We’ve looked at email scheduling, but what about social media scheduling? ‘Everyone*’ says we need to post consistently, whether that’s daily, weekly or something else.
*not sure who ‘everyone’ really is, but I keep hearing “post consistently”.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t the time (or energy) to sign into all the various social media platforms I use in my business at specific times of the day/week and post.
What I need is method that I can setup, say once a week, and then forget about it. Knowing that the system will automatically publish all the posts for me.
And that’s where scheduling comes in.
Built into the Social Media Platforms
What’s nice, is that for the majority of the most popular platforms, I don’t need to spend any money to schedule my posts – instead they have scheduling options available.
What’s the catch?
It’s the same thing for all of the schedulers – it’s not going to create the posts for you. 😆
You’re going to have to write the content, create any images and basically get everything ready.
The other thing, if you use a number of platforms, you’re going to have to go into each one, in turn, to setup your social media scheduling.
Of course on the plus side it’s a great way to schedule social media free!
Let’s take a look at them:
Meta
The company behind both Facebook and Instagram, has a couple of options to schedule social media posts in advance.
Depending on where you want to schedule posts, you will find that for some options you’ll be in the main platform, and for other’s you’ll need to use another site – The Meta Business Suite.
Let’s take a look at the different options.
Personal Posts
You can’t schedule personal posts, I’m assuming because they want it to me more “in the moment” rather than pre-planned. 😉
Business Posts
I’m pretty sure we used to be able to schedule posts on the business account, but as you can see, not directly in the message.
Group Owner
If you have created a group (making you the owner), then you do have the option to schedule items.
YouTube Video: How to Schedule Posts In Your Facebook Group Easily and Quickly
In your group, create a new post.
Add the content as normal.
Next to the large blue post button, to the right is the calendar or Schedule Post option.
When you click, you’ll be asked what date and time to use.
Fill the details in and click Schedule, to save the post and add it to the scheduled list.
At the date and time, Facebook will automatically display the post in your group.
We all know that you weren’t able to post to Instagram directly on your computer. Thought I’d better check before stating “facts” and it’s a good thing that I did.
It’s changed!
However, you can’t schedule a post through your laptop/desktop computer.
But if you use the phone app, you can schedule the post there.
(This is a new feature for me, wonder how long it’s been there?)
Create your new post in the Instagram app (on your phone).
On the New Post screen, click Advanced Settings at the bottom.
Now enable Schedule Content / Schedule This Post.
Set the day and time – click Set time.
Return back to your post to finish it off.
Note: You’ll see Schedule in the top right-hand corner, instead of Share.
Business Suite
What those of us with a business page in Facebook know, is that you can use the Meta Business Suite to create, schedule and cross post (between Facebook and Instagram).
This is a free website or phone app, that gives you some control and information. It also has the scheduling options.
You can go directly (do not pass Go, do not get £200) to the website address: business.facebook.com
or through your business page on Facebook
Open the Meta Business Suite, and select Planner from the menu on the left
From the Schedule button (in the middle), select what you want to schedule.
Select the date and time, or pick one of the suggestions.
You might need to scroll back to the top of the page to work through the options.
Add the content for the post in and click Schedule at the bottom.
YouTube Video: Quick Tutorial: How To Schedule Posts in LinkedIn
Over on LinkedIn, it’s simple to schedule posts.
Personal Account
Create a new post, and fill in the content.
At the bottom, click the ‘clock’ symbol (bottom right) to select the date and time for this content to be posted.
Back on your post, check that you’re happy and click Schedule.
Business Page
You’ll be surprised to learn, that on your business page, it’s exactly the same to schedule a post for later…
Create a new post, and in the bottom right-hand corner click the Schedule for later clock icon.
Set the date and time, then click Schedule (not Post) in the dialog box.
YouTube
YouTube Video: YouTube Video Scheduling Made Easy: Step-by-Step Tutorial
This is one of the scheduling options that I use all the time.
When you’ve got a YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@michellekaye) you set yourself a schedule to post on.
I really don’t have the time to post manually every week, instead I batch create my quick videos and then as I upload them, I use the built-in schedule option to make sure that they are released/published as I want them.
Upload the video as normal and work through the settings.
On the right-hand side, under the video preview, click on Visibility.
In the list, scroll down to the bottom for Schedule.
Pick your date and time.
Note: The time zone will be your local time.
I use Tuesday at 08:15am as my standard time.
Click Done, in the bottom right.
Finish off anything else, and Save the video and it’s settings.
TikTok
Note: I don’t have a TikTok account, so this isn’t from personal experience. However I didn’t want to ignore this very popular social media platform.
According to my research, while TikTok does have a built-in scheduler it’s only for Business or Creator accounts (not personal).
Currently (at date of writing) it’s only available on desktop through a browser, not on mobile.
Sign into your business or creator account on a web-browser.
Upload the video. Then add any additional content (captions, cover etc).
Toggle the Schedule Video option on. Set the data and time (up to 10 days ahead).
Click Post.
As a social media search platform, we can add a pin directly in our account.
Personal Account
You can only pin immediately, scheduling is not available.
Business Account
However, if you do have a business account, then a schedule option is available.
YouTube Video: Schedule Pinterest Pins and Save Time
Create the pin as normal.
Once everything is ready, click Publish at a later date at the bottom of the window.
Now select your date and time.
Note: You can only select a date up to a month (5 weeks) ahead.
Click the Schedule button (instead of Publish) to save it and add the pin to your scheduled list.
Next Steps
Social media scheduling should be a regular part of your (personal) schedule if you’re using social media in your business.
While using the built-in schedulers for each platform is free, it can be time consuming to have to go into each platform in turn.
If this isn’t really working for you, then maybe the next post is the way to go – using a specific scheduling program that can work across all (or a range) of platforms.
For scheduling how-to, take a look at the Social Media Playlist on my YouTube Channel.
More Scheduling Posts
Need a break? You need to start scheduling content
How do I start scheduling emails to be sent?
Social Media Scheduling: Built into the Platform (current post)
Social Media Schedulers: What about specific apps?
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