Globally over one-third of the world’s population uses smartphones,
that’s huge right? Imagine the money social media apps must be
generating, You can also earn money through your own social media app.
Thinking about how to create your own social media app?
You might be wondering that you don’t stand a chance in front of
social media giants like Facebook, right? But that’s not the case, the
market is still open to newcomers who can revolutionize the social
media world.
Questions like, how to build a social media app like Facebook?, How
much does it cost to make a social media app? what is the procedure
for creating the app? must be lingering in your mind. But don’t worry,
this blog will get you enlightened.
Find out about the trends in social media, how users are constantly growing. Explore the types of social media apps Learn the process of “how to make a social media app Discover monetization strategies for social media app Find out what metrics to monitor for your social media app Have a look at the process flow for social media app development.
Let’s see if your concept about social media is clear or not. If you
are one of those people who think that social media consists of
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram then you have a blurry concept of
social media. There’s much more than that. Social media is any social
platform that connects people globally.
Social media can be any platform or channel that brings people
together by sharing photos, videos, posts, statues, etc with each
other.
Social media channels like Facebook and Twitter were only restricted
to websites, but with the passage of time mobile apps for these social
media became a necessity.
The Pandemic turned the whole world upside down. But the Pandemic
helped new social media apps to emerge and also increased the number
of active users. This happened because during lockdown people were
mostly stuck in their houses with nothing to do except using social
media channels to connect with friends and relatives.
2020 alone witnessed over 1.3 million new users who joined social
media networks, the social media usage increase was calculated to be
around 13.2%
Over 90% of millennials use social networks and approximately 80% of
companies do their marketing through social media platforms.
Currently, over 3.6 billion people are using social media globally.
This number is expected to reach over 4 billion by 2025. This makes it
clear that there is an enormous market available for people who are
thinking of making their own social media app.
Let’s discuss the different types of social media apps, this will give you clarity about social media.
Social networking apps like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn connect people so that they can create a professional connection or personal connection. Linkedin is a platform for professionals. While Facebook and Twitter are for personal connection.
This type of social media apps allows sharing of media files like photos, gifs, and videos. Some prominent examples of media sharing apps are Snapchat, Youtube, Instagram, and Vimeo.
These platforms are built with the purpose to have a community that can discuss the topic, answer questions, and shares insights. Quora and Reddit are two examples.
A platform that is solely dedicated to reviews on businesses by customers. This can be a great help for people looking to buy any product or service from a business. Yelp and Etsy are two major examples.
Medium and Tumblr are two blogging platforms that let people share blogs. This lets users read high-quality blogs and let the writer tap into a big audience without the creation of a blog website.
Dating services app allows people to find partners according to their compatibility. Tinder and Badoo are popular examples of these apps.
Chatting with friends and relatives is always fun. Social messaging apps make it easier and convenient to chat. Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Viber are some popular examples.
Apps such as Flipboard and Pinterest let users bookmark content. This is a very useful method of finding content through interactive visuals.
News apps let you stay updated with whatever is happening around the world. Say goodbye to newspapers! Flipboard and Lifehack are examples of these apps.
We have defined a process that will make it easy for you to create a social media app that will get traction.
It is very important to analyze the market and see what app ideas you
can work with. If you plan on making an app that has no market demand,
then you are doomed. So it’s best to make apps according.
Brainstorm your ideas with your team and do a thorough discussion with
them so that you can take an informed decision.
So by now, you have the social media app idea ready, hurray! But now
it’s time to create a viable strategy for it.
The market analysis done in the above step will get you all the
valuable insights about your target audience, competitors, and your
social media app type. All these things will help you to create a
strategy with KPIs.
While creating the strategy it is very crucial to brainstorm features
to include in your social media app. This involves interviewing
potential users and asking them questions that will determine what
features you should include.
Good designs and visuals can contribute to a great UI/UX. The process
to create the perfect design workflow:
Sketching and Wireframing
Start with creating the basic outlines of your app, creating visuals,
screens, and the basic skeletal structure.
Prototyping
A prototype is a working model of your app with minimal features. The
model can give you a basic idea of how your app will look and feel
without entering the core development phase.
Designing App Skin
Conversion of wireframes into social app designs will let you analyze
features better, you can keep an eye on UI/UX to find the best designs
and use them for social media apps.
It is very important to analyze the market and see what app ideas you
can work with. If you plan on making an app that has no market demand,
then you are doomed. So it’s best to make apps according.
MVP is a product with minimalistic features that are introduced to
early adopters and used to collect feedback from early users. When an
MVP achieves the success it is moved to the development phase where
the whole product is fully developed.
It helps you to spend your budget on development without risks of
failure.
Rigorous QA is required to test the robustness of MVP, only after
that, it can move into the development phase(provided that it proves
successful among early adopters).
Investing in your marketing is just as important as investing in the
initial development of an app. You should take into account basic
costs and needs before releasing it to a platform like Google Play or
App Store, but don't wait until you are done with creating the
product.
As soon as your app hits the market you need to publish guides,
explainer videos, and other content that will advocate audience about
your social media app.
You need a good marketing strategy that will make your app stand out
on the app store and google play store.
A properly built marketing funnel is important for the success of your
app.
Initial feedback is extremely important. You will have to adapt accordingly to feedback and make fixes to your app if needed. Make sure that your customers receive full support. Your team should always be ready to do maintenance and fix bugs.
Social media networks are the best type of apps for generating high ROI in case of an effective monetization strategy. Let’s discuss few successful approaches for generating high revenue:
In-app advertising is a way to get your app seen by more people.
In today’s world of technological advancements, in-app ads are one of
the most popular methods for making an application go viral! In-app
advertising is a practical monetization strategy for mobile app owners
that both the app developers and advertisers appreciate. With
sophisticated data tracking, user targeting, and ad placement options
within your own application; you can reach consumers with pinpoint
accuracy to drive conversion rates which will earn more revenue.
If you're looking to offer your users free standard and premium feature sets for an extra payment, having in-app purchases is the way to go. For example, when you opt to create a dating app like Tinder, it is important that premium features are integrated. These include the ability for users to monitor their page visitors and reduce irrelevant profiles from view. To attract even more of an audience to your app, give them a short-term free trial with these added features before asking for payment so they will know what they're getting into.
The best way to make money at the beginning of your social app is by
making it paid. To do this, you need a well-designed marketing plan
that will attract potential users and get them hooked on your product.
For example, you can offer a free trial for a while so that more
customers will be willing to sign up and pay on an ongoing basis.
For a business to be successful, it's important that you track the
engagement of your social media app.
For every app, these are the metrics that you should monitor:
User engagement is the key KPI that will define the success or failure of your app. The first moment a user enters your app and the last when they exit is just one of many different ways to measure engagement. Other key metrics include how long users stay on the app during each session (Session Length).
The churn rate is the statistical figure of your users who have
stopped using the app. For a successful app, the churn rate should
always be very low.
Retention rate is the no of users who have returned to the app after
their first visit. After any updates or fixing of bugs, it is
important to monitor the user retention rate.
Apps such as Flipboard and Pinterest let users bookmark content. This is a very useful method of finding content through interactive visuals.
News apps let you stay updated with whatever is happening around the world. Say goodbye to newspapers! Flipboard and Lifehack are examples of these apps.
Two of the acquisition KPIs are: CPI and CAC
Cost Per Install(CPI) is a term used to represent the amount of money
spent on advertising in relation to how many installs happened. It's
calculated by dividing your ad cost by the number of people who
installed or downloaded an app after clicking on one of your ads. The
cost of customer acquisition(CAC) is the money spent on marketing
efforts that are needed to attract a client.
Monitor the active users in comparison to all the downloads made.
It is the most important metric to measure if you want a company's growth. It tells us about the demand for your product and how that will affect it in the near future.
The amount of cash that you are utilizing on your app is called the burn rate. It can include marketing, server costs, employee cost, etc.
Here is a summary of the process flow for making a social media app.
Find a trusted team of experts Idea validation Strategic Planning
Designing MVP development Development of the Client-side of a Social
Media App for Android and iOS Implementation of features for social
media app Developing the server-side of a social media app Developing
a social media website Quality Assurance and Testing Deployment of the
APP
This is one of the most common questions asked by people, but the
truth is there is no fixed price. It all depends on the complexities
of the app. A basic social media app can be built for around 15-20k US
dollars, a medium complex app for 20-20k US dollars, and complex apps
for >over 50k US dollars. But then again, this is just a rough
estimation
The process of creating a social media app is not easy and requires a
lot of time, effort, and money. However, the potential benefits are
worth it! We've provided you with all the information you need to know
about how to create your own social app in this blog post. If you have
any more questions or want help getting started on developing your
idea into an actual viable product for consumers -let us know!
Our social media app agency will be happy to consult with you free of
charge so that can give some feedback on what's missing from your
plan.
