Everyone knows that mornings aren’t easy. After hitting that snooze button a couple of times, you decide to finally get up, rub the sleep off your eyes and start the day.

Tasks such as getting ready for work, cooking breakfast or sending your kids off to school, does require a bit of an extra push never mind going for a run or worse…the gym.

belVita recognized this hectic (and worst?) part of someone’s day and saw an opportunity to engage. Let’s jump in and find out how.

#Morningwin

#Morningwin is the hashtag of the hour and we all need one, a morning win not a hashtag. belVita introduced the hashtag and started the campaign around the beginning of December 2013.

The campaign focused on celebrating the followers’ “Morning Wins.” These could be significant achievements like going for a run or sending kids to school, or smaller ones like doing laundry without losing a sock. Followers received a personalized digital certificate or trophy that included their achievement. A microsite showcased their customized trophies and certificates, which were shared as images on Twitter. Some fortunate followers even received real trophies and certificates before they ran out, and the team at the Kiddnation office got theirs too. There’s also a video available that details how the campaign was carried out, and it’s definitely worth watching.

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The hashtag was only used 10 times by belVita’s followers in December, but the usage of the hashtag grew rapidly in the New Year. By the end of January, the hashtag was used 2,516 times by followers, perhaps an indication that Christmas meant that people didn’t have enough time for mornings!

The hashtag continues to be used in February and has been used 838 times by fans as of 26th February.

#Morningwin was the most used hashtag by the brand and followers as it was the only campaign hashtag used by the brand – they did use other hashtags but not around a central theme.

In January, belVita received 5,172 favorites and were re-tweeted 2,432 times which shows the campaign was successful in generating a large amount of engagement and gave an opportunity for the brand to have a conversation with their following.

Growth, Growth, Growth

belVita_Follower_Growth_Jan_1_2014_to_Jan_31_2014

In January, the brand saw a growth rate of 45.6%, well over the sector average of 2.3%. In December the brand saw a growth rate of only 4.7% which seems marginal, but it is interesting to observe that there is a correlation between hashtag usage and fan growth. The maximum growth occurred in January, which is when the hashtag usage was highest.

A brand that conducted a similar campaign is Nature Valley from the United States. In celebration of National Granola Bar Day, which is on 21st of January, Nature Valley sent a free granola bar and a certificate, if followers DMed them.

The hashtag used for this campaign was #granolabarday and the giveaway campaign only lasted a day. The hashtag was used a total 121 times by followers and the brand saw a growth rate of just 0.9% in January on a follower base of 19,000 followers. While belVita saw huge growth from its campaign, it’s possibility that Nature Valley could have seen similar growth if their campaign had lasted longer.

Similar styled digital certificates were also given to Nature Valley followers.

Response Rate

belVita_Response_Rate_Jan_1_2014_to_Jan_31_2014

The chart above shows the number of times the brand replies on the different days of the week. The brand responds to a higher number of tweets later on in the week, while keeping the average reply time low, but on Mondays the brand takes longer to reply to much fewer tweets. It’s likely that since the brand doesn’t reply on the weekend, that they are catching up on Mondays and hence take a longer time to reply, not since the volume of quires are higher, but since they need to get up to speed.

Conclusion

Gone are the days, where the fastest way to make a nutritious breakfast is taking some cereal and adding some milk. Yogurts, Instant waffles, cereal bars and now, breakfast bars are focusing on not only providing a balanced meal but are also trying to place themselves as the brand that can provide you with the energy to power your day. A country report by Euromonitor International stated that, the cereal market in the UK is mature and consumers are looking for alternative breakfast products, which seems to be resonating on social media with the likes of belVita.

It’s great that brands these days are humanizing their following instead of just looking at them like a number which just needs to grow. belVita really took the effort to make their campaign more personal, with customized certificates and trophies and saw the opportunity in the everyday ritual of their followers and tried to integrate with it. Brands should take note that, a little personalization goes a long way and will generate engagement, conversation and an increased following.

Methodology

Unmetric compiled this report by sourcing data from its own platform. Data and Insights on belVita’s activities on Twitter were analyzed for the month of January, 2014. Sign up for a free trial here.