Who Needs Third-Party Social Media Tools, When You Have the Facebook Scheduler?

Marissa Mele - December 11, 2013

Facebook is constantly updating and many times those updates make our lives as marketers harder, but fortunately, the Facebook scheduler does just the opposite.

You no longer need third-party social media tools to schedule your Facebook Posts, now that Facebook has introduced its own native scheduler. Scheduling a post has never been easier! Just check out my step-by-step guide to see how easy the process is.

Step 1: Write a post. You can add a link, like I have, or add a picture, video, offer or event.

Step 2: When posting a link in your status update, Facebook will automatically display a picture from the link. Now if you would like more customization, all you have to do is click on the “upload image” hyperlinked text below the picture. Then you will be able to upload any picture you like to accompany your post.

Step 3: Once you have formatted your post and have chosen an accompanying link image, you are ready to schedule your post. All you need to do is click on the little clock icon in the bottom left-hand portion of the post.

Step 4: Once you click on the clock icon, you will be prompted to choose a date from the calendar icon and then add a time that you would like it to post. Once you have chosen your date & time you press “schedule.”

Step 5: After you have scheduled your post, this pop-up will appear for you to see your scheduled post and/or schedule another post.

Step 6: You can view your scheduled post in your “Activity Log” by clicking the “View Activity Log” in the pop-up or by selecting “Edit Page” at the top of the “Admin Panel” and choosing “Use Activity Log.”

You will also notice at the top of the “Admin Panel” in the “posts” section, there is a notice that states “You have 1 scheduled post. Review it in the Activity Log.” “Activity Log” is hyperlinked, so you can click on the text to bring you to the  “Activity Log” page to see your scheduled post.

Step 7: Here is the “Activity Log” screen, where you can view your scheduled post and do a quick quality assurance check.

Step 8: If you want to change the date or time the post is scheduled for you can do so by hovering over the down arrow in the upper right-hand corner of the post. You are also able in this menu to “Publish [the post] Now” or “Delete the Post.” (One thing to note is that once you schedule your post, you won’t be able to edit it again. If you realize you made an error and want to edit the post you will have to start over at step 1.)

As you can see, it’s very easy to schedule a post in Facebook. Also you have the added bonus of having more flexibility with adding or modifying images associated with the links you are sharing. The only disadvantage of using the native Facebook scheduler is that you aren’t able to edit your posts once you have scheduled them, but as time progresses, I would imagine that Facebook will add this functionality.

Try it out for yourself and let us know what you think!