If you want to save time and boost your LinkedIn presence, scheduling posts is a small step that carries a big impact.

Being able to schedule LinkedIn posts is great for a few obvious reasons – for example, if you’re going on vacation and want to post something timely or keep your LinkedIn account active while you’re away. It also means you don’t have to be at your desk to hit publish on every individual LinkedIn post, even if you are in the office. You can choose a scheduled post date, offering flexibility to plan as far in advance as desired. This is handy, since – let’s be honest – most of us aren’t posting breaking news on LinkedIn.

But scheduling can be really useful for less obvious reasons, too.

For example, perhaps you’re posting on your LinkedIn page and not seeing much engagement. It might be that you’re posting at the wrong time.

With scheduling, you can plan your content (including LinkedIn ads) in advance and have it automatically publish at the best times for your audience. This lets you maintain a consistent posting schedule without being glued to your screen all day.

In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at how to schedule posts on LinkedIn and share some tips for making the most of planning ahead. We’ll also troubleshoot some common challenges that you might have to navigate.

In this article:

How do I schedule LinkedIn posts?

Let's get the easy stuff out of the way so we can look at the benefits of scheduled LinkedIn posts.

Scheduling LinkedIn posts is really easy. You can use LinkedIn's built-in scheduling feature. We'll explain the steps for doing that later in this guide.

Third-party tools like Brandwatch can also schedule LinkedIn posts.

These tools let you create multiple LinkedIn posts, set publish dates and times, and even share to LinkedIn company pages and groups. You can also see all your scheduled content in one place, making it simple to manage your social media strategy.

Understanding the importance of scheduling LinkedIn posts

Scheduling LinkedIn posts is useful when you're simply not able to hit publish at the right time, but it can also help you maintain a consistent presence and reach your audience when they're online.

In this section, we'll look at how scheduling posts on LinkedIn can actually improve your social media strategy.

Benefits of consistent posting

Posting regularly on LinkedIn is the best thing you can do to boost your following. As with other social media platforms, the LinkedIn algorithm favors those who log in regularly and post stuff. Consistent posting will keep you top of mind with other social media users, too. It also helps you build your personal brand or company profile over time.

In terms of planning, being able to schedule posts on LinkedIn makes it easier to maintain a steady stream of content. You can plan posts in advance when you don't have a lot on. This means you won't have long gaps between updates when you get busy.

Regular posting is also a good way to position yourself as a thought leader. If you share some expert tips that genuinely help people get ahead, your audience will come to expect and look forward to your content. This is the kind of stuff that's perfect for planning and scheduling in advance.

Optimal times for engagement on LinkedIn

The best times to post on LinkedIn are quite predictable – it's typically weekdays during business hours. If you're a professional, you're probably checking LinkedIn in the morning or around lunchtime. If you set good boundaries, then you're not checking it over the weekend.

As a general rule, Tuesday through Thursday tend to see higher engagement rates. The sweet spot is often between 10 am and 12 pm. However, your ideal times may vary based on your specific audience.

You don't have to guess when to post though – instead you can use LinkedIn's analytics to see when your followers are most active. The key is to look for patterns in when your posts get the most views, likes, and comments. You'll probably need to experiment with different posting times to find what works best for your LinkedIn company page.

With scheduling, you can hit these peak times consistently, even if you're not online. And that means that you're more likely to reach your followers when they are online.

Native LinkedIn scheduling features

LinkedIn now offers built-in tools to plan your posts ahead of time. These do have some limitations (which we'll discuss later in this section) but are a good starting point for building a consistent presence without relying on outside apps.

How to schedule posts directly on LinkedIn

To schedule a post on LinkedIn, start by creating your post as you usually would. But instead of hitting publish, look for the clock icon in the lower-left corner of the post window. Clicking on that will get you to scheduling options. Then, just choose your desired date and time, and hit “Schedule.” You can view and edit scheduled posts by tapping the clock icon again. To edit scheduled LinkedIn posts, access the scheduled post, update the date, or tweak the content before it goes live.

Other than being published automatically at your chosen time, scheduled posts work mostly the same as any other posts. You can tag people and companies, or add images, videos, and documents. The native scheduler works for personal profiles, company pages, and groups, so it’s widely accessible too.

Limitations of LinkedIn's native scheduler

While convenient, LinkedIn's built-in scheduler does have some drawbacks. The main one is that you can only schedule posts up to three months in advance, so it might not be the best solution for those who like to plan really far into the future.

Also, the native scheduler isn't able to manage posts across multiple accounts, which could be a problem for those managing more than one account on LinkedIn. For that, you'll need a third-party tool.

Utilizing third-party tools for scheduling

Talking of third-party tools, using them for scheduling LinkedIn posts can give you a bit more flexibility than using the native LinkedIn scheduler. It might be worth considering using one of these if you need to schedule posts quite far in advance, or you're managing multiple LinkedIn pages.

It can also be handy to use one tool for a multitude of different tasks, and what's nice about this is a lot of scheduling tools double up as social media management platforms. This means you can handle all your accounts in one place.

Several popular tools can help you schedule LinkedIn posts. Brandwatch is a versatile platform that you can link to multiple social networks. It lets you plan content, track performance, and manage team workflows.

Buffer is another widely used option. It has a simple interface and focuses on post scheduling and analytics. Later is great for visual content, with features like a media library and content calendar.

For small businesses, Sendible provides a cost-effective solution with team collaboration tools.

Step-by-step guide to scheduling with third-party tools

Regardless of the tool you use, the scheduling process will probably look something like this:

  1. Choose a tool and sign up for an account.
  2. Connect your LinkedIn profile or company page.
  3. Create your post content.
  4. Add media like images or videos if needed.
  5. Select a date and time for publishing.
  6. Review and approve the scheduled post (or refer to higher-ups for approval).

After the post has gone live, you'll be able to check back in and see how it's going by simply pulling up your analytics.

Many tools include a content calendar where you can see all your scheduled posts at a glance. This is great for planning ahead, and making sure the right people know what's going live and when.

Comparing features of scheduling tools

  • When comparing scheduling tools, Brandwatch Social Media Management stands out for its multi-network support and advanced social listening capabilities.
  • Buffer is known for its easy-to-use interface and solid analytics features, making it a great option for beginners.
  • Later focuses on visual planning and offers a media library, which is ideal for content-heavy teams.
  • CisionOne includes advanced analytics along with CRM and outreach features, catering more to PR and communications teams.
  • Lastly, Sendible offers a more affordable team option with useful content suggestions, making it well-suited for growing marketing teams.

When choosing a tool, it's best to think about your needs and budget. Some platforms offer free plans with basic features, while others (like us, here at Brandwatch) can provide a custom range of advanced features, with the price varying according to the tools you need.

Ultimately, understanding your priorities before making a decision will help you choose the right tool. For example, if social listening and advanced analytics are just as important to your brand as scheduling, you'll want a platform that'll support all of those needs.

Best practices for scheduling LinkedIn posts

Scheduling your LinkedIn posts can make life a lot easier, especially for an overworked social media manager.

It can also bring better results to your posts, typically boosting reach and engagement. In this section, we'll explore some key strategies that can make all the difference.

Crafting engaging content for scheduled posts

You should always start with the aim to create LinkedIn content that your audience will find relatable.

For example, if you're a personal branding specialist, you might post a lot of specific how-to content that will help your followers build their own following and audience.

Most social media users are drawn to an eye-catching visual, so use a mix of text, images, and videos to keep posts interesting. Remember, LinkedIn is a careers-based platform so stick to a professional subject matter and tone.

Questions are always good for sparking conversations, while industry insights and tips can be genuinely helpful to followers.

Monitoring and adjusting scheduled content

While it might be tempting to tick the task of scheduling off your to-do list and promptly forget about it, this is a bad idea.

Instead, you want to go back in and check on those scheduled posts regularly. Make sure the content is still relevant and timely. You can always update or reschedule posts, especially for time-sensitive topics.

Current events or trends might mean that your content needs a little adjustment. It never looks good when a scheduled post interrupts a big news moment, so you might need to pause or modify scheduled posts during sensitive times.

Remember to make and share a content calendar with all the right people. This means that everyone understands what's coming up, and more people can remind you to put the brakes on scheduled content if there's a good reason to do so.

Analyzing performance metrics of scheduled posts

Just like any other post, you can track the metrics for scheduled posts and learn more about who saw the post and interacted with it.

You can either use LinkedIn's built-in analytics or a third-party tool for deeper insights. The key metrics to look for include engagement rates, click-throughs, and follower growth.

With scheduled posts, it's important to look at those audience figures in particular, as you can use these insights to refine your scheduling strategy. For example, if the data is telling you that no one is seeing your posts, try scheduling them for a different time.

Common challenges and solutions in scheduling

In this section, we'll look at the challenges with scheduling posts on LinkedIn and how to navigate them with ease.

Handling time zone differences

When you're posting for a global audience, time zones can be a real headache.

To tackle this, you might need to get creative. For example, creating a time zone map for your key markets can be really helpful.

Unfortunately, LinkedIn's built-in scheduling tool will only let you schedule posts within one timezone. If you need to post in multiple time zones, you might need to upgrade to a third-party scheduling tool that allows for this.

Whatever method you use, the aim is to schedule posts to go live when your audience is most active.

Remember, prime time in New York might be the middle of the night in Tokyo. The trick is to find overlap times that work for most of your followers.

You might also want to think about using a rotating schedule to hit different time zones throughout the week. This way, you're not always favoring one region over others.

Ensuring timely responses to engagement

The key to successful engagement is keeping on top of comments and direct messages.

But if you've scheduled a post to go live – especially when you're not at your desk – it can be easy to forget to check in on the resulting engagement.

To keep on top of comments and likes, you'll need to set up some notifications. You could also allocate time slots among team members for checking and responding to this kind of stuff.

If you use a social media management tool, it's pretty simple to track all engagement in one place.

Maintaining flexibility in content strategy

While we love a good schedule here at Brandwatch, it is all about balance. If you have a rigid schedule it can make your content feel stale.

To avoid this cruel fate, it's a good idea to leave slots open for timely, trending topics. But further than that, just reviewing and adjusting your content mix will help.

Remember, if breaking news or a hot industry trend pops up, you might need to shuffle things around a bit. It's always worth putting in this effort to avoid the embarrassment (and reputation hit) of posting the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Frequently asked questions

As we reach the end of our guide on how to schedule LinkedIn posts, we want to make sure we haven't missed anything important. Let's end with some questions that might still need answers.

Where can I find my scheduled LinkedIn posts on the mobile app?

It's pretty much the same as on a desktop. On the LinkedIn mobile app, tap your profile picture. Select "Post." Then tap the clock icon in the top-right corner. This shows all your scheduled posts. You can view, edit, or delete them from here.

What should I do if my scheduled post on LinkedIn disappears?

We love solving a good mystery. If you can't find a scheduled post, check your drafts folder first. Sometimes posts move there if there's an issue. If it's not in drafts, try logging out and back in – basically the old "turn it off and on again." This can refresh your view. If you still can't find it, you may need to recreate the post.

How many posts am I able to schedule on LinkedIn at one time?

The built-in scheduling tool on LinkedIn allows you to schedule up to 50 posts at a time. The catch is that you can only schedule posts up to three months in advance – if you want to go further into the future, you'll need to use a third-party scheduling tool.