The 7 Best Social Media Platforms. How Much Does It Cost to Build Own?

Social media marketing is the buzz today. In fact, it is now a core component of small business marketing strategies. The figures tell it all as 6 out of 10 small businesses in the US has social media incorporated into their overall marketing strategy. In today’s digital world, the best way to engage with potential customers is through best social media platforms.

To stay competitive, you need to invest on social media software. You will be losing out on potential customers, if you do not have one.  You can decide to build your own best social media platform. If you decide to take this route, one of your biggest concerns is the price. This article aims to address the issue so you can decide on your budget.

The 7 Best Social Media Platforms

Before we get into the costing of building your own social media platform, let us take a look at the top 7 best social media platforms.

Facebook has more than a million small and mid market companies using the platform to promote and grow their corporate business.

Twitter attracts 137 million visitors each month posting 140-character posts for sharing company news, interact with their audience, and use targeted advertisements

LinkedIn is a business networking site that has over 460 million registered users and is translated into 24 languages  

Google+ attracts more than 300 million users and is used by 13% of small businesses for selling and brand building

YouTube is a video website attracting more than 1 billion visitors monthly. It is the second most used search engine after Google.

Instagram was launched in 2010. It generates more than 600 million active visitors monthly. It integrates social media apps, bunch of filters, and editing tools for fashion, art, food, and similar niches

Pinterest was launched in 2015 and currently attracts around 150 million users every month.  60% of its users are women.

The Basics of Starting Social Media Platform

The cost of building your own best social media platform will depend on a wide range of factors. The first is the key features of your apps. In order to determine what you will put in your social media app, there are some questions that need to be answered.

What Is Your Target Market?

By knowing who your end users will be, it will be much easier for you to come up with a social media platform that will best cater to them. What are their frustrations and needs? Will your app allow them to buy comments on Instagram? To get a better picture, you can conduct a market research and direct survey. After determining user needs, you can come up with an initial costing for building your own social media app.

How Users Can Register?

Most new users would want to be able to register for a new account using Twitter/Facebook or with their email. Likewise, they also want to have the option to choose between private and public account as well as block or report people they do want to engage with.

What Platform You Are Using?

Will you be using a web app, mobile app, or both? Are you going targeting iPhone or Android users?  Before they became successful, social media networks started as mobile-only apps and web applications. Web applications require more time. Likewise, the mobile platform should match your chosen target market. North American, Western Europeans, and Oceania use iPhone while Android is used in the rest of the world.

What Product Features Will Be Integrated?

All social networking apps allow registering using current social media profiles. This is because you would want it to be seamless and quickly adopted. Likewise, social media is more fun with connections. After registration, your social media app should allow importing of profile data from other networks.  Aside from that, your social media app should also integrate tools for self-expression such as live streaming, sharing of augmented photos, avatars, profile look, and name or nickname.

Lastly, your social media software should have a feature that will allow them to connect with current friends from other networks and discover new friends as well. The most important feature is the Newsfeed. This may include photos, videos, links, ways to interact, and others.

How Much Does This All Cost? 

Aside from those mentioned above, you will also need some backend and frontend coding which means you will need a development team.  In the United States, you could expect something close to $250.000-$500.000 a year.The cost of building your best social media platforms will depend on a wide range of factors

About The Author:

Lisa Jackson is the content developer and freelance writer. She writes a lot of article on her carrier. Last one year she is working with SocialGrand as a content developer and a writer. She has an expertise in writing an article on various types of online tutorial. She also wants to promote such kind of work to develop the skill.