Since the
creation of Facebook, the social media industry has been booming. Mark was the
needed trigger and catalyst that pushed entrepreneurs to think, take risks and
create a social network that is new and fresh.
Have you
ever thought of building your own social network? If the answer is yes, then
this article has all the details that will help you create one.But how do
you start a social network? Do you have the needed resources to create a social
networking site? In this article, we bare it all and give you the right steps
to succeed.
1. Define Your Target Audience – know Your Community
Paying
attention to this phase and focusing all of your work and energy at the start
will pay off in the end. First, you must define the core and then develop a
social network website based on these parameters and values. Ask yourself what
is social networking service anyway? Defining your target audience by using as
many filters as you can, will help you establish your social media network on a
solid ground later. As we said this phase is crucial and by doing it right you
will lower the risk level of failure significantly. How to effectively
define your target audience? You can choose between two approaches:
Online Research
The
internet is a very good place for information. You can find, collect and
analyze, demographics, psychographics and behavioral habits of large masses of
people. There are a lot of available resources out there that give away the
right data. You just need to dig deeper. Google must be your starting point
which will lead you whenever you need to go to grab that valuable piece of
information. Online research can be time-consuming but it’s reliable and
simple.
Test and learn
With this
approach, you need a demo version prepared of your social media that you can
test on real people and then prepare assumptions based on their behavior.
This approach requires, arranging test people, preparing various interview
questions and providing testing equipment. The downside is that it has costs
attached to it, the good thing is that you will have 100% reliable results.
How to
create a social network when you have limited resources and what approach you
should use? It really depends on the development process and what data you
really need. Choose wisely.
2. Develop Growth Strategy Based on Your Users
How to
build a social network in a market full of competitors? To build it from
scratch you need to first prepare your growth strategy. Your target audience is
defined, you have all of the important data but now you need to make them aware
of your service. Sounds really simple but this part is tricky too. Fortune is
analyzing interesting concepts in the article about The real way to build a social
network that can be valuable when implemented in reality.
The need
to define consistent growth strategy aligned with your target audience comes
from the fact that the destiny of your social network commercial success
depends on it.
There are two things you can do:Begin Small and slowly expand your base. Remember Facebook started local
and small. They used the information available in their high school yearbook.
They expanded after the network became hugely popular. Entrepreneurs know how
to take a calculated risk. Mark is an amazing entrepreneur and business
conscious person. You should be one too. You can start your social network even
with help of white-labeled instruments, like Ning.
Go Big – Focus your efforts on large demographic and your marketing
on a larger base at the very start. Twitter used this strategy and became
hugely successful.
Unless you
have a unique solution or idea you should always begin small. It’s a less risky
success strategy. The Go Big approach will expose your social network to other
competitors as well, so growth will be tougher.
3. Follow these Social Network Development Check
Points
What is
social network site but a complex software that needs the right team to be
successfully developed? After you get all the needed information about your
target audience and strategy and you know the features and the look, it’s time
to communicate everything to your team of developers. Before you do that you
need to check you have everything prepared. Here are some checkpoints you need
to reconsider before you get in touch with your development team:
The Money – The
development process is all about the money. Instagram had a $ 300.000
development budget and Facebook around $500.000. It depends on the complexity
of the features you are trying to develop. If you are going for a simple
functionality then your cost will be lower, around $ 100.000. Have this in
mind.
The Platform – Is
it going to be web-based only social network or are you planning on developing
a mobile app too? You need to know these things before the big talk with your
development people. Use the data from your market research to decide what to
do.
Data Base Volume – Traffic Estimation – It’s not possible to estimate your traffic with a 100%
accuracy. The estimated number that will be close to what will happen in
reality will be a valuable info to your development team. Here are some
database options you can use:
–
Use MySQL or PostgreSQL for your structured data.
–
NoSQL databases, such as MongoDB for a high-load and high traffic surges
Base your
choice on your estimation.
4. Use Minimal and Simple Social Network UX Design
How to
design a social network that will be user-friendly and functional?
Keep it minimal and simple. Why these two rules exist?
Because users want to make a social network that is all about them, not you.
The user experience matters. Create your own network that cares about their
journey and the value they get out of it. Flashy social network designs like
HI5 and Myspace did not seem to go very well on the market. Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and Snapchat have one thing in common which is user-oriented design
and ease of use. Online tools can help you too. For instance, Ning has a simple
drag and drop builder that can save you a lot of time.
Here you
can check a few steps needed to create your own social network. There are basic
elements that you must think of before you start defining your social network
front end. You must think of:
1. The elements of a standard profile
2. Chat options and features
3. News Feed design
4. Connect Buttons
5. Engagement Buttons
6. Comment Section Areas
7. Social Groups options
8. Setup Page Design
The UX
design can be tricky. You must make sure your social network provides
user-centric and enjoyable experience for your target audience. Consistency
across all of the parts of your social network is a must. Heavy investment into
quality app architecture is something you have to be prepared on time
financially and structurally.
5. Promote Your Social Network Effectively
After all,
is said and done and you have the final product in your hands, it’s time for
promotion. Follow the AIDA marketing model. It’s an acronym used in marketing
and it stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. Following these
steps will help you communicate with your target audience in a way that better
respond to their needs and desires. Implementing the basics of this model in
your digital marketing strategy can do wonders. It may even have some AI within,
as we are confidently moving to the computer powered world.
The final
goal is to monetize your
efforts in the market properly. Combine your passion with money earning:
1. Advertising on your platform – banners,
sponsored posts, sponsorships, brand mentions.
2. Cooperation with other companies and influencers via
affiliate programs. Affiliate marketing is a well-known monetization way;
3. Sell digital products (like e-books, games,
software, music, apps) and physical goods (paper books, electronics, craft,
food);
4. Event organizing: charging for participation or
sponsorship;
5. Freelance services like training, coaching,
consulting;
6. Donations – “Donate” button could be a good way
of passive income;
Few
concrete digital marketing solutions you can do to promote your social media
network better:
1. Build Your SEO
strategy – SEO is
equally important for social media network as to any other e-commerce site.
There are a lot of experts on the market that can help you in building quality
SEO strategy that will not cost you much but increase the ranking and the
online exposure of your business.
2. Use Lead Generation
Tactics – Build a
landing page and give free access to some premium features for free. This will
help you build your database with leads which you can use later for newsletters
and future cool updates about new functionalities. You may even try recent chatbots marketing
strategies.
3. Use another social
network for promotion –
Use your followers base to dig deeper and find out about their friends on other
social media. Ask them to invite them manually. This means that you have to set
an automatic invite system that can invite friends based on their email or
social media profile. Facebook implemented this tactic for so long and later
all of the popular social media networks did the same. It will really help you
in building your community.
4. Find the perfect name that will define social
networking – Analyze popular names for social networks, find what is the best
fit for your business and use it in the marketing campaign. The name is an
equally important element of your marketing strategy.
Final Thoughts
Developing
your own social network, it’s a process that can last up to six months at
least. Following the five steps will let you slowly and on time transition from
each phase. What is social networking service without their users? You know the
answer, nothing. In every phase, always have in mind the needs of your target
audience. Never forget that.
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