I have been hearing rumours of this feature for a little while but wasn’t sure when it was going to happen. However on Friday, (along with new page admin roles) Facebook have released a new scheduling feature for pages.
Big thank you to Karen Gunton from Build a Little Biz for letting me know about this new feature.
This means you will be able to create status updates and schedule them to go out at a time and date that suits you.
- You can schedule your posts up to 6 months in advance
- The posts are done in 10-minute increments
- You can even backdate posts which will go onto your timeline in date order
So you want to schedule your Facebook updates? But not sure how?
Here is a quick run-through on how to schedule your Facebook updates.
How do I schedule a post
1. Choose the schedule icon
Type in your status update (or add your image/event) and then click on the little clock icon that you will find in the bottom left-hand side under your status text.
2. Choose Your Time
Once you have click on the clock icon, you will have to first choose your year, then the month, then the date and then finally the hour and minute you wish your post to appear.
Once you have done this and you are happy you can then Schedule your post (a confirmation popup will display once this has been done).
But, what if I want to cancel a scheduled post?
Sometimes things happen and you may wish to edit or cancel a Facebook post that you have scheduled. Don’t worry it is nice and easy to change or delete your post.
1. Go to Your Activity Log
Simply go to your Admin Panel, then click on Manage and then select your Activity Log.
2. Change or Cancel Your Post
Once in your Activity Log, you will see a list of your scheduled posts. Select the arrow in the top right of your post and choose the relevant option.
You can do one of the following:
- Cancel the post
- Change the time you want the post to go out
- Post the status update now
Note: You won’t be able to change any of the text when changing your time. You will need to cancel your status update and recreate again.
We are excited about this new feature and I am sure page owners will love this new functionality.
What do you think?
10 Responses
thanks guys, this is a great insight. This tool will help a number of my pages to run smoothly while I am frantically working on other jobs.
Most welcome Tash, I can definitely see this is going to be a huge benefit for your pages. I think there will be a lot of people really excited about this. It just makes things so much easier if you are already on Facebook, instead of using HootSuite or Tweetdeck to schedule (both are awesome for multi platform posting)
Very happy to see this new feature, but the Activity Log part is not working for me. My Activity Log is blank. I’ve tested scheduling messages, and they do go out at the scheduled time, but I can’t see anything in my activity log. Wondering if anyone else is experiencing this. Reluctant to try this on client’s pages until this gets sorted.
Hi Megan
Thanks for the comment, it is going to be a very great feature that people will really benefit from.
As far as I know the Activity Log should be working. You should be able to see a whole list of different activity on the log, such as people sharing your page etc. So if that is working then it could be that the scheduling isn’t working correctly.
How far in advance were you scheduling them? I think if its within 10 minutes or so you can’t change them.
Nope, I’m not seeing anything in my Activity Log at all – totally blank. And the scheduled messages are working – have tried several hours ahead, and a next day post and they all go out on time. Just no activity log. Weird. Thought it might be a browser thing as I use FB on Opera, but just tried in IE and same deal.
Wondering if there’s a setting somewhere I’ve missed, or maybe just one of those FB glitches that eventually sort themselves out.
Hi Megan
I am pretty sure it will be a Facebook glitch if you aren’t seeing any activity at all. I would give it a day or two and it should sort itself out.
If you have any issues let me know.
Cheers
Nicole
I’m not see my activity log either for my fan page, even though I’ve scheduled an update. Annoying if you want to change it! I’m in the UK. I’m thinking it must just be a glitch in FB (hope so!).
Hi Jane
Thanks so much for your comment, I have had a few people this has happened to in the past week or so. It looks like a bug in Facebook and it should rectify itself soon.
I would be keen to hear if it does rectify itself.
Let me know how you go.
Cheers
Nicole
Hey Nic,
Thanks for this. Is it only on business pages, not personal timelines?
Hi Marcus
At this stage it is only for business pages, I haven’t heard any rumours of them adding to personal timelines.