Did you know you can schedule Facebook Posts in advance?

This morning, I came across Brandon's post in his group blog (Click on the picture on the right to view the blog entry).

In his post, Brandon shared the problem of how he forgot to put up the posts his group was supposed to publish on the Sweet Musings Facebook Page at the correct timing.

The timing of the posts was very important because these posts were designed as part of a mini competition that the group is running as an 'experiment' and fun way to engage the fans of the Page.   Basically, there would be certain letters that are posted during a specified time-block and after the time-block, it would b removed.  E.g. letter P is posted from 6 am to 8 am, letter I is posted from 11 am to 1 pm, letter E is posted from 3-5 pm etc.  The idea is to make the readers access the Page with purposeful intention during these times so that they can 'collect' the letters before they are removed from the Page and when the fan has collected all the letters of the day, he or she can stand to win prizes!

Sounds like a fun idea, doesn't it? :)  But the problem is, this competition takes a lot of discipline and time-management to execute if it is done manually.  So inevitably, Brandon and his team-mates in their busyness, forgot to post a couple of the letters at the right timing.  Well, we can't blame them, it would not be easy to do it if it was us.


But hey, let me share with you an easier and 'sure-proof' method!

You can automate the publication of the posts if you use Facebook's scheduling tool.

Click the "time" icon to access the Scheduling tool

Below is how you do it.  Just type your post as per normal like this, but before clicking on the "Post" button, click on the small "time" icon.  Once you click it, you will find that the interface changes to allow you to specify the date and time for posting in advance as shown below.  You then specify your desired date and time to post and press the "Schedule" button.  After that, Facebook will show you a confirmation that your post has been scheduled for publication!  And if you need to edit or delete the scheduled post, you can access the 'Use Activity Log' in the Admin panel to change the timing or remove it entirely.

Scroll to the top of the page where the Admin menu is, and click on "Edit Page->Use Activity Log"

Change the timing or Delete the post!

Have fun 'automating'! :)