[U.S] How Small Business Saturday Can Help Your Small Business

Small businesses are a large and important part of our economy and it’s always exciting to see big companies come together and develop programs to support them. With the holiday season just around the corner, a new national campaign hopes to change the way we spend this holiday season.

In its second year, Small Business Saturday is an initiative created to motivate consumers to shop at their favorite local stores on Saturday November 27th, during the busiest shopping weekend of the year. Based on the idea that the strength of small businesses can fuel our economy and lead to job creation, this event was created by American Express and sponsored by various other large companies. Last year, American Express saw a 28% rise in sales volume for small business merchants during last year’s Small Business Saturday (in comparison to November 27th, 2009). As the initiative moves into it’s second year the goal is the same: to change consumer buying patterns by supporting and promoting small businesses and incentivizing consumers.

The official American Express Small Business Saturday web page offers tips and strategies to small businesses to engage their customers, such as helping them create and streamline their social media strategy.  Having a presence in social media allows small businesses to create a relationship with consumers, cultivate their brand, drive web traffic and maintain reputation. American Express will help by taking business owners through a step by step process to create an effective and dynamic Facebook page. Connected on Twitter? American Express helps small business owners generate a Twitter follow button. Additionally, American Express is offering the first 10,000 business owners who sign up for the program $100 in free Facebook advertising credit.

Another great tool made available thanks to Google and American Express, is called “My Business Story.” Using this free tool, business owners can create their very own professional quality videos about their small businesses for use on YouTube, social networks and business websites.

Read more on Enloop.