by Remon Geyser (@remongeyser) The Nigerian market is in the middle of the Pan-African mobile tech boom. While internet access on desktop computers and laptops is still in its early days, cellphones now serve as the primary gateway and access point to the World Wide Web.
World information, including the ability to access, comment and share content, is open to any Nigerian with access to a smartphone — the number of which are exponentially increasing. Being a country so rich in dynamic, branded, personalised and trending conversation, social media platforms have facilitated the growth of rapid information sharing.
Although the local landscape offers an impressive mix of social networking sites only marketed to Nigerians such as Naijapals, Yarnme and Online Nigeria, mainstream platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have engaged the public, stimulating conversation on a multitude of lifestyle, branding, sports and entertainment contexts.
Branding and politics
The Nigerian market may be classified as aspirational, energetic and passionate, and this filters through when analysing the echoes of its brand-centric conversations.
MTN Nigeria, the legacy of which hails from our own South African branding landscape, boasts 418 000 followers of its official Twitter handle, and generates a great deal of conversation, with “#MTNNigeria” trending in much of Nigeria’s tech-based news publications.
Cross-branding mentions are abundant too, as mobile companies and local tech-driven communities highlight their offerings, including the popularised hashtag as a collaborative social strategy effort. Consumers tend to tweet about MTN Nigeria in context of what they use the service for, promotions that they have engaged with, and products that they have bought in conjunction with the brand. These tweets are, in essence, a reflection of the brand’s relationships with its consumers and an opportunity to analyse the social health of the company — which is as vibrant as ever
The realm of political agendas has proven a hot topic for many Nigerians. Tony Anenih’s recent step down as acting chairman of the board of trustees of the People’s Democratic Party showcased the potential of sparking a political debate on Twitter.
The sporting industry of Nigeria is backed by a massive influx of public support.
Soccer sits at the forefront of notoriety and popularity. Organisers have facilitated a regularly updated and engaged Facebook page entitled “The Nigeria Football Federation”. This platform enables the latest news related to national Nigerian football team, the Super Eagles, to be pushed into the view of the reader as it happens. The community creates a chatting spot for fans to comment on the latest in the sporting landscape.
For rapid, quickfire opinions of national soccer players, coaches, and the landscape in general, Twitter seems to serve as the ideal platform of engagement. In-game scores are commonly tweeted, as well as the universally recognisable quotes of football fanaticism. In particular, rising stars of the pitch, such as U-20 representative Taiwo Awoniyi, are followed closely, with fans leaving comments on his performance in every match he takes part in.
Nigerian music industry
Nigeria’s modern music scene is another element of the nation’s culture that is sparking up digital dialogues.
D’banje, a local icon and international idol of African pop music, uses his social media platforms to engage with fans (interestingly, he has gained notoriety with a small but growing South African fan base). His official Facebook fan page, liked by over 1m people, is used to predominantly showcase his latest releases, projects, branded partnerships and social movements.
The contrast between how fans in western countries search for the latest scoops on personalities, compared to those of Nigeria, is starting to blur as the methods become more similar and universal. Nigerian artists such as D’banje will soon be faced with a first-world reflection of content-driven fan engagement as more markets find their way around the content-sharing and opinionated “social parliament” that is Facebook.
Entertainment
Although traditional forms of entertainment-based communication are still popular and used in abundance around the world, they are one-way and a consumer dead-end in terms of generating opinionated conversation.
The government-run Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) has an impressive following on Twitter and quickly updates its feed with the latest occurrences from within the country. Africa Magic, a region-specific service offering of channels (owned by MultiChoice), has hit home with the Nigerian market and is a very common mention on Twitter.
As entertainment becomes more accessible to the up-and-coming middle class of Nigeria, the audience will want to rant and rave about their favourite shows and keep up to date with the gossip of plotlines. More and more voices will be heard online in Nigeria. We are bound to see more branded campaigns, online activations, news communities and local topics come to life on more mainstream social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook in the not-too-distant future.
This information was provided by Springleap’s Trend Spotting platform.
Every month, Springleap provides an oversight of local trends in the South African market,
sourced from among its 22 000 African creatives, with new country specific reports planned
for a number of key African and Middle Eastern markets.
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Remon Geyser (@remongeyser) is a burger fanatic, wine connoisseur and eSports enthusiast (yes, a fancy term for playing computer games). He is also the research lead for Springleap, heading up a new global creative research division while obscurely attempting a PhD. Springleap provides instant creative expert feedback to rock marketing ROI. Remon contributes the new weekly “Talk Africa” column, covering Pan-African trends, on MarkLives.com.
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