The exact costs of building a social app can’t be estimated out of the blue. There are lots of factors influencing the cost of mobile apps. We’re going to shed light on what goes into building a social networking app.
Everyone knows the likes of Vine, Instagram, and Snapchat, right? Great, let’s delve into a development process to understand what goes into an app and makes up the costs.
The Basics
Before you start requesting for a custom app quote, read more on how to develop a social media app. Then you have to visualize your app idea. Making it simple – outline the basic features of your future app.
Here you can find the main questions to answer before developing an app:
Question #1: What’s your target market?
It’s a well-known fact that understanding the fundamental needs of your target user and satisfying them is a key to an app’s success.
Here’s an example how the understanding of the target market leads to the unbelievable app’s success.
As lots of parents flocked to Facebook, teens were urged to shift a social network while they wanted more anonymity and more space for expressing themselves. And that’s what Snapchat promised with its disappearing messages.
And a few words about Instagram. A vast majority of people don’t fancy how the photo sharing works on Facebook. And this was the premises for the development of Instagram, a handy platform for photo sharing.
Find out the common needs as well as frustrations of your target audience to develop an app that will win over the others.
Once, you know your end user, and what paint the app is going to solve, it’s time to use a user-story approach to estimate the ballpark costs. And what is a user-story based approach? User stories are short summaries of what a user expects from an app and what it needs to do.
For example, as a user, I’d like to send instant messages and share photos. Isn’t it simple? With a thorough market research, you can quickly identify what your users are and what they need.
Question #2 What platforms to develop for?
It’s the most frequently-asked question when it comes to an app development. There is a vast number of mobile operating systems to reach – iOS, Android, Windows, etc. But what platform to pursue first?
There is no right or wrong answer to this question. Just conduct a market research to find out a priority platform.
Nowadays, it’s beneficial to develop a mobile and web social networking app. But being fair, the iOS apps are released earlier.
And there are a couple of obvious reasons. The iOS apps take less time when compared with Android or Web-based mobile apps. And less time means less money.
Note, the main thing to consider is that a mobile platform you choose should match the preferences of your target audience. It’s no use in developing an Android app for Northern America since the iOS prevails in Northern America and Western Europe. And Android takes the rest of the world.
Question #3 What main features to integrate?
In fact, all social apps have lots of features in common while they deliver quite the same functions.
● Registration
Consider, allowing the registration via existing social media profiles.
The key reasons to integrate registration through social media profiles:
- A seamless registration process
- A quick and fast adoption thanks to the existing social connections
Registration with social media accounts will allow new users to import profile data from their existing profiles. Thus the users don’t need to spend long hours filling in the profile. In addition, fewer steps mean faster adoption for new users.
● Self-Expression Tools
To create a social app that catches everyone attention, your app should stay addictive and excite your users.
What cool features to implement to wow the users just off the bat?
- Augmented reality
- Live streaming
- Self-destructing messages
These are big features that can make your app stand out from the crowd. But there are a great many of small features that count more for app’s success. Provide the users with the possibility to create personal profiles.
● Newsfeed
Social networks where nothing happens cause no fun.
When the users are eager to check the app as frequently as possible, your app gets more popularity. Push and notification strategy can help you create a great user retention mechanism.
How to make a stunning newsfeed?
- Integrate different types of updates (text, photo, video, etc.)
- Deliver a powerful content and filter duplicate entries
- Provide the ways to interact with the newsfeed content (like, comment, share, etc.)
- Develop the men to report inappropriate content
These are the essential features to develop first when it comes to a social networking app. Of course, you will need to add a secret sauce to win over the existing apps.
Short Bio
Hi, everyone! I’m Helen Morrice I try hard to explain geek news in a plain (and readable) language. Here you can read one of my coverages on the mobile app development. To read more, visit my blog or follow me on Facebook/Twitter
You must be logged in to post a comment.