Hwy 404 & Steeles Flea Market
🎯 Segmented Meta advertising, always-on organic social, and local SEO for Markham's largest flea market
Facebook followers
(Jul 2024 – Sep 2025)
Instagram followers
(Jul 2024 – Sep 2025)
Continuous engagement
(Feb 2024 – Sep 2025)
THE CLIENT
Hwy 404 & Steeles Flea Market is a large, long-running open-air market at 2900 Steeles Ave E in Markham, Ontario, home to more than 100 vendors across antiques and collectibles, specialty gifts, and a food court. The market draws a broad mix of weekend shoppers, collectors, and small business owners looking to lease a booth.
THE CHALLENGE
The market needed to speak to two very different audiences at once — shoppers deciding where to spend a Saturday, and prospective vendors deciding where to sell — while its vendor mix and on-site offerings changed from month to month. Generic “visit us” advertising wasn’t going to cut it, and the market had no consistent local search presence or organic social following to build on.
OUR APPROACH
Segmented Paid Meta Advertising
Rather than a single generic campaign, Merged Media built out separate, purpose-built ad sets for the market’s core audiences — Antiques & Collectibles shoppers, Food Court visitors, and prospective vendors (B2B and B2C leasing) — plus seasonal and holiday campaigns refreshed throughout the year. Creative was updated on an ongoing basis as vendors rotated in and out, with the client reviewing and approving every batch before it went live.
Always-On Organic Social
A steady cadence of Facebook and Instagram content — typically several posts a week, mixing photos, video, and vendor spotlights — kept the market visible between visits and gave paid campaigns an organic base to build on.
Local SEO & Google Business Profile
In parallel, Merged Media built out local citations and a Google Business Profile posting program — including geotagged photography of individual vendor booths (Judy’s Gifts & Crafts, Holly’s Rare Finds, Zan Antiques, Tane Art Gallery, and others) — to strengthen the market’s visibility in local map and search results.
A Genuinely Collaborative Process
Content was reviewed line-by-line with the client’s team before publishing — swapping out vendors who had since left the market, correcting terminology, and fine-tuning messaging — so every ad and post reflected what was actually happening on the ground that week.
ENGAGEMENT TIMELINE
- February 2024 — Discovery call and kickoff; first ad campaigns (B2B and B2C) approved within the first week.
- 2024 — Campaign library expands to cover Antiques, Food Court, Vendor recruitment, and a dedicated Holiday campaign for the Q4 season.
- August 2024 — Client expands scope to include email drip marketing, on top of paid social and organic content.
- 2025 — Sustained weekly organic posting and continuously refreshed paid campaigns carry follower growth through the summer.
- Through September 2025 — Weekly Meta Lead Ads continue to generate inbound vendor and customer leads on an ongoing basis.
Results
Tracked from the market’s first full weekly report (July 2024) through its most recent (September 2025):
- ✅ Facebook page followers grew from 633 to roughly 1,500 — an increase of about 137%.
- ✅ Instagram followers grew from about 2,300 to roughly 4,200 — an increase of about 83%.
- ✅ Weekly organic engagement (likes, comments, shares) regularly ran into the hundreds across both platforms, with several weeks topping 1,000+ combined views.
- ✅ Segmented Meta Lead Ads generated a consistent, ongoing flow of new vendor and customer leads delivered weekly throughout the campaign.
- ✅ The market expanded its engagement with Merged Media over time, adding email drip marketing to its paid social and local SEO program.
“The biggest benefit of working with Merged Media is their ability to truly understand my business and create a marketing strategy that drives results.”
— Hwy 404 & Steeles Flea Market
Why It Worked
The market's core challenge was never a lack of foot traffic potential — it was translating a constantly-changing, two-sided marketplace (shoppers and vendors) into marketing that felt current and specific rather than generic. By segmenting campaigns around real audiences, refreshing creative in step with the vendor mix, and closing the loop with local SEO, Merged Media built a strategy shaped around how the market actually operates — which is exactly the benefit the client called out directly.
Working with Merged Media
Contact Merged Media today to start your journey toward business growth and success:
Website: merged.ca
Phone: +1 866-798-7954
Email: info@merged.ca
Services in this case study: Facebook and Instagram ads, social media management and local SEO. See all case studies.
