Nowadays, people spend less time watching television and more time online. According to the latest Statista reports on daily social media usage worldwide, the average daily usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 147 minutes per day. As Charlotte Parkes, social media star and marketing expert explains, this is a significant amount of time that businesses can use to share their message and get to targeted audiences. “When you take into account that the average adult person spends more than two-thirds of their day sleeping and working, they are left with around 7-8 hours of free time,” says Charlotte. “Out of that free time, they spend more than two and a half hours browsing social media, looking at pictures and posts of their friends and their favorite brands.”
Charlotte Parkes is a seasoned influencer with over seven years of experience in building and marketing brands on social media. Her journey initially started as an Instagram model, but over time she gained traction and her brand evolved as she spread her area of influence to other platforms such as TikTok, Twitch, and YouTube, where she has over two million followers combined.
For Charlotte Parkes, social media platforms have become an incredible tool to help small businesses reach customers and find product-market fit. As she further explains, it is widely known that small businesses are the backbone of the American economy, and with this shift toward digital marketing, they got a chance to grow even stronger.
“Before social media, mom and pop businesses had a tough time attracting customers other than those in the near vicinity. Huge companies were hogging all of the marketing space with their enormous budget,” says Charlotte. “Social media platforms offer a cheaper way for small businesses and personal brands to build their presence through content creation.” Influencer marketing, in particular, is bringing in millions of dollars to small and mega businesses alike in new revenue directly from social media linked sales.
And content creators are definitely ones that brands should turn to, as sponsored content coming through the mouth of well-liked influencers is more likely to get consumers to commit to a purchase. A Sprout Social report on the habits of online consumers revealed that over 53% of Millennials said that they would rather buy something from a brand that’s represented by culturally relevant social content over their competitors.
Charlotte Parkes explains that the reason for this is because genuine and up-to-date content creators seem more trustworthy. “Being genuine and keeping up with trends is what gives you that competitive edge in the online space. People can quickly discern fake from real, and if they deem you worthy you are in for a treat,” says Charlotte. “More and more brands are taking this approach because it shows results. Furthermore, it strengthens their position in the market and industry, and that’s what keeps them going, keeps businesses afloat, and what fuels today’s economy.”
