How to schedule Facebook posts

For a local business, a Facebook Page that posts a few times a week is still one of the easiest ways to stay in front of customers. Scheduling means the posts keep going out on the weeks you are flat out. Here are the two ways to do it.

1. In Meta Business Suite

Meta Business Suite comes with every Facebook Page. Create a post, choose to schedule it rather than publish now, and pick a date and time. It schedules to your Instagram account at the same time if you want, and it costs nothing. If Facebook and Instagram are your only networks, start here.

2. With a scheduler

A scheduler earns its place when Facebook is one of several networks, when you run Pages for clients, or when you want help writing the posts. Our guide to the best Facebook scheduling tools compares the options, Meta's own planner included.

Pages, not personal profiles

Facebook only lets tools publish to Pages. A personal profile can't be scheduled from Meta Business Suite or from any other tool, so if your business posts from a personal profile, a Page is the first step.

Get the post right before it is queued

• A photo or short video gets far more attention in the feed than text alone.
• Put the news in the first line: what's on, what's new, or what to do next.
• Facebook takes either photos or a video in one post, not both together.
• Facebook allows 63,206 characters, far more than anyone reads before "See more". Check a draft with our free character counter.

Scheduling Facebook with Optimate

Optimate's Facebook scheduler puts your Page on one calendar with your other platforms and your Google Business Profile, with posts written from your brand kit. Our Facebook marketing guide for local businesses covers what to post. Start your 14-day free trial, no card needed.