Experience Downtown Blog
New Initiative: Support Local MKE
April 15, 2020 /
Guest writer: Marleigh Petras
Milwaukee has always been the city that supports each other--whether that is person to person or business to business, we have always been in this together. Ever since the pandemic hit, there have been multiple Facebook Groups created, GoFundMe accounts, virtual tips jars, and many more efforts to raise money to support the Milwaukee community. Local businesses were giving back to those on the front lines, working tirelessly through this pandemic, and they were also giving back to the community. The big question is--who was giving back to them?
Digital marketing is at an all-time high right now. Everyone and anyone is on their phone, and it is the perfect opportunity to get in front of them and advertise. Being a Social Media Marketer, I immediately saw an opportunity to help support local Milwaukee businesses, and ran with it.
Thus, Support Local MKE was created.
About Support Local MKE
Support Local MKE is an Instagram page created to raise awareness and support for Milwaukee's local businesses during the pandemic. The page highlights Restaurants, Beverages, Fitness, Creatives, and Community Shoutouts--those with positive stories and saying thank you to the people working tirelessly through these times.
The Importance of Starting This Instagram Page
This page brings awareness to these local Milwaukee businesses as a whole, all on one convenient Instagram page. The page has daily features as well as providing the local businesses’ Instagram handles, so that visitors can follow their business page, too.
Why Just Instagram?
The community has done an amazing job at coming together on the social media platform Facebook, with multiple group chats for Milwaukee Local businesses and workers. Instagram has several accounts dedicated to local Milwaukee artists, who have been very supportive of Support Local MKE. The page exists on Instagram at this time because that is where it is needed the most. There is not one page that rallies support for all of the local businesses here in Milwaukee. Don’t worry, there is now!
Why is this page so important?
Raising support for these local Milwaukee businesses is important because they depend on us. They are here because the Milwaukee community supported them before the pandemic, and they will stay here because we continued to support them through and after the pandemic. Milwaukee knows how to come together and lean on each other, from a respectful social distance that is, because at the end of the day we are all in this together.
Follow Us!
Support Local MKE needs your help. As this is going to be the page to feature and showcase local Milwaukee businesses, we need the people of Milwaukee to come together and send us your favorite local Milwaukee businesses, tag us in your next quarantine adventure for curbside pickups, or even follow us to see who you can support during these strange times: @supportlocalmke.
Remember, we are all in this together. #SupportLocalMKE #MilwaukeeStrong
About guest writer Marleigh Petras: I am a 24 year old, Social Media/Digital Marketing Specialist, who loves coffee and is in LOVE with this city. I recently was laid off from my full time job, and wanted to give back to the city in a way that would really make a difference, so I put my skills to the test and created Support Local MKE. I am currently a part of the Light the Hoan team as a Social Media Specialist, so giving back the community is very important to me. I didn’t want to just highlight a category of local Milwaukee businesses, I wanted to raise awareness to ALL of them. I know Milwaukee is a city that supports one another, so I figured that if I put them all in one spot, it would be easier for the Milwaukee community to give back.