Amazon’s St. Patrick’s Day Cookie Cutter Marketing Gimmick? 5 Takeaways for Brands

So I was surfing Facebook just like I do every day and what did I run across? An Amazon social media post advertising a St. Patrick’s Day promotion. Instantly it struck me as odd, so I gave it a closer look.

First, was Amazon really advertising about St. Patrick’s Day in August and second, does that pot o’ gold look like a phallic symbol? Why yes; yes it does!

And I’m not the only one who thought that. At that time about 3,000 others – plus the countless number commenting on others’ comments – agreed with me.

1. Did Amazon plan this as a way to get a viral buzz going about their brand?
2. Is this a clever marketing gimmick?
3. Could this really just be a marketing fail?

Amazon’s Social Media Post St. Patrick’s Day Cookie Cutter Marketing Gimmick or Goof Up?

Considering it is August, you know Amazon’s social team went to great effort to dig out this product to post about it. And look at the product that is most often usually purchased with it! Someone at Amazon has a serious since of humor. (You’ll have to click and go look yourself. I am holding out on providing an image for this one.)

Whether is was on purpose or not, the fact is we all want to go viral on Facebook, Twitter and all the other social media channels, plus the world wide web, right? Try as we may, going viral is not something you can plan for, but you can leverage creativity, marketing ingenuity, and even a few gimmicks to get noticed.

There is a long list of many ways to accomplish this, but today I am going to explore five. Four of these are pretty easy. Number five on the list is going to require some work. Are you ready?

Five Ways To Get A Brand Noticed Online (and Perhaps Get A Viral Buzz)

1. Live off the viral buzz of others.

This is one of the easiest things to do. I am doing this right now. Most likely I will not be the only one writing on what Amazon did with this social post. People will post bashing the idea, supporting the idea, and just plain discussing the marketing mistake Amazon made (whether it was on purpose or not).

2. Pay attention to what is happening around you.

Do you remember when Trump announced his candidacy for president? The very next morning an Advice marketing team member heard a discussion about it on the radio. The next thing you know we had all hands on deck writing jokes and creating memes, and Natalie Gould, our VP of Content Management published a total spoof blog on our Rocks Digital brand website. Do you not watch the news and only listen to Spotify or Pandora? You could be missing out on the real world and things that are happening each day. At least hit the news sites in the morning first thing and watch for opportunities to get a buzz.

3. Integrate gimmicks as part of your marketing plan.

Get known for doing off-the-wall stuff. Here’s an example – on April Fool’s Day this year, we ran a “Guaranteed #1 Ranking on Google” campaign. This was a graphic that appeared on the home page of the website. As the user chased it around with the mouse attempting to click, it just kept moving – the user could not actually click the graphic. After about five seconds of this a different graphic popped up with an offer they really could click on! This took them to a landing page to learn more about how to increase their local SEO value, which really could get them to the first page of Google organically, through directory listing optimization and a local SEO strategy.

4. Be a trend spotter.

Before Pokémon Go went mainstream and everyone was playing and writing about it, it was still being talked about online. The select few that were playing were posting on social outlets. Maybe not Facebook at first, so pay attention to the other channels also. Watch what is trending on Twitter, Facebook, and check out Google Trends. Pay attention to the most popular topics and see if you can write about it and tie it to your business. If you have teenagers or nieces and nephews, ask them what they are into. Get them to text you when they find something new that they or their friends like.

5. Be a trend starter.

This is the hardest thing to do: to really have success with starting a trend you need to get others involved. Reach out to your tribe with what you are planning to do and the results you hope to achieve. Brainstorm on the ways to make it happen. If you get them on board and committed to participating, you’ll have more success at getting the trend started. Sometimes you’ll have to give them a stake in the success, such as first rights to publish about it, etc., but it will certainly be worth it in the long run.

These are just five ways you can start today watching for opportunities to get more exposure for your brand and the clients you represent. When you study this list, it isn’t really a complicated process to get things moving along and get more attention online.

So what do you think? Was this a marketing gimmick or goof up by the Amazon team? 

Be sure to come back next week. I’ll have something good for you.