Tim and I here at Taonga By Timoti have been completely blown away by the upsurge of people wanting to support small NZ businesses now that a light has been shone on the problems that can arise with international trade. It is indeed exciting times for small NZ business.
The rise of platforms to showcase small NZ owned and operated businesses are awesome and of course, the most obvious way you can show your support is by choosing to spend your money at small NZ businesses. Please do and many thanks for doing so! Your support puts food on NZ tables, pays NZ rents, buys locally grown NZ food and keeps the money cycling around our NZ economy. It is essential that this happens if we are going to keep all those little businesses alive.
But we do understand that not everyone is able to do this all the time. So we’ve come up with a few ways you can support NZ business without spending any money. Yup, it is true, some things in life are free.
We call this list of ideas the S.T.C or Socially Transmitted Commerce. These are 3 simple things you can do, from the comfort of your own couch, to support small NZ businesses.
So without further a do here it is.
S.T.C – Socially Transmitted Commerce
3 simple ways you can support NZ businesses
1. S stands for SHARE
Most of us follow a business or two on social media. And we do it because we like them, we like what they do and we want to know what they are up to, so most likely we’ll also want to support them if we can. The easiest way to do this is to hit the SHARE button when that business posts up something beautiful, or says something that resonates with you. That post will then be posted on your social media page for all your friends to see. They get an introduction to a cool business they’d never heard of before, we get exposure to potential new customers, your friends are pleased you put them on to us and everybody wins!
SHARING a post is a very easy thing to do, if you are new to the idea here are some instructions for you;
FACEBOOK SHARE – Look below the Facebook image you like and you will see 3 words that look something like this;
Go ahead and hit that SHARE button. You’ll then be prompted to” say something about this…” which is helpful if you want to, and then just SHARE NOW. It really is as easy as that!
If you just want to like it that’s ok too, we’ll take that, but SHARES are a much bigger boost for our small business so when you feel inspired to SHARE please do.
INSTAGRAM SHARE – yup it’s easy on here too. See that funny little paper aeroplane underneath the 
image? Press on that icon and it will give you sharing options. You can either send it to your stories or directly to individuals who you think will love it too. Simple as that
So that’s helpful tip number one of our S.T.C’s for small business – SHARE! Cause we all know sharing is caring.
2. T is for TAG 🏷
Tagging is like sharing but more personalised. Think of it as a bit like putting someone’s name on something you think they should look at, you’re tagging them in to bring their attention to it. 🏷
Imagine you find a cafe you love and you want to tell others about it. Sharing is like telling everyone you meet about this awesome cafe you have experienced. Tagging is like telling your friend you’ll meet them at that cafe so they can experience the cafe goodness and decide for themselves if they want to have another coffee.
Maybe your Aunty is looking for the perfect gift for her daughter’s graduation and you see a taonga on our page that you think might be just the thing Aunty is looking for. You can take Aunty directly to that taonga by tagging her into the post.🏷 Here’s how it’s done;
- Click on the comments section under the photo.
. It’s there right beside the share link . Yup, there you are, tap that bubble (it looks the same on Instagram too). - Type @ and the name of the person you want to tag in eg. @auntyawesome. On Facebook, the name will come up blue if the tag has worked correctly. On Instagram, a list of names will come up and you’ll get the option to press on the name of the person you want to tag in.
- You can just drop their name and leave or if you want to make it a bit more personal, you can add a little bit of information for your taggee to read eg. @auntyawesome, could this be the perfect graduation gift for Wendy?
- You are done and @auntyawesome is now aware that this small business exists, has beautiful things and may just be the place to find that unique gift for her daughter. You’ve helped Aunty on her quest, she has found a solution to her problem and we are now Aunty Awesomes friend – YAY for Tagging! Again everybody wins.
3. C is for COMMENT 
This is our third and final suggestion for easy and free ways you can support NZ small businesses. This one is even more fun because you get to verbally show your love and support and this gives that business a wee sprinkle of joy every time you do it (from personal experience I can tell you that this is absolutely true).
So if you see something you love, or read something that just blows your mind away, head on down to that bubble below the photo/post (remember this 
), click on it and write a COMMENT. Maybe tell them what you love about it, ask a question, let them know if you have been there, seen that, felt that, thought that…get creative!
We love to have conversations with our tribe. Building relationships with you all is what makes this self-employed thing worth all the hard work. So please do jump on and chat with us. We read and answer every single comment and we really do enjoy it. You guys are why we do this so we want to know what you think of it all.
And that’s it, our S.T.C’s for socially transmitted commerce – SHARE, TAG, COMMENT
It’s too simple eh?! But believe me when I say that every time you SHARE, TAG or COMMENT on one of our posts you really are helping us to grow our whanau business.
But how do S.T.C’s help?
If you’re like me you will want to know why such a simple thing as sharing, tagging and commenting is so important. Well, I can tell you in all honestly it is because “the number 1 most valuable form of marketing out there is a referral from a friend”(referenced from 100’s of blogs I’ve read). You trust your friends, you know they wouldn’t steer you wrong and you know they have good taste. If a friend shares a link to a product or business with you then you are far more likely to check it out and make the choice to support that business.
And that is the number one reason your S.T.C’s help small businesses like us, you vouch for us and you help us spread the word to more people.
The second reason it is so helpful is something to do with those strange and mysterious things called Algorithms. When you share, tag and comment on our posts some weird monster in a machine lights up and goes “people like this business, we need to make sure it is seen by more people” (or something like that). Then “The Algorithm” goes to work putting images from our little business under the scrolling fingers of more people, which in turn helps us attract more raving fans. And so the cycle continues.
We can’t afford the marketing budgets of big business. Your support allows us to keep doing the thing we love and to keep bringing you unique, handmade, NZ made taonga so that you can give gifts with meaning, with heart and with you soul to your loved ones. With the simple click of a button, from the comfort of your armchair, you can support our small whanau business without spending one single cent. How cool is that?
And I promise you that we do do a little happy dance every time it happens because not only does it spread the Taonga by Timoti word but it lets us know that you too love what we do and in the business of creative arts there is nothing more satisfying than that.
Lets Get Started!
So, if wanna get a jump on things you can head on over to our social media pages
Taonga By Timoti on Facebook 
Taonga By Timoti on Instagram
Or have a browse through our shop or our blog stories and see if there is anything there that you think might strike somebody else’s fancy.
And of course, a huge “THANK YOU” goes out to you when you do get into those S.T.C’s. Remember Timoti and I will be over here doing a little happy dance with every click you make. 💃🏻🕺🏾🥰
Ngā mihi maioha
Timoti and Morganne
