First off, this is not an opinion about who’s in the right or in the wrong here, Arik Air, or their self-proclaimed adversary, Omojuwa. If that’s what you came for, I’m sorry to disappoint you. That whole scenario has played itself out on Twitter yesterday, and you’ll find no shortage of opinions there, if you care to look.
While I don’t really care for the merits of that case itself, what I do find to be of particular interest are how the concept of social media influence is evolving in Nigeria, and how the increasing force of online sentiment will cause Nigerian brands to become self-aware and to evaluate their actions and business practices against the probable consequences of online scrutiny by social customers who are increasingly armed with virally interactive online media tools.
From the Arik side of things, I imagine that other brands are watching keenly, and taking note. Whenever customer dissatisfaction finds its way online, it needs to be quickly contained by proactive and reasoned action on the part of the brand concerned. Like I said before, the airline could have handled the situation better. They could have seen it as an opportunity to reinforce a positive perception of the Arik brand by addressing the concerns raised in an open, public and conciliatory manner. Instead, they chose to squander that opportunity by allowing the storm to boil out of the tea cup.
It might not affect their bottom-line in real life, but unless they find a really good SEO consultant, they’ll have to endure the knowledge that thanks to all this free publicity, they’ll be forever remembered as the airline that stole Omojuwa’s iPad. And steals things.
Last night I slept with my travel clothes on. I’ve had to be on the road from VI to Ikeja twice just because an Arik staff took my luggage.
— Ohimai Godwin Amaize (@MrFixNigeria) September 27, 2012
From Omojuwa’s end, other interesting lessons can be learned. While his social media campaign against the airline was popular in its early stages, it appears that his vendetta has finally jumped the shark, and a sudden change in sentiment among some the Nigerian Twitterati has seen him taking as much flak as the brand he seeks to take down. Going “out of line”, making “extortionate demands” and generally “misusing his influence” are among the most prominent accusations leveled against him.
I have neither the time nor inclination to investigate the merit of these assertions. But I think the lesson here is that Twitter-earned social capital can prove fickle, and that any social media influencer that wishes to retain their influence would be well advised to choose their battles carefully, know when the time has come to stand down, and quit while the ovation is loudest.
In any event, while the whole ecosystem will become wiser for it, the biggest winners here are online PR, brand/image consultants, SEO consultants and social media managers, who I imagine will have a field day consulting for brands that will increasingly require online reputation management services, lest they get Arik-ified. Y’all can go now and start updating those LinkedIn profiles.
Twitter Reputation Management – a new staple line item in PR invoices, thanks to Omojuwa’s iPad
— Editi Effiong (@EditiEffiong) September 26, 2012
