Analytical Study of Social Media Use by Nigerian Civil Society Organisations for Advocacy Communication

Civil society organisations in Nigeria have adopted social media as a primary advocacy communication tool, but the strategic sophistication, effectiveness, and challenges of this adoption have not been systematically analysed across the sector. This study analytically examined how Nigerian civil society organisations use social media for advocacy communication. A mixed-methods analytical design was employed, combining systematic content analysis of 12 months of social media output (1,440 posts across Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram) from 12 purposively selected Nigerian CSOs spanning human rights, environmental, gender, and anti-corruption sectors, with structured interviews with 18 CSO communications directors and social media managers. Social media content was coded for campaign focus, message type, audience targeting, engagement rates, and cross-platform consistency. Interview data were analysed thematically. Results showed significant variation in social media strategic sophistication, with human rights and anti-corruption CSOs demonstrating more systematic content calendar planning and audience targeting than environmental and gender-focused organisations. Average engagement rates were highest for storytelling-format content (mean engagement rate 4.8 percent) and lowest for policy document sharing (mean 0.7 percent). Inter-CSO digital collaboration was practised by only 31.6 percent of organisations. Mobile-first content optimisation was absent from 58.3 percent of organisations despite predominantly mobile audience access to their accounts. The study provides analytical evidence on the gaps between CSO social media communication aspirations and effective practice, recommending coalition digital advocacy platforms and shared content production capacity for the Nigerian civil society sector.

Keywords: civil society organisations, social media advocacy, communication strategy, Nigerian CSOs, digital activism