Social Media Scheduling

Overview

Social Media Scheduling lets you queue posts for automatic publishing to Facebook and Instagram. AI generates posts tailored to your business, you can upload photos and edit content, then schedule posts to go out at specific times - BlueClerk publishes them automatically via cron every 5 minutes.

Creating a Social Post

Generate AI Content

1. Click "Finance" in the sidebar
2. Select "Social Posts" from the flyout menu
3. Click "Generate Post"
4. AI writes caption and hashtags automatically based on your company profile
5. Review and edit the generated content

Add Photos

1. Click "Add Photos" on a draft post
2. Select up to 10 photos from your device
3. Photos upload and attach to the post
4. Reorder by dragging if needed

Choose Platforms

• Post to Facebook - Toggle on to publish to your connected Facebook page
• Post to Instagram - Toggle on to publish to your linked Instagram Business account (requires photos)

Scheduling Posts

Schedule for Later

1. Click "Schedule" on any draft post
2. Pick date and time in the datetime picker (validates >=1 min in future)
3. Click "Schedule Post"
4. Status changes to "scheduled"
5. Cron publishes automatically within 5 minutes of scheduled time

Unschedule

1. Click "Unschedule" on a scheduled post
2. Post returns to draft status
3. No longer auto-publishes

Publishing Manually

1. Click "Publish Now" on any draft post
2. Post publishes immediately to selected platforms
3. Status changes to "published"
4. Published posts show Facebook and Instagram badges with post IDs

Retry and Skip

Retry Failed Posts

1. Failed posts show red "failed" badge with error message
2. Click "Retry" to re-run publish
3. Post publishes or fails again with new error

Skip Posts

1. Click "Skip" on any draft or failed post
2. Post marked "skipped" - won't auto-publish
3. Preserves history without deleting

Connecting Social Accounts

Facebook Connection

1. Go to Settings > Integrations
2. Click "Connect Facebook"
3. Authorize BlueClerk to manage your page
4. Select your page from the list
5. Page token stored for publishing

Instagram Connection

• Instagram links automatically when your Facebook page has an Instagram Business account linked
• BlueClerk fetches igUserId during Facebook OAuth callback
• No separate Instagram login required
• If IG not linked, posts to Instagram are silently skipped

How Instagram Publishing Works

Single Photo

• One photo posts as a single Instagram image
• Caption and hashtags included

Multiple Photos (Carousel)

• 2-10 photos post as an Instagram carousel
• Swipeable gallery on Instagram
• Caption on first slide

Requirements

• IG posts require at least one photo - text-only posts skip Instagram
• Facebook posts can be text-only - no photo requirement

Questions

Q: What happens if Instagram isn't linked to my Facebook page? A: Instagram posts are silently skipped - no error shown. Only Facebook publishes.

Q: Can I edit a scheduled post? A: Yes - click "Edit", make changes, and save. The schedule time stays the same.

Q: What if cron fails to publish? A: Post status changes to "failed" with error message. Click "Retry" to try again.

Q: Can I delete a published post? A: No - published posts can't be deleted from BlueClerk. Delete directly on Facebook/Instagram if needed.

Q: How many posts can I schedule? A: Unlimited - but cron processes 50 per run, so one company can't starve others.