If you stop by often you probably know that in addition to blogging and running SNAP! Conference, I work full-time in public relations and social media. As a result, I have to be extra efficient in terms of how I spend my time online.
I rely heavily on applications that help me to schedule posts on various social networks. I used to schedule everything via Hootsuite until I found out that Facebook dings posts uploaded by a third party application.
I was super excited this last year when Facebook launched their scheduling feature. It works great!
How to Schedule Facebook Posts
1. Head over to your Facebook page and go to the “status” update box.
2. Once you’ve entered whatever data you’d like into the update box, click on the clock icon located at the bottom left to schedule.
3. Enter the year, month, date, time you would like your post to go live and click schedule.
Once you’ve scheduled your posts you can review your posting schedule and make adjustments to the timing (you can’t change the text).
To view your scheduled posts, click on the “edit page” option.
From the drop down menu select “Use Activity Posts.”
You will end up at a page that looks like this…
You will be able to scroll through and see any scheduled posts.
All done! Super simple.
Do you pre-schedule your posts, or do you just post them when you feel like it?
Christine says
I had no idea you could do this!!!! I guess I don’t spend enough time testing buttons of Facebook…..Thank you for posting.
Tauni says
Christine, It’s such a great tool. I think you will love it! xoxo, Tauni
Jessi @ Practically Functional says
Brilliant! I didn’t realize Facebook let you do that. I always just use HootSuite because I can schedule Twitter, FB, and G+ all in one go, but this is super useful for things I just want to post to FB, so thanks!
Tauni says
Jessi, I don’t know if you saw the other article I linked to, but did you know that your posts are lost on most people if you schedule via a third party application like Hootsuite? Direct scheduling is for sure the way to go. xoxo, Tauni
Becky@OrganizingMadeFun says
I schedule mine everyday. I think the only thing that I’ve noticed about this is that if you want to edit what you scheduled to post, you can’t. At least, I haven’t been able to figure it out! I’ve been telling my friends for awhile that scheduling is really the way to go. Since I live on the west coast, I schedule my first post to go off while I’m sleeping – at 5 AM – and there is already a lot of interaction on my FB post by the time I wake up! So, yes, I love the scheduling!
Becky B.
http://www.organizingmadefun.com
Organizing Made Fun
Tauni says
Becky, I will have to try some earlier hours…I seem to get the best interaction between 9-10 a.m. MST 🙂 xoxo, Tauni
Tauni says
Oh yeah…I was also going to mention that I too wish you could edit posts later…All you can do is edit the date and time 🙁
rachel says
Huh, I had no idea! Thank you!
Are you saying that its not good to have networked blogs automatically update FB when we publish on our blogs? If that’s the case, then I’d better stop!
Tauni says
Rachel, You can use Networked Blogs, but it decreases the opportunity for your fans to see the post significantly. Best just use FB scheduling tool. xoxo T.
Kendra says
I had no idea that using hootsuite isn’t as effective for getting people to see your post! Awesome tip!! 🙂
Tauni says
Thanks Kendra! I am glad it was helpful for you! xoxo, Tauni
Tabitha says
What a great idea!! Thanks for sharing. I will definitely be using on my business page http://www.facebook.com/gritssouthernstyle.
Tauni says
Great Tabitha. I am so glad that this post will be helpful! xoxo, Tauni
Myléne Hillam says
Thanks for making it so easy to follow. I followed the links before I got here and found some very useful information to consider about using 3rd party apps for scheduling posts. Thanks for your help.
Tauni says
Mylene, So glad that you found the post helpful! Hope you have a fantastic week! xoxo, Tauni
Sumo says
Ah! So good to know! This is going to be such a useful tip!
Tauni says
Summer, So glad I could share something you didn’t already know…I was worried everyone already used this, but apparently not. xoxo, T.
Danette @ All My Love for All My Days says
I never knew that! This is going to be so helpful! Thank you.
Tauni says
Danette, so glad that this was a helpful post! xoxo, T.
Kelly@ Here Comes the Sun says
Thanks for this tip! I just noticed that feature but have not tried it yet. I definitely need to be more efficient with my social media. Also…I just got into the SNAP conference (was on the waitlist). Very excited!
Tauni says
Kelly, You will have to try scheduling out. It’s such a time saver for me! I am so glad to hear that you will be joining us in April. I hope you will keep in touch via the blog and Facebook until then xoxo, Tauni
Kelvin Hanratty says
Why is is best to use this over something like hootsuite? I’m interested in how people might miss posts made through HS….
Tauni says
Kelvin, Facebook’s content ranking system, Edgerank, automatically puts posts scheduled and posted by a third party service at the bottom. For more information, you might want to read the full post I wrote on this issue a while back https://taunieverett.com/biggest-facebook-mistake/. It’s a slightly out of date, but the information on ranking is still accurate.
Tauni
Kelvin Hanratty says
Thanks for the link. I’ll have to explore this further. I love HS as I can select the networks for individual posts, which saves me a lot of time. Rethink required, methinks. :/
Tauni says
Kelvin, It sounds like you appreciate efficiency as much as I do. I use Hootsuite a lot and used to schedule all of my FB posts that way. I did see a big difference in interaction and views after I switched though. -Tauni
Birgit J says
OK, I feel really dumb but how do you get that feature to appear? Is it something I have to set up. I don’t have the clock icon you’re showing.
Tauni says
Birgit, Don’t feel dumb. This is a really easy fix! You need to go in and click on “Edit Page,” then select “Update Info.” You need to set a start date for your “company” or site. Once that is set, the clock should show up for you!
Good luck! xoxo, Tauni
Therese Given says
Great info. Never knew that feature existed. Thanks!
Tauni says
Therese, It’s such a huge time saver. You will love it! xoxo, Tauni
Niki says
What a helpful post!! Thanks, Tauni!!
Tauni says
Thanks for commenting Niki. Glad you found it helpful! xoxo, T.
Alli Miller @ Cupcake Diaries says
This post is coming in super handy for me this week! I’m heading to NYC and needing to get all my Facebook posts scheduled. Thanks so much for this super easy simple tutorial!!
Tauni says
Oh my gosh. Totally jealous of your trip to NYC. How fun! xoxo, T.
Juliana says
Thanks! Great tutorial!!!!
Mrs. B says
Wow! Great tip! I never knew. Thanks for sharing! I normally post on my blog and then wait awhile to post open facebook. This can save me some time. Planning ahead is always good.
Jeanee says
This is SO AWESOME! I ‘ve noticed the clock icon, but I never knew what it was really for. THANKS!!!
Tauni says
Hey Jeanee, Good to “see” you! I love the schedule feature. It saves SOOO much time for me! xoxo Tauni
Kristy says
Mine doesn’t show a clock anywhere?? Is that only the computer? I’m on my phone.
Thanks!!
Tauni says
Kristy, Prior to using the scheduling feature you will need to set the date you “started business” on your page account. Once you’ve got that set-up the feature should show up on your computer and your mobile device. Good luck! –Tauni
Becky Hastings says
Does this work with a link that has not been published yet? Sometimes I’ve had trouble pulling images for facebook posts.
Tauni says
Hi Becky, it should work just fine. It depends on the platform you’re working on and possibly the code. xo Tauni