How to Schedule a Post on Facebook: The Ultimate Strategy Guide

Posting great social media content is crucial for engaging your target audience. But continually creating and sharing social updates in real-time is extremely demanding.

This is where scheduling your Facebook posts becomes a game-changer for social media managers.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you need to nail your Facebook scheduling strategy using both native tools and third-party apps.

You’ll learn:

• Optimal posting frequencies and times
• Step-by-step Facebook scheduling walkthrough
• Expanding reach with cross-channel posting
• Visual social media content planning
• Tools to streamline and scale efforts
• Testing content for maximum performance
• Pro tips for scheduling success

Let‘s dive in!

Why You Should Schedule Facebook Posts

Before we get into the nitty gritty details, let‘s review the data-backed benefits of scheduling your Facebook content.

Increased Exposure

Posts shared during peak platform usage hit larger audiences. This translates into major visibility gains.

[Source: Sprout Social]

Improved Engagement

Properly scheduled updates average substantially higher engagement metrics like reactions, comments, and shares compared to off-peak posts.

[Source: Sprout Social]

Consistent Content Stream

Life happens. Scheduling keeps your pages active and prevents major gaps between updates that could cause followers to lose interest.

Increased Productivity

For the time it takes to craft one text post, you could schedule out multiple social updates spanning days or weeks. This efficiency lets you make progress on other tasks and projects.

Clearly scheduling delivers major advantages. So what does an optimized Facebook scheduling approach look like?

Best Practices for Scheduling on Facebook

Getting your content scheduling strategy just right is key for social media success.

Posting Frequency

According to Sprout Social data, pages that post 1-2 times per day garner 25% higher engagement on average versus less frequent posting.

But more isn’t necessarily better. Pages that shared 10+ times daily averaged nearly 20% lower engagement rates.

The sweet spot for maximizing exposure without overwhelming followers is sticking to 1-5 posts per day.

Peak Posting Times

9:00am, 1:00pm and 3:00pm tend to be the daily high traffic periods on Facebook when your posts will hit the most feeds.

As for days of the week, avoid weekend posting when usage and visibility drop substantially. Wednesday pops as the standout top day for engagement.

Concept Testing

Use Facebook’s native analytics to compare performance across different types of posts. Double down on what works well and limit content that falls flat.

You can take this a step further by scheduling multiple post variations around the same topic for the same target date. Use the one that scores highest in the test run.

This “A/B testing” approach helps optimize both content and timing in tandem to achieve peak performance from scheduled posts.

Now let’s get tactical on the tools, techniques, templates and best practices brands use to schedule Facebook content efficiently and effectively.

How to Schedule a Facebook Post Natively

For those completely new to scheduling on Facebook, the built-in tools provide an easy onramp to plan your updates in advance.

From Desktop

1. Create a new post for your Page or join a Group conversation.

2. Compose your update and attach any images, videos, polls, hashtags, etc.

3. Click the drop-down arrow next to Publish.

4. Choose a future Date and Time for the post to go live.

5. Click Schedule to confirm your post.

From Mobile

1. Tap the Create Post button from your Facebook Page.

2. Author your update including any media attachments or interactive elements.

3. Tap the Schedule button below the content field.

4. Select your ideal scheduling date and time.

5. Finalize by tapping Schedule again.

That covers the basics, but Facebook‘s native scheduling has key limitations:

• Can only queue updates as a Page Admin
• No visual calendar for planning content
• Just basic date and time selection
• Lacks advanced scheduling options
• Can‘t post to connected social profiles

This is where leveraging dedicated social media management platforms dramatically improves the scheduling experience.

Scheduling and Planning Content with Buffer

With over 5 million users worldwide, Buffer is a hugely popular social media scheduling app. Their toolset streamlines planning and coordinating updates across networks.

Buffer’s key features for scheduling Facebook content include:

• Cross-Platform Posting – Schedule posts to Facebook alongside Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram all from a unified dashboard.

• Social Media Calendar – Visually map planned content across days or weeks to ensure consistent updates.

• Bulk Scheduling – Upload multiple updates at once in advance rather than scheduling posts one by one.

• Optimal Post Timing – Use Buffer‘s algorithmic suggestions or manual preferences to choose the best scheduling times.

• Instagram Integration – Queue Instagram posts and Stories directly through Buffer instead of the Facebook workflow.

• Analytics – Reporting helps assess how scheduled posts are performing to identify areas for improvement.

For those getting started with more basic needs, Buffer offers a generous free scheduling plan. Their paid packages then provide premium tools for additional accounts and users, more in-depth analytics, and enterprise integrations.

Give Buffer a try to take your Facebook scheduling efforts to the next level!

Advanced Scheduling with Edgar

Edgar focuses 100% on scheduling social media updates with groundbreaking AI features.

Top functionality making Edgar a go-to Facebook and Instagram scheduler include:

Smart Composer

No more struggling for post ideas! Edgar‘s artificial intelligence automatically crafts hundreds of unique social post combinations with photos and videos tailored to your niche.

Multi-Platform Posting

Coordinate posting across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter by connecting all your brand profiles into Edgar‘s intuitive dashboard.

Repurposing Content

Upload any existing blog posts, videos or images for Edgar to optimize and reinvent as snackable social updates later. This lets you reuse evergreen content in new ways weeks or months later.

Hashtag Finder

Strategically hashtagging updates is proven to expand reach. Edgar analyzes related hashtags by performance and automatically suggests relevant options that align with your posts.

While newer than other social scheduling tools, Edgar continues adding breakthrough capabilities for streamlining success managing Facebook and other channel content.

Creating an Editorial Content Calendar

An editorial calendar is mandatory for organizing a consistent drumbeat of social updates chronologically across networks.

Mapping content themes, campaigns and launches visually makes it far easier to schedule weeks or months out at a glance.

You can use a spreadsheet, wall planner or purpose-built social media content calendar software. When designing your calendar, be sure to indicate:

• Target post date and network(s)
• Status (drafted, approved, scheduled etc)
• Content format or type
• Topic focus and messaging
• Links to raw content assets
• Owner and approver(s) for review
• Key performance indicators to track

Here is an example format:

Maximize the visibility and impact of everything you post by incorporating an editorial calendar into your scheduling workflow.

Scheduling Posts for Groups

While the main emphasis is typically on general Facebook Pages representing brands, scheduling content for specific Groups deserves special attention.

Group administrators can schedule posts to engage members by tapping the clock icon from within the composer:

Then simply set the ideal post date and time. Useful scenarios where scheduled group updates help include:

• Driving sign ups leading up to virtual or in-person events
• Building anticipation for new products or service launches
• Repeating popular posts for members who missed them
• Keeping group conversations active consistently

Just remember only official group admins and moderators have privileges to schedule posts. And any pending updates can be edited or withdrawn right up until the chosen publish time.

Scheduling to Facebook From Linked Platforms

The most convenient way to queue Facebook updates is directly from a connected social media management platform. Top solutions providing robust scheduling include:

Sprout Social

• 30-day Free Trial
• Scheduling and analytics
• Social media calendar
• Team collaboration

AgoraPulse

• 7-day Free Trial
• Post to multiple profiles
• Automated posting
• Smart news feed targeting

SocialPilot

• 14-day Free Trial
• Unified content calendar
• Saved templates
• In-depth analytics

Many of these tools go far beyond just coordinating updates across social channels over time. Outsourced community management, in-depth audience analytics, dedicated support resources, and robust approval workflows also enter the mix.

Investigating options beyond Facebook’s native posting functionality can accelerate results and minimize effort.

Pro Tips for Facebook Post Scheduling

As you build out your scheduling strategy, keep these professional tips and best practices in mind:

Research Ideal Posting Times

Pinpoint the precise days of the week and hours in the day when your target audience is most active on Facebook. Scheduling updates for periods of peak platform traffic ensures maximum visibility.

Use Scheduling to Test Content

Try comparing posting different variations of images, videos, and wording simultaneously. Analyze which resonated best with your audience based on reactions and engagement. Then continue scheduling more of what succeeded.

Review Scheduled Content

Double check every post before pushing live, especially when scheduling far in advance. This safeguards against issues like broken links, outdated information, and unintended miscommunications.

Diversify Your Content Mix

Avoid blasting followers exclusively with links or hard-sell promotions. Blend in more value-focused updates like behind-the-scenes photos, live videos, employee highlights etc.

Monitor Comments and Messages

Don’t assume scheduling posts permits you to neglect community interactions. Continue replying to comments and messages on your Facebook properties consistently.

Promote Scheduled Live Streams

Drive viewership of planned Facebook Live broadcasts or streamed events by scheduling promotional video clips and graphics leading up to event start times.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

Scheduling empowers you, as a savvy social media manager, to coordinate a steady stream of Facebook updates optimized for reach and results.

With a systematic approach combining native functionality, third-party tools, and proven best practices around timing and content, your schedules posts will engage growing audiences.

As the next step, dive deeper into your ideal posting frequencies, themes and formats. Brainstorm creative ways to configure your owned content for social channels on autopilot.

Then simply press play, sit back, and watch carefully planned updates unfold flawlessly to move the needle on your key objectives.

The ability to schedule weeks or months of stellar social content in just hours is an absolute game changer. Now put these tactics into practice and prepare for the impact!