How to Allow People to Post on Your Facebook Wall

Thinking about opening up your Facebook wall so friends, family, or followers can post? You're in the right place. Deciding to let others post content on your profile or Page can be a great way to build community and engagement, but it’s important to know how to manage the settings correctly. This guide will walk you through exactly how to allow and manage posts on both your personal Facebook Profile and your business Page, along with the pros, cons, and best practices for keeping your space positive and spam-free.

Personal Profile vs. Business Page: A Quick Clarification

First, let’s clear up a common point of confusion. On Facebook, you have your personal Profile (your wall where friends connect with you) and you might have a business Page (a public presence for a brand, creator, or organization). The settings and terminology for allowing others to post are slightly different for each. We’ll cover both, starting with your personal Profile.

How to Control Who Posts on Your Personal Facebook Profile

By default, Facebook sets your personal profile so only your friends can post on your wall. But what if you want to change that or lock it down completely? Here’s how to find the setting that lets you control who leaves posts on your personal timeline.

On a Desktop Computer: Step-by-Step

1. Log in to your Facebook account.
2. Click your profile picture in the top-right corner of the screen.
3. From the dropdown menu, select Settings & Privacy, and then click Settings.
4. In the left-hand navigation menu, click on Profile and Tagging.
5. You’ll see a section titled Viewing and Sharing. Look for the first option: "Who can post on your profile?"
6. Click Edit on the far right of that option.
7. A dropdown menu will appear with your choices:
   • Friends: This allows anyone on your Friends list to publish a post directly to your profile.
   • Only Me: This makes your profile wall private. No one but you can create a new post on it. Others can still tag you in posts, which may appear after you review them, but they can't initiate a post from your page.
   Important Note: You may remember a time when there was an "Everyone" option. For personal profiles, Facebook removed this setting years ago to improve privacy and security. The only users who can post directly on your wall are your official "Friends."
8. Select your preference, and the change will save automatically.

On the Facebook Mobile App (iOS and Android)

The steps on your phone are similar, just in a slightly different layout.

1. Open the Facebook app and tap the Menu icon (your profile picture and three horizontal lines) in the bottom-right corner.
2. Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy, then tap Settings.
3. Scroll down to the Audience and Visibility section and tap on Profile and Tagging.
4. Under the Viewing and Sharing heading, tap the first option: "Who can post on your profile?"
5. Choose between Friends or Only Me. Your selection is saved instantly.

Managing Visitor Posts on Your Facebook Business Page

For a business, brand, or public figure, allowing your audience to post on your Page can be powerful. It turns your Page into a community discussion board, a great source of user-generated content (UGC), and a hub for testimonials. Facebook calls these "Visitor Posts," and you have more control here than you do on a personal profile.

Here’s how to manage these settings within Facebook's New Pages Experience.

How to Find and Adjust Visitor Post Settings

1. Navigate to the Facebook Page you manage. Make sure you are interacting as your Page, not as your personal profile.
2. Click your profile picture in the top right, click on See all profiles, then select the Page you wish to manage.
3. Go to your Page's main feed and click the Manage button near the top.
4. From the left-hand menu, select Page and tagging.
5. This will open two significant options:
   • Who can post on your Page? This setting lets you either allow visitor posts or turn them off completely. If you select “Everyone,” anyone who visits your page can write a post. If you select “Only me,” this feature becomes unavailable to your visitors.
   • Review posts that people add to your Page before the posts appear? This is the secret weapon for community managers. By turning this feature on, visitor posts will go into a pending queue for you to manually approve or hide. This is perfect for encouraging community involvement without the risk of spam or abuse.

The visitor post review feature serves as a crucial line of defense against potential harm to your brand. It allows your company to reap the rewards of user-generated content while minimizing the risks.

The Pros and Cons: Should You Allow Open Posting?

Before you flick the switch, it’s worth considering both sides. Opening the floodgates isn’t always the right move for every brand.

The Upside: Building Community and Trust

• User-Generated Content (UGC): Customers posting pictures with your product, writing testimonials, or asking great questions is free marketing content.
• Social Proof: An active Page with visitor posts shows potential new followers that you have a real, engaged community.
• Faster Communication: Many customers use visitor posts to get your attention for support questions. This provides a public opportunity to demonstrate excellent customer service and build stronger client relationships.
• Increased Organic Reach: Pages with more on-page activity often receive more favorable treatment from feeds, helping your brand reach more potential followers.

The Downside: Spam, Trolls, and Brand Reputation Management

• Spam and Self-Promotion: A popular page can be a magnet for spam. Without oversight, visitor posts can become clogged with irrelevant links, ads, and posts from competitors.
• Public Complaints: Legitimate customer issues can turn into a public spectacle if not managed correctly, potentially scaring off new customers.
• Trolls and Negativity: Some users just want to cause trouble or complain. Unmoderated posts can create a toxic environment for your community.
• Time Consumption: Managing a busy visitor posts section requires constant monitoring. Small businesses may lack the resources to review every post in a timely manner.

The best approach for many is to enable both "Visitor Posts" and "Approval Before Display." This allows you to collect positive, community-building content while filtering out spam and negativity behind the scenes.

Smart Strategies for Managing Your Facebook Wall or Page

If you've decided to turn on visitor posts, you need a clear strategy for managing them effectively.

Use Facebook’s Built-in Moderation Tools

Facebook's Moderation Assist tool is an incredible asset for managing your community. In your Page's professional dashboard, find "Moderation Assist" to set up automatic filters.

• Profanity Filter: This will automatically hide comments and posts that contain offensive language.
• Keyword Moderation: Create a custom list of words, phrases, or links you want to block automatically. This is perfect for hiding common spam terms, competitor names, or promotional links.

Pin Your Community Rules

Write a clear, simple post outlining your community guidelines and pin it to the top of your Page. This ensures that visitors immediately understand the rules of engagement and what is or isn't acceptable.

Be Proactive in Replying

Acknowledge visitor posts promptly, both positive and negative. Responding to users makes them feel heard and shows excellent customer service. For negative comments, address the issue politely and offer to move the conversation to a private channel like Messenger.

Celebrate User Contributions

When a customer leaves a great testimonial, shares a cool photo of your product, or gives a meaningful compliment, seize the opportunity. Share their positive post directly to your main feed to thank them, give them a spotlight, and encourage other followers to contribute their own high-quality content.

Final Thoughts

Allowing people to post on your Facebook wall can transform your presence from a simple broadcast tool into a lively community hub. By understanding the settings on your personal profile or business Page and using moderator controls wisely, a brand can get significant engagement, with almost minimal disruption as a by-product.

However, managing all the incoming comments, DMs, and visitor posts across multiple platforms can quickly become overwhelming. At Postbase, we developed a tool based on our decades of experience managing social media for growing brands. We built the platform we always wished we had - a unified social media inbox that brings conversations from all your accounts into one clear, easy-to-manage space. It saves time, reduces stress, and makes scheduling content and replying to your audience simpler than ever. If you're looking for a better way to manage social media without the chaos, we have you covered. Give Postbase a try!