Mitigating Corporate Image Crisis in the Social Media: Focus on some Nigerian Firms

Abstract

We all live in an entrepreneurial/industrial age just as we live in a digital age. That combination is as challenging, intriguing as it is complex. Corporate organisations have had to grapple with the use of the conventional (old) media to help build their corporate image as well as repair damaged corporate image. However, the advent of the social media makes this challenge more daunting. True, the social media can help bolster a desirable corporate image. They can also generate and escalate corporate image crisis, just as they equally can be deployed to mitigate the effects of corporate image crisis.

In this paper, we shall, together examine the following:

• Corporate image, identity, reputation and brand
• Corporate crises, types and dimension
• Forms, advantages, and disadvantages of the social media
• Managing corporate image crisis in the social media.

Before delving into the details of the paper, we need to provide important contexts to understanding the rationale for the topic. Firstly, Pang et al. (2014) see the use of the social media platforms as a two edged sword namely: an effective crisis management tool, and serving as platforms where crises could be triggered.

Secondly, the management of corporate identity in the social media context, Kostamo (2013) observes, requires understanding of both the management of corporate identity and management of social media. This is so because social media have altered the consumer’s role from a passive listener to a more active participant, the reason brand owners tell brand stories and re-create the brand by collaborating with the consumers in the social media.

Thirdly, Chaher and Spellman (2012), the widespread use of the social media has equal potential to transform corporate agenda. These tools are available for use by directors as much as by disgruntled employees, by consumers both satisfied and aggrieved, by competitors and by share owners in confrontations with the board.

Fourthly, the social media are new media technologies which as Pang et al. (2014) say, share at least three defining features: digital, converging, and networked. Digitisation means sharing, accessing, and interfacing multimedia information with other smart devices and users to enable the public to interconnect irrespective of geographical boundaries or time zones. User-generated content leads to increased consumer participation and facilitates the free flow of opinions and the sharing of experiences online. Information and conversations are no longer controlled top-down by governments, mainstream media and organisations. To this end, persons empowered by social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Blog, are able to confront giant corporations with ease.

Fifthly, evidence is growing higher, as Chaher and Chaher (2012) point out, that social media can increase awareness about a company and its products and services, provide opportunities for more targeted marketing, help gain ideas for new business opportunities, improve communication with partners in the supply chain and help companies learn how existing and potential customers perceive the company’s brand and reputation.