There are a few potential reasons why your scheduled Facebook post may have failed to publish as expected:
You scheduled the post too far in advance
Facebook only allows you to schedule posts up to 6 months in advance. If you try to schedule a post beyond that timeframe, it will fail to publish.
For example, if today is October 11, 2023, the latest date you could schedule a post for is April 11, 2024. Any date after that would exceed the 6 month limit and cause the scheduling to fail.
Solution
Only schedule posts within a 6 month timeframe. If you need to plan content further in advance, draft the posts and save them as drafts, then schedule them for publishing closer to the date you want them to go out.
The post was scheduled for the wrong timezone
Facebook schedules posts based on the timezone set in your account settings. If you are in a different timezone than what is set on your account, your scheduled posts may publish at the wrong time.
For example, if you are located in New York but your Facebook account is set to Pacific Time, a post scheduled for 8 AM would actually publish at 5 AM Eastern Time.
Solution
Make sure your Facebook account’s timezone matches your local timezone. You can update this in your account settings.
Your Facebook page wasn’t properly claimed
In order to schedule posts on a Facebook page, you need to properly claim ownership of the page via Facebook’s page verification process. If your page hasn’t been verified, scheduled posts may fail to go live.
Solution
Go through Facebook’s page ownership verification process. This involves having Facebook send you a postcard with a verification code to your registered business address.
The scheduled post was deleted
If you delete a scheduled post before its publishing time, it will obviously fail to publish since it no longer exists!
Scheduled posts may also be accidentally deleted by yourself or another page admin before they are meant to go live.
Solution
Be careful when deleting posts to make sure you are not removing any scheduled ones by mistake. Also, confirm with any other page admins that they have not deleted posts that were meant to publish.
There was an error scheduling the post
Sometimes Facebook may encounter a technical glitch when you attempt to schedule a post. This could prevent the post from being scheduled properly.
You may have thought you successfully scheduled the post, but because of a behind-the-scenes error it did not actually get saved and queued up for publishing.
Solution
Try scheduling the post again. Make sure to confirm that it shows up as scheduled in your Facebook page’s publishing queue before assuming it scheduled correctly.
The scheduled post violated Facebook’s policies
Facebook will reject scheduled posts that violate its Community Standards or ad policies. For example, posts promoting illegal or regulated goods may fail to publish.
Pages that frequently violate policies may even have their ability to schedule posts restricted by Facebook.
Solution
Carefully review Facebook’s rules about what can and cannot be posted. Avoid scheduling any content that could be construed as violating standards.
Your Facebook page is restricted from scheduling posts
In some cases, Facebook may temporarily restrict pages that violate policies from being able to schedule posts. The platform can also restrict accounts it deems as being highly automated.
Trying to schedule posts when your page has these restrictions will result in scheduled posts failing.
Solution
If you believe your page has been wrongly restricted, you can appeal the restrictions via the Facebook Help Center. Avoid excessive automation and over-posting frequency, which can trigger restrictions.
Your Facebook page access expired or was revoked
If another admin removed your admin access to a Facebook page, you will no longer be able to access or schedule posts on that page.
Facebook access tokens also eventually expire. If yours expired before your scheduled post was meant to publish, it would fail to go live.
Solution
Confirm you still have publishing access to a page before scheduling posts. Renew your access token regularly to avoid expirations.
There was a Facebook platform outage
Facebook occasionally suffers outages that take down parts of the platform. If there was an outage around the time your scheduled post was meant to publish, it could have disrupted the scheduling system.
Posts scheduled during outages may also fail to properly publish.
Solution
Check Facebook’s status page and wait until outages are resolved before scheduling. Avoid scheduling during known outages.
Your Facebook account was temporarily suspended
If your Facebook account is suspended or disabled at the time a scheduled post was meant to publish, it will fail to go live.
Suspensions stem from violations of Facebook’s terms, while disabling may occur if the account appears compromised.
Solution
Appeal any mistaken suspensions. For disabling, secure your account and prove ownership to have it reinstated.
You have an unpaid balance on your Facebook ad account
Facebook will block scheduled unpaid posts if you have outstanding payments due on your ad account connected to the same page.
Having past-due unpaid balances can also get your page restricted.
Solution
Pay any overdue balances on your Facebook ad accounts. Keep your accounts in good standing.
Your Facebook page was unpublished
If your Facebook page is unpublished at the time a scheduled post was meant to go live, that post will not be visible to your audience.
Pages may become unpublished if they are repeatedly flagged for policy violations.
Solution
Republish your page and avoid actions that could lead to it being unpublished. Confirm your page is active before scheduling.
You scheduled a post for a deleted Facebook event
Any posts scheduled for specific Facebook events will fail to publish if those events are deleted prior to the post’s scheduled time.
For example, a post meant for an event tomorrow won’t go live if you delete the event today.
Solution
Make sure not to delete any events that have scheduled posts attribution. Confirm events are still active before scheduling posts.
Conclusion
To summarize, the main reasons scheduled Facebook posts fail include:
- Scheduling too far in advance (beyond 6 months)
- Having the wrong timezone set on your account
- Not having page verification completed
- Accidentally deleting scheduled posts
- Encountering scheduling errors
- Violating Facebook’s policies in scheduled posts
- Having posting restrictions on your page
- Losing page access
- Experiencing Facebook platform outages
- Having your account suspended or disabled
- Having overdue ad account balances
- Unpublishing your Facebook page
- Deleting an event with attributed scheduled posts
Carefully checking these potential issues and following best practices around scheduling can help ensure your posts successfully publish when intended.
| Reason for Failure | Solution |
|---|---|
| Scheduled too far in advance | Only schedule up to 6 months out |
| Wrong timezone set | Update your Facebook timezone |
| Page not verified | Complete page ownership verification |
| Scheduled post deleted | Avoid accidentally deleting posts |
| Scheduling error | Try scheduling again |
| Post violates policies | Review Facebook’s rules |
| Page has posting restrictions | Appeal the restrictions |
| Lost page access | Renew access token |
| Facebook platform outage | Avoid scheduling during outages |
| Account suspended/disabled | Appeal suspensions, secure account |
| Unpaid ad account balance | Pay overdue balances |
| Page unpublished | Republish page |
| Deleted event | Don’t delete events with posts |
By being aware of these failure points and troubleshooting appropriately, you can get to the bottom of your Facebook scheduling issues. Maintaining your accounts in good standing and following best practices will help ensure your content goes live when you want it to.
Facebook’s scheduling tool provides a convenient way to plan your social media content in advance. However, it does not always work perfectly. Keep the above troubleshooting tips in mind to diagnose and resolve any problems with your scheduled posts failing to publish on Facebook.
With some diligence and testing, you can master successful Facebook scheduling and ensure your posts reach your audience on time, every time.