Marketers find pot of gold on social media for St. Patrick's Day
Amazon, Staples and Etsy were just a few of the numerous brands leveraging social media to appeal to followers for yesterday?s St. Patrick?s Day celebration, tying their products into the holiday in creative ways.
Marketers found a series of creative methods to match merchandise to the celebrated Irish holiday, where social media saw a range in displays, featuring a bevy of green, shamrocks and leprechauns. While Amazon shared an eye-catching photo of dog dressed as a leprechaun, Staples shared an image of pen products creating a rainbow leading to a pot of gold.
"It is critically important to align ones products and content with core themes relevant with the brand, not just in social media but across all media," said managing partner at mCordis. "A brand's primary theme must always be about the people it serves and the problem it solves or the opportunity it enables for them."
Social media gold
Yesterday marked the annual pay tribute to all things Irish, and brands on social did not waste the opportunity to showcase their products while connecting to celebrators. For instance, Kenneth Cole reminded its followers on Twitter and Instagram to keep it safe while partying, with an image of one its footwear products from the view of someone seeing double that read ?PSA: If you see 4 shoes here, go straight home. #StPatricksDay #Drinkresponsibly #seeingdouble.?
Amazon was sure to be a part of the trending social media community with an image of a French Bulldog modeling a sparkly green bow tie and a tiny leprechaun-themed hat, with the text ?it ain?t easy being green,? and the hashtag #stpatricksday. Areopastel showcased products for women to wear on the holiday, with a flat lay image of St. Patrick?s Day themed tank tops, jean shorts, sunglasses, a watch and a pair of socks.
Staples shared an image of Papermate pens lined up as in order as the start of a rainbow, which then led to a pot of gold. The retailer included hashtags #StPatricksDay and #BreakOutOfBoring while also tagging Papermate to increase the reach of the tweet.
Product placements
Etsy created a page dedicated specifically to St. Patrick?s theme products from its sellers and shared an image of four leaf clover necklaces on Twitter with a link back to the site. William-Sonoma took a wide leap, by sharing an image of a flatbread spinach recipe noting ?Wear green and eat green, #StPatricksDay, 13 ways to eat more greens,? including a link to its Web site for instructions.
Pottery Barn got Twitter followers in the spirit by sharing a post that offers 17 percent off entire purchases online with the code ?lucky.? To keep the Irish theme alive, the brand included four leaf clover emojis.
"Marketers must remember that their primary function is to be of service," he said. "Once the marketer has a strong handle on their theme, their narrative, they can then experiment with aligning with secondary themes, like holidays, but only if the secondary theme can be appropriately aligned with the primary brand theme, brand promise."