The Neptune Bar Hire Co is very aware that the world is a bit of a strange and scary place to be right now. Rather than write our usual style of blog, we thought we would keep March’s offering a bit lower key and talk about how you can help a local small business out, even if you don’t have a requirement to book their services.

All of these suggestions are free to action and they are easy, quick wins to support a local business or an organisation that you feel passionate about because they do a great job for their customers. Read on for inspiration!

Probably the easiest one of all on the list; if you see a social media post from a small business that you know, have used or is run by a friend or someone you know, then please, drop a like on it and maybe think about giving it a share? Better, still, if you’re sharing on Insta or Facebook, add their post to your story so that more people see it. Exposure is always good, especially as the post could reach people who otherwise might not have seen it.

You don’t have to write an essay, but if you see something you like, let the company know that you appreciate their post – it may even encourage other people to do the same and it will also boost the post on the platform’s algorithms (you know – those funny technical things that basically mean the more engagement a post gets, the more people see it).

Be a bit careful with this, but if you think a friend would like a post or find it useful, then tag them in it. The caveat here is obviously not to tag the same friend in fifty posts every day, but the occasional shout out could be useful to both the tagged person and the business you’ve tagged them in.

If you have used the business and you want to rave about them, then why not take some pics of whatever service or product they’re offering (in the case of Neptune Bar Hire Co., why not take a nice photo of the bar set up, your friends having a good time, or even the incredibly handsome chap behind the bar) and put out your own post? Make sure to correctly tag the business by name and the name of the owner or person running it (that’s Mat Butler – Mat with one ‘T’!).

Again, this doesn’t have to be chapter and verse, but if you have used a business, it doesn’t cost anything to leave a review on Google or Facebook, or even a site like ‘Add to Event’ if it’s for, say, a mobile bar service. Other people love to know first-hand if customers are pleased with a supplier and frankly in this day and age, personal opinions and testimonials mean a lot when customers are shopping around.

So, there you have it – five incredibly easy ways to support a small business. As usual, if you would like to chat to Mat about a booking or just to get in touch and say hello, you can reach him on info@neptunebars.co.uk

Have a good month, stay safe and we will see you in April.