St Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and Seachtain Na Gaeilge is in full swing. The snag is 17 days of celebrating the Irish language in the run-up to St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a great time to get your Irish on and use a bit of your cúpla focal on social media to promote your business.
It’s a fun way for any business to capitalise on the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint, and it is especially powerful as part of a campaign to identify your brand as Irish. Whether you want to encourage your target market to support a local company or you want to sell to the Irish diaspora, SnaG and Paddy’s Day are good focal points. But how you should do it?
It’s a fun way for any business to capitalise on the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint, and it is especially powerful as part of a campaign to identify your brand as Irish. Whether you want to encourage your target market to support a local company or you want to sell to the Irish diaspora, SnaG and St Patrick’s Day are good focal points. But how you should do it?
Facebook and SnaG have launched a campaign encouraging people and businesses to post As Gaeilge for the 17 days of SnaG. But before you race off to start posting in Irish, you need to know a few things. Perhaps the most important caveat is that Facebook does not translate Irish. You might have earned a fainne for your fluency and enthusiasm. Maybe you could draft a lengthy post in Irish. But could your audience read it without the option for Facebook to translate it?
Knowing your audience well is invaluable. Marketing to North Americans with Irish roots is different to marketing in a Gaeltacht area. How much Irish can your audience read? Odds are high that they can’t (or won’t) read much. So use your Irish as you would with a cooking spice. Carefully. Sparingly. Just enough to give your post a bit of flavour without it being overwhelming. This isn’t the time to show off your skills. The goal is to intrigue and engage your audience.
In short, use your Irish online the same way it is used in real life in Ireland. Toss out a few short and appropriate phrases, but don’t assume you can strike up a conversation in Irish with a stranger you encounter outside the Gaeltacht. But do use it. Ireland’s identity is a powerful unique selling point for those who live here and those with roots here.
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By Irene Hislop
By Jeff Sheridan