Page Posts need not be appear immediately.
Post date can be in the future or in the past.
Here is how you do it…
Estimated reading time 8 min
Contents
The Need
Schedule posts
Most pages are administered by few people. Depending upon the business requirements, it may be necessary to create a post, keep it ready, but expose it to the world at a precise point of time in future. This may be required to synchronize with a particular event timing, product launch, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Backdate posts
On the other hand, you may want to insert posts in between existing posts. Why? Many possible reasons: add some relevant information, provide more links, add details based upon feedback you have received, press releases which you received late, some event footage which required editing, display some progression like timed pictures of events, business history and so on…
Drafts
Quick notes, incomplete posts, placeholders can be saved as a draft and published when all the information is available and the time is right.
Scheduling posts
All the above options are available next to the familiar Post button.
Notice the up/down arrow next to the Post button.
Although it is a dropdown, it has up and down arrows. Why? Because in the rare instance of you navigating using keyboard, both the up arrow and down arrow buttons work there!
In earlier versions of Facebook, this was done through a gray colored clock icon on the left side of the post bar.
Click Schedule post.
Scheduling can be done precisely by choosing the date and time. Time zone cannot be changed from here. Maximum 6 months in advance at 5 minute intervals.
Edit the settings at a later date (before the deadline) from Activity – Scheduled Posts tab
Backdating posts
This is equally easy. As these are published immediately, time is not controllable.
Technically it works from the year 1970. But the date cannot be earlier than the creation date of the page. Obviously!
Also remember that Facebook itself was launched in Feb 2004. So be careful! If you really want to record some historical event, it is fine. Otherwise it looks fake.
Hiding is possible. But it will still appear in search and news feed. If you are backdating a post for a specific reason, I cannot think of a logical reason why you want to hide it. If you know a genuine need for doing so, please post it as a comment.
Draft Posts
These are visible only to page managers. Others can see it only after publishing.
Multiple drafts can be seen together from Activity – Drafts.
What can be done with a draft post?
Edit it and save it as a draft till it is ready.
Once ready the post can be published immediately or scheduled.
Backdating option is not available for drafts. (Don’t know why).
What can you do with published posts?
A published post can be backdated but not scheduled for future. Obviously, it cannot be converted to a draft. If you want to change anything, just edit it.
For the sake of completeness, here are the other options available for a published post.
This is post number 364.
Next one is the anniversary post. Thinking of what to write. Let me know if you have any ideas.
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