A St Patrick’s Day Giveaway is the perfect campaign to host in March. It’s Springtime, which means most brands will be giving it their all to promote their new Spring deals.
Hosting a giveaway in March is the ultimate way to make your brand stand out from its competitors. This will help you to better promote your Spring deals.
A March giveaway will allow your brand to be a part of the St. Paddy’s Day celebrations, a global phenomenon. It’s the perfect opportunity for your brand to gain exposure among the millions of people that celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
We have giveaway examples and ideas in this guide that will inspire your very own St. Patrick’s Day giveaway.
But first, let’s find out more about St. Patrick’s Day.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get all Our Contest & Giveaway Marketing Guides, Checklists, and tutorials that have helped 100’s of brands collect 15k+ emails in under 21 days!
Why Should You Host a St Patrick’s Day Giveaway?
St. Patrick’s Day is a global religious and cultural celebration that is held on 17 March. The 17th of March is a holiday in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
While St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated by Irish people globally because of its significance, non-Irish people are more than happy to join in on the celebrations. One excellent way for brands to celebrate this exciting holiday is to host a giveaway.
A giveaway is an ideal way to give something back to the people during this celebratory day. Giveaways are the perfect tool that allows brands to stand out from competing brands.
Most brands will use St. Patrick’s Day as an opportunity to run elaborate marketing campaigns. Your giveaway can outdo your competitor’s efforts during this time, as people will be driven to the idea of winning something for free.
St. Paddy’s Day Stats
Here are some interesting St. Patrick’s Day Statistics for brands (courtesy of Insider):
- Spending over St. Patrick’s Day is in the billions (estimated spend for 2020 was over $6 billion.
- The average person will spend around $40 during the celebrations.
- 57% of Americans plan to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
- The US has 193 cities with an Irish population of 10% or more.
As far as stats go, your brand should consider promoting itself on St. Patrick’s Day. There’s an exciting party atmosphere on the day that people love being a part of. Your brand should join in as well!
However, unlike Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day isn’t a day that’s geared mostly towards gift-giving. People are more inclined to spend their money on green party gear like hats, outfits, beer, and more.
St Patrick’s Day Giveaway Examples
Not sure what a St Patrick’s Day giveaway looks like? We have you covered!
Here are a few St. Paddy’s Day giveaways from the web. We also took the liberty to analyze each giveaway to find crucial strategies that you can use in your next campaign.
St Patrick’s Day Giveaway – @IndoorSmokers (YouTube)
- Entry Method: Subscribe and Comment to enter (additional entry methods available)
- Prize: Innokin T18X Vape Kit
- Ideal for: Influencers, vloggers, and small channels
IndoorSmokers is an entertainment, review, and news YouTube channel that’s focused on smoking and vaping accessories.
The host of the channel celebrates St. Patricks Day. Therefore, it was a great opportunity to host a giveaway and talk about the new cookies flavored vape juice.
To win a vape kit (20 kits for 20 winners), users were required to subscribe to the IndoorSmokers channel and leave a comment on the giveaway video. IndoorSmokers used a service like VYPER to pick a winner at random from the comments.
There were also additional entry methods via IndoorSmokers’ socials. Users stood a chance of winning a prize simply by following Indoor Smokers on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
Key Takeaways:
- 1 Giveaway, 20 prizes, and 20 winners.
- Winners are chosen across all platforms. 10 winners on YouTube, 3 on Twitter, 3 on Facebook, and 3 on Instagram. This means that entrants have multiple ways to enter and win. Multiple entry methods over different platforms allow the host to build engagement and followers over all their social networks.
- Getting users to comment on the video to enter is the perfect strategy to build engagement on a YouTube video. This strategy is ideal for YouTube channels wanting to increase the virality of their giveaway video.
- Using a service like VYPER to select a winner at random is essential to any giveaway. This ensures that the winners were selected fairly and that everyone who entered had an equal opportunity to win.
St. Patty’s Day Giveaway – @shantelleflake (Instagram)
- Entry Method: Follow us, Tag 3 friends, and Save the Post
- Prize: $400 Cash
- Ideal for: Small businesses that want to grow their Instagram Profile
Shantelle Flake is a life coach and business mentor. She uses Instagram to promote healthy living and her businesses.
Shantelle saw St. Patricks Day as an opportunity to host a small Instagram Giveaway. She and her friends pooled in money to create one cash prize for the giveaway.
Users were required to follow Shantelle and her friends to enter. They were also required to save the post and tag 3 friends in the comments of the giveaway post.
Therefore, Shantelle and her friends used this giveaway to acquire new fans and boost engagement on the platform.
Key Takeaways:
- A giveaway hosted by a person looking to promote their small business.
- The value of the giveaway prize was boosted with the help of 3 other friends in return for exposure and new fans. This is better than contributing the full amount to get the same results.
- Asking entrants to tag 3 friends in the comments certainly helps to boost post engagement and exponentially increase exposure. One follower will now refer 3 new friends to the campaign.
- The downside of the cash prize is that it will attract a broad audience as opposed to Shantelle’s target audience. It would be better for her to give away a product or service that only her target audience will find appealing.
St. Paddy’s Day Giveaway – @CashinMortgages (Instagram)
- Entry Method: Follow us, Tag 2 friends, Like the Post, and Answer a Question
- Prize: Prize bundle: Coffee and petrol cards, chocolates, and more
- Ideal for: Brands looking to host a St. Patrick’s Day giveaway but are not associated with the holiday
Cashin Mortgages are mortgage brokers based in Ontario. They use Instagram to educate users on mortgages by offering expert financial advice.
Cashin Mortgages differs from a brand you would associate with St. Patricks Day. But that didn’t stop them from hosting their St. Paddy’s Day giveaway on Instagram.
They created a giveaway bundle called the “St. Paddy’s Day starter kit.” The kit consisted of coffee and fuel vouchers, a pot of chocolate gold, and more Irish goodies.
To enter the giveaway, users had to answer, “We all love gold… so how would you spend it??” Users were also required to tag friends and follow Cashin Mortgages to enter.
Key Takeaways:
- This giveaway is an excellent example of how a niche brand (or a company in the financial sector) can still host a giveaway outside its niche.
- A prize bundle that is made up of a few small prizes is always recommended. A small prize may not draw a large audience, but a large prize bundle with many small prizes will.
- Users have to answer a question in the comments section to enter. This strategy encourages people to comment, which increases engagement, boosting the post’s virality.
- Cheap vouchers and chocolates are sufficient enough to host a small giveaway. However, the results may not be massive. It would be best to host such giveaways regularly to realize more significant, long-term results.
Dino Bars Giveaway – @EatDinoBars (Instagram)
- Entry Method: Follow us, Tag a friend, and Like the Post
- Prize: Dino Bars treats and Target gift cards
- Ideal for: Brands looking to collab with other brands to promote themselves on Instagram
Dino Bars is a brand that makes kids’ fruit bars wrapped in edible paper. They have a decent following on Instagram, so they chose to treat their audience with a St. Patricks Day giveaway.
Dino Bars hosted a giveaway, with the prize being their fruit bars. They also include Target gift cards in the prize to attract a larger audience.
This is an excellent example of how a brand with cheap consumable products should host a giveaway. However, it would have been better for Dino Bars to give away gift cards for their store. This will encourage entrants to visit the Dino Bars store to find out what they can get with the gift card if they win.
If Dino Bars could not use their own gift cards, it would have been better for them to collaborate with a brand that could do so. Then, that brand can sponsor gift cards and help promote the giveaway in return for leads generated from the campaign.
Key Takeaways:
- A gift card giveaway with extra treats always works well on social media.
- Adding a three-leaf clover to the giveaway post and hosting it before St. Patricks Day is enough for the giveaway theme to be relevant to the holiday. This can be done over other holidays or promotional periods.
- Getting users to tag other users in the comments will boost engagement on the giveaway post while also getting the tagged people to discover the post. This strategy will exponentially increase engagement on the post, potentially making the post go viral on the platform.
We mentioned hosting gift card giveaways above, which is an excellent strategy for boosting traffic to an online store. It is worth considering, especially if your store does gift cards or vouchers.
Click here to learn more about Gift Card Giveaways.
St. Patrick’s Day Giveaway Ideas from VYPER
We used our own giveaway landing page builder to create two St. Patrick’s Day Giveaways. Our inspiration from these giveaways comes from the amazing campaigns people have created on VYPER.
NB. The giveaways below are all demo campaigns created using our service. You can signup for free here and create your own designs using VYPER – https://vyper.io/user/register?redirect=freeaccount
Party City St. Patrick’s Day Giveaway (Online Party Store)
- Entry Method – Visit our website to enter
- Prize – Gift Cards
- Goal – Boost website traffic and sales
Party City is an online store that sells party supplies, costumes, and balloons. You can find just about any item imaginable for themed parties, holidays, and special occasions.
Party City stocks a ton of St. Patrick’s Day-themed party decorations, outfits, gifts, and toys. A giveaway hosted on their website can help drive traffic to Party City promotions.
People looking to enter the giveaway on Party City’s website will discover the brand and its products and promotions.
Benefits of this campaign:
- Increase in website traffic over St. Patrick’s Day.
- Party City does sell St. Patrick’s Day merchandise. This giveaway will allow more people to discover this merch at a time when it is in demand.
- Gift Cards make for excellent giveaway prizes. Especially if the voucher is for the host brand’s website. With gift cards, expenses are kept to a minimum, and giveaway winners will have to visit your website to redeem the gift cards.
- People who enter giveaways usually look up the giveaway prize. If the prize is gift cards, then they will most likely visit the store offering the gift cards to find out what they can buy if they win. This makes gift card prizes an exceptional tool for getting people to discover your products.
Fangamer St. Paddy’s Day Selfie Contest (Online Brand)
- Entry Method – Share your Paddy’s Day Selfie on our socials
- Prize – Game collector bundle – Loot Box
- Goal – Increase social media engagement and brand awareness
Fangamer is an online store that sells video games and gaming merchandise. They specialize in unique clothing, toys, and branded paraphernalia.
An online store like Fangamer can find success on social networks like Instagram. If Fangamer builds a community of fans on Instagram, they can easily drive that audience to their website.
Hosting a selfie contest on Instagram is an ideal way to produce user-generated content (UGC) and build a relevant audience.
Benefits of this campaign:
- A user-generated campaign that instantly builds a valid fanbase for your brand. Ideal for visual platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
- The prize is specific to people interested in gaming. This means that most contest entrants will be gamers. A perfect strategy for Fangamer, as their ideal audience is made up of gamers.
- A UGC contest is good for boosting engagement. This will lead to more users discovering the Fangamer brand and website. Because the contest will certainly use gaming hashtags, the users that discover Fangamer will be an ideal target audience of people interested in gaming.
How to host a St. Patrick’s Day Giveaway
Here is a quick guide on how to host your own St. Patrick’s Day Giveaway:
1. Set Clear Objectives
Start by defining what you aim to achieve with your giveaway. Are you looking to increase social media followers, drive traffic to your website, or perhaps boost engagement?
Setting clear objectives will guide the structure and promotion of your giveaway.
2. Choose the Prize
Select a prize that resonates with St. Patrick’s Day and appeals to your target audience. This could range from themed merchandise and gift cards to local Irish pubs or even a green gadget.
Ensure the prize is enticing enough to encourage participation.
3. Determine the Entry Method
Decide how participants can enter your giveaway. Popular options include:
- Liking and sharing your post on social media.
- Tagging friends in the comments.
- Signing up for your newsletter.
- Creating content with a specific hashtag.
Choose an entry method that aligns with your objectives and is easy for participants to complete.
4. Use a Themed Hashtag
Create a unique and catchy hashtag for your giveaway. This promotes brand awareness and allows you to track entries and engagement easily.
Make sure it’s relevant to St. Patrick’s Day and your brand.
5. Promote Your Giveaway
Effective promotion is key to the success of your giveaway. Utilize your social media platforms, email newsletters, and website to spread the word.
Consider collaborating with influencers or local businesses to reach a wider audience.
6. Follow the Rules
Familiarize yourself with the legal requirements and social media platform rules for hosting a giveaway. This includes specifying how winners will be chosen, the giveaway duration, and how winners will be announced and contacted.
7. Select and Announce the Winner
Choose a winner through a random draw to ensure fairness. Announce the winner publicly on social media and contact them directly to arrange prize delivery.
Be transparent about the selection process to maintain trust with your audience.
8. Analyze and Reflect
After the giveaway concludes, analyze its performance against your objectives. Look at metrics such as engagement rates, new followers, and website traffic.
Reflect on what worked well and what could be improved for future giveaways.
By following these steps, you can host a successful St. Patrick’s Day giveaway that engages your audience, promotes your brand, and celebrates the festive spirit of the holiday.
St. Patrick’s Day Giveaway Q&A
Yes, as long as your giveaway sticks to a Green St. Patrick’s Day theme.
Some examples of suitable prizes include St. Patrick’s Day paraphernalia, clothing, and toys. Green beer and Guinness are also popular. If your brand does not offer products suitable for the celebration, then perhaps you can give away gift cards or other prizes that are relevant.
St. Patrick’s Day is on the 17th of March. Hosting a giveaway at the start of March will be ideal as you can run the campaign for two weeks. You can potentially announce the winner on the 17th.
However, if your prize is going to be costumes and beer, then you will have to ensure that the winner is announced earlier so that they can receive their prize in time for the 17th.
TL;DR
St. Patrick’s Day is a global religious and cultural celebration. While the holiday has its roots in Ireland, non-Irish people still love to be a part of the celebrations.
Hosting a giveaway before St. Patrick’s Day is an excellent way for brands to promote themselves and be a part of the celebrations. It’s also a good strategy for getting your brand to stand out from other competing brands.
What do you think about St. Patrick’s Day Giveaways? Is this something that your brand would potentially host? Let us know in the comments below.
Jack Paxton is the co-founder of VYPER, a marketing tool that helps brands build email lists, social followings, and revenue using viral giveaways, referral, and reward programs. After millions of dollars spent testing different marketing strategies at his marketing agency. He then also co-founded Hyax a fast, conversion & design-focused course and funnel builder for creators.
