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What You Can Learn From KitKat’s Latest Hashtag Campaign

Instagram Hashtags Apr 24, 2019

With a mildly ominous undertone, on the 19th of February 2019 KitKat’s official main Instagram page posted up this:

 Instagram post by @kitkat
Instagram post published by @kitkat on the 19th of February 2019

This was the first time the main KitKat page introduced the hashtag #HaveAZenBreak which the delighted chocolate biscuit fanatics would find out was the launch of KitKat’s matcha green tea biscuit.

Upon looking through the hashtag on instagram, @kitkat.nl had posted the same thing on February 16th 2019. I decided this was an opportunity to learn from an established company, what exactly was it that makes a great hashtag campaign, so I took to Minter.io to track the campaign.

Instagram post by @kitkat
Instagram post published by @kitkat.nl on the 16th of February 2019

On April the 22nd 2019 there were 121 posts with the hashtag #HaveAZenBreak, only 6 of which were from the main KitKat page. Some of the other posts have come from other branches of the KitKat company like @kitkat_japan_official.

Instagram post published by @kitkat_japan_official featuring #HaveAZenBreak
Instagram post published by @kitkat_japan_official featuring #HaveAZenBreak

Some posts featuring the hashtag have come from public figures/influencers like @sobo_cosplay who has 41.2K followers.

Instagram post published by @sobo_cosplay featuring #HaveAZenBreak
Instagram post published by @sobo_cosplay featuring #HaveAZenBreak

Other posts have been user-generated, building a buzz around the new product. Much like the example below from @7254sa, hashtag campaigns are incredibly powerful for getting your consumers to shout about your products.

Instagram post published by @7254sa featuring #HaveAZenBreak
Instagram post published by @7254sa featuring #HaveAZenBreak

So, having been tracking the campaign for 7 weeks now, what can we see about what is working and what isn’t using the data from the hashtag tracker on Minter.io?

Let’s look at content first.

The number of posts are increasing, with a large spike coming into April.

Total Posts graph for #HaveAZenBreak by Minter.io
Total Posts graph for #HaveAZenBreak by Minter.io

Most of the posts are photos and most of the interactions are with photo content.

The post sentiment rate has remained mostly positive, with only a few blips into a negative percentage. As KitKat’s product is a food product this may be down to taste, but the overwhelming trend is that users are saying positive things about the hashtag.

Post Sentiment Rate graph for #HaveAZenBreak by Minter.io
Post Sentiment Rate graph for #HaveAZenBreak by Minter.io

A large amount of top posts (by interactions) feature people in them. They also tend to feature the product outside of the wrapper. As we look further down the top posts, there are cakes featuring the product and the product in its wrapper.

Top Posts (by interactions) for #HaveAZenBreak by Minter.io
Top Posts (by interactions) for #HaveAZenBreak by Minter.io

Now let’s check out the hashtag’s context

All the associated hashtags are relevant to the brand and the product, meaning this hashtag is unique and recognisable. We can also see that the associated hashtags are positive e.g. #matchalover and that the Japanese market has specifically taken to the product.

Associated Hashtags graph for #HaveAZenBreak by Minter.io
Associated Hashtags graph for #HaveAZenBreak by Minter.io

Users are using the hashtag mainly with only 2 or 3 other hashtags. Again this is a good indicator of the unique nature of the hashtag.

Number of Hashtags graph for #HaveAZenBreak by Minter.io
Number of Hashtags graph for #HaveAZenBreak by Minter.io

Tracking a hashtag is just as important as creating the hashtag itself. If you don’t know how well it is performing, or what people are saying and feeling about your product or services, you really are missing a trick. Learn how to track your own hashtag campaign effectively here and check out Minter.io for even more metrics tracking.

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Sarah Rachel

Fan of tea, rock music and fluffy animals.