How to Schedule Facebook Fan Page Updates

January 28, 2011 - Last Modified: January 28, 2011 by Tia Peterson 9,068

Most bloggers are now getting connected to Facebook by setting up a fan page, which is a great idea. Previously, the best way was through Networked Blogs, but that was limited in that there was no place for your fans to congregate and connect. With pages, you can ask your fans questions, put up special pages, welcome pages, etc. It’s just a great way to get involved with Facebook as a blogger.

Scheduling Facebook Fan Page Updates

Some shiver at the idea of any sort of automation when it comes to social media. If that is you, that’s understandable. However, if you have something like RSS Graffiti or Social RSS, which is a tool that auto-posts your blog updates to your Facebook Fan Page, you may want to consider turning that off and using HootSuite to schedule fan page updates. It may not dramatically change how many impressions you get or how many likes you get, but it will make your life easier and will help you engage your community better.

1. Better Control Over Timing

If your update goes out in the middle of night where only your fans who are halfway across the world from you can see them, you’ve just reduced your potential for getting some feedback from that update. Consider the number of friends people have, and the number of fan pages they subscribe to, and how News feeds are displayed and filtered. Your one lone announcement is going to get lost, and by the time they get around to seeing it, it may be too late for them to be interested (i.e., they may have already seen the post).

When researching the best time of day to post to Facebook, you are going to find answers all over the place. The best thing to do is use common sense. If you have a target reader (which you SHOULD) you should know about them and their habits. Always optimize around your ideal, target reader and don’t try to make everyone happy, because you won’t.

This is something to consider for regular updates, too, and not just new blog post announcements.

2. Better Control Over Appearance

When you schedule posts in advance, you can control the text that displays along with your post as well as choose from a variety of images. This is normal, when you share a link on Facebook; however, when you do this instead of allowing RSS Graffiti or Social RSS to post your update, you have much more control. It also looks more natural.

Some people report strange Facebook behavior when they try to post links on their fan pages, such as the meta description not being displayed correctly or the title being incorrect. Using HootSuite will prevent that from happening.

Tips for Scheduling Updates

I’ve learned over the past month that updating even twice in a row is not a good thing. The subsequent updates will always get fewer impressions and fewer likes.
Add something to your update, such as a question or a quote from the post. This makes it more interesting and more likely to stand out.

About Tia Peterson

Follow @bizchickblogs

Tia Peterson is the founder of bizchickblogs.com.

{ 66 Responses }

Daniel Accorsi says:

Not so good. Its remove native "Share" of Facebook. :/
Marty says:

I have been trying for some time to schedule Facebook posts from both Hootsuite and Tweetdeck. Neither work. They disappear from the scheduled posts but never appear on Facebook.
Kharim says:

I didn't know that it was possible to schedule fan page updates on Facebook. Thanks Tia
Saket Jajodia says:

I prefer not to schedule my post on fb, blog, or Twitter.. bcoz real time interaction is mush batter then schedule n forget about it..
Justin Germino says:

Other than the NetworkedBlogs that feed my RSS to my Facebook fanpage, I don't schedule updates at all on my profile or fanpage. The problem is that until Facebook sends you emails or messages when someone comments on your Fanpage wall it is hard to rely on automation since you will never be able to respond to comments unless you manually like all your own posts on your fan page wall. Fanpages should have the same email configurable options as Facebook groups in my opinion.
Gina says:

Great article...I've been using Facebook for over a year and didn't realize that I could schedule my updates - what a timesaver. Do you have any thoughts/articles on how to integrate your Facebook fan page with your blog? How different should the content on your Facebook fan page be from your blog or site?
jhon says:

Information in the form of question answer is always cause of increase of visitors to the site.
Danielle McGaw says:

Hey Tia, Great post. I've scheduled updates with this before and it is very handy. BUT.... Have you figured out how to use the damn bulk uploader that Hootsuite has now? I looked at the sample .csv file that they provide but it is just not right! I can't seem to get the format right. If you have and advice it would really be helpful!
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Hey Danielle! Unfortunately I have no experience using the bulk scheduler. Wish I could be of more help!
Murlu says:

This would be pretty cool while on vacation so you wouldn't have to log in when you're really taking in the experience - combined that with scheduling on your blog and you've got some great automation :D
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Hey Murlu! For me, it's great for publishing things at good times for my readers. The funny thing is that since I've written this post, I haven't needed to do much scheduling, LOL. :)
Kiesha says:

Hi Tia, It funny - I use Hootsuite all the time to schedule tweets, but I never thought about scheduling Facebook updates - duh! I haven't really been active on FB and I really need to change that - I just need to borrow about 12 hours a day and I think I could catch up... :) Great post as usual!
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  hahaha I hear you. I really could use an extra 12 hours per day, too. I've been doing way too much. I have been finding myself more attracted to Facebook now. I still really enjoy Twitter but now that my fan following is finally picking up, my imagination is going crazy with ways to involve the crowd.
Brad Harmon says:

Very nice, Tia. I've been think I need to do something different with my Facebook feeds because I have no control over them. I use HootSuite for Twitter all the time, but haven't really thought about it much for Facebook. Nice to get a suggestion on a tool you're already using. I've also had those issues where meta tags or images don't appear when I share a link on my fan pages. Sounds like this will kill two birds with one stone. Thanks for the tips. I will be implementing them this weekend.
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  You're welcome, Brad!!! Glad this helped you.
Mike says:

Schedule content is actually a very strong feature in all social media platform. Imagine where you can have content published automatically everyday and you don't have to worry about keeping your page active, how sweet that would be. Just a small question, can you schedule video and images with Hootsuite as well?
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Hey Mike - Well, you can schedule updates of any kind. HootSuite will generate a preview for you so you can see what it will look like. So you could test it out and see what happens!!
Vijayraj Reddy says:

i use RSS Graffiti, but did not knew to schedule the updates, thx...
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  You're welcome, Vijayraj!
Morgan says:

Hi Tia! Have never considered automating Facebook updates, but it seems to be useful! :) Thanks!
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Hey Morgan! Good to see you here. I would only suggest it for blog updates, and those ideas that come in the middle of the night, when no one would be around to get them! :)
Mavis Nong says:

Hi Tia, Thanks for sharing these tips. I’ve never done the automated Facebook updates, I do them manually as I go. All the best, Mavis
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Hey Mavis - Thanks for your comment! I do most of them manually, too. :) Cheers, Tia
Chadrack says:

This is really a helpful post. For some time now I've been thinking of how I can do just this. I've been updating my fan page with my blog comments using networked blogs but I think from your post, HootSuite is more on the side of what I want to do. Thanks for this post.
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Hey Chadrack - That's neat that you update your fan page with blog comments; I'd never thought to do something like that. I do prefer HootSuite for just about everything!
TJ McDowell says:

I've scheduled blog posts so I'm not posting twice in 1 day, but I've never done the automated Facebook posts. We really just post as we get the chance - feels natural to us. We know others that do automated posts too, but at least for me, it seems more natural if the post-er is actually at the computer. Probably just a preference thing.
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Hey TJ - Well, the thing is that you don't know whether someone has automated it or not. Even if they post a question at 2:14 in the afternoon like, "What's up everyone?!" you'd not know whether it was scheduled. Just a thought!
  - TJ McDowell says:
    
    Tia, I guess you're right. I think after you follow someone for a while though, you find that there are times you KNOW they're not at the computer because they've mentioned they won't have access to a computer or their behavior will be different (ie no immediate replies). Have the automated posts worked well for you? I'm guessing you've gotten no complaints...on the other hand, I never complained to the people I was following either. It just didn't seem as natural.
    - Tia Peterson says:
      
      No complaints! But we're not talking about a lot of updates, either - probably three times per week, tops. Personally, I only use this for scheduling blog updates and at the very rare instance when I want to say something really badly and know that I'll forget in the morning (I try really hard not to post in the middle of the night, when all my great ideas come to me). Many bloggers have their blog auto-updating to Facebook. So, this is just an alternative to that. I don't do that anymore because we update four times a day and I don't want to update my fan page that often - overload!
Pritam Nagrale says:

Using HootSuite for updating facebook fan page is really a good idea as it gives more control then others. This article is really helpful.
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Thanks, Pritam. I like HootSuite for its control. I even use HootSuite to publish updates to my personal Facebook fan page.
Lennart Heleander says:

Hi Tia, It becomes more and more interesting and important that you send your blog articles to various social media sites such as Facebook, digg, myspace, flickr, YouTube, FriendFeed, ect and to Twitter. With a very good SEO, will you receive many new readers to your blog.
Isabel Rodrigues - Pro Blogger Journey says:

Thanks Tia, I always like to read your posts. You always come up with something new and interesting. Thanks a lot
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  You're welcome, Isabel! Glad you liked it.
chi3nming says:

I have a fan page but I don't really know how to operate it I still prefer using my group to send out messages as notifications whenever I update. BUt after a while ppl thinks its spam LOL
Henway says:

I still dun consider Facebook Fan Pages a good use of your marketing ROI. Most people are littered with messages from friends in their Facebook feed, and it'll require more than a few minutes to come up with something that will attract someone's attention. I've posted very revealing status updates, and have had NOONE respond to my post.. it'll take a lot more to have them respond to you.
Alex says:

Great tutorial Tia, I like the way you can see how your facebook message will look. That is definitely a good way to determine if you have to change something in order to attract more hits. I guess HootSuite is a program that I have to have running in order for the updates to be published? So, if I want to publish an update at 5 AM, I have to let my computer opened. This is kind of a drawback. It would be cool, if they could charge you a small fee to host the message that are scheduled.
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Hey Alex, Nope. You don't have to have it running. It's all web-based anyway. You can exit the window or log out; it's up to you. And there is an option to send yourself an email when your scheduled message goes out. Cheers, Tia
Ileane says:

Tia, I use HootSuite to schedule updates for an account I manage at work, but I never bothered to edit the text (doh)!
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  LOL Yeah; that's one of the better features!
Pippa says:

Took me ages to find hootsuit, I tried tweetdeck but could never get it to connect to facebook. I love hootsuite, so simple, but so useful.
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  I LOVE HootSuite. I have the Pro version; which isn't all that exciting except that my client and I can share their account, which is nice. There are also analytics but I don't use them.
James says:

Great Post Tia! thanks for sharing this. I have been working on setting up several fan pages and was wondering how to get them all updated without wasting all my time on it. Automation should be used sparingly, but it can make life a lot easier. You have to ballance when the automation is benefitial, and when it harms your relationship that you want to build. Social media is all about the relationships you build after all, and if you fail there, you are dead before you even get started.
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Hey James, Thanks. I find this feature one of the better reasons to use HootSuite. I guess I don't consider scheduling updates in advance and automation the same thing. But that's also because social media is part of what I do for a living; I spend probably 6 to 8 hours per day on HootSuite and going between blogs, so scheduling an update or two is only a very small percentage of my activity there. And it does help out quite a bit! Otherwise, I would forget to post updates, since I actually do not automate them.
Tinh says:

Too bad to me as my ISP blocked facebook here then I could not access facebook for a month now. Anyway, thanks for great guide here :-)
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  You're welcome, Tinh! I would be crushed if I couldn't access Facebook.
Mani Viswanathan says:

Even I use HootSuite. Its design is what makes me stick to it :)
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Yes, it was a really well thought out idea and design!
Extreme John says:

Great tutorial Tia, HootSuite gets the job done for me when it comes to scheduling my Facebook and Facebook Fan Page updates.
- Tia Peterson says:
  
  Hi John! Thanks. I love HootSuite for managing both Twitter and Facebook for me and also for a client. There are a few things I still handle outside of HootSuite, but I don't know what I would do without it now!
Tuan says:

Very nice stuff. However, I am using Tweetdeck, could I schedule updates like Hootsuite?
- Tia says:
  
  Hi Tuan! You know, I'm pretty sure that you can do the same thing with TweetDeck. Great question! I am not a TweetDeck expert, unfortunately.
Todd Gragg says:

I read something recently that 7:00 to 9:00 pm was prime time for posting on Facebook. I guess you could rotate your automation so that each time zone would get your post at the prime time hours to maximize viewers.
- Tia says:
  
  You could, but then I think it might bug everyone to go to your page and see several of the same updates! I don't really try to maximize viewership so much as hit that sweet spot for my most appreciative and active fans.
Tom says:

I've always just updated Facebook with my posts manually. I only have a Facebook account for one of my blogs - so it isn't that much extra effort.
- Tia says:
  
  Right. Sometimes it's not really an issue. I don't have time to be on Facebook when I'd like the updates to go out, or sometimes I'm afraid I'll miss my optimal window, so I like the ability to schedule. I definitely do not always schedule; it's just a nice to have when I need it.
Garen Arnold says:

RSS Graffiti is great, but I have heard great things about HootSuite too. I also schedule content from great blogs in my niche, as well. This provides a lot of valuable information for your fans.
- Tia says:
  
  I really liked RSS Graffiti in the beginning! But, my site gets updated at least four times a day, and I don't like to bug my fans that much. Plus, I see Facebook as a different setting - not just one for putting out new posts. So I started using HootSuite just to broadcast those special posts.
  - Garen Arnold says:
    
    Have you noticed any bugs with RSS Graffiti; sometimes it just doesn't always post.
Tia says:

Thanks for posting, Hesham! It's always a pleasure being a guest here.
- Hesham says:
  
  Hey Tia, you are welcome, and thank you for the good post!

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Scheduling Facebook Fan Page Updates

1. Better Control Over Timing

2. Better Control Over Appearance

Tips for Scheduling Updates

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