While the opportunities for success are great, the challenges presented by user engagement are equally formidable. A variety of social media websites are unable to sustain any significant level of user engagement for longer than one year because they fail to take into consideration some key factors that are critical for user success.
If you find yourself developing a new social network platform, and you can identify and develop a good concept or idea, then you are at the first step to success; however, it is most important that you avoid the common pitfalls that many others before you have made.
By taking note of potential mistakes made by others, you will offer your new platform a better chance of success over the long term.
List of 5 mistakes when you are launching a new Social Networking Site
Mistake 1: Not Knowing Your Niche
One of the biggest blunders new social networking sites might make is trying to be “everything for everybody.” It’s almost impossible to compete against giants like Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, unless you are really different. If your social networking site doesn’t have a specific niche or purpose, your users will most likely wonder why they would want to join or be engaged.
Instead of trying to be “everything for everybody,” start with the needs of a particular market or community. Think about LinkedIn for professionals, Goodreads for readers/book lovers, and Behance for creatives showcasing their portfolio. When the audience is defined, your social networking site can provide the features and experiences that a larger social network can’t incorporate.
Another benefit of selecting a niche is the ease with which you can market your platform. You will have a better understanding of who your audience is, where you can find them, and how to reach them. In effort, be clear and focused, rather than being everything to everybody.
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Mistake 2: Bad User Experience and Design
Even if you have a great idea, a confusing or unattractive design will drive people away from your platform before they give it a fair chance. Users expect online destinations: a clean layout, fast load speed, and they want to be able to navigate throughout the site without any confusion. If a site feels overwhelming, has an uninviting design, or is too confusing, users will simply move on to the next social media destination.
User experience (UX) doesn’t just mean appearance; it includes how easily someone can create a new account, like and update, join a group, and interact with others on the platform. Considering that most users are likely to access your new site from their phone, mobile responsiveness is essential. Likewise, if you include some accessibility components, that may broaden your audience.
The takeaway? Make your social media site simple, intuitive, and user-centered. If your platform is user-friendly and comfortable to use, then it is more likely to have users who will engage with your site over and over again.
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Mistake 3: Weak Community Moderation
Nothing can kill a new social networking site quicker than spam, fake profiles, and toxic behavior. If users do not feel safe and respected, they will stop using your social platform, and certainly won’t bring others with them.
Moderation as a community manager is more than just removing unwanted, offensive content – it also builds trust. Providing clear rules, active moderation, easier processes, and a sense of ease about having a healthy and fun conversation helps everyone involved. Automated filters can filter out spam, but a human moderator will always be important when the situations become complicated.
To put it this way, people join social media platforms to connect, share, and feel like they belong to a community. If a group or community isn’t moderated properly, it quickly turns into chaos. Providing strong safety measures is essential to give users confidence that your platform truly cares about their experience.
Mistake 4: Neglecting Revenue Opportunities
It is common for the development of a new social media platform to be prioritized and for the actual social media platform to be overlooked. It is even more common for social media to overlook the revenue opportunities available to it.
A brand new social media platform will find it difficult to attract an audience of meaningful size if it solely relies on advertisements. Even if it begins to gain traction, a brand-new social media platform will find it hard to sustain itself if it doesn’t have a proper revenue stream.
Consider revenue streams for your platform well in advance of the launch. These could be subscription plans, paid features (like better profile designs or analytics), merchant partnerships, or a commission structure from a marketplace. The one constant across all options is that user experience must come first; too many ads or paywalls will frustrate users.
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Mistake 5: Anemic Marketing and Launch Plan
One huge misconception is that if you build it, people will come if you build a good social networking site. Even the best site will have a hard time growing when there is little investment in marketing and launch strategy – just going live is not enough.
Creating excitement before launch through teasers and social media, or getting influencers in your niche involved, is a good way to go about it. This is a good opportunity to build a waitlist or early beta community to allow testing of features and gathering of feedback. After launch, continuous marketing combined with interesting content and organic growth is what keeps users coming in and continually gets users to stay.
Discover how to grow beyond Facebook groups in: Why a Community Website Beats Facebook Group for Growth & Control.
Conclusion
The challenges startups face when initiating a social media platform are multiplied when it comes to avoiding mistakes. One cannot simply ignore choosing a niche in which to operate, crafting a user interface, ensuring moderation, creating a revenue model, and provisioning for marketing. These are essential to ensure the core structure of the platform is stronger.
Even with the competition social media faces, there is always an opening for a platform willing to serve the community’s needs. In doing so, and in building and maintaining platform trust, social media startups broaden their chances of success.
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