On-Demand Social Media App Development- Latest Trends, Cost and Features

The social media niche seems to be very promising. Having a reasonably low budget, one can get a social media app development and transform it into a means of getting high income with a strong growth rate. The social media platform based on interests where the particular audience hangs out an does not overdose users with unnecessary content and, at the same time, lets them show their posts to many people. An active audience also helps you to boost your business without any further charges. From a business perspective, the advantage of social media app development is one of the most promising markets. This niche is highly filled with users, but the accelerated evolution of technology is regularly opening up new opportunities for the success of new ideas.

When creating social media, it is important to know that having a mobile application is necessary for a successful project. Social media app development can be developed from scratch or as an addition to the present web version.

Some Facts of social media apps

• Facebook is the most famous social media app development, with 87% of users checking it at least once per day.

• 53% of millennials check Snapchat every day.

• Above 35% of social media app users stated that they spend an average of 10-20 minutes per day on a social media app after opening it.

• Approximately 72% of social media app users read or view news stories on social media apps, strengthening a notable variation in how news is consumed.

• Facebook with more than 2.3 billion users is the worldwide leader, being a firm whose assets are valued at 505 billion dollars.

• The second worldwide pro is YouTube with a user base of around 2 billion and a value of nearly 160 billion dollars.

• The third is WhatsApp with 1.6 billion users, which was sold to Facebook for 19 billion dollars, and since then its valued cost grew 3 times higher.

Types of Social Media Apps

The popular types of social media to know about:

• Social network apps

They are used to connect and communicate with other users online. These social media apps can be used for individual needs (Facebook, Twitter) or professional communication (LinkedIn).

• Media sharing apps

This kind of social app enables users to share all kinds of media files ( in the form of photos, videos, GIF files, etc.). The most notable representatives of this type are Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Vimeo, and Imgur.

• Apps for customer feedback

Such social media apps are used by customers to find and review or give feedback to businesses they’ve had collaborated with. Yelp is one of the most famous examples of this kind.

• Discussion forums

These platforms enable users to ask questions and get answers to them, share news, ideas, insights, and experience. Quora and Reddit are famous social media apps in this category.

• Bookmarking and content curation apps

These apps enable their users to share their content and discover the content of other users and save it. Examples are Pinterest and Mix.

• Blogging platforms

These social media apps allow the user to create their blogs and publish them there. Tumblr and Medium are remarkably familiar now and numerous people share their posts every day.

• Interest-based networks

This type of social apps unites people with mutual interests. Users can share their interests and similar activities on such platforms. Goodreads is a nice example to check out.

• Anonymous social networks

This type of social media app is mainly loved by teens because it lets them interact anonymously with each other. Some of the most used apps of this class are Ask.fm and After School.

As mentioned above, there are several types of social media apps. Paying attention to these categories also defines the key features of the apps of each type.

Current Social Media Trends

Every year people engaged in social media talk about the newest trends in social media. This topic seems to be common but it is not in fact. Trends are necessary to watch out for and to follow in order to make the social media app development popular and operational. Below mentioned are the social media trends to acknowledge if you want to develop a social media app:

• Augmented reality filters

Snapchat and Instagram are the known leaders in this category. People enjoy using the face filters and even users can put up their own custom-created filters and it seems that everyone is loving that. More than 500 million users use IG stories every day and 60% of businesses using Instagram Stories incorporate an interactive component to improve their monthly engagement.

• Artificial Intelligence and chatbots

These are not new social media trends, having already become popular, they are still in demand. As per studies, the overall market size for chatbots globally will rise to $1.3 billion by 2024. 

• Live videos streaming

The most successful social media apps are already integrated with this feature. Users fancy viewing live videos on social media and the well-known example is Instagram.

• Video content is growing

Since visual information is easier to perceive, video content is more common than written posts because now users prefer watching videos to reading texts.

• Temporary content

It is the type of content that is visible for up to 24 hours and then disappears from your feed. Examples of this well-known trend are Snapchat stories, Twitter Fleets, and Instagram Stories. Stories extend the time people spend on social media apps daily and also to interact with the users.

• Sharing content on social media

More and more people (and companies as well) want to share their content and reach as many users as possible. Websites are not the only place for creating content anymore. Good social media apps now offer flexible content sharing possibilities to their users.

Once that the niche is decided and has analyzed the trends to follow to make a social media app, it is time to get down to app features, design, and development.

Features of Social Media App Development

In order to make a social media app development successful, it requires the integration of rich and popular features based on the demands of the end-users. Some key features are:

• Simple and quick profile creation
• Advanced search options
• News Feed arrangement
• Location tracking
• Instant messaging
• Images, audio, and video editing features
• AR filters
• Automatic data encryption
• In-built ads
• Safe login and privacy checks
• Payment system integration
• Google Maps integration
• Push notifications
• Global posting and commenting
• Add to favorites
• Multiple content sharing options
• Advanced features include personal details, preferences and more
• Engaging profile features including backdrop image, color, font style, etc.

How to Create a Social Media App?

Successful social media apps shouldn’t be just engaging and user-friendly. First, you need to determine why it will be engaging and beneficial for your users. The user’s content is the base of a social media app development, so the main task is to examine if the users would like to use your future tool to share content or not.

There are numerous steps for a social media app development launch.

 Step 1. Strategy

To develop a social media app, choose the niche, make a blueprint of the idea and the target audience, and set the business goals first. According to the competitive market, try to analyze the principal marketing features you need to develop. It is also necessary to know about the weakness and strengths of the opponents. 

Step 2. Workflow and designs

In this step, you have to go through the design process, like sketching the number of screens, app user flows with quick basic outlines, wireframing the structural view of the social media app, and the user experience, prototyping a future model of the app for a better understanding, and ultimately UI and UX design. 

Step 3. MVP development and Quality Assurance

Develop your app backend by setting up APIs, servers, and databases, with proper storage solutions. With manual and automatic testing, the app and its functionalities make sure there are no bugs and all the codes are well written.

Step 4. Deployment

The app publishing or the deployment process consists of a properly optimized description, categorizing the app with the right tags to reach the target audience, and then publishing it at Play Store and App Store. 

Step 5. Marketing

A basic marketing plan should be strategized in the first stage of the app development process. But the promotional and other marketing campaign starts only after the app has been published on App Store and Play Store. Also track the quantitative metrics for the social media app development, which is an essential element to be successful in the social media market.

Step 6. Technical support and maintenance

Be ready to get some feedback from the users, respond to their queries, and fix the app glitches. After the project is delivered, we ensure all sorts of support and updates implementation.

MVP for Social Media App Development

Developing an MVP is a good approach to avoid risks and spend the budget responsibly while developing a social media app.

An MVP app (Minimum Viable Product) is a ready-to-use digital product that delivers the key features of the app. People usually use MVPs to experiment with the startup plan in general, generate initial leads, or to determine additional development features.

Start working on your MVP with the list of the needs of the future users that should be fulfilled with your unique solution. Prepare a list of major app features and choose which of them are essential for the app and which are not. With the list of the most important features, you can calculate the costs and implementation time. Also keep in mind that the more features you integrate into your app, the more money you need to develop an app. However, using a third-party platform as an in-built tool may lessen the development cost.

How to Maintain a Social Media App

Simultaneously with the integration of new features for your social media app development, you will also have to maintain and support the existing product. It doesn’t matter whether you integrate a new feature or redesign your app, the current version of the existing product should be stable.

Support and maintenance of social media apps are in no way distinct from the support and maintenance of other apps. They can be done in a continuous manner or as an on-demand service. It all depends on the regularity and number of tasks.

In general, support and maintenance presuppose:

• Working on new features upon request
• App stability control
• Server performance control
• Scaling apps
• Product update (technologies, servers, security)

It is not complete after the development of a social media app, all the listed activities should be performed on the product.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Social Media App

Market campaign planning and implementation are the most expensive part of the social media app development. Moreover, marketing costs unlike software development, tend to be not one-time, but regular and also scalable.

The design is that after a specific number of downloads it gets difficult and costly to draw new users towards a product. Ironically, the more popular you grow the more you need to spend promoting your app. 

The second position stands for social media app designs and prototyping, or backend depending on what is more necessary for your app.

Taking into consideration the factors that affect the total costs are:

• The number of features
• Design specifications
• Deadlines (urgent tasks are always expensive), and
• The choice of programming language. 

The social media app development might take around 1.5 to 2 months depending on all the tasks, including project management, market analysis, UI and UX design, quality assurance, marketing, and customer support. In general, the social media app development price ranges from 5000 to 20000 dollars with an astounding design. Also, note that while developing a social media app, you can decrease some costs by outsourcing work from cheap countries with a good digital outsource ranking.

Why Choose Phontinent Technologies, for your Social Media App Development?

The social media app development is challenging for several reasons. First, the social media market is occupied by giants like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for long. Secondly, the application needs an audience, which implies the investment of a huge resource in studying the needs of the users, as well as forming a strategy to draw their attention on your platform.

So bring your idea to life with Phontinent Technologies, where our attributes include:

• Deploying advanced technology and methodology to develop a social media app.
• Proper support and services.
• Experienced team of dedicated and skilled professionals with unmatched field expertise.
• Hi-end and cost-efficient products using open source development platforms.
• Experience to develop a high-performance social media app with rich features and excellent functionality.
• Provide significant solutions to improve your business growth and revenue.
• Expertise in marketing and app store optimization (ASO) to intensify your app recognition and make it successful amid your target audience.

If you are thinking to gain a huge customer base with the social media app development, fill the form below, share us your requirements and we will get back to you regarding the solution.

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