How To Create A Social Media App: Its Cost, Features, Tech-Stack, Tips And More

Cost To Create A Social Media App: Full Guide

Still chasing the question of how to create a social media app? But before that most important to ask is whether there’s still room for new social media apps in the market. And if yes, then how much does it cost to build a social media app?

As of July 2024, 5.17 billion people worldwide are using social media apps which is approx 63.7% of the global population, spending an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes per day on social media apps.     

In fact, on average people access 40 apps in a month and we can hardly name anyone not using any social media app unless they don’t have a smartphone. 

Social media apps were launched with the simple logic to let people remain connected and ease the communication process. And social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and successfully meet the changing and growing needs of the market. 

So does the public need another social media app?

Before bearing the huge cost to create a social media app, aspiring businesses are juggling with this question…

Apparently, Threads has responded with a confident yes! The fast-growing app from Meta has earned 1 Million users in just one hour, surpassing other social media apps. 

But here you can say “Thread Case” is different as it has pulled the user base from Instagram, which gives it an additional advantage. 

However, one thing to be noticed here is, that people still look for innovative social media apps. Seeing the huge success and widespread popularity of social media platforms, you may find yourself in need of developing a social media app. 

But what if you are not sure how to create a social media app then consider this blog guide covering everything market overview, development process, features its development cost.

What’s So New In A Social Media App Industry?

Year-on-year, the adoption rate of new users on social media platforms keeps increasing without any slowing down. Now it majorly relies on the continuous growth of technologies and features integrated into the app. 

So before you hire a mobile app developer and start coding, you need to understand how big is social media industry is and how it has been evolving today!

Here’s what you need to know about the social media app industry:

• 37.6% of all internet users worldwide are using social media platforms for work purposes. 
• According to the reports, 61.4% of the world’s total population is using a social media app.
• 46% of Americans say they prefer watching user-generated content on social media than they watch movies. 
• 9 in 10 internet users now use social media each month. 
• The global average gender split of social media users is 53.6% men and 46.4% women. 
• Overall, the world spends close to 12 billion hours using social platforms each day. 

These are the key statistics that portray the market picture of the social media industry. However, what’s technically new that you need to pay attention to while planning to build a social media app?

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Here’s what’s new in the social media app industry:

• Niche communities are becoming popular. Startups are focusing on developing a social media app that focuses on specific interests and offers deeper engagement through shared passions.

• AI-driven personalizations are enhancing the user experience by offering interest-oriented content, connections, and recommendations. 

• AR integration into social media apps is making it more immersive from interactive shopping to creative photo filters.

• Short-form content just like Instagram’s Reels or YouTube’s Shorts is in constant demand. Not only impactful videos are dominating user engagement but also add to the app’s success.

These few trends are driving the future of social media apps and making them an innovative platform for generative revenues. 

How To Create A Social Media App?

Developing a social media app involves a series of well-planned steps, from ideation to launch. Hiring an Android app development company is an easy way to get started with an app. But still, you need to know what exactly goes into the process of creating a social media app.

Here’s how to bring your social media app idea to life:

Step 1: Start with Unique Conceptualization

Start by identifying the core purpose and unique value proposition of your app. Instead of just randomly getting influenced by any leading social media apps, it is worth determining what sets it apart from existing platforms.

Identify your target audience, and understand their preferences, behaviors, and pain points.

For this conduct thorough market research to pinpoint the opportunities and gaps in the existing leading social media apps.

Step 2: Prioritize the Features and Functionalities

Now next you need to define the functionality of the social media app. Outline the features you plan to integrate, depending upon the social media app type. 

Whether it’s basic social networking features or advanced functionalities like live streaming, sharing short-form content, or AI-driven personalization, the ultimate choice of the features will vary based on the app’s complexity and business goals.

However, getting started with a full-fledged social media app can be an expensive approach. Therefore, it is wise to get started with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with the basic features test the market’s response and accordingly refine your app’s functionalities based on user feedback.

Step 3: Choosing the Right Technology

Have you ever used Facebook or Instagram? Of course! What makes you keep coming back to these apps? Surely, it has seamless app performance and engaging UI/UX design.

Selecting the right technology stack is a critical aspect that drives the app’s success. You need to prioritize robust communication protocols, an efficient data management system, reliable audio/video tools, strongly backed, appealing UI/IX design, and more.

The technology stack will influence your app’s performance, scalability, and future updates, so make sure you choose the tech stacks wisely.

Step 4: Designing the UI/UX

A user-friendly, simple, and visually appealing interface can directly affect the conversion rate of your social media app. To customize beautiful social media app design, you can hire a Flutter app development company. They leverage the ready-to-use beautiful UI SDK and can focus on creating a responsive design that works seamlessly on various devices and screen sizes. 

However, to design a clean and appealing UI/UX interface, you need to prioritize simplicity and easy navigation to enhance user satisfaction and engagement.

Step 5: Develop an MVP 

Build an MVP with core functionalities needed to test your app concept in the market. An MVP allows you to gather real user feedback, refine your features, and validate your app’s potential before investing in developing a social media app with full-fledged features.

Step 6: Testing and Launching an App

Once you are done with the app coding, test your app thoroughly on multiple devices and let your tech team launch the app on the respective app stores following the guidelines. 

It’s a general process to create a social media application for iOS and Android platforms. But one thing that you need to pay attention to is to recognize the elements that make your social media app successful in the overcrowded social media market. 

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What’s So Common Between Successful Social Media Apps?

When it comes to building a social media mobile application, you need to understand that a few key traits contribute to their widespread popularity and user engagement. Let’s get started with the app that can help you integrate better functionalities to have huge app downloads. 

– Built-in Social Hypnosis

Most popular apps like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook are captivating. But what makes the users hooked and return to the app? It’s all about the engaging content which enhances the use of engagement. For example, TikTok users spend an average of 52 minutes per day on the app thanks to its addictive content feed. 

– Personalized Content

Leveraging AI and big data capabilities, most social media apps offer tailored content that resonates with users. Facebook’s algorithm, which uses over 5,000 data points per user, personalizes feeds that lead to higher engagement rates. Offering personalized content in Social media apps can boost engagement by up to 74%. 

– Infinite Scroll

The continuous content feed encourages prolonged usage. Instagram’s infinite scroll has contributed to users spending an average of 30 minutes daily on the platform. 

– Strong Community Building

Features like comments, likes, and messaging that trigger the sense of community and encourage interaction.

– Cross-Platform Accessibility

Another common thing between most successful social media apps is that they are easily accessible across various devices and operating systems. Users can engage with the platform whenever and wherever they want. It increases the user retention and engagement. 

These are the various common traits that help make them highly engaging, profitable, and enduring in a competitive market. By hiring a software development company, you can easily launch a social media app that can set a benchmark in the industry. Apart, there is a list of features that contribute to the success of social media app

Must-Have Features To Create A Social Media App 

When it comes to developing a social media app, you need to prioritize the features that fit your budget and business requirements. But if you are wondering what features you can consider for social media mobile app development, then here’s what you need to consider:

• User Profile: Allow users to create a profile and personalize the details using bio, photo, and other details to make it highly engaging and appealing. This could be important as on Instagram many professionals use it to service their professional details. 

• News Feed: Offer dynamic feet features showcasing posts, updates, and relevant content, keeping users engaged and informed. 

• Easy Content Sharing: Allow users to share any type of content with their friends through a social media app. Be it text, videos, images, or smileys, let users easily share it with their friends.

• Interactive Features: Make sure your apps have basic interactive tools such as likes, shares,s, and comments which allow users to engage with content and express their opinions. 

• Direct Messaging: Have a feature for private communication and enable users to chat one-on-one or in groups, fostering closer connections.

• Notifications: Alert users to new content, messages, and interactions, keeping them engaged and informed with the app. 

• Search Functionalities:  A robust search tool is important to include in the app which helps users find content, profiles, or videos on any specific content quickly and efficiently.

• Privacy Settings: Let users adjust the controls in an app like who can see their content, interact with them, and access their profile to ensure a secure networking experience.

Creating a social media mobile app with these basic features will cost between $15,000 to $20,000 but what if you are competing against leading social media apps like Instagram? Then in that case you need to embrace advanced features that add a competitive edge to your app. 

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Advanced Features To Build A Social Media App

If you are looking for a question about how to create a social media app like Instagram, then consider these social media apps:

AI-Powered Content Recommendations: Leverage AI Algorithms to deliver personalized content suggestions, increasing user engagement and time spent on the app. To integrate this feature into your app, you can hire a mobile app development company, who is proficient in customizing social media apps with advanced capabilities.

Live Streaming: Allow users to broadcast live videos that engage with their audience in real-time and enhance community interaction. 

Social Commerce Integration: As Instagram like social media apps is quickly turning into a potential commercial platform, therefore enabling in-app purchasing and product tagging can allow users to shop directly from the platform and allow businesses to make money directly through their profile.

Integrating Advanced Analytics: Provide users with insights into their activity, engagement, and follower growth, especially to the influencers and businesses relying on their profile interactions.

Multi-Language Support: As like Instagram, you can offer multi-language support to your content and cater to a global audience, ensuring accessibility across different regions. 

Ephemeral Content (Stories): Introduce temporary content features like stories that disappear after 24 hours which ultimately encourage users to create content more frequently.

Voice and Video Calls: Integrate voice and video calling features to ensure easy communication and offer a more immersive user experience.

Advanced Privacy Features: Implement this feature like two-factor authentication, end-to-end encryption, and customization visibility options to enhance user security. 

Gamification Elements: Incorporate gamification through badges, leaderboards, or challenges to encourage user participation and increase engagement.    

Developing a social media app using these features would require a big budget. But how much does it exactly cost you to create a social media application? Well, several factors affect the overall cost of creating a social media app. 

How Much Does It Cost To Build A Social Media App?

Are you tired of guessing the right social media app development cost? Well, no matter whether you are a leading organization or a budding enterprise, making financial preparations is one of the most important aspects that you can’t compromise or take casually.

So how much does it cost to create a social media app?

To determine the cost of creating an app, you need to evaluate the complexity of the app by determining the types of features and functionalities you will decide to include in the app.

Secondly, you need to add the total backend development time and multiply the final figure with your app development team’s hourly cost. 

Apart, UI/UX designing, app testing, platform choice, post-app maintenance support, and more will add up to the cost.

So concluding all the factors, the overall cost to create a social media app can range between $40,000 to $50,000+, depending the your business requirements.

Moreover, the prices can easily go up and down depending upon the location you choose to hire an app developer in the USA. Locations like Chicago, New York, California, Los Angeles, and Dallas are the hot spots in the USA to hire iOS app developers in the USA. Decide wisely and perfectly connect with the tech experts that best fit your requirements. 

Read More: 115+ Top Mobile App Ideas in 2025 For Startups, Entrepreneurs etc.

How To Make Money From The Social Media Application? 

There are multiple ways you can monetize your social media mobile app. But only a few would work best for your business app especially when you are at a growing stage. 

Here we are sharing a few top choices of monetization strategies that leading social media applications like Instagram, Facebook or TikTok are adopting to make money…

• Subscription Plans: Now this is one of the most common ways of making money from your social media app. By charging monthly/quarterly or yearly subscription fees, you can provide your users access to premium features. But for this, make sure you hire a software developer that enables you to integrate such innovative features in the app.

• Sponsored Content: By allowing commercial profiles to run advertisements on the app, you can charge a good amount of money in return. It is usually sponsored for a certain period or with limited clicks. 

Apart there are some ways to generate revenue through a social media mobile app. But you need to understand what strategies best suit your app type. 

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How To Acquire Users For Your Social Media App?

Ok, so now you have brilliantly developed a social media app that you have envisioned to offer to your users. But what’s next?

How will you acquire the users of your app? Now, it is the real challenge that you need to deal with smartly!

Here are some of the top strategies to drive users to your app:

• Use Smart Banners on Website: To get visitors to your app, you can add smart banners to your website that seamlessly direct visitors to the app store page and encourage them to install your app with just a single click.

• Content Promotion: Develop engaging content like blog posts, infographics, or videos that resonate with your target audience. In addition, also add compelling CTAs that direct readers to join your app and make it an integral part of your content promotion strategy.

• Connect With Influencers: In today’s social media era, no marketing can do better than getting your products and services promoted by leading influencers. They will help you promote your app to their followers and leverage their influencing skills to drive downloads to your app.

• Create Referral Codes: Encourage your active user base to spread the word by offering referral codes. Use in-app messaging to prompt them to invite friends, rewarding both the referrer and the new user for joining. 

How Can Xicom Help You Create A Social Media App?

At Xicom, we hold the expertise in building social media apps that can be proven and demonstrated with our various industry-oriented projects. Our custom industry-specific apps are developed with an approach that helps you enhance user engagement and management. So exactly how we can help you create a social networking app?

We begin any project with an in-depth research and discovery phase to identify the market scope of the app idea. Then our team of UI/UX designers wireframe and prototype the app design paying attention to interactive elements of the social media app. We put our best into creating a visually striking and intuitive UX for enhanced navigation.

Next, we prioritize the features based on your business requirements, budget, and development timeline. Also, our team will suggest to you what innovative features you can integrate into the app to make it stand apart in the industry.

Before we rush to launch the app, our quality assurance engineers conduct QA and testing to ensure a bug-free application.

Apart if you are still hesitating to hire an Android app developer from Xicom, then you need to know these key highlights:

• We assure 90% on-time project delivery
• Set the track record of 4500+ projects to 1500+ clients
• Offering services to global clients in around 109+ countries
• We provide 100% bug-free apps with in-depth testing
• Ensuring end-to-end app development services with 24/7 support

Conclusion

Hopefully, with this blog, you must have gotten the idea that embarking on the journey to create a social media app is never been an easy task. With so many leading apps like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok already dominating the industry, developing a social media app requires huge planning, strategies, and innovations in the app development process.

To create a social media app, you need to hire a top mobile app development company like Xicom that provides expertise across all the major mobile platforms including Android and iOS. Being your trusted tech partner, we can help you transform your visionary ideas into revolutionary realities. 

Apart, we offer special IT consulting services for social media app development that help you analyze the budget, features requirement, and timeline of your project.

For more details, you can drop details below or directly contact us!

FAQs

If you still have doubts about developing a social media app, then you can consider this frequently asked question and answer section to clear your potential doubts.