A basic but Billion $$ question, what is a social network?

To put it simply, it means connecting to your friends, family, colleagues, customers, or clients through internet-based social media sites. It consists of people that share similar interests like yours.

Building a social network online can also mean gaining an audience for a social purpose, a business purpose, or both.

The most common networking sites include platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.

Despite the never-ending competition, Facebook still holds the first position with over two billion users. It remains the largest and most popular platform.

How to build a contemporary social networking platform?

Since the creation of Facebook, the social media industry has been booming. The popular networking platforms provide users with everything they want, including dating, job hunting, professional communication, online shopping, and whatnot.

In today's world when everything is happening digitally, people definitely need these resources.

But before understanding the complex yet the remunerative process of developing your own social networking site let's understand it's types and features.

Types of social networking sites

• Social Networks
• Educational Platforms
• Scientific and Academic Communities
• Entertaining Websites
• Professional Platforms
• Corporate Resources
• Information Websites
• Dating resources

All of these different networking sites have varied target audiences and a different purpose.

For example, Entertainment can be found on social networking sites like Instagram but entertainment media is solely made to provide you with quality entertainment content.

Must-have Features

A good quality site should consider the following features in order to be user friendly

• Easy onboarding
• Creation of Profile
• Allowing users to easily find people, groups, brands or communities
• Allowing the user to add or follow the people they like, to be able to read the content they are interested in
• Chat options, allowing to send or receive a message
• Push notifications
• File transfer
• Analytical tools to keep track of the performance of their business

Phases of development

Ideation

Big projects start from an idea. It must have value and be unique and must stand out among other similar projects. You should have unique features, promotion actions, pleasant bonuses, loyalty programs, and similar specialties to fascinate the visitors and attract more business.

You should also decide beforehand, a lot of things like the category/type of social networking site it fits in and how and what you should name it so that it steals the show and so on.

Research

Google can be your strong starting point to collect and analyze the demographics and psychographics of a variety of people. Online research might be time-consuming but it’s reliable and simple.

Another way is to prepare a demo version of your social media that you can test on real people. This process will involve arranging test users, preparing various interview questions, and providing testing equipment. This can be time-consuming and costly.

The choice of networking services technology

You can either choose to build a site from scratch or you can choose to take the easier road of choosing from the templates.

Facebook is based on React and Twitter rides on Ruby Rails. There are other javascript frameworks like Angular JS and VueJS, that you can explore to base your new social network on.

If you aim to achieve maximum results, the road not taken is always the best. While you choose to make your websites with your unique ideas, you make a better choice for long-run success.

Social network design

How to design a social network that will be user-friendly and functional?

Design plays a big role. It should not be flashy or dull. We suggest you keep it minimal and simple. The reason behind this is that the users want to feel connected and you cannot make them feel so by making the website all about you.

One thing that most of the popular networking apps have in common is a user-oriented design and ease of use. In addition, the first page should have a call-to-action, so you can get more signed up users.

Social network web development

We've reached a crucial point now, for all of this process was about, the site development. This step deals with the type of technology to be used for making the site. They can be divided into two types: ready to customize and deploy CMS and frameworks.

And again, you may consider the necessity to hire a professional team with all-round experience for a reliable development, capable of scaling as users grow.

Testing

After the completion of the development, it is necessary to check the social network. You have to make sure everything works as it should and that, there are no bugs in the code, failures when the resource is running, etc.

We recommend you to hire a professional team if you are not willing to witness any unpleasant surprises in the future.

Commissioning

We’re not done yet. If testing says that design and code are ready to deploy then we bring the database and APIs to life.

• There are a number of hosting platforms to choose from according to the specifics of your project. This step is related to future scaling options of your social network.
• After your project has been launched, it's time to load and configure it before it goes out.
• Run your analytic tool configuration, and you are ready for one last final testing!

Marketing

Aggressive marketing is essential while breaking into a saturated and established market. Announce your platform and gradually increase the number of visitors as it is very important to conduct active advertising campaigns.

In order to expand your target audience, your social media marketing strategy should be original and well-thought-out.

Monetization

If you’re considering options to develop a social network website, you’re definitely planning to make money on your platform. It's time to combine your passion with earning money.

• The most common way to monetize is to advertise on your platform. It can be either context advertisements or banners
• Affiliate marketing consists of collaboration with companies and influencers via affiliate programs
• Selling products - physical or digital
• Providing freelance services
• Event organization with fees

Now that you have a platform how do you build a community

Have you ever thought of building your own social network? If the answer is yes, then you’re in the right place.

Earlier networking looked like - attending functions, shaking hands, talking about your interests and swapping business cards. Today, we do much more of our networking online, and not everyone really knows how to go about this. So, in the spirit of breaking through, here are few secrets everyone should know about building a social network.

Be a pro-active part of a community

Enter the virtual world by getting yourself established on popular sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit, YouTube, and Flickr etc. There are many such online communities that you can actively be involved in. For a head start, ask your pals or colleagues what social media they use.

Do your homework

By homework, we mean Research. The Internet is a blessing when it comes to information. There are a lot of available resources out there where you can gather and analyze psychographics, demographics, and behavioral habits of large masses of people. This research will help you find your target audience that has interests similar to yours.

Find message boards or online communities that focus on one of your interests and add them freely.

Be vocal

Once you find a network that suits you and your target audience, take time to comment, discuss or give polite opinions on the posts, blogs or articles they share.

Start posting and sharing your views and knowledge that you have. This will get your audience's attention that you exist and also they will get to know who you are and what your interests and opinions are by your active participation.

You can also read comments or posts of people having similar interests and can get to know them by sending an e-mail or a message or build a relationship by endorsing their business.

Present yourself smartly

Be active on the sites you choose! Actively stay connected through comments, e-mails, or by sharing a comment, photo, or article that interests you and that you think may interest others. Suggest ways that you can work together that will be of benefit to both of you and don't make yourself look like you're trying to sell them something.

Invite people to connect online, in an offline way

Throw parties, attend weddings, funerals and parties that you are invited to.

Attend summits, festivals, conferences, expositions, and fairs and actively participate by things like introducing yourself and asking questions at the panels.

Work your network

Once you have successfully built your online community, try to stay as connected as possible by helping people if they need help and similarly you can also openly ask for help. For instance, if you are looking for a job, post about it freely, forward your resume and talk to people about their networks.

Social networks are the most promising direction among startups. Developing one of your own is a process that yields long-term and sustaining profits.

The number of active users on Facebook is decreasing. People are constantly looking for alternative solutions and are ready to try new platforms.

We are one of the finest in the industry when it comes to delivering very intricate and featured packed solutions for our clients. Our recent success was a social network targeted and tailored for European and North American audiences.

Get in touch with us if you’re looking to build the next Facebook. ;)

TL;DR

• Research and ideate
• Identify a disruptive element to stand out
• Find development partners who can help you build a social media app
• Define scope and allocate resources
• Zero in of tech stack
• Get the development going
• As you’re ready to launch deploy marketing in full force
• Get the word out
• Build a community, start with your own people
• See it grow