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Cron Jobs – Bit Social

In Bit Social, the Cron feature automates the scheduling and posting of your social media content. By setting up Cron jobs, you ensure that your posts are published at the designated times without manual intervention. This feature helps maintain a consistent online presence by regularly updating your social media accounts with scheduled posts, saving you time and effort in managing your social media strategy.

Cron jobs are automated tasks that run at set times, like updates or backups. In WordPress, these tasks are managed by WP-Cron. WP-Cron runs scheduled tasks based on site visits. Every time someone visits your site, WP-Cron checks if any tasks need to run and executes them. For more reliable scheduling, especially on low-traffic sites, you can set up real cron jobs on your server to trigger WP-Cron regularly, ensuring tasks run on time.

Check out our easy-to-follow tutorial!

Setup Cron Jobs

Check the Default WP-Cron Setup: By default, WordPress has WP-Cron (its internal cron job system) enabled, so you usually don’t need to do anything to activate it. It runs whenever there’s site activity, like page visits or post publishing.

Enable WP-Cron if Disabled: If you’ve previously disabled WP-Cron, you can re-enable it by removing or commenting out the line in your wp-config.php file that disables it:

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);

Remove or comment out this line, or change it to:

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', false);

Verify Scheduled Tasks: Use a plugin like WP Crontrol to manage and view scheduled tasks. You can install it from the WordPress plugin repository to make sure cron jobs are running properly.

Once enabled, WP-Cron will handle scheduled tasks like publishing posts and running plugin events automatically, based on site activity.

Understand WordPress Cron: WordPress uses its own internal cron system (WP-Cron) to schedule tasks like publishing scheduled posts, sending emails, and more. However, WP-Cron relies on site traffic to trigger tasks, which can be unreliable for high-traffic or low-traffic sites.

Set Up WP-Cron: By default, WordPress has WP-Cron enabled, but for more precise and reliable scheduling, you can disable WP-Cron and use server cron jobs.

Disable WP-Cron: Open your site’s wp-config.php file and Add the following line before the end of the file

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);

This disables the built-in cron system.

Set Up Server Cron Job: Access your hosting control panel (like cPanel) or use SSH to access your server. Look for the “Cron Jobs” section. Set up a new cron job with the following command:

wget -q -O - https://yourdomain.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron >/dev/null 2>&1

Replace “yourdomain.com” with your actual site’s URL.

Choose Cron Frequency: Select how often you want the cron job to run (e.g., every 5 minutes, hourly, daily). For most tasks, setting the cron to run every 5-10 minutes works well.

Test Your Cron Job: After setting up the cron job, monitor your scheduled tasks (like post publishing or plugin updates) to ensure everything runs smoothly.

By setting up a reliable server cron job, your WordPress tasks will run on time, regardless of site traffic.

To set up the Cron feature in Bit Social, go to Bit Social and click on “More” from the top menu then click on “Settings“.

Setup Cron Jobs - Click on More
Setup Cron Jobs - Click on Settings

What Are Cron Jobs and How Do They Work in WordPress?

Cron Jobs: Cron jobs are tasks that run automatically at set times. They help with routine jobs like checking for updates, publishing scheduled posts, and cleaning up old files.

How They Work in WordPress: In WordPress, cron jobs are managed by something called WP-Cron. Unlike regular cron jobs on a server, WP-Cron runs when someone visits your website. Every time a visitor comes to your site, WP-Cron checks if any scheduled tasks need to be done and then runs them.

If your site doesn’t get any visitors, the tasks might not run on time. This is how WP Cron works. To schedule your posts and ensure everything runs smoothly, you need to overcome this. Therefore, you must set up a cron jobs on your server to work perfectly. This ensures that your scheduled tasks always run on time, even if your site has no traffic.

Cron Job settings

Under Cron job settings, you will find your Cron Job command. Copy this command, then go to your cPanel and search for “Cron Jobs.” Click on “Cron Jobs,” and scroll down to the Common Settings drop-down option. Choose a time from the Common Settings, paste the copied command into the command field, and click “Add New Command.”

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While setting up cron jobs, you had chosen a specific time. After setting them up, your server will hit the URL at the intervals you set. This keeps your WordPress site active and ensures your scheduled posts are shared without any problems.

Setup Cron Jobs - Corn Job Settings
Cron - Bit Social - cPanel

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This process is recommended for anyone who wants to schedule their posts. Just copy the Cron Job command and set it up in your CPanel.

External Cron

Activate Bit Social’s external cron feature to ensure continuous cron job operation, even without user activity on your website. This external cron will automatically trigger your website, allowing your scheduled posts to be published on your desired social platforms. Simply enable the external cron feature to get started.

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If you enable external cron, we will set up the cron jobs for you, making sure your WordPress site stays active and your scheduled posts are shared without any problems. To use this feature, you need the premium version of Bit Social.

Setup Cron Jobs - External Cron

For Cloudways, select “wget” as the type, then copy your command from https:// to cron and paste it into the URL field.

For example:

  • Type: wget
  • URL: https://yourdomain.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron
Setup Cron Jobs - Cloudways Cron

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