How to Find Publishing Tools on Facebook

October 31, 2025

Figuring out where Facebook hides its publishing tools can feel like a scavenger hunt, especially with all the recent changes. This guide will show you exactly where to find and how to use every key publishing feature within Meta Business Suite so you can schedule posts, manage content, and analyze performance without the headache.

First Things First: It’s All About Meta Business Suite Now

If you feel like the ground is constantly shifting under your feet on Facebook, you're not wrong. For years, content creators and social media managers lived in Creator Studio - it was the go-to place for scheduling, managing video content, and checking performance. Now, Creator Studio has been almost entirely replaced by Meta Business Suite.

This change was made to unify the management of your Facebook Page and Instagram Business account into a single dashboard. While the intention was to make life easier, the transition has left a lot of people feeling lost and confused. The tools you knew are still there, they've just moved or been renamed. Think of Meta Business Suite not as a completely new thing, but as the new, expanded home for all your Facebook and Instagram publishing needs.

Finding the Core Publishing Tools: Your Step-by-Step Guide

Let's walk through exactly how to find and use the essential scheduling tools within the new layout. Once you get the hang of it, you'll find it streamlines your workflow more than the old system ever did.

Step 1: Accessing Meta Business Suite

Before you can find the tools, you need to get to the dashboard. There are a few easy ways to access Meta Business Suite:

Direct URL: The simplest way is to go directly to business.facebook.com and log in. Bookmark this link for quick access.
From Your Facebook Page: When you're on your business's Facebook Page, look for "Meta Business Suite" in the left-hand management menu. Clicking this will take you directly to the dashboard for that Page.
From the Instagram App: In your Instagram Business profile, tap "Edit Profile" and you may see a link to access tools within Meta Business Suite.

Quick Tip: For Business Suite to work properly, make sure your Facebook Page and Instagram Business account are connected. You can check this connection in the "Settings" of the Business Suite dashboard.

Step 2: Navigating to the Content Planner

Once you’re inside Business Suite, your new command center is the navigation menu on the far left. This is where you’ll find everything. To locate the main publishing tool, look for an icon that looks like a calendar and is labeled "Planner."

The Planner is the new content calendar. Here, you'll get a clean, visual layout of your entire content schedule. You can view it by week or month, and you'll see all your published, scheduled, and drafted content for both Facebook and Instagram side-by-side. This bird's-eye view is incredibly helpful for spotting gaps in your schedule and planning campaigns.

Step 3: Creating and Scheduling a New Post

This is where the magic happens. From the Planner view, you have two simple ways to start a new post:

Click the big blue "Create Post" button in the top right corner.
Click directly on a future date in the calendar to schedule a post for that specific day.

This will open up the post composer window. It might look a little busy at first, but it contains everything you need. Let’s break it down:

Platform Selection: At the very top, under "Post to," you’ll see your connected Facebook Page and Instagram account. Check the box for whichever platform(s) you want to publish to. You can post to one or both simultaneously.
Media Uploads: Click "Add photo" or "Add video" to upload your creative assets from your computer. Meta has also included a feature to create a short video from a static image, which can be a neat way to add some motion to your feed.
Text and Customization: Here's where you write your caption. A standout feature here is the "Customize post for Facebook and Instagram" button. If you've selected both platforms, you can click this to write different captions for each one. This is super useful because user behavior (and best practices) vary between platforms. For instance, you can include a clickable link in your Facebook caption but not in your Instagram one, and you might want to use different sets of hashtags.
Links and More: If you're posting to Facebook, you can add a website link, which will generate a preview. You can also add a location tag to your posts, which is great for discoverability, especially for local businesses.
Scheduling: At the bottom right, you'll see your publishing options. You can "Publish Now," of course, but the real power comes from clicking "Schedule." This will bring up a calendar and clock, allowing you to choose the exact date and time your post will go live. If you’re not ready to schedule, you can also "Save as draft" and come back to it later.

Beyond Simple Posts: Where to Find Advanced Publishing Features

Meta Business Suite is more than just a scheduler for standard feed posts. It's also home to tools for creating Stories and Reels, managing all your past content, and even running experiments.

Finding and Creating Stories and Reels

In the same post composer window, you'll find tabs at the top to toggle between creating a post, a Reel, or a Story. When you switch to the "Create Reel" or "Create Story" tab, the interface will change slightly to accommodate those formats.

While the native Instagram app still offers the most robust creative options (like a full music library and advanced effects), Business Suite allows you to handle the basics for scheduled content. You can upload your pre-edited vertical video, add some text, and schedule it to post later - something you can’t do from the app itself.

Managing All Your Content and Drafts

What if you want to find a post you published last week, or edit something you have scheduled for tomorrow? Go back to the main left-hand menu and click on the "Content" tab, located just above the Planner.

This section is a complete library of everything you’ve published, scheduled, or drafted. You can use the powerful filter tools to sort by platform (Facebook or Instagram) and by content type (posts, Stories, Reels, Mentions & Tags, etc.). From here, you can easily click on any scheduled post to edit it, reschedule it for a new time, or delete it entirely.

Using the A/B Testing Tool

One of the most overlooked but powerful features in Business Suite is the A/B testing tool. In the post composer, you'll see a button labeled "Create A/B Test." This lets you create multiple versions of a single post to see which one performs best with your audience.

For example, you could create a post with:

Version A using one photo.
Version B using a different photo.

Facebook will show each version to a small portion of your audience. After a set period (usually 30 minutes), it will automatically measure which version is getting more engagement (likes, comments, clicks) and then publish only the winning version for the rest of your audience to see. It’s a fantastic way to make data-driven decisions about your creative style.

Analyzing Performance with "Insights"

Finally, how do you know if your content is even working? Head back to the left-hand menu and find the "Insights" tab.

This is your analytics dashboard. Here you can track high-level trends like your overall reach and engagement, but more importantly, you can dig into the performance of individual posts. You'll see which pieces of content earned the most reactions, comments, and shares. Paying attention to these insights is how you stop guessing what your audience wants and start creating content you know they'll love.

Pro-Tips for Using Facebook's Publishing Tools Effectively

Knowing where the tools are is only half the battle. Here are a few tips to get the most out of them.

Plan Ahead with the Calendar

Don't just schedule posts day-by-day. Use the monthly view in the Planner to map out your content for weeks or even a full month in advance. This helps you build cohesive campaigns, ensure you have a good mix of content types, and avoid last-minute scrambling.

Always Customize for Each Platform

It's tempting to use the exact same caption for Facebook and Instagram to save time, but it’s almost always a mistake. Audiences behave differently on each platform. Use the customize feature to tailor your message. Put hashtags in the first comment on Instagram, add a direct link on Facebook, and adjust your tone to fit the platform's vibe.

Review Your Insights and Adapt

Make a weekly habit of checking your post performance in the Insights tab. Did a video get three times more engagement than your photos last week? That’s a signal to create more video content. Did a post with a question in the caption get tons of comments? Try that again. Let the data guide your strategy.

Don't Overlook "Save as Draft"

The "Save as Draft" function is a creator's best friend. Use it to capture ideas as they come to you. You can upload your media and write a preliminary caption, then save it to finish later. This is also perfect for teams that require an approval process before content goes live.

Final Thoughts

Meta Business Suite has become the all-in-one Mission Control for your Facebook and Instagram marketing efforts. While its layout takes some getting used to after years of Creator Studio, key tools like the Planner, Content library, and Insights tab provide everything you need to schedule, manage, and analyze your social media content directly on the platform.

While native tools are powerful for getting started, we've personally felt the friction of jumping between apps, especially when managing multiple brands or wanting to properly schedule short-form video. That’s why we built Postbase from the ground up to feel more direct and intuitive. We focused on what actually matters today: rock-solid scheduling for Reels and Shorts across all your platforms (not just Meta), one simple inbox for all your comments and messages, and a clean visual calendar that actually helps you plan your strategy. If you're looking for a better way to manage it all without the extra clicks, we think you'll feel right at home with it.

Spencer Lanoue

Spencer's spent a decade building products at companies like Buffer, UserTesting, and Bump Health. He's spent years in the weeds of social media management—scheduling posts, analyzing performance, coordinating teams. At Postbase, he's building tools to automate the busywork so you can focus on creating great content.

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