The Facebook Passion Page Project Part 1: What is A Passion Page?

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What is the Passion Page project? 

The Passion Page project is a multi-part blog post series in which I'll be telling the story of the launch, growth, and hopeful monetisation of a Facebook Page, with very  little investment, both monetary and time-wise. My hope is that this will be a success, and that you will be able to replicate the process too.

In this first part, I'd like to introduce the concept of Passion Pages, explain how they differ from ordinary Facebook Pages, and why they could be lucrative for you and your brand. Without further ado, let's go... 

What are Passion Pages? 

Chances are that you have already encountered plenty of Passion Pages on Facebook, and you might even interact with them regularly. They're Pages that, rather than focus on a specific brand or product, instead post content that is centered around a specific theme or idea, either serious or silly - but mostly the latter. Two popular examples include "Welcome to the Internet" and "I fucking love science"

Why should businesses care?

Passion Pages are home to some of the most liked, commented-on, and shared content on all of Facebook. As a brand, it can sometimes be hard to juggle to image that you want to convey of yourself on your Facebook Page against the desire to post content that, however shallow (cute cats, sarcastic quotes, random funny images) will garner attention, and hopefully earn you some return on investment. This is where Passion Pages come in.

Passion Pages allow brands a separate space to experiment with different types of content - often light-hearted - without the risk of upsetting their existing fan base, but also provide an opportunity to subtly nudge viewers in the direction of your core Page or to introduce new revenue streams on the Passion Page itself. 

Think of Passion Pages as the Pinterest-y board side of Facebook; a place where companies can shine of the spotlight on the wider culture of their niche, however weird and wonderful that might be. To make up an example or two, McDonald's could launch a Passion Page called "I hate gherkins in my burgers" or one from Home Depot could be called "Epic DIY Fails." 

Coming up: The story of my own Passion Page

I launched my own Passion Page on Facebook in June 2013. With a very small initial investment, at the time of writing has over 2,500 fans, nearly 3,500 engaged users per week, a weekly reach close t 40,000 people, and attracts over 50 new fans per day.

 In the next part of this series, I'll be lifting the lid on my Passion Page, with a story of its history up to the present day.

 Will you be joining me on my Passion Page journey? Let me know in the comments below!

Andrew Macarthy is the author of the #1 Amazon Web Marketing Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, available for Kindle and in paperback.

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How to Use Hashtags on Facebook Pages for Business Marketing

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Hashtags finally rolled out to Facebook

Facebook - after a long period of expectation from many quarters - has rolled out the use of hashtags in posts that appear on Pages and in the news feed. At the time of writing, hashtags will only be clickable by desktop users on the site, although Facebook hints strongly that this will extend to mobiles and ads sometime in the future.

How Hashtags work on Facebook

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If you are familiar with Twitter, Google+, Instagram, or Pinterest, you'll know that hashtags are a method used to group similar types of content together, and can be created by typing a hash or pound symbol directly before a word while composing a status update on your Page, personal profile, or in of a comment, like this: "What do you love about your local #kohls?" or "It's Gap's summer sale, with up to 50% off! Come take a look... #targetsale" where "#kohls" and "#targetsale" are clickable. 

On Facebook specifically, clicking a hashtag will open up a feed where you’ll see stories from the Pages and people who have posted with the same hashtag. People can use hashtags in Facebook search to find posts related to specific topics or interests. Billions of pieces of content are shared on Facebook every day - peaking in the 8-11pm primetime slot - so hashtags provide a huge opportunity for brands and marketers to participate in conversations in a meaningful, relevant and timely way. 

Tips for Using hashtags for business on Facebook

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  • Use hashtags related to your brand or industry in your Facebook posts - either general ones, e.g. #beauty or ones you create that are specific to your business, e.g. #denverburgerbar

  • Every Facebook has its own unique URL, so think about driving traffic to that URL from other locations, e.g. your blog, other social networks, business cards, instore marketing materials, etc. to encourage conversation. Use a URL shortener like bit.ly to make the link small and memorable.

  •  Discover new Pages and partners by searching for hashtags in Facebook search, and search your own hashtags to monitor what people are saying about you and your brand, then join the conversation.

Note: For more advice about using hashtags as effectively as possible on any social network, including the recommending formatting and amount you should use, check out the tips on hashtags in the Twitter Tips chapter of my book, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Macarthy is the author of the #1 Amazon Web Marketing Bestseller, 500 Social Media Marketing Tips, available for Kindle and in paperback.

Buy 500 Social Media Marketing Tips
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007L50HE6
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007L50HE6

Follow Me:
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http://www.twitter.com/500socialmedia
http://www.youtube.com/500socialmediatips

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