How to Create an App like Instagram – Step by Step Guide

How to create an app like Instagram? Well, that’s one questions that lots of people asked us every day. Understandably, the massive popularity and billions of users using Instagram daily make it an attractive avenue for young entrepreneurs to venture into. However, before we look into details of how to build an app like Instagram, let’s briefly catch up with the history of photography and how it has become modern-day cult

Photography From Royalty to Everyday Cult!

Photography has come a long way in the past few centuries. From being a luxury only royals could afford, today photography has become one of the most important parts of our lives, which dictates how we interact and communicate with other humans. In fact, today a pet cat is photographed more often than kings and queen a few centuries back.

Today, the photographic culture (or better to call it a cult) has become an important part of our daily lives. Today, access to the highest quality cameras right in our palm (cellphones) enables us to capture each and every moment of our lives. The number of photographs clicked through mobile phones reached over 2 billion in 2016 and that number is only growing ever since.

In fact, smartphones have played the biggest part in making our lives centered on photographs. Apart from offering brilliant cameras, smartphone apps like Instagram have simply converted photography into an everyday cult, a cult no one is immune against.

The history of Instagram!

Instagram made its debut back in 2010 when Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom decided to leverage smartphone cameras to build an app centered on images. The resulting app “Instagram” proved to be a huge success among users of all mobile platforms (iOS, Android) as the app continued to gather millions of new users.

Today, Instagram is an undisputed leader in terms of image sharing apps across the globe. This is well reflected by the fact that over 80million images are shared on the platform every day, while 3.5 billion images are liked every day; giving a very clear picture of the Instagram following. In fact, today Instagram isn’t only about users sharing their life moments or photography expertise, in fact, the platform attracts millions of businesses that use the platform to reach massive users across the world.

How to create an app like Instagram?

With such a massive market waiting to be tapped into, understandably there are hundreds of young entrepreneurs looking for ways to create an app like Instagram. Now, if you are among one of the hundreds of entrepreneurs looking to venture into an app like Instagram, there are few factors that should be kept in mind including; unique features that can help it stand out on its own and not seems like an “Instagram Clone”. You need to focus on the individuality and uniqueness of the app and watch-out for opportunities to seize in various niches.

A step wise approach to create an app like Instagram successfully!

Now, before we look into a step wise approach to create a mobile app like Instagram, just remember that you need a strategic planning and well-defined approach to build a successful app.

Below we list some strategic steps to follow when looking to develop an app like Instagram:

• Carry out detailed market research – make sure you know your market and target audience well, this will help you seize new opportunities as well as identify current gaps in the market
• Critically evaluate existing apps – Instagram is certainly the market leader in every respect, however, various other photo-sharing apps are trying to make their way in different markets and niches.
• List down the key metrics including goals to achieve, budget available for development and marketing, deadlines and technologies to be utilized
• Finalize a unique concept of your image sharing app
• Create a strong early-stage marketing and PR strategy for the app – remember as a startup you can’t just put everything at stake, rather follow a strategic and calculated strategy
• Follow an agile model, ready to evolve and change as per the market needs – keep close track of competitors and users’ preferences

The Financial aspects of developing an app like Instagram:

Now, creating an app like Instagram is certainly an expensive venture and you would need to secure large investment beforehand to get through the custom mobile app development and marketing phase successfully With such a large investment, you certainly would like to have an understanding of the monetizing model of Instagram, so as to calculate the payback time.

As for Instagram, the leading image-sharing app have multiple monetizing channels including in-app advertising, online shopping platform as well as sponsorships. So, if you are looking to create an app like Instagram, here are some most assured ways to monetize your app:

• Advertisement and Sponsorship: Millions of businesses are looking for popular image-sharing platforms to advertise their offerings and gain global users’ reach
• In-app purchases: Once you have sufficient following of your app, you can put various in-app purchases on offerings including filters, effects, taking a commission out of online businesses, etc.)
• Special deals: you can offer different special deals to active users as a way to monetize

Final Thought:

Image sharing mobile-apps are in high demand not just by users by businesses who are looking for popular and interactive platforms to market their products/services. However, just like with all other entrepreneurial ventures, make sure you have done extensive market research as well as analysis of competitors’ business model to be able to identify gaps and seize on to opportunities where others are lacking.