5-star Google Business review. While a great review serves as a testimonial for future leads, its role in boosting small businesses’ SEO is even more vital. When searching for businesses in Charleston, the Google Business “Map Pack” is almost always the first group of organic, non-sponsored search results you see. These 5-star reviews help improve their ranking and visibility in those search results to keep great leads coming through the door, ringing their phones, and visiting their website. Write a thorough & compelling description of your experience and take pictures to create a powerful testimonial that Google will give even more weight to!
If you’re feeling incredibly zealous (which I would expect if you’re reading this article), go the extra mile! Google “best ice cream in Charleston” or “best boutiques Charleston SC” and take a look at the websites that come up (TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc.). Beyond the general directories you’ve heard of, these types of citations exist for all sorts of industry niches. For example, Colophon has listings on DesignRush, Clutch, UpCity, and other ranking platforms for digital agencies. While Google Business Profiles are almost always the most crucial focal point for reviews, leaving reviews on these additional platforms sends signals to search engines and answer engines (e.g., AI LLMs like ChatGPT) that this small business is a reputable company in their industry.
Get on social media and generate engagement! Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, TikTok – whatever your doom-scrolling vice is, create a story or post, tag the business, and create a fantastic testimonial for your friends and family. User-generated content is as hot as it gets right now, and this is the icing on top to really create genuine buzz from real people. There are plenty of Facebook groups and hashtags (#CharlestonSmallBiz, etc.) to earmark Charleston local businesses, so bonus points for sharing your posts with these groups.
At Colophon, we are fortunate to partner with so many amazing Charleston small businesses. Below, we’ve selected several that you can support this Saturday that are making a great impact in our community. Do some Christmas shopping, sign up for that membership, grab a drink or treat, and do your part for Charleston and Lowcountry entrepreneurs this Small Business Saturday!
Leave at least 5 reviews for your favorite spots and post at least once to your social media in support of a specific business to celebrate Small Business Saturday. I’m setting an incredibly low bar here, people! Put your money where your mouth is and support Charleston local businesses by not only buying from them instead of a large corporation, but also by helping them generate buzz with your testimonials. Make a difference in your community by using your platform!
Colophon New Media specializes in developing, hosting, maintaining, and marketing WordPress websites for Charleston small businesses. Get in touch today.
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