According to Nielsen, 1.9 million adult consumers in Charlotte use social media every month, an audience that continues to expand. As a result of this growth, social media has become a crucial part of local advertising campaigns.

Social media allows Charlotte business owners to continually be in front of their target customers and to stay top-of-mind. It allows businesses to communicate daily and be the first company on call when needed. Social media has become essential for marketing local goods and services.

The best part is that social media is free to use for both Charlotte consumers and business owners.

There is no subscription service for social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram which, according to Nielsen, are used by 77.6% of Charlotte consumers each month. There are no monthly payments or premium memberships required to unlock more services.

Every month, 1.7 million adults in Charlotte use social media, according to Nielsen. Seventy-six percent of these consumers use Facebook, far more than other sites like Instagram (also owned by Facebook), Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

As a stand-alone medium, Facebook is used by more people in Charlotte than watch local TV stations and cable channels. Only Charlotte radio reaches more consumers.

The large audience commanded by social media has attracted a significant amount of advertising dollars from local advertisers. According to Borrell Associates, a company that measures advertising expenditures across the county, Charlotte-area businesses are expected to spend $248 million on social media advertising, a 31.7% increase over 2022. The overwhelming majority of these dollars are being spent with Facebook.

Yesterday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the company was changing its name to "Meta".  This change, though, only affects the name of the parent company. There will be no change to the company's brands like Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp.

How will this name change affect Charlotte businesses that advertise on Facebook?

Charlotte area business owners are expected to invest $595-million during 2021 to advertise to consumers connected to the internet. This forecast was produced by Borrell Associates, a company that tracks business advertising expenditures across the country.

These online marketing dollars will be spent on banner advertising, search engine marketing, email, as well as audio and video advertising. This is all to capture the attention of shoppers and buyers as they go about their connected days.

According to Nielsen, 95.8% of adult consumers in the Charlotte area have access to the internet. They connect, primarily, with desktop and laptop computers; smartphones; or tablets.

Ninety-six percent of Charlotte adults spend at least one hour per week online, with most spending at least 10 hours connected.

How important is Twitter to Charlotte area consumers? Yesterday, for instance, the social media platform was mentioned in at least ten articles published by the Charlotte Observer yesterday.  Almost every local TV newscast included references to the site as well.

Twitter's outsized presence in the news, however, is enormously disproportional to the importance of the micro-blogging app in the life of Charlotte's consumers.

According to Nielsen, only about 19% of adults in Charlotte use Twitter during the course of a month. This is minuscule compared to other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

Twitter offers 20 different options that Charlotte small business owners can utilize to market their goods and services to local consumers.  The platform's minimal reach, however, can hamper the success of any advertising campaign.

Following the lead of many national marketers, some Charlotte area small business owners are considering canceling or, at minimum, pausing their advertising schedules with social media network Facebook and its co-owned photo-sharing platform, Instagram.

According to the New York Times, "more than 400 companies, from Coca-Cola and Adidas to Ford and Lego, have vowed to halt advertising on the social network, in a growing protest over how it handles hate speech and other harmful content".

With the pandemic figured in, Charlotte small business owners were expected to spend $131 million on Facebook and Instagram advertising in 2020. This is according to Borrell Associates, a firm that specializes in the collection and analysis of local marketing expenditures in every city across the United States. But these expenditures could shrink if the protests become louder.

Every type of Charlotte business imaginable, including clothing stores, plumbers, HVAC repair, funeral homes, restaurants, dentists, and nonprofits, has come to realize how powerfully social media can contribute to their bottom lines.

Part of what makes Facebook and Instagram attractive to small business owners is the enormous reach these platforms have among consumers. Locally, the audience size for these two social media sites now rival Charlotte radio, TV, cable, and newspaper outlets.

For small business owners considering a hiatus from social media advertising, there is a viable way to redirect these dollars into a different medium without losing the marketing equity or momentum built-up on Facebook.

Facebook usage has swelled since the onset of the Covid-19. 

According to Nielsen, before the current chaos, 75% of Charlotte area adults used Facebook each month. This was significantly fewer than were reached by local radio each week.

According to the New York Times, however, since the start of the Coronavirus, daily Facebook traffic has increased by 27%. This compares to 33% growth in the amount of time consumers spend listening to local radio during a similar period.

Based on the surge in Facebook consumption, Charlotte small business owners might be tempted to purchase advertising on the social media platform to augment their regular, free postings. Here are are few facts these businesses should consider before investing.

Every week, 1,827,300 adult consumers tune-in to a Charlotte radio station. That is way more than are reached by other media, including local television, newspaper, social media, or streaming audio sites like Pandora and Spotify.

A more significant number for thousands of North Carolina small business owners who advertise on Charlotte radio is how many of these listeners stick around when their commercials come on.

A 2011 Nielsen study discovered that, on average, 93% of listeners stayed with the radio station they are tuned-to when the commercials come on. That number amazed many advertisers at the time who believed that audiences were far more likely to defect when the music stopped.

A lot has changed since 2011. Charlotte area consumers have many more media options and can instantly connect to each  with a button-push, mouse-click, screen-tap, or voice command. With all of these choices, do radio audiences still stay tuned during commercial breaks?

Charlotte retailers spend a considerable amount of time and money marketing their small businesses on social media.  Is this effort paying off?

Each month, according to Nielsen, 1.5 million Charlotte area adults use Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. This equates to 72% of consumers.  This reach is rather anemic compared to Charlotte radio and TV, which attracts considerably more users in a single week than these social media platforms do over 30 days.

Among local millennials, the monthly reach of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is eclipsed by the weekly reach of Charlotte radio.

The number of consumers reached by an advertising campaign, according to Nielsen, is the media consideration that has the most significant effect on increasing sales. 

Retailers in the Charlotte area rang-up $49,607,009,000 in retail sales last year, according to Nielsen. But wait. It's about to get better.

The National Retail Federation forecasts that in 2020, sales will increase by as much as 4.1%. This will create another $2.1 billion for local small business owners.  

“The economy is growing at a more modest pace, but the underlying economic fundamentals remain in place and are positive,” stated NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz. “Consumers remain upbeat and have the confidence to spend, and the steady wage growth that has come with the strong job market is fueling their spending. The state of the consumer is very healthy.

To claim a fair share of this enlarged pool of spending will require Charlotte small business owners to advertise.

“Think you have a great product?” asks the U.S. Small Business Administration. “Unfortunately, no one’s going to know about it unless you advertise.”  

How quickly the millennials have grown up.

According to Nielsen, 51% of all Charlotte area parents with children under the age of 18 are millennials.  

From the time their kids are born until they reach they are 17, these young parents will spend, on average, $233,000 per child. This does not include the cost of college.

Currently, there are 566,078 children under the age of 18 living in the Charlotte metro area. That makes the local parenting economy worth upwards of $131 billion. These dollars are being spent, among other things, on diapers, daycare, transportation, toys, education, electronics, clothing, and health care.

For North Carolina small business owners interested in competing for a substantial portion of this multi-billion dollar pool of parental cash, they must advertise to millennial moms and dads. By almost any measurement, advertising on Charlotte radio is the best way to reach this audience.

March is the biggest single month for used car sales in the Charlotte area. During these 31 days alone, local pre-owned vehicle dealers are expected to bring in $101 million in sales. This will represent 10% of their annual revenue.

By the end of May, these dealers owners will sell more than $282 million worth of pre-owned cars and trucks. This, undoubtedly, makes March-May 'used car season' in Charlotte.

Although most Charlotte used car dealers are small business owners, they do really big business. In all, over the next 12 months, more than 349,000 pre-owned vehicles will be driven off their lots.

To capture a larger share of the area's $1.1 billion used car market requires pre-owned vehicle dealers to advertise. By any measure, the best way for these business owners to advertise is on Charlotte radio.

As Valentine's Day sales begin to dwindle, that's when Charlotte small business owners start thinking about Mom.

Mother's Day, which happens on the second Sunday of May, is second only to Christmas in terms of holiday spending. Last year, Charlotte area consumers spent more than $213-million celebrating the women in their lives. That number is expected to grow again in 2020.

To claim a significant share of this Mother's Day cash, local retailers and restaurants will need to advertise.  By almost every key metric, advertising on Charlotte radio is the best choice.

Like all small business owners, Charlotte area law firms need to bring in new customers to survive.  Unlike brick-and-mortar stores, the first contact many attorneys have with potential clients is on the telephone.

"Every day we advertise on Charlotte radio," says attorney Chris Hall of the city's Emory Law Firm, "we receive 10-12 calls from listeners seeking representation."

"We can track each of these calls back to our radio commercials," he says. "Around 25% of these callers will become paying clients. This is a very high rate of return for the money we are spending."

In the Charlotte area, there are almost 7000 practicing lawyers who compete to represent the 216,000 households who will seek legal representation this year. In all, these services will generate more than $540,000,000 in attorney fees.

To earn a fair share of this billing, area attorneys need to advertise.  As Mr. Hall has learned, by most metrics, radio advertising is a powerful way to reach potential clients.

"I can prove that advertising on Charlotte radio works because I have seen firsthand what happens when we don't use it," says Bradley Byrd, General Manager of Queen Park Social in the city's South End.

Queen Park Social opened in March of 2017. The venue encompasses 22,000 square-feet of fun-and-games including eight bowling lanes, shuffleboard, ping-pong, vintage board games, a restaurant, and bar. 

"In our first year, we heavily advertised our Halloween event for an entire month on Charlotte radio stations. We sold the event out," says Mr. Byrd.  "The following year, we used only social media to promote the event. We ended up selling 800 fewer tickets."

Many times the difference between winning an election and losing is a handful of ballots. This is true in races for almost every elected office, referendum, and issue on the national, statewide, and local level.

To win a modern election requires advertising. Successful advertising requires reach. In the Charlotte area, the most potent way to reach voters is on local radio.

The Charlotte area includes the North Carolina counties of Anason, Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly, Union, plus Chester, SC Lancaster, SC and York, SC.

Last week, for instance, 89% of all registered voters in these counties tuned-in to a Charlotte radio station.  This is significantly more than were reached by local TV, local newspaper, or the major social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.

If you don't have time to read this entire article, then I will tell you right now. The best way to advertise in Charlotte is on local radio.

A vital function of advertising is to build mental availability, which nudges a consumer toward the purchase of a product or service. It also serves to provide public notice that a product or service exists and is available for purchase.

Consumers in the Charlotte area are expected to spend at least $50 billion at retail this year. To claim a greater share of this giant pool of cash requires local business owners of every size to advertise their goods and services. As Professor Jef Richards at Michigan State University points out, “Advertising is totally unnecessary…unless you want to make money."

It's time to set some misguided North Carolina small business owners straight: When we say everybody listens to Charlotte radio stations, we mean everybody.  Generations X, Y, and Z. Also, Boomers, and, yes, the millennial generation.

You know...millennials. Those are the "kids" who came of age at the turn of the millennium (which is, debatably, either 2000 or 2001).  This means 18-34-year-olds. 

In the greater Charlotte area, 628,000  millennials make-up 29% of the adult population and will deliver $16.5 billion to local cash registers.

But here's the thing about millennials that many local small business owners get wrong: millennials listen to the radio.  Almost all of them...85.6% of them, to be exact.

For Charlotte area business owners who depend on Valentine's Day to spike first-quarter sales, this year could be a battle as the decline in celebrants is expected to continue.

Based on estimates from the National Retail Federation, 1.3 million Charlotte consumers will be participating in the holiday this year. This is 20% fewer than ten years ago.

There is good news, however, for Charlotte  area business owners. Although there are will be fewer customers, local Valentine's Day spending is expected to grow to $215-million. This is 28% higher than a decade ago.

So, how does a local retailer or restaurant win the battle for the hearts and wallets of romantic consumers?  Advertising is a necessary weapon to win this war.

No weapon is as potent as advertising on Charlotte radio.