How To Schedule A Post on Facebook (2 Best Ways)

Uploading quality content on Facebook consistently is a mammoth task. Still, it is necessary because posting scarcely on Facebook will make you invisible on your audience’s feeds.

To make this megalith of task easy, scheduling your Facebook posts becomes essential.

If you schedule Facebook posts ahead of time, then it will help you:

• Stay on top of your content-posting game
• Save time and energy to post consistently
• Boost your social media engagement
• Focus on creatives while automating the entire procedure of posting
• Connect and engage with a wider audience

Amazing, right?

But the obvious question is, how to schedule a Facebook post?

There are two ways to schedule Facebook posts effectively:

1. Using Facebook: Facebook has a built-in scheduler called Meta Business Suite which consists of the Facebook schedule post feature.
2. Third-party Facebook Scheduler: You can use Facebook publishing tools like SocialPilot for social media scheduling with advanced functionalities. To use SocialPilot for free, you need to sign up for a free trial.

How To Schedule a Facebook Post Using SocialPilot?

If you are on the search for a reliable and free social media scheduler to help you with Facebook, check out SocialPilot and sign up for its free trial! The tool allows you to easily schedule and publish posts on your Facebook Pages and Groups from one place.

SocialPilot goes beyond Facebook’s schedule post feature and enables hassle-free automated posting with advanced functionalities.

Now, coming to the question–How do I schedule a post on Facebook in 2024?

Let us see how to schedule a post on Facebook using SocialPilot.

Step 1: Connect your account

To get started, log into SocialPilot and link your Facebook page.

If you are an agency and want to link a client’s accounts, you can send an invite link to the client. They can later give you access to their social media accounts without giving you the credentials. Click here to learn more about this feature.

Step 2: Manage your Accounts

Once the account is connected, you’ll be redirected to the “Manage Accounts” page. Here you’ll see the accounts you have linked. If you hover over an account, you’ll see options like “Analytics,” “Pause Account,” “Edit,” and “Delete.”

If you’re thorough with the analytics of the account, you might know when your audience stays active on the platform. You can use this knowledge to create custom time slots for a particular page or account in SocialPilot.

To create time slots for an account, hover over it and click on the “pencil icon.”

Select the days and add the time slot according to your analysis.

Step 3: Create Post

Now that the accounts are connected and the time slots updated, it’s time to create some posts!

With SocialPilot’s post composer, you can create and customize your posts using advanced features like:

• Add Media and GIFs: It has easy uploading facilities, wherein you can upload photos and videos directly from Dropbox or your computer for posts or reels. You can also add images from Google Drive. The tool also helps you add GIFs to add a dynamic touch to your post. You also have access to endless high-quality stock images right withing the post-composer.
• Easy tagging options: To help expand your reach, SocialPilot lets you tag another Facebook account. Also, the tool enables you to tag the target location.
• Customized graphics and emojis: Use the inbuilt editor to edit, crop, or apply filters to your images before publishing them for the world to see. You can also go creative by using the Canva integration inside the tool.
• Manage posts with controlled sharing: Manage every post by setting up preferred and restricted audiences.
• Call-to-action feature: You drive more conversations using call-to-action buttons.
• UTM Parameters: The feature lets you create and edit multiple sets of UTM parameters within the tool. Add them to the post you want to track.

You can also customize your post according to what social media platform you’re posting on. When you select Facebook, you can see the “Post” and “Reel” tabs. In the Reel tab, you will find different customization options.

You can also see the preview of the post by clicking on “Post Preview.” Tweak your post if you aren’t satisfied with how it looks on the feed.

Wait, the best part is yet to come – SocialPIlot’s AI assistant.

You get the power of AI inside SocialPilot to generate inspiring Facebook caption at a lightning speed. No more pulling your hair to craft compelling descriptions. The feature comes equipped with social media specific prompt templates, and tonality options to match your brand’s personality seamlessly.

Do you want to try the feature right now for free? Just hop over to our Facebook post generator and witness the AI Assistant’s magic in action as it crafts posts for you at lightning speed!

Ok, let’s move on to schedule your Facebook post!

Step 4: Selecting Account & Scheduling Post

You’re almost there!

After creating the desirable post, select the pages or accounts where you want to publish.

A secret ninja technique: you can create a group of accounts and pages by clicking on “Groups” in the sidebar. Select a group, and all of the accounts in that group get selected.

Just one click saves you the hassle of selecting multiple accounts. Nice, right?

Now your post is ready for scheduling.

Click on the arrow beside “Add to Queue” to open a drop-down menu. Here you can find options like “Share Now,” “Share Next,” “Schedule Post,” and “Repeat Post.”

Remember the custom time slots we mentioned earlier? This is how they will be utilized.

If you select “Add to Queue” the post will schedule at the next available time slot.

If you select Share Next, the post will schedule itself at the next time slot after the time you set it for schedule.

Creating your custom time slots saves the hassle of entering the date and when you start off to schedule.

“Share Now” as the name suggests, will publish your post immediately.

For now, Select “Schedule Post.”

You’ll get a pop-up, enter the date and time you want your post to go live, and click on “Schedule.”

It’s a fact that your followers are not online 24/7, so chances are they might miss your post.

After investing so much time and effort into your Facebook posts, you should give them a second chance.

By repeating the post using Facebook’s scheduled post feature, you might reach the audience you missed the first time and gain engagement, traffic, leads, and sales in the process.

To repeat a post in SocialPilot, you can either select “Repeat Post” from the post composer or click on “+Add Schedule” in the schedule post pop-up.

Voila! Your Facebook post is scheduled!

But what if you want to schedule 5 posts together or maybe 50 or maybe 500?

How to Bulk Schedule Posts on Facebook using SocialPilot?

If you’re planning your posts a month prior, then scheduling each post individually can be a bit annoying.

Unlike the native Meta Business Suite, SocialPilot can bulk schedule up to 500 posts at once!

And here’s how you can do it:

Navigate to “Posts” on the sidebar and click on the “Bulk Schedule” option.

Drag and drop your CSV file. Make sure that your CSV files don’t have more than 500 records.

After the file gets uploaded, you’ll be directed to the preview window. You can review each post along with the text content.

You will also see posts with accounts and posts without accounts.

Posts with accounts are the posts for which you have already given an account ID in CSV files.

Posts without accounts are the posts for which you have not chosen the account ID in the CSV file yet.

You can either individually select account by clicking on the drop-down box on the right side of each post, or you can click the “Select Account” tab.

Here you can select the accounts for the remaining posts. Now, if you applied the ninja technique I mentioned earlier, then just one click will do the trick.

Now the accounts are selected, click schedule.

It’s done! Scheduling multiple Facebook posts at once is that simple!

How to Edit Scheduled Facebook Posts in SocialPilot?

What if you made an error while Facebook scheduling? Maybe there is a typo in the text, a change in the date, or maybe you just want to delete it!

Editing a post is just as easy as scheduling a Facebook post. Just navigate to the SocialPilot sidebar and click Posts > Manage Posts.

Here you’ll find various features like:

• Queued Posts: It is a list of posts that are scheduled to be published.
• Unscheduled: The post can go in an unscheduled category for a few reasons. Click to know more.
• Error: Contains posts that are rejected by social media APIs.
• Delivered: It reflects the number of posts shared in the last 90-120 days.
• Pending Approvals: Posts that are yet to be approved by clients or managers who overlook the social media strategy for your agency or business.

In Queued Posts, hover over the post you want to edit and then click on the pencil icon.

If you want to reschedule a post, then click on the arrow beside “Share Now”; it will open a drop-down menu. Click on “Reschedule” and enter the updated date and time.

Easy peasy, right?

SocialPilot makes Facebook scheduling simpler, giving you a hassle-free experience. Through this platform, you can manage your Facebook marketing like a pro.

How to Schedule a Facebook Post using Meta Business Suite

As I mentioned before, which tools work best for you totally depends on your application of the tool and the final objective.

If you are a solopreneur or small business that manages social media accounts by yourselves and posts primarily on Facebook and Instagram, then Meta Business Suite is an ideal option.

Earlier known as Facebook Business Suite, Meta Business Suite was overhauled when Facebook rebranded itself into meta in 2021.

Now, if you’re already familiar with Facebook Business Suite, then the process of scheduling Facebook posts isn’t that all different.

And if you’re new, then don’t worry; it’s not that hard.

Steps to Schedule Facebook posts using Meta Business Suite

To start scheduling your posts on Facebook, you need to have a dedicated business page. You can’t use your personal account. If you haven’t created a business page, log in to Facebook and create your business page.

Once your Facebook business page is ready, all you need to do is follow some quick and easy steps.

How to Schedule a Post on Facebook (Step-by-Step):

1. Go to business.facebook.com and click on Log In
2. Click on “Create Post”
3. Upload your media
4. Select ‘Schedule’ from the scheduling options
5. Enter the date & time and click on Schedule.

Here is the visual representation of the steps mentioned above:

Step 1: Go to business.facebook.com and click on Log in.

If you are not already logged in to your Facebook account, you’ll be asked to log in.

Step 2: Click on “Create post”.

Step 3: Upload Your Media – Images, Videos, Texts, and Gifs as per requirements

In the Post to section, you can select if you want to post on both Instagram and Facebook or just any one of the platforms.

On the right column, you will see the preview of your post available in both mobile and desktop format. You can tweak your post if something feels off.

Step 4: Select ‘Schedule’ from the scheduling options “Publish now”, “Schedule”, and “Save as draft”.

Click on Schedule.

Step 5: Enter the date & time and click on ‘Schedule’

After clicking Schedule, you’ll be redirected to the Planner, where you can view your scheduled post.

What if you want to make changes to scheduled posts?

Here’s how you can do it.

• Navigate to “Posts and Stories” in the Meta Business Suite, and click on “Scheduled”. Here, you’ll find all the posts you have scheduled.
• Click on the “three dots” of the post you want to make changes to.
• You’ll get a drop-down menu with options Edit, Duplicate Post, Reschedule Post, Move to Draft, Delete post, and Copy Post ID.

That’s it!

Now you know how to schedule Facebook posts, but must be wondering which tool to use, right?

SocialPilot or Meta Business: Which Tool Works Better for you?

The answer to this question totally depends on your application of the tool, team size, and the final objective.

Meta business suite is a good tool to schedule a Facebook post. But, If you are a marketing agency handling multiple accounts of brands on various social media platforms, then using SocialPilot is the only wise option.

For instance,

• You can only post on Facebook and Instagram using the Meta Business suite. On the other hand, SocialPilot supports almost every platform that your clients use.
• In Meta Business Suite, you can’t simultaneously post on two or more pages. To post, you’d have to switch between the linked Facebook pages. With SocialPilot, you can simultaneously post on multiple pages and platforms from a single interface.
• Meta Business Suite also lacks a secure client management system available in SocialPilot. Because of this, as an agency, you have to ask for a brand’s credentials to claim a Facebook page. They might be skeptical about handing out such confidential information.
• Moreover, in the Meta business suite, the team management feature offers only limited levels of access options. SocialPilot enables different levels of access, such as “Admin,” “Manager,” and “Content Creator.”
• Not to mention, Meta Business Suite doesn’t have features for smooth external client approval workflows like Approvals-On-The-Go like SocialPilot offers.

If you still feel a bit lost, then here’s a side-by-side comparison between SocialPilot and Meta Business Suite.

So, if you are a big agency looking beyond Facebook scheduling and posting and want to attract more leads, you should consider using third-party scheduling tools like SocialPilot.

Tips and tactics for Scheduling Your Facebook Posts

1. Choose Your Scheduling Time Wisely

You need to be wise while selecting your scheduling time and date. If you don’t know when the post will receive high engagement, then a Facebook post scheduler won’t help. You need to know when your target audience uses Facebook and are more likely to engage with your post.

Research your target audience and find the best time to post on Facebook, and only then proceed with your scheduling.

2. Be Consistent with the Brand Voice & Image

Don’t be hasty while creating your content. The entire idea about scheduling your content is to save you from the burden of posting so that you can focus on maintaining the quality while creating your content.

So, don’t forget to keep all your brand guidelines in mind and create quality content without rushing. Always keep the essence of your brand while scheduling multiple contents.

3. Be Flexible with Your Content Scheduling

The internet space is constantly changing, and new trends are disrupting the social space. You don’t want to be too rigid with your content posts and forget them once set in the Facebook scheduler. Make sure you post relevant, engaging, and trendy content every single time.

Always keep a check on your scheduled post to avoid any potential backlash if you have any scheduled content that is not aligned with the present scenario.

4. Don’t Over-schedule

There are 1 billion stories that get posted across Facebook apps. That’s a staggering number, right? And that’s just stories. Imagine the number of posts being shared across Facebook apps!

So, you don’t want to overwhelm your target audience by bombarding them with social media posts. But don’t under-schedule your posts, either. You need to maintain a balance with your scheduling patterns.

Understanding the frequency of your posts is essential, and you should adjust it according to your business goals and industry.

Now, You’re all set!

Create. Schedule. Publish.

If you want to save yourselves from repetitive scheduling tasks and focus more on productive sections of your social media marketing. In that case, Facebook post scheduler is a must for you.

Using a built-in Facebook scheduler has some limitations which can constrain your social media strategy from achieving its maximum potential. Hence, an advanced social media marketing management tool like SocialPilot is essential.

So, make a wise decision for your social media marketing efforts.