With the ever increasing importance for a company to have a social media presence, there is no doubt that having a Facebook page is on top of anyone’s to-do list. But, to be successful in this platform, you have to consider the fact that since you are dealing directly with consumers or your customers, you need to be creative, entertaining and consistent in what you post. Thankfully, Facebook has allowed page owners to schedule posts straight from their page without any need to use a third party application. This post hopefully will tell you more on scheduling posts on Facebook.
Automation vs Being ‘Social’
Automation of content posting on Facebook or Twitter may not be ‘social’ for most people, but, in my opinion, it does help in ensuring efficiency and consistency with what you post.
As a Social Media Manager myself, scheduling posts helps in planning ahead, so that I can focus more on interaction on days when I already have contents planned and scheduled out. I don’t see myself frantically coming up with things to post since I already thought ahead. I can sit back and wait for people to interact with the client pages I handle as they see the contents I’m putting out. If anything needs changing, it’s easier to manage.
Facebook Scheduling vs Hootsuite and other Third Party Apps
This is slightly bad news for social media tools like Hootsuite and Buffer since many people will prefer to schedule posts through Facebook directly. I only use them now for Twitter and I have switched to using Facebook scheduling completely. Why?
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No more annoying indication that the post was from ‘Hootsuite’, Buffer, Tweetdeck, etc. Even if you posted the content right away, it’ll still show you did so through Hootsuite. And this may turn off many people as they see you’re scheduling posts. Update: This no longer applies, but I still prefer to schedule through Facebook since I can easily view them on the Activity Log.
With Facebook scheduling, there’s no hint or sign that it was a scheduled post. This is particularly good for those days when you need to go on a much-needed vacation from maintaining your page. No one will know it was scheduled, unless they ask you questions and you were not able to answer on the same day.
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There have been numerous reports (see this) that posts published through third-party applications like Hootsuite are not given priority and have very low Edgerank (in short, the chances for your posts to be shown to your followers on their Newsfeed) and there are some that are hidden altogether.
With Facebook scheduling, your posts will look ‘normal’ and, from what I observed, it doesn’t affect each post’s Edgerank negatively. It’s as if you posted in real-time.
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Facebook Insights doesn’t track the likes, shares and comments on posts published through Hootsuite. This is one big downside.
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No more Hootsuite Photos album. Instead, your images will show up under a new album called ‘Photos’.
I know, Hootsuite is still a very useful tool for bulk scheduling, reporting and monitoring, but if you are after the ‘social’ factor of this platform, Facebook scheduling is the way to go.
How to Schedule Posts on Facebook
Let’s get on with the tutorial. How exactly do you schedule posts on Facebook?
Important Note: If you have not entered a milestone yet like when your company or website was established / launched, you’ll be prompted to do so before you can schedule posts.
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