4 Facebook Marketing Lessons I Learned From a Caterpillar

I spent Easter this year at my in-laws -- eating, finding eggs & enjoying the company of family.

While the kids were devouring chocolate, a caterpillar showed up on my leg.

My girls giggled as the creature crawled around on my leg & hand.

The kids soon walked away. But the caterpillar stayed.

That's when I realized how much this little dude could teach me about Facebook marketing.

4 Facebook Marketing Lessons I Learned From a Caterpillar

You're probably thinking that I've lost my mind.

And maybe I have!

How in the world can a caterpillar teach me anything about Facebook?

Easy!

Here are just a few of the lessons I learned:

• Remove the Barriers
• Don't be Pushy
• Attract Fans
• Set Fans Free

1. Remove the Barriers

Whenever I put a rock, leaf or finger in the caterpillar's path, it turned & went the other direction.

Your fans will go someplace else if you make it difficult for people to communicate with you on Facebook.

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Here are ways page managers turn away fans:

• Turn off messages
• Turn off comments
• Don't allow people to post on the page

At times, having these features activated can be inconvenient -- and might even lead to spam.

But think about the people who leave your Facebook page when they find that it's too hard to communicate with you.

If I go to your page & it's a "walled garden", I'm less likely to engage. If I don't engage, eventually I won't see your posts in the news feed -- and your page Reach will drop.

2. Don't Get Pushy

When I gently pushed against the caterpillar it would avoid my finger & turn away.

This can also happen with your Facebook fans.

If you constantly push "salesy" links to your product, you're going to run people off.

Nobody goes on Facebook hoping to encounter an annoying sales pitch.

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Instead of forcing yourself on people & being pushy, try instead to attract fans to your page.

3. Attract Fans

Each time I placed my finger a few inches from the caterpillar, he came over to check it out.

I didn't move or prod him, and I didn't force the caterpillar to crawl to my finger. He came on his own.

After examining it to determine it was safe, he became comfortable crawling on my finger.

Your Facebook fans behave in similar ways.

Great content with high-quality images could lure people from the news feed to your page where they'll Like, share & comment on your posts.

Attractive pages draw paying customers -- pushy pages drive them away.

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4. Set Fans Free

Finally, after making the poor little guy stay on my hand for a few minutes -- it was time to set the caterpillar free.

I knew he was better off in the grass or on a tree -- so I "let it go."

Caterpillars can't survive crawling around on my hand. They must eat, rest & find shelter until one day blossoming into a moth or butterfly.

Similarly, don't expect your Facebook fans to always engage only with your posts.

Most of them have probably liked a ton of pages. Many of them are probably your competitors -- and they'll probably engage with content from those pages. Gasp!

It's foolish to think you own your fans & that they won't share, Like or comment on other posts.

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Let them go!

Nurture Delicate Relationships

I could have squashed this caterpillar & ended its life.

But I didn't.

Instead, I interacted with it for a few minutes & then let it go about its business.

Use similar strategies to build relationships with your fans.

Nurture those relationships while doing your best not to screw things up.

The minute you post something that offends your fans, they'll let you know -- either with a comment or by clicking Unlike.

The best Facebook page managers care for their fans & give them exactly what they need.