How to create a social network app like LinkedIn

Create a social network app

Becoming increasingly popular in the last few years, professional networking apps have dramatically transformed the way professionals of most industries connect and network. The rise of digitalization and globalization has broadened networking possibilities across borders, and the widespread use of smartphones has made networking easier and more accessible. These platforms play a crucial role in career development by enabling connections and providing mentoring resources and job opportunities. Plus, the shift towards remote work has only increased the need for digital networking mobile and web apps.

So, if you’ve been thinking of creating your own social community platform catered to professionals, you are probably onto something.

What is your niche?

Like with any other business, before getting into the nitty-gritty of developing a social community platform, you need to know who you are talking to, whose issues you are solving and what those issues are. In other words, you need to have a defined target audience and value proposition.

Do you have a niche? Are you tending to young entrepreneurs, promoting any professional networking like LinkedIn, or focusing on female professionals within the finance industry as FemaleXFinance does? This is, of course, completely up to you, but, you’ve got to decide.

Once you have landed on a niche, a target audience and a value proposition, you can decide on a business model. LinkedIn, for instance, uses a mixed model with freemium and premium subscriptions for job seekers as well as paid solutions for recruiters and marketers

Define the core features

There are a few important features that a successful social community platform should have. Let’s have a look:

• User registration and profiles: Allow users to create detailed profiles showcasing their professional experiences, skills and achievements.

• Networking capabilities: Let users connect, follow and interact with each other to build their professional network. This can include the possibility of private communication between users.

• Groups and communities: Facilitate the creation of groups based on niche interests and professional networking.

• Content sharing: Let users share posts, articles and media on the platform.

• Job board: Include job posting and application features.

You can create a minimum scalable product (MSP) with essential features to test with users and gather feedback.

Focus on user experience and interface design

A user-friendly design is crucial. Because no matter how useful your platform’s functionalities are if using them is a headache, then your app is likely to be unsuccessful.

So, make sure that your app ticks all the boxes in terms of UX/UI design. It should offer an intuitive navigation that allows users to easily find features and navigate the platform. The design should be responsive, meaning that your platform is accessible on all devices. Finally, it should provide users with personalized experiences based on interests and activities, which can be done by implementing robust search and recommendation algorithms.

Example from FemaleXFinance:

This is what we implemented when working on FemaleXFinance. We created a custom CMS and personalized dashboards to ensure users received relevant content and a seamless experience. The onboarding process was tailored to guide members through categorizing their interests and customizing their journey.

Implement the right security and privacy measures

Because your app will be dealing with a lot of sensitive information, protecting user data is paramount. To make sure everything is safe and secure, use encryption protocols, implement robust authentication systems that include multi-factor authentication, and last but not least, ensure compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR.

Integration and automation

Integrating tools for automation enhances functionality, which is, of course, desirable here. You can use APIs to connect with third-party services like CRM and marketing tools. We did exactly that with FemaleXFinance, as we integrated HubSpot within their platform to automate user management and marketing. As for automation, you can incorporate tools for user management, content recommendations and notifications.

Plan for scalability

As we’ve seen with LinkedIn, social networking platforms can become very big. Planning for scalability to handle a growing user base and increasing data volumes is therefore recommended.

For your platform to handle growth efficiently, we advise developing a scalable and modular system to accommodate increasing users and features; implementing load balancing to manage traffic spikes; and optimizing databases and server responses for fast load times.

Continuous improvement

Once your web and mobile applications are up and ready, it is essential to keep on updating and improving them so they stay relevant. You can do so by collecting and analyzing user feedback, conducting A/B testing for new features and interface changes, and using analytics to track usage patterns and identify areas for enhancement. All of this will help guide improvements.

Ready to build your social community platform?

Building a social media platform like LinkedIn is a complex undertaking that requires significant time, resources and expertise. It requires a well-thought-out strategy encompassing design, scalability, security and continuous improvement.

However, by focusing on creating value for your target audience and iterating based on user feedback, you can develop a successful professional networking platform. Also, our experience with FemaleXFinance highlights the importance of customization, integration and user-centric design in creating a successful platform.

While this is certainly challenging to undertake alone, with the help of experts, it is absolutely feasible. Our team of experts here at Miyagami would be thrilled to help you build your brand new social community platform. So, do not hesitate to get in touch!