{"id":94774,"date":"2017-10-16T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techvibes.com\/?p=94774"},"modified":"2017-10-16T15:21:08","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T19:21:08","slug":"how-facebook-is-growing-small-businesses","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/magazine\/how-facebook-is-growing-small-businesses","title":{"rendered":"How Facebook is Growing Small Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facebook is fuelling Canadian small businesses by attracting new customers and scaling through platform advertising, according to its latest Economic Impact Survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A decade ago, Facebook was designed for friends and family to connect in a digital space, but Kevin Chan, the head of Canadian public policy, said it has evolved beyond a social network.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now an engine of economic growth for small businesses and startups,\u201d he said. Chan presented the results of the Facebook survey at the launch of BDC\u2019s Small Business Week 2017 in Toronto.<\/p>\n

The survey found that three in 10 Canadian-grown small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have built their business on the platform. In addition, one in two businesses who are on Facebook said they\u2019re stronger today because of the platform.<\/p>\n

Facebook is also being used to attract customers\u2014according to nearly 7 in 10 Canadian small and medium-sized businesses surveyed\u2014and reach customers outside the country.<\/p>\n

Chan said that Facebook is increasing global market access to small businesses\u2014a reach that was once exclusive to large enterprises. He reported that 445 million people around the world are connected to Canadian small businesses through the online platform.<\/p>\n

The survey release coincided with Facebook unveiling its new Toronto Partner Centre connected to its MaRS office. The centre is a space for Facebook to collaborate with its Canadian partners.<\/p>\n

Toronto Mayor John Tory was at the event today, remarking how a digital presence can be the \u201cdifference between survival and failure\u201d for small businesses today, but many business owners still don\u2019t have the comfort level to move to a digital platform. He said that Facebook\u2019s new Partner Centre will be a space where they can learn how to go online, and find the tools that they need to sell more at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cFacebook helps SMEs scale so much faster,\u201d said Joanna Griffiths, CEO of Knixwear. \u201cToday, a Knixwear product is bought every 25 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griffiths spoke about how she\u2019s leveraged Facebook and Instagram in a panel moderated by Small Business and Tourism Minister Bardish, alongside Clearbanc co-founder Michele Romanow and Steve Ballantyne, founder of Toronto-based Station Cold Brew.<\/p>\n

Knixwear is one company that\u2019s part of Facebook Canada\u2019s e-commerce vertical, a growth team that identifies companies that can scale internationally and provides them support.<\/p>\n

\u201cFacebook is helping us get our product in front of the right people\u2014hyper-targeted in who we want to reach\u2014and in a very cost-effective way, scale our business at a very rapid rate,\u201d said Griffiths. \u201cYou get great insight into the people you\u2019re targeting. It\u2019s helping us reach a new audience of women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the Toronto Partner Centre, small businesses will be invited in for one-on-one meetings, education sessions and community events to learn about how they can leverage Facebook to grow. Interactive screens, commissioned artwork, breakout rooms and open meeting spaces make up the new Toronto centre in MaRS Discovery District, joining five other Partner Centres around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facebook is fuelling Canadian small businesses by attracting new customers and scaling through platform advertising, according to its latest Economic Impact Survey. A decade ago, Facebook was designed for friends and family to connect in a digital space, but Kevin Chan, the head of Canadian public policy, said it has evolved beyond a social network. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76241,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[64,1731,1733,140,679,1732,21],"magazine-region":[],"magazine-series":[],"magazine-topic":[],"class_list":["post-94774","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","hentry","category-News","tag-facebook","tag-facebook-canada","tag-joanna-griffiths","tag-mars","tag-michele-romanow","tag-partner-centre","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/94774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/76241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/94774\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94774"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-region?post=94774"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-series?post=94774"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=94774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}