Thank you for taking the time to fill out our application for our November 1st - November 30th 2024 - Holiday Virtual Market. An opportunity for small businesses, artisans and service providers based in Ontario, organized and facilitated through our Ontario Small Business Community family of platforms. We use our ever-growing platform, community and promotional reach as a tool to showcase, elevate, support and promote small businesses from across a variety of industries. These include product-based small businesses, service providers, events, artists and creatives. This opportunity focuses on a number of key aspects including building ecommerce traffic, gaining brand awareness for your small business, building social presence and creating community connections. We at Ontario Small Business Community offer an affordable way for small businesses to market their small business, further their social reach, build their brand presence, introduce communities to their products, services and offerings and organically drive traffic to their respective ecommerce platforms. We know that you are invested in building and sharing your wonderful small business. We are proud to be a partner and a tool in helping you do just that! Thank you for connecting with our community and we look forward to being an avenue to help platform your small business. We look forward to helping to build your online presence, create brand awareness, introduce potential customers to your goods, services and unique offerings and share your small businesses story. Participation Dates: November 1st - November 30th 2024 - Holiday Virtual Market
Participation Fee: $60.00
Participation Includes The Following Benefits:
On Your Dedicated Small Business Feature Date:
- Static promotional content across all Ontario Small Business Community platforms.
- Instagram - 50k+ Followers
- Facebook - 10k+ Followers
- Pinterest - 5k Monthly Viewers
- Threads - 5k Followers
- TikTok - 500 Monthly Viewers
- Ontario Small Business Community Group - 9.5k Users
- One static promotional post which includes the four - eight pictures of your offerings or brand related images. These can include product photos, photos of your process, photos of your work space and/or digital flyers.
- Unique and appealing copy written by our team and tailored to your small business that shares your unique business and its features, brand story and associated values. These help to outline your business' offerings and/or services. With inclusion of all your business' online platform/website and social links. Compete with hashtags relevant to your small business and industry. Intended to widen the reach and visibility of your small business, reach new potential customer and client bases, build your social media presence and help your small business' content perform better in social search and platform algorithms.
- All content created by Ontario Small Business Community for your small business will always include direct links to your associated social platforms and websites. All static posts remain across our platforms indefinity. which includes Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Threads and TikTok.
- Two video presentations via reel format across all of Ontario Small Business Community run platforms. Which include direct links to your business' associated website and social platforms. Ontario Small Business will use graphics and should the business have some, video content to create videos for each participating business. Alternatively small businesses may send us videos and we can use what they sent. If a small business does not send any videos we will assume they would like our team to make them. To ensure that every participating small business can take part. Videos made by the Ontario Small Business team are provided to said business for their own future use as well.
- Two Ontario Small Business Community created stories complete with direct links to your social platforms and websites.
- The first story is a small business spotlight that includes your website links and a collage of images that best represent your small business.
- The second story is a story that shares one of the two reels posted on your small business' behalf, website links and a brief and catchy description of your small business.
- All stories created by Ontario Small Business Community are archived into a directory and available across all platforms for an indefinite period of time, which aids your small business even after the virtual market is complete. We have found that months and even years after the market is complete that small businesses are found by retailers, bloggers, media and customers/clients though these dedicated archived directories on our platforms.
- For each small business individual feature date the small business' Instagram is linked in the bio of the Ontario Small Business Community Instagram platform and stays linked for the duration of the business' feature date.
- All small businesses receive a listing within the Ontario Small Business Community Linktree bio. This includes direct links to said business' website, the business' name, a brief deception of said small business' offerings/services and a photo. These stay active and available for 90 days after the completion of the virtual market.
- Advertisement of any sales, deals, or promotions your small business may be having during their virtual market time frame.
- All participating small businesses with Instagram/Facebook shops, relevant products/offerings will be tagged in both static posts and video content. Created for small businesses who are utilizing this shopping function on their platforms.
- We at Ontario Small Business Community use all social media platforms and tools for the benefit of the small businesses we work with. However, it is not mandatory for participation to be active on social platforms. We often suggest that using more platforms can be beneficial, but it is not essential. We find this opportunity works best if a small business is using at least two social platforms for their small business. For example, we suggest a variation of any of the following combinations so that we can better funnel audiences to said small businesses and create consistent content that will aid in building the long-term viability of that small business. Social platforms work like a catalog database, and the more platforms we can create content for a small business the more effective the reach of that content will be for months and years to come. Website, Facebook and Instagram. | Website, Instagram and TikTok. | Facebook and Instagram.
We find it most effective when we can offer audiences and potential customers/clients a few different platforms to connect with you and your business. Regardless of which platforms you have utilized for your small business, Ontario Small Business Community will always include whatever variation of platforms you have chosen. Beyond Your Dedicated Small Business Feature Date:
- All participating small businesses are included in a dedicated shopping/service guide available via our Instagram platform. This includes a post from each small business' social platform, direct links to their website and social media links.
- All participating small businesses - along with their websites/online platforms and social media direct links - are listed collectively in the correlating Facebook event page associated with their virtual market month. This is promoted through paid advertising prior to the start of the virtual market. This event stays active indefinitely on the Ontario Small Businesses Community Facebook page. Ontario Small Business also shares the event to relevant groups and community spaces, and lists the events via local media outlets.
- Upon the completion of said small business' individual feature date. Ontario Small Business Community advertises/boosts each small business' static post. A portion of each small businesses participation fee, $10 goes towards advertising their individual content. We use geographically targeted ads to further introduce your small business to new communities and further the promotional reach of the advertisement of any sales, deals, or promotions you may be having while the virtual market is taking place.
- All participating small businesses are included and listed on the Ontario Small Business Community website. Depending on the season of the virtual market, the Ontario Small Business Community website receives 1k+ unique visitors. Each small business listing includes direct links to their website, a brief description of said business and photo that represents said small business. Ontario Small Business Community keeps this listing active for 90 days after the completion of any virtual market. To take advantage of site-wide visitor traffic in months when Ontario Small Business Community is not hosting a virtual market, Ontario Small business is always driving traffic to our website though our blogs, educational material and resources which are always free and available to any small business.
- All participating small businesses are included in introductory promotional content prior to the start of any virtual market. This includes all participating businesses websites/online platforms and social links. This content is intended to soft launch a virtual market, help create brand awareness and give participating small businesses an opportunity to leverage their social presence in unison with other participating small businesses.
- All participating small businesses are included in smaller broken-down groups' promotional posts prior to the start of a virtual market. Participating small businesses are promoted as a grouping which includes one picture of each small business, their websites/online platforms and all social links. This is passive promotion and intended to soft launch each business and provide a preview to audiences across Ontario Small Business Community platforms.
- All participating small businesses static feature content from their individual feature date is shared to geographical or special interest groups related to said small business' industry. This is done to widen the reach of each small business, introduce their business to their local communities, provide further visibility and access customer and client bases beyond the Ontario Small Business Community platform's reach. For instance, if you are a fashion small business that operates in Southern Ontario, our team will share your static feature content in groups of fashion enthusiasts, local city relevant groups and community groups from said business' relevant encatchment areas.
- All participating small businesses along with websites, social links, brand photo or product/services photo are included in the Ontario Small Business Community monthly newsletter. This is seen monthly by over 16k active and engaged viewers.
Find our social, website and other links below. So you can get to know us and what we do better.
Thank you for your application and your time. We look forward to working with you and your unique small business!
