Are you wondering how to create your own social media app? Show
Maybe you’re asking yourself questions like “how do I make a social networking app like Facebook?”, “ How much does it cost to make a social media app?”, “ Can I make an app for free?”, “Is it hard to make a social media app?” If so, this is the only guide you’ll ever need to read. We’re going to answer all of your burning questions and guide you through every step you need to take to make it happen. What a social network is and why you should create one
When you hear the term social media app, maybe apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Linkedin spring to mind. A social network is an online platform that people use to build social networks and relationships with people who share similar interests, backgrounds, or real-life connections with others from all walks of life. Whilst they were originally intended for people to build connections with others, they are also powerful marketing tools. Users can share ideas, photos, videos, posts, and inform each other about online or real-world activities with people in their network. Essential features of a social network include an activity feed which displays all of the latest updates from friends or groups, a messaging service to directly communicate with specific users, a profile for people to list personal information such as their name, age, or profession for example and is usually accompanied by photos, videos, and summaries of their most recent life updates or interests. Social media platforms provide an easy-to-use interface, an open forum to connect with people from all over the world, and the opportunity to engage in discussions. Essentially these functionalities are the basis of a social media app. So why should you create a social media app if these existing platforms already exist? Let’s face it, people are starting to fall out of love with traditional social media networks and for good reasons too. Social networks have become a minefield of frustration for creators, entrepreneurs, and businesses – they are broad, generalistic, and designed to cater to anyone with an internet connection. Everything from data breaches, zero monetization options, trolling, distraction overload, dying reach, constant algorithm updates that push people into paying for ads, and a lack of personalisation are major contributing factors to the disenchantment with existing social media platforms. Luckily for you, there is an alternative. Thanks to modern technology, you now have the opportunity to create a social media app. Your own, customised social space, dedicated entirely to you and your community. The benefits of creating a social network
Creating your own social network provides you with a huge number of benefits, the power to reach your community on your own terms is just one of them. Here are 6 other ones: 1. Customised social media apps create more direct relationships and interactionsCutting out the middleman is an understatement here. When you design and own the digital platform you interact with your community on, there are no outside rules or limitations. Want to make sure everyone who follows sees what you have to say? Your own social media app gives you the ability to reach your community quickly and directly. 2. Get a deeper understanding of your communityMajor social media platforms only give you access to a fraction of your communities’ data. This helps them to ensure that you’ll keep coming back to pay for advertising so you can get smarter audience targeting. And they’ll only give you access to the extra data if you’re the highest bidder. When you create a social media app, you’re in charge. You’re the one throwing the party so you should be able to know everything about your guests. In addition to the freedom of being able to interact with your community on your own terms, you have the power to fully access data about the people who are most interested in who you are and what you do which is great for social media marketing activity too. 3. Creating your own safe community space allows for more creativity and innovationFor creatives especially, connecting with fans, followers and subscribers can be somewhat limited by traditional social media platforms. But when you have the means to design and operate a social media app yourself, your creative vision doesn’t have to be compromised. When you create a social media app, you’re in full control. No longer do you have to squish important sentiments down into a 280 character limit. And gone is the standard, one-size-fits-all approach to design and functionality. In your own, dedicated community space, you’ll have way more control over the design, look and feel. 4. Customised social networks make monetization easySelling things to your community isn’t possible in many cases on existing social media platforms. But with your own customised social media app, digital marketplace options can be built right into your platform. Things like one-click and express purchasing become possible. You get to earn money on your own terms. And to make it easy for your audience to buy the products and services they want.5. Wave goodbye to dying reachThe downside of having so many people, creators, and businesses on existing social networks is that everyone is competing for space and attention. And the networks have to use algorithms to figure out which content to show to who. When you create your own social media app, there are no tricky algorithms to navigate or news feed spaces to fight for. It’s just you and your audience. So you’ll reach all of them, every time you post. 6. Ditch the distractionsCreating your own social network allows you to have your own space away from all the noise and distractions on busy social media platforms. There are no ads, people ranting about the latest news headlines or cat memes dragging your audience’s attention away from your content. By creating your own social network, you’ll free yourself and your audience from all those distractions. Social media apps: The growing landscapeSocial media users have grown by more than 10% over the past year, taking the global total to 3.96 billion by the start of July 2020. This means – that for the first time, more than half of the world’s population now uses social media with more people using social media than not, and 99% of total social media users accessing these platforms via mobile app at some point. This provides you with a huge opportunity to rapidly grow your community and monetize your audience with your own social media app. Here are some powerful insights on how you can use your social media app to influence purchasing decisions. Source: Global WebIndex Types of social media apps and what people expect
Now that we’ve discussed what a social media app is, the benefits of creating your own and the huge opportunities which lay in doing so, let’s talk about the different types of social media apps available, the categories they fall into and the expectations people have from each option. Social network apps/ Relationship networks: These are what many of us may already be familiar with (Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook). They’re used to connect and interact with people online and to share information. Media sharing networks: These are social apps that allow you to
share all kinds of media files (photos, videos, GIFs, etc). Platforms such as Youtube, Vimeo, and Tiktok are good examples of this. Content curation networks: These are apps that are used to share, discover, and save content. Think Pinterest or Flipboard. Blogging and publishing platforms: These social media platforms allow users to create blogs and publish their content. Tumblr and Medium examples of platforms that offer this functionality. Interest-based networks: This is a niche type of forum that unites people with common interests such as Goodreads or Soundcloud for example. As you can see, there are lots of types of social media apps. Each is defined by specific features so it’s a good idea to consider what functionality you’d like when creating your own social media app. Creating a social media app: Your optionsWith technology rapidly developing and the increase of no-code product development, there are now way more options available to easily create social media apps. Ultimately when it comes to creating your social media app, there are four directions you can go in, each with their own pros and cons. We’ve broken the options down for you below: SaaS Solution: SaaS platforms such as Disciple provide you with out-of-the-box features that you can use to build your own social community across web and mobile. You can customise the look and feel, quickly get an app up and running and have options to monetise your content based on your preferences. Open-source software: Open-source software can be downloaded and configured on your own server. There are free and paid options available. Although they offer more flexibility in terms of customisation they will require the cost of a developer and you’ll have to pay for any hosting. You also don’t benefit from any customer support or any automatic software updates.
CMS with a social network extension: You can use CMS platforms such as WordPressor or Drupal to build a social media site with plugins. These plugins can be free but are also quite limiting in terms of what you may want to achieve and be buggy. They’re also better for a social media website rather than a social media app.
Develop from scratch: Let’s say you have a completely unique idea that requires extremely advanced technology like Snapchat that has VR filters for example, the only way may be to build your app from scratch. Hiring a specialist app development company will help you to achieve this – this approach is last because whilst it’s an option it’s also incredibly expensive and time-consuming. Must-have features for when you create a social media appNow that we’ve discussed the different options for creating your social media app, you may be wondering what features you should consider for interest-based network. Here are some key things to consider: Profile. A personal profile for users to include information about themselves such as their name, location, and photo, etc. Posts. The ability for users to publish posts. Your users should be able to share news, information, and discuss topics with their friends or the wider community. Notifications. A way for people to be notified of updates or things they’ve been ‘tagged in’ for example as well as Push Notifications where people can be updated on their mobile phones without having to log in to the app. Push notifications are a great way to keep users engaged with your social media network or mobile app. They can be used to let users know about new content, updates, or special offers. However, don’t forget that it’s important not to overdo it – too many notifications will quickly become annoying and will cause users to disable them. Find a balance that works for your app and stick to it. A search bar. This makes it easier for people to find groups, topics, or people. Friending options. Users must be able to send a friend request or be able to follow others in order to see updates in their news feed. News Feed. This is a central space where users can see what’s happening in the lives of the friends, people and groups they’re following. It’s undoubtedly one of the most important features of any social media platform, so it’s essential that your app has a well-designed and user friendly news feed. Make sure that the content is timely and relevant, and that users have the ability to customise it to their liking. Chat/Messaging. This is a private messaging system that gives users a chance to chat in private mode, outside of a group for example as well as the option to comment and engage in public posts within groups. File uploads. The ability for users to upload media such as photos and videos for example. Resource library. A central space where you as the owner of the platform can store relevant content assets such as videos or PDFs so you can easily share them in relevant spaces. Groups and subgroups. The ability to set up a group but also to set up subgroups. For example, if your community or network is targeted to people who love photography, you may want sub-groups that focus on wildlife photography or event photography, etc. Moderation tools. One of the best things about having your own social network is not having to worry about random people trolling your Group or trying to defame your business. Having moderation tools such as shadow banning and editing comments on your own social network is a great way to eliminate any harmful activity. Livestreaming. More and more people are accustomed to watching livestreams. Having a livestreaming option should be a must. It’s a great way to instantly connect with an audience and do product or fitness demos for example. Customisation. The ability to customise the look and feel of your social network to fit your brand. You should be able to change colours, fonts and add your logo, as well as customising your domain name. Security. It goes without saying that your platform should be highly secure and provide the option for data to be owned and managed by you. Analytics. It’s really important for you to have access to data and analytics so you can track where your users are located, device type, and content they’re engaging with the most so that you can ensure you’re providing the best user experience. Admin Access. The feature is to help you and those you assign roles to, to manage the site, block unreliable users, and perform other administrative functions. Monetization. Do you want to monetize your social network or community? If so, having options to achieve this will be really important when creating your social network. Advanced features to include when creating a social media app
As discussed earlier when we talked about the option of building a social media app from scratch, below are some unique and advanced features you may consider for a bespoke app. Augmented reality and face filters: Snapchat and Instagram are the trendsetters here. People still enjoy the funny face filters for an added effect. Artificial Intelligence chatbots: These are the automated chatbots that predict and respond to questions. Ephemeral content: This is the type of content that disappears after 24 hours such as messages or stories. Again, Snapchat and Instagram are the leaders here. How to create a social media app (Step-by-step)Now that we’ve talked about your options. Let’s dive into the essential steps you need to take to create a social media app. Step 1 – Target audience and purposeDecide what your social media network will be about. Just having an idea for an app is not enough to get you started. Make sure you have a full understanding of your market and the competition that already exists. Social media app adoption is a tricky battlefield to navigate so it’s important to understand what features your potential users like and what your current competition lacks. Once you have a clear idea of what your app will be about and the purpose of it, it’s time to start putting together your ideas. You’ll want to consider your options for user retention, as well as what strategies you’ll use to grow and engage your community. If you plan to make money from your app, think carefully about your different monetization options.
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