There's quite a gap between planning the seemingly perfect marketing strategy and having it actually deliver the expected results — budgets can be off, clients might change their minds, your team may hit bottlenecks, or you've got so much content to post you can't...
How to Schedule Facebook Reels for Free in 2 Ways
Scheduling reels ensures your content is timely and relevant, even if you can’t be on Facebook 24/7.
Can you schedule Facebook Reels ahead of time?
Yes, there are 2 ways to schedule new Reels on Facebook easily:
- natively, via the Meta Business Suite
- via a third-party scheduling tool like Planable
In this article, I’ll explore the pros and cons of each scheduling option.
How to schedule Reels on Facebook with Meta Business Suite
Update: Meta officially announced that Creator Studio will soon not be available. All its content creation features will be migrated to Meta Business Suite.
Follow these steps to schedule Reels using Facebook Meta Business Suite:
1. From your Meta Business Suite account click Create Reel.
2. Select where to share: to Facebook Reels, Instagram Reels or both.
3. Upload the video for your Reel, write your caption and select a thumbnail.
4. Click on Edit at the bottom of the screen to add audio, crop the video, add text or enhance.
5. Click on Share at the bottom of the screen and under Scheduling options choose Schedule. Select the day and hour for your Reel to be published.
6. Click Schedule.
To view scheduled Reels on Facebook: from the left-side menu in Meta Business Suite, click on Content select Posts & Reels and go to Scheduled.
Posts & Reels is also where you can edit or delete any scheduled Facebook Reels.
How to schedule Facebook Reels with Planable
Planable is a free social media management tool that makes your life easier and frees up your time. Scheduling posts (for Facebook and 8 other platforms) has never been this easy.
Here’s how to schedule a Reel post with Planable:
1. Sign up for free: you don’t need a credit card to create an account.
2. Connect your Facebook page (and any other social media platforms you want to schedule posts to).
3. Click the Compose button, select the Facebook icon and click on the Reels tab.
4. Write your copy, add images and click Select Date and Time to choose your ideal posting time from the drop-down menu.
5. Click Schedule.
Voilá! You can now enjoy your free time!
Why use Planable as your Facebook Reel Scheduler?
If you’re a social media manager or an agency handling multiple clients, Planable helps you schedule Facebook Reels, collaborate with others, and get reviews and approvals all in one place.
- plan your feed in advance with pixel-perfect previews
- share upcoming posts with colleagues, clients, or stakeholders
- set multiple layers of approval (or none)
- schedule Reels more than 29 days in advance
- publish to your Facebook page and to groups simultaneously
Scheduling Facebook Reels with Planable vs. scheduling natively
If you only schedule a Facebook post once in a while, you can use the native Meta Business Suite scheduler.
But if you need to post videos and images to Facebook and other social media networks daily, there’s Planable. The social media tool that allows you to schedule posts for 8 social media platforms, including Facebook Reels and posts, Instagram Reels and posts, and Youtube and TikTok videos.
- Plan an entire month’s worth of Reels
Planable’s calendar view feature is invaluable when scheduling a post across multiple accounts or even different social media platforms. in Planable, you instantly get pixel-perfect previews of posts, stories and reels: what you see is what you get.
- Collaborate and approve
Effortlessly team up with your content writer, designer, or manager to steer clear of typos and branding slip-ups. With Planable, the entire social media crew can smoothly collaborate on a unified dashboard, strategizing and greenlighting reels for future months.
- Optimal times
Managing multiple Facebook accounts can make it quite a challenge to remember the best posting times for each audience. But with Planable’s nifty timetable feature, this struggle becomes a thing of the past. Just pick a date you’d like to always have at your fingertips, and say goodbye to remembering time zones by heart.
- Organize all types of written content
Whether you’re scheduling Instagram Reels, Youtube or TikTok videos, Planable has got you covered. Organize and collaborate on posts for the 9 most popular social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Youtube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google My Business, Pinterest and Threads.
You can also collaborate and plan any type of written content in Planable, from blogs and press releases to newsletters and ebooks.
How to schedule a Reel on Facebook on a mobile device
You can schedule Reels on your iPhone or Android device with social media tools.
Here’s how you can schedule a Reel on your phone with Planable:
1. Sign up for Planable (no credit card required) and connect to your Facebook account on your desktop.
2. Download the Planable app from the App Store or Google Play.
3. Select your Facebook page and tap the Compose button at the bottom of the screen.
4. Upload your Reel, type in the caption and tap Next to Select the date and time.
5. Choose the desired date and time and tap Schedule.
You’re all done! Your scheduled Reel will automatically go live when the time comes!
Don’t forget, you can also schedule Facebook stories to keep your audience engaged with quick, visual updates alongside your Reels content.
Why schedule a Facebook Reel ahead of time?
Facebook Reels scheduling enables you to:
- save time when you film and publish engaging content on your Facebook page consistently
- use a social media calendar to stay organized, plan and schedule Reels around events or holidays
- free up time to work on your social media content strategy
- take advantage of trends by filming multiple video scenes in one day
- measure the success of your Reels and experiment with different songs, hashtags, or publishing times.
Scheduling Reels FAQs
Can you schedule Reels on Facebook Meta?
Yes, you can schedule Reels on Meta Business Suite but only up to 29 days in advance. If you need to schedule Reels at a later date, you can use a third-party scheduling tool like Planable.
How long can a Facebook reel be?
A Facebook Reel can be maximum 90 seconds long.
How many Facebook Reels should you post a day?
Posting 1-2 Facebook Reels a day will help you stay connected with your audience without flooding their feeds.