How to choose a Facebook group posting tool: 10 questions before you pay

Why speed is not the criterion

Almost any tool can post to many groups. The difference between tools is how it happens: where the posts come from, at what pace, what happens when something fails, and what happens when you want to leave.

A tool that promises unlimited posting with no spacing can burn through your account faster. And an established Facebook account, with groups you joined over years, is worth far more than a monthly subscription.

Questions 1-3: your account

• 1. Does the tool ask for your Facebook password? If it does, it probably posts from its own servers, and access to your account sits with someone else. A good answer: it does not ask for or store a password.
• 2. Is there a daily cap, and who controls it? A tool that runs until the groups run out does not protect you. A good answer: a cap that stops on its own, is matched to the account's age, and can be adjusted.
• 3. What does the pace look like? Ask whether the gap between posts is fixed or varied, and whether there is a minimum gap between two posts to the same group. A perfectly fixed interval is itself a signature of automation.

Questions 4-6: transparency and control

• 4. What happens when a post fails? A good tool tells you why and what it is doing now. A weak tool shows red and leaves you guessing. Also ask what happens when Facebook restricts you: does the tool stop, or keep trying.
• 5. Can you schedule and block times? Scheduling for a specific time, recurring series, and blocking nights, Saturdays and holidays, so even a scheduling mistake does not post at the wrong hour.
• 6. Is there a log? A list showing what was posted, when, in which group and what failed, ideally with a link to each post. Without a log, you have no way to check what actually went out in your name.

Questions 7-10: support, money and data

• 7. How do you get help, and in which language? When a campaign gets stuck, you will want to write to someone and get an answer you understand. Check the support channel and whether it is in your language.
• 8. Is the price visible? A price shown on the site before you sign up, and what each plan includes. Be wary of promises of unlimited posting that later turn out to have hidden caps.
• 9. How do you cancel? Is there a trial, do you need a credit card to start, is there an automatic charge at the end of the trial, and what do the terms of service say about cancelling a subscription.
• 10. What happens to your data? Which data is stored, by whom, and how you ask to delete it. The answer should be in the privacy policy, not only in a sales call.

How to test in practice, during the trial

1. Start small. One campaign to five to ten groups you are active in, not your whole list.
2. Check the log. Visit a few groups and make sure the post is really there, with the right wording.
3. Look at the pace. Do the gaps between posts vary, or did everything go out within minutes.
4. Send support a question. That quickly shows how long an answer takes and whether it helps.
5. Read the terms of service and the privacy policy before entering any card details.

Warning signs

• A promise that your account will not be blocked. No tool can promise that. Every automation carries some risk, and anyone saying otherwise is not being straight with you.
• Unlimited posting with no word about spacing, caps or account age.
• An official Facebook number. Facebook publishes no official daily limit for group posts. Any number is practical experience, not a rule.
• Posting to groups you are not a member of. That is not posting in a community, it is flooding.
• No price on the site and no clear way to cancel.

How POSTEMA answers these questions

So you can compare, here are our answers, limited to what you can check:

• Password: we do not ask for or store a Facebook password. The extension runs in your Chrome and uses the session that already exists.
• Cap: a daily cap based on the account's age, shown to you and adjustable.
• Pace: varied spacing between posts, and at least 3 hours between two posts to the same group.
• Failures and restrictions: when Facebook signals a restriction, posting stops on its own and resumes later. When the system is waiting, it tells you why and until when.
• Scheduling: a post for a specific time or a recurring series, and blocking Saturdays, holidays, nights and hours of your choice.
• Log: you see what was posted, where and what failed, with a direct link to every post that went up.
• Support: POSTEMA is Israeli, the system is in Hebrew, and you can write to info@postema.co.il.
• Price and cancellation: prices are on the home page. A 7-day trial with no credit card and no automatic charge, after which you pick a plan or simply stop. For subscription terms, the terms of service on the site are the source.
• Data: a Facebook password is never stored with us at all. For everything else, the privacy policy on the site is the source, and you can send questions by email.

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• Chrome extension or cloud: which is safer
• How many group posts a day is safe
• Group posting restriction: what to do
• Scheduling Facebook group posts