The popularity of social networking websites has skyrocketed over the past ten years. As of 2019, almost half of the world’s population uses social media and this number continues to grow at a rapid pace. People use social media not only to keep in touch with distant relatives and former classmates. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites are very popular with investors, bloggers, politicians, activists, and those people who want to draw public attention to their activities, social position, or brands. More and more entrepreneurs set their sights on social media when it comes to marketing and advertising. Some locate lucrative niches within social media, while others aim to create their own platforms like Facebook and start getting profit from that. If you also want to know how to make a social media website and succeed in this kind of business, don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn this right now.

What You Need to Know Before Making a Social Media Site

It’s not a secret that the idea business for us is the one started with the minimal or even no investment. The same goes for making a website. You need to have some seed money to spend on web development, design, marketing, and advertising your newly created platform. Otherwise, chances are slim that you’ll success in putting your ideas into action. Moreover, you need to be passionate with what you’re aiming to create and remain consistent and determined throughout the entire website development journey.

What You Need to Consider to Build a Social Media Website that Rocks

There are some universal rules you want to follow to ensure your new social media website is a success. Check out some of the essential functions your site needs to perform:

• Encourage users to interact and actively and regularly participate on the platform
• Facilitate the exchange of value and collaboration between users
• Connect and match up customers with producers or brands in a relevant way. For this reason, you want to add various filters that will help cater to participants’ needs.

Steps to Take to Create a Social Media Website

Below are the steps you need to follow to create your own platform from scratch.

# 1 Define the Value of Your Social Network Platform

You may be surprised to know that the creation of any viable social media venture doesn’t start with developing its features. Instead, you need to take care to define the core value of the product you aim to make. Ask yourself what is special and, more importantly, useful about your site.

Will it be able to attract users and offer them something new, something that other popular social media like Facebook can’t? So, make sure your platform can provide users with value and enable them to exchange it on your platform.

# 2 Know Whom You Target

There is no chance of you defining the core value of your platform if you fail to identify your audience and cater to particular wants of your target user group. Ideally, you should know the age, location, and other characteristics of your target audience to be able to predict their eagerness to engage with your website. It’s also a good idea to research the market and conduct a survey among the people that you think may become your audience.

# 3 Choose Key Features

Once you define the purpose of your website and your users, you’ll want to focus on the features and functionality of your site. Some particular websites may require specific features, there are those that are regarded as universally important for almost every social media network.
First of all, you should take care to help your users establish and maintain relationships and enhance communication on your platform. For this reason, you want to create a well-organized and discoverable user profile. It should include the user’s name, easily editable picture, social integration, privacy control, business profile, and others features that can enhance user experience on your website.

Apart from the user profile feature, you’ll need to decide on what search engine to use so that your users experience no difficulty locating other users and connecting with them. You may want to offer advanced search that can help users find whoever they’re looking for by typing a certain keyword, name, or a job title. It’s also possible to add specific details while searching by entering location or industry.

Other relevant functions you may want to consider include:

• Real-time chat
• News feed
• Interaction feed
• User support
• Status update
• Special fonts, emojis

Keep in mind that all data viewing features must have user-centric design. They should be easy to use and accessible. By allowing users to access and tailor their experience you will keep them coming back again and again to your social media platform.

If you want to avoid the hassle of selecting the features yourself or are not sure which ones will best fit your website, consider hiring professionals. There are lots of experienced web developers and designers can help you create a truly unique platform that will stand out from the crowd and thus be of interest to more users. The development of an app or website is arguable the most responsible, time- and resource-consuming stage. So, you need to invest a sufficient amount of your time and effort into it to achieve the best results possible.

# 4 Create Awareness on the Market

Another thing you should be mindful when making your platform is attracting a right user. Though nowadays digital marketing is overtaking traditional methods of advertising, you can start with good old word of mouth. Spread the word about your social media. After that, take full advantage of digital marketing. Don’t worry if you don’t have enough money to pay professional marketers’ services. There are several cost-effective strategies you can adopt to attract right users.

First, create a relevant email database. Come up with engaging newsletters and send them to the potential users. Second, consider starting a blog where you’ll be discussing the pluses of using your new platform and showcasing its uniqueness and core value. To do it more effectively, you want to reach other blogging influencers and ask them to put in a good word for you. When other portals or bloggers mention your network or write news about your creation, make sure to step in and engage with them. People appreciate engagement and care. Finally, consider activating paid Google ads for a certain period of time. Use different wording for each ad and see what works the best.

Conclusion

They say that the way towards success can never be smooth. It’s paved with potholes and even failures. The development of your own social media platform also can take much time, creative energy, and resources. Still, you shouldn’t give up. The more you try and persevere, the bigger your chances of success are. And professionals will always be there to help you convert your idea into a reality. Who knows? Maybe your new platform will overtake Facebook one day!