Facebook Automation: How to Automate and Best Tools

As a social media manager, you have a lot on your plate. From planning your social media strategy to creating content to engaging with your audience, your to-do list might never end. But, we have a little trick up our sleeve that can help make some of your to-do list easier to manage and your business more efficient—and it’s called automation. 

Automating repetitive social media tasks frees up your time to focus on more important things. In this article, we’ll cover Facebook automation. Read on to learn more about Facebook automation + 8 top tools you can add to your tech stack this year.

What is Facebook automation?

Facebook automation is the process of setting certain tasks on autopilot so you don’t have to manually do them, freeing up time and letting you focus on the parts of your job that can’t (or shouldn’t) be automated.

Take advantage of third-party tools that can help you set up automated tasks that make your job easier. However, be aware of potential pitfalls of automation so you set yourself up for success. Let’s look at some pros and cons.

Pros of Facebook automation:

• Frees up more time for important tasks by automating tedious ones

• Provides better customer service with auto-responders

• Improves productivity by batching tasks with the help of automation

• Boosts your performance by automating tasks like ads management and engagement

• Analyzes your data and get ideas for improvement

Cons of Facebook automation:

• Too much automation seems inauthentic and spammy

• Facebook can flag your Page if you use the wrong tools and tactics

• Decreasing human interaction too much can give your brand a bad rap

Essentially, you want to be smart about your automation. Using tools that aren’t approved by Meta and frowned-upon tactics like buying likes or engagement is a bad use of automation. So, let’s move on to some things you can automate.

What can you automate on Facebook?

Let’s walk through a few things you can automate on Facebook and why you might want to.

Publishing posts

Using an automation tool to schedule posts to publish at set dates and times is an essential part of an effective marketing strategy. You cannot be so beholden to your social media marketing efforts that you constantly have to publish your Facebook posts manually.

Instead, use a tool that lets you:

• Discover optimal posting times

• Create an automated content calendar

• Schedule posts to automatically publish on time

This way, you can create a week or so’s worth of content at one time, input it into your auto-publishing tool, and rest assured that your Facebook content will still go live, even while you’re focusing on other efforts.

Replies to common questions

If you notice that your business gets a lot of the same questions, (ex, “What are your hours?” or “How much does [popular product] cost?”), you can set up automated responses that immediately respond to these questions, rather than making your customer wait on a response from your team.

This reduces your team’s response time, giving your brand a better reputation and improving customer relationships.

Facebook ads management

While there are many ad campaigns you’ll want to monitor every step of the way, there may be other times that you want to get a little boost in reach without having to dedicate too much time to Meta’s ads manager. (We all know how easy it is to get sucked in there and suddenly your entire day is gone).

Take advantage of Facebook’s Automated Ads feature, which can help you quickly run minor promotions with little to no setup time on your end. Some third-party tools also offer Facebook ads automation capabilities.

Social listening

Social listening is the act of monitoring trends in your industry and mentions of your brand name, product, or competitors to gauge overall sentiment and conversations around your business. Automate part of this process by inputting keywords and automatically gathering reports that give you insights into the state of your industry.

Content generation

With the combined help of AI and automation tools, you can quickly create a content and/or idea generation process that helps increase your Facebook post output and bulk up your calendar. Many tools will automatically provide you with content ideas that you can combine with AI-generated posts and captions.

Sharing content across platforms

Cross-promotion is a key strategy for maximizing the value of your social media content. While some content only makes sense for Facebook, and others might only make sense for other platforms like LinkedIn, the rest should be shared across platforms.

One great way to do this is with an automation tool. Decide which of your posts makes sense to be shared on multiple platforms. Then, use your scheduling tool to select all applicable social networks and input your desired publication times to watch it go live on each one.

Analytics and reporting

Finally, analytics and reporting can also be automated. If you use a third-party social media management tool and have your Facebook Page (and other profiles) connected, you can easily compile automated reports that showcase your performance.

8 Facebook automation tools

To automate the aforementioned tasks, you need the right toolset. We’ve compiled the eight best Facebook automation tools on the market, along with their uses.

1. Meta Business Suite

Meta

Meta Business Suite is your dashboard for all things related to your Facebook Page and Instagram business account management. It also has built-in automation tools you can access. If something can be automated through Meta Business Suite, this will be the official and sanctioned way to set it up.

What you can automate with Meta Business Suite

• Trigger automated messages with Inbox Inbox Automations based on specific keywords.

• Run Automated Ads to reach more people with minimal effort from your team.

Pricing: Completely free

2. Sprout Social

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a social media management and automation tool you can use for multiple platforms—Facebook included. Get access to capabilities that let you better manage your content, engage with your audience, and increase your performance.

What you can automate Sprout Social

• Schedule posts to publish automatically on set dates and times.

• Generate AI-powered captions for Facebook posts and ads.

• Set up instant replies for frequently asked questions in Messenger.

• Auto-generate performance reports and share insights effortlessly.

• Filter and prioritize customer messages with automatic alerts.

• Streamline content creation using Sprout’s Content Suggestions.

Pricing: Free trial for 30 days. Premium plans start at $249/seat/month.

3. ManyChat

ManyChat

ManyChat lets you turn your Messenger into a helpful bot that automatically handles messages, sends auto-responses, and routes priority messages to your customer support team. While Meta lets you handle some automation with its built-in tools, ManyChat provides even more automated options for your Messenger chatbot.

What you can automate with ManyChat

• Qualify leads instantly with automated responses.

• Promote products through targeted messaging.

• Send event reminders to boost attendance.

• Enable seamless shopping directly in chat.

• Recover abandoned carts with timely follow-ups.

• Provide order updates in real time.

• Simplify appointment booking with automated scheduling.

• Answer customer questions instantly and accurately.

• Share coupons and discounts to drive conversions.

Pricing: ManyChat offers a free plan for up to 1,000 contacts. Paid plans start at $15/month and scale up as your contacts grow.

4. Agorapulse

Agorapulse

Agorapulse is another social media management tool that can boost your online presence through its many features and capabilities. For your Facebook Page, Agorapulse boasts a number of automation tools that help you streamline your strategy.

What you can automate Agorapulse

• Schedule Facebook posts to auto-publish at the perfect time.

• Automate key actions to streamline your workflow.

• Moderate Facebook ad comments automatically to protect your brand reputation.

• Receive instant performance reports for your Facebook Page.

• Organize content effortlessly by auto-labeling posts into campaigns.

Pricing: Free trial for 30 days. Paid plans start at $99/user/month.

5. SocialBee

SocialBee

SocialBee is a social media scheduler that offers additional management and automation features for your social media platforms. Access user-friendly functionality to help you set up automated tasks that improve your small business’s processes.

What you can automate with SocialBee

• Auto-post Facebook content to maintain a consistent schedule.

• Use AI tools to customize posts for your target audience.

• Post the first comment automatically to spark engagement.

• Convert blog content into Facebook posts with RSS feeds and SocialBee’s tools.

Pricing: Free trial for 14 days. Paid plans start at $29/month.

6. Sendible

Sendible

Sendible is a Facebook marketing tool with several automation capabilities associated with posting content to your Facebook Page. Give your team members access to useful tools that help them create and post more content easily.

What you can automate Sendible

• Schedule Facebook posts, stories, and reels to auto-publish at set times or through a quick queue.

• Keep your content calendar full with Smart Queues that automatically repost evergreen content.

• Generate content ideas effortlessly using Sendible’s AI and machine learning.

• Auto-generate performance reports and send them to stakeholders automatically.

Pricing: Free trial for 14 days. Paid plans start at $29/month for a single user.

7. Loomly

Loomly

Loomly is another social media management tool for sharing valuable insights with your audience. From sharing content to monitoring metrics and KPIs, Loomly can be a great asset to your social media team.

What you can automate Loomly

• Bulk schedule Facebook content to auto-publish on your preferred dates and times.

• Auto-generate performance reports for Facebook content and Loom.ly URLs.

• Organize Facebook messages automatically for real-time responses.

• Set up approval workflows to streamline content from creation to publication.

Pricing: Free trial for 15 days. Paid plans start at $42/month.

8. AdEspresso

AdEspresso

AdEspresso is an ads management and optimization platform that can help you automate your Facebook ads campaigns. It also offers some automatic promotion capabilities that can help you reach more people on autopilot.

What you can automate AdEspresso

• Optimize Facebook ad campaigns automatically for better performance.

• Generate and schedule reports to be delivered daily, weekly, or monthly.

• Set parameters for AdEspresso to run automatic post promotions.

• Automatically add client ad accounts to the Business Suite with AdEspresso.

Pricing: Free trial for 14 days. Paid plans start at $49/month for an ad spend of $1,000/month.

Get expert help from Facebook pros on Fiverr

Get started with Facebook automation by choosing one of the above tools—or by enlisting the help of an expert from Fiverr. We’ve got professionals ready to help you with your social media management, including getting you set up with a Facebook automation tool or setting up the automations for you.

Facebook automation FAQs

What is automation on Facebook?

There are several things that can be automated on Facebook, including auto-publishing content, generating performance reports, and automating direct messages on Messenger.

How do I automate my Facebook page?

You can automate your Facebook page by getting started with an automation tool. You can create some automation right inside your Meta Business Suite or take advantage of a third-party tool that has even more to offer.

Are Facebook automated ads worth it?

Facebook automated ads will provide a different experience than a fully custom campaign, but yes, they can be worth it for reaching a wider audience with a basic promotion.

How do you find automation on Facebook?

Go to your Meta Business Suite to find some of the things you can automate on Facebook. Head to the Inbox section of the business suite to start creating Inbox automations. Or, go to your Ads manager to experiment with automated ads.