With Global feelings of isolation, sparked by national lockdowns and social distancing, have never been more prevalent on social media sites in 2021 – with 43% of internet users spending more time than usual on social media.
These platforms are occasionally criticized for drawing too much of our attention. Still, they offer a lot of connectivity that allows us to share our passions and interests and connect with friends, family and colleagues. Now more than ever, it’s more important than ever to lean on our social support systems and find a sense of community.
Reading: How to create a social media website with wordpress
Social media has even greater utility for businesses selling, promoting, and increasing brand awareness.
But have you thought about going one step further?
Suppose you are a business owner who wants to build a community around your products and services. You could create your own social media site. Of course you don’t want to replace Facebook! Rather, by offering social media features on your website, you connect more closely with your own niche audience.
Unlike Mark Zuckerberg’s days, you don’t have to work on a complicated web development system in your college dorm anymore. Instead, WordPress.com enables anyone to build a social media network from scratch.
Curious? In this article, we’ll discuss how to build a social media website in 2021.
How to build a social media website: Consider your audience
Before you Getting down to technical details, let’s take a look at existing types of social networks and the functions they perform. Hopefully this gives you some much-needed inspiration and makes you think about the kind of functionalities that would appeal to your target audience:
Communication
Twitter is well known – to “microblogging” – Platform for discussions and ongoing conversations. Everyone can participate in the trend dialogue, tweet their content and make their opinion public in real time. It’s an excellent network for anyone who wants to advocate their ideas or have fun conversations.
Pro
LinkedIn is a social site specifically designed for professionals who want to connect with other professionals. You can post (or apply for) job openings, share and read the latest industry news, and expand your professional network.
User profiles focus on professional achievements, such as their employment and educational history, and unsurprisingly LinkedIn is incredibly functional, with a conservative color scheme.
Institutional Social Networking Sites
Many large institutions and universities have their own social networks and restrict access to the system, keeping the number of users low. Such internal networks are often explicitly created to allow users to discuss topics relevant to their shared experience. As such, these platforms tend to be very purposeful in their front-end design, focusing on sharing information, keeping everyone in the loop, and creating a place for feedback to be given and acted upon.
Entertainment
Although IMDb is not your regular social network, it still allows its users to find people and learn about their achievements. It focuses less on active discussions or meeting people and more on giving users the opportunity to discover a common passion together: movies! Here users can create watchlists and share their favorite movies and shows.
Dating
Whether you’re a fan of dating apps like Tinder or not, you can’t deny that you have connected to people over the years. These types of social media apps usually encourage you to create a profile about yourself and what you are looking for in a partner so that other users can get to know you. From there you can get in touch with suitable candidates to see if there is a spark.
Media
Other social networks are all about showcasing different forms of media. There’s SoundCloud for audio, Artstation for professional artists in the entertainment industry, and of course Instagram. Instagram allows you to present your photos with attractive filters and share them with the world. It comes with a scrollable layout. It’s easy to follow your friends and influencers. Using hashtags, you can find images and videos that interest you in seconds.
Find a niche
Now we’ve reviewed some of the most popular social media niches. It’s time to think about the target audience of your own social media network.
Who is your social media platform for? How will your audience benefit?
If one of your intentions aligns with the networks listed above, you can take inspiration from their design. Look for similar social networking platforms in your niche and consider what works for them and more importantly… what doesn’t.What could you do better? And of course, consider how much competition already exists in your chosen niche.
Pro Tip: Start with small goals. Don’t try to reach the whole internet when there is little common ground for them to use your social media. Sites like Facebook have a monopoly when it comes to the general social media needs of the world. So focus on your niche and your little piece of the social media pie.
As you continue to lay the foundations of your social networking website, make sure you think about how:
- Your target audience interacts with social media content
- Your target audience prefers to interact with each other online
With these considerations in mind, you are It is more likely that your platform and its content will remain niche, which works wonders to better engage and engage users.
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Pro Tip: As your network evolves, so will your audience, in terms of responsiveness to user feedback, running A/B tests, and being open to change as new requirements or pain points show up.
How to Build a Social Media Website – Functionality
Once you’ve decided on a niche and figured out who your target audience is, you need to start thinking about what your social network is site will do for them. Eventually this will aggregate into your social site’s functionality, which may include aspects such as:
- User profiles
- News feeds and/or activity streams
- Search bars
- Messaging
- File Sharing
- Live Video Streaming
First and foremost, your website is defined by its user base ? Or is there a “killer feature” that encompasses most of your platform? Once you’ve decided on a core functionality, it’s easier to identify the required features to complement your setup.
For example, think of how Twitch built an entire social site around live streaming and video. Or how Facebook brings communities together through features like Groups and Pages. What unique feature will you offer users to get them to sign up?
How to create a social media website – the development process
Now that we’ve got the bulk Having laid the foundations, one important thing remains: developing a working social network.
However, before you can create anything, it is essential to have a clear idea of your needs. To focus on this, consider:
- How much will you spend on this project? What about scalability? Can you predict if you will invest in more functionality later?
- How will active users access your social platform? Will your network be web-based, or do you need one too mobile app (Android and iOS)?
- What will your traffic and hosting costs be? The more activity you expect, the more you should pay for secure and high-performance web hosting.
- Will you handle sensitive user data? The privacy of your users is an important consideration and is required by law in many jurisdictions. How do you ensure your website is GDPR compliant? How do you protect email addresses and passwords?
- How will you provide customer service? Do you work alone? Or do you have a team ready to respond to customer support tickets?
Once you’ve answered the questions above, the most important thing that remains is the right platform to build your social network select network website. If you have a significant budget, you can hire a development team to work with you. However, the cheaper and easier way to create a social media website is to use WordPress.
This is where WordPress.com comes in. This solution is a very popular and customizable website builder and content management system. You don’t need any programming skills or knowledge of programming languages to build your own social media network.
WordPress.com also takes care of web hosting and security for you. All you have to do is sign up and choose a plan that best suits your needs.
Pro Tip: If you are serious about building a social media website, you need to go for the WordPress.com plugin-enabled plan. With these packages, you can start installing plugins that provide social media features.
So let’s look at the plugins available with WordPress.com that will get you closer to the social media site finish line.
P2
P2 does it It’s easy to set up a collaboration platform with its basic social networking features, including mentions, file sharing, decision support, and more.
BuddyPress
BuddyPress is free and open – Source software package that you can integrate with WordPress.com to create your dream social media networking site.Its functionality is impressive and allows you to build a solid base for any social media platform.
BuddyPress allows you and your users to:
- Create and update user profiles
- Message each other.
- Add and remove friends.
- Create and join groups
- Create blogs
- Participate in forum discussions
BuddyBoss
Similar to BuddyPress, you can also use BuddyBoss to create a social networking site using WordPress.com. The difference is that BuddyBoss is a standalone closed source plugin. If you don’t have much technical know-how, BuddyBoss is an easier solution for you. It’s ready to use right out of the box, so you don’t have to start from scratch.
bbPress
If your social media needs are more straightforward, bbPress might be the right choice. It is open source forum software designed to integrate with WordPress.com. bbPress is relatively easy to use and has been designed to be as light and fast as possible. So rest assured that it won’t affect your website’s performance. In addition, the tool comes with customizable templates and plenty of extensibility.
How to Build a Social Media Website – Templates and Design
Once you have the basics of your social media website in place have functionality, the next concern is how you are going to design it. Visual attractiveness is crucial when it comes to the success of a social network. So how can you create an elegant looking website without compromising usability or UX?
First you need to consider all the elements of your social media website that need to be styled, for example:
- Use profile features
- Chat buttons and windows
- News feeds and activity streams. What options should there be for displaying and filtering content? Popular? Last 24 hours? Last week? Etc.
- Engagement buttons (share, like, react, etc.)
- Comment sections
- Groups
The degrees of design flexibility you enjoy in terms of many of the above hinges for your chosen plugins.
However, when it comes to the overall design of your WordPress.com website, you can use the intuitive drag-and-drop editor to brand it and make it your own. Choosing a color palette and fonts for your website is a breeze.
Pro Tip: Make sure your visual identity across your website is consistent and the feel and the Function represents the type of social media network you choose!
See also: A step-by-step process on how to create your website on your own
LinkedIn is a good example. They famously use conservative shades of blue and gray for most of their website, giving the network a believable and trustworthy fee. Instagram, on the other hand, brands itself with vibrant, almost rainbow-like colors.
How to Build a Social Media Website – Marketing
Even the best social media website would go unnoticed without successful marketing.
Yes, mainstream social networks have the most influence and can be difficult to compete with. But suppose you’re targeting a very specific niche. In this case, it’s easy to optimize your marketing strategy to target and engage with your specific demographic.
Your SEO Strategy
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical to success every site . Not only does this strengthen your inbound marketing, but it also makes it easier for new viewers to find your website organically.
There are many ways you can rank higher in search engine results. However, the most effective way is to optimize your web pages for keywords that are relevant to your niche. Ideally, these keywords will have a lot of monthly searches without too much competition. Also, make sure to use internal links throughout your site’s content to create a credible web – this is another thing search engine algorithms like to see.
Pro Tip: Google offers a starter guide to creating an SEO strategy that you should definitely check out.
Email Marketing and Lead Generation
Email is expected to remain one of the most effective marketing methods in 2021… and with some ROIs approaching 4,000%, it’s no wonder.
Typically, email marketing is associated with lead generation. First you need to drive traffic to an attractive looking landing page where there is a signup form. Visitors can subscribe to your mailing list here. To encourage people to subscribe, why not give away a freebie like an eBook to entice prospects to sign up?
Once you have an email list, you can share valuable information, updates and send promotions. This works wonders in slowly building their interest in your brand and hopefully converting them into long-term users.
Advertise on other social networks
If you already have a social media following, why not create and run a social media marketing campaign? You can post about the progress of your new social media site, highlight new and unique features, and offer incentives like contests and giveaways to encourage potential users to visit and sign up.
Create an invitation system
Make it easy for existing users to invite their friends to join. A simple invitation system allows your audience to grow organically. All you need is a shareable invite link that guides new users through the signup process.
Paid Ads
Finally, paid ads still have a place in marketing strategies. While inbound marketing is great, it usually takes a long time to come to fruition. In contrast, paid ads can be a great way to generate instant interest.
How to Build a Social Media Website – Monetization
First and foremost, it’s about social media -Networking around community. But there are also ways to generate revenue:
Direct Advertising
You could display banner ads on your website so that you get paid when visitors to your website view and click on those ads. Installing ads is also not difficult if you use systems like AdSense. Alternatively, you could use WordPress.com’s own advertising platform, WordAds, a program that includes ads from networks like Google, Facebook, AOL, etc.
Selling Products or Services
If you are not yet selling any products or services, having your own social network could be a great way to boost your first online sales. Not only do you already have an audience to market to, but WordPress.com offers an easy-to-use way to integrate with online checkouts and e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce.
Organize Events
You might want to consider a more direct form of engagement, bringing your audience together online or in “real life”—perhaps with a seminar, a simple networking opportunity, or a large-scale conference. Either way, you can charge an introductory price to make a small profit after your setup costs.
Donate
Suppose your users love your social media site and have an active one there community found. If so, you might be surprised at how willing they are to support you financially. Accepting donations is a great way to make some money on your social network side. WordPress.com even has a “Donate” content block that you can easily paste into your content to start accepting donations. You simply drag and drop the block where you want it to appear on your webpage.
Charging for access to advanced features
This is a common strategy used by all kinds of social media sites and apps like LinkedIn. When you upgrade to LinkedIn Premium, you unlock access to additional features such as: For example, to see who viewed your LinkedIn profile and learning courses. With WordPress.com’s premium content blocks or other third-party plugins, you could charge a subscription fee that gives users access to more sophisticated features or additional content on your site.
Are you ready to start your own social network to create? Media Website?
Building a social media website doesn’t have to be complicated. With a flexible and intuitive platform like WordPress.com, you can use out-of-the-box plugins that make it easy to add social media functionality to your website. Whether you’re a blogger looking to build a community in a niche or a startup looking to better engage with your customers, offering social media features pays off.
Remember, that there are many established social networks out there that already appeal to a mass audience. Find out what’s unique to your niche audience and give them the opportunity to engage with a small, engaged community. This is the secret to building a successful social media network.
We hope we’ve answered all of your questions about creating a social media website in 2021. Try WordPress.com today by signing up for a free account!
See also: How to Make a Small Business Website: Beginners Guide
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