Facebook is rolling out several updates for businesses which include the ability to schedule stories across Facebook and Instagram.

New features coming to Facebook Business Suite are detailed in a company announcement. In addition to scheduling stories, the tool will soon be capable of managing photo albums and saving draft posts.

Here’s how businesses can take advantage of the much requested ability to schedule stories.

Schedule Stories on Facebook and Instagram

Business Suite can already be used to create and schedule regular posts, now the same functionality is getting extended to stories.

Businesses can create, publish, and schedule stories to Facebook and Instagram by opening Business Suite on desktop and selecting “Create Story.”

Stories can also be scheduled using the Business Suite mobile app by navigating to the “Posts & Stories” tab.

From there follow the steps below:

• Select where you want to create or schedule a post for your Facebook News Feed, Instagram Feed, or both.
• Click Upload Media and add a photo or video to your story.
• Customize your story by cropping, adding text or stickers.
• Preview how your story will look on Facebook and Instagram on the right.
• Click Publish Story to publish immediately, or click the blue arrow to select Schedule Story to publish it later.

That’s all it takes to schedule stories using Facebook Business Suite. Here’s a look at other new features rolling out along with this update.

More New Features in Facebook Business Suite

Edit Scheduled Posts

Another feature available now in Facebook Business Suite allows scheduled posts to be edited before they go live.

To make changes to a scheduled post, head to the “Scheduled Posts” section of the “Posts & Stories” tab on mobile or desktop, select the post to edit, and choose “Edit Post.”

Create and Manage Albums

A feature available in the coming weeks will allow businesses to publish and manage Facebook photos and albums from Business Suite.

When available, the feature can be accessed from the “Posts & Stories” tab.

Save Posts in Drafts

A feature available in the near future will let businesses create Facebook and Instagram stories to save as drafts.

In the Business Suite mobile app or on desktop, create a post or story and choose “Save as Draft” to come back to it at a later date.

About Facebook Business Suite

Facebook Business Suite was introduced last September with the intention of it becoming an all-in-one platform for businesses to manage their activity on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.

According to Facebook’s data, 2 out 3 users say Businesses Suite improved their ability to connect with customers:

“By bringing together important tools like messaging, posting, insights and advertising capabilities, Business Suite makes it easier to manage your business’ online presence so you have time to focus on what matters most. It’s also helped businesses around the world expand their audience — 2 out of 3 surveyed users said Business Suite helped them connect with more customers.”

New capabilities are steadily getting added to Facebook Business Suite as the company progresses toward its goal of making it a one-stop tool.

With the shuttering of Facebook Analytics on its way later this summer, Facebook is directing businesses to using Businesses Suite instead. To that end, it’s likely more features will be added to the tool in the coming months.

Source: Facebook For Business

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