How to Schedule Posts on Meta Business Suite

Scheduling your social media content is a simple way to stay consistent, save time, and post when your audience is most active. This guide will walk you through exactly how to schedule posts, Stories, and Reels on both desktop and mobile platforms using the Meta Business Suite.

First, Why Should You Schedule Posts?

Before we jump into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." If you're manually posting to Facebook and Instagram every day, you're likely spending more time than you need to. Scheduling content in advance transforms your social media workflow.

• It Saves a Ton of Time: Instead of stopping what you're doing multiple times a day to post, you can batch your work. Dedicate a specific block of time once or twice a week to writing captions, creating graphics, and scheduling everything out. This frees up your daily schedule for other important tasks.
• You Can Maintain Consistency: Consistency is essential for building an audience on social media. When you schedule posts, you ensure a steady stream of content goes live on your profiles, even on days when you're busy, sick, or on vacation. This keeps your brand top-of-mind.
• You Can Post at Optimal Times: Your audience isn't online 24/7. Meta Business Suite provides insights into when your followers are most active. Scheduling allows you to publish content during these peak hours - even if they're outside of your normal working hours - maximizing reach and engagement.
• It Reduces Errors: Rushing to get a post out can lead to typos and mistakes. Scheduling gives you time to plan, draft, and proofread your content carefully before it ever goes live.

Step-by-Step: How to Schedule Posts on Desktop

The desktop version of Meta Business Suite offers the most robust set of features and is the easiest place to start. The central hub for all your content planning is the "Planner."

1. Navigate to the Planner or "Create Post"

Once you're logged into Meta Business Suite, you have two simple ways to get started:

• Primary Method (Planner): Look for the Planner tab in the left-hand navigation menu. This will show you a calendar view of your already scheduled posts and a prominent blue "Schedule" button in the top right. This is the best place to get a bird's-eye view of your content.
• Quick Method (Create Post): From the Home screen, click the big blue "Create post" button. This will take you directly to the post composer.

Both methods will land you in the same post creation window.

2. Select Your Platforms and Compose Your Post

At the top of the composer, under "Post to," you’ll see icons for your connected Facebook Page and Instagram account. Make sure the platforms you want to post to are checked.

Next, build your post just as you would for a live post:

• Add Media: Click "Add photo" or "Add video." You can upload media directly from your computer. Pro tip: you can add multiple photos to create a carousel post.
• Write Your Text: Type or paste your caption into the text box. You'll see separate tabs for Facebook and Instagram at the top of this box. This lets you write a single caption for both, or customize the caption, hashtags, and mentions for each platform. We highly recommend customizing them to fit each audience.

3. Customize for Each Platform

This is a super useful feature. While you can use the same caption for both Facebook and Instagram, best practices suggest tailoring the message for each. Click the Instagram tab in the text composer to write a separate, hashtag-rich caption for Instagram while keeping your Facebook caption cleaner, perhaps with a link.

You can also use tools like the link shortener for Facebook posts or tag other accounts, which customizes the tagging for each platform.

4. Choose the "Schedule" Option

Down next to the blue "Publish" button, you'll see a small dropdown arrow. Click it. Instead of hitting "Publish," select "Schedule."

This is the magic step. If you click "Publish," the post will go live immediately.

5. Select Your Date and Time

A calendar will pop up. From here, you can:

• Select the date you want the post to go live.
• Enter the specific time. Be sure to double-check whether it's AM or PM.

Meta often suggests "Active Times” – recommended time slots based on your accounts' past performance. These are a great starting point if you're not sure when to post! Click one of these suggestions to autofill the time.

6. Click "Schedule" to Finalize

Once you've set your date and time, the main blue button at the bottom will change from "Publish" to "Schedule." Click it, and you're done! Your post will be added to your content calendar in the Planner, ready to go live at the designated time.

How to Schedule Stories and Reels

Scheduling Stories and Reels follows a similar process but starts from a slightly different place in the composer.

Scheduling Stories

1. From the Planner or Home page, click the dropdown arrow next to the "Create Post" button and select "Create story."
2. Select whether you want to post the Story to your Facebook Page, Instagram account, or both.
3. Click "Add media" and upload the image or video you want to use for your Story.
4. Use the simple editing tools on the side to add text or stickers. The options are more limited than in the native app, so it's a good practice to finalize your creative before uploading.
5. Instead of a "Publish" button, you'll see a "Share Story" button in the bottom right. Click the dropdown arrow next to it and choose "Schedule story."
6. Pick your date and time, click save, and then click the final "Schedule story" button.

Your scheduled story will now appear in your Planner, differentiated by a small icon.

Scheduling Reels

1. Click "Create post" from your Business Suite dashboard.
2. Under "Media," click "Add video" and upload your Reel file from your computer.
3. Important: Once the video is uploaded, Meta Business Suite will automatically recognize it's a short-form, vertical video and treat it as a Reel for both platforms. You don't need to select a special "Reel" format during creation.
4. Add your caption, including hashtags. You can also select a thumbnail and add collaborators from this window.
5. Follow the same scheduling steps as a regular post: click the dropdown next to "Publish," choose "Schedule," select your date and time, and confirm.

Scheduling on the Go: The Meta Business Suite App

Running a business means you're not always at your desk. Luckily, the mobile app makes it easy to schedule posts from anywhere.

1. Open the Meta Business Suite mobile app.
2. Tap the large blue "+" button at the bottom center of the screen.
3. Select what you want to create: Post, Story, or Reel.
4. Create your content as you normally would - uploading media and writing your caption.
5. When you're ready, tap "Next." On the final screen, you’ll see the "Publishing Options." Select "Schedule for later."
6. Choose your date and time, tap "Done" or "OK," and then tap the final "Schedule" button at the top right.

The mobile experience is nearly as powerful as the desktop one, allowing you full control over your content calendar from your phone.

Managing Scheduled Content

What if you change your mind or spot a typo after you've scheduled something?

Navigate back to the Planner. Here, you'll see everything on your calendar. Simply find the post you want to adjust and click on it. A menu will appear with several options:

• Edit Post: Open the composer to change the caption, media, or other details.
• Reschedule Post: Quickly change the publish date or time.
• Delete Post: Remove the scheduled post from your calendar entirely.
• Publish Now: If priorities change, you can push the post live immediately.

The Planner gives you complete flexibility to manage your content pipeline without any stress.

Final Thoughts

Mastering the scheduling tools in Meta Business Suite is one of the most effective ways to manage your social media presence efficiently. By planning ahead, you can ensure a consistent stream of high-quality content that reaches your audience at the best possible times, all while saving you valuable hours each week.

Once your content is scheduled, the next step is to understand what's actually resonating with your audience. We built Graphed to help with exactly that. After you’ve done the work to plan your posts, you can ask Graphed simple questions like, "Which Facebook campaigns from last month had the highest engagement?" or "Show me a dashboard of my Instagram growth over the last quarter." It connects directly to your advertising and analytics data, giving you instant insights to inform what kind of content you should create and schedule next.