Facebook is unquestionably the king of social media, with close to 3 billion monthly active users. So it‘s no wonder many entrepreneurs and startups aspire to create a platform similar to Facebook.
But is it actually possible to make a website like Facebook? Can you build your own social community from scratch without advanced coding skills?
The answer is yes! While you may not reach Facebook-scale overnight (or ever), by leveraging tools like WordPress and proven growth strategies, you can launch and grow your own successful social media platform or community.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll give you a step-by-step blueprint, including:
- Choosing a web host and domain
- Installing and customizing WordPress
- Adding plugins to enable social features
- Growing and managing your budding online community
- Monetizing the platform through advertising
So let‘s dive in to the step-by-step process!
Step 1: Choose Web Hosting for Your Facebook Clone
The first step to create any website, including a Facebook clone, is finding the right web hosting provider.
For a social platform, I recommend choosing a managed WordPress host that specializes in handling high traffic websites. SiteGround is a top option that checks these boxes.
Here are a few reasons why SiteGround is a great fit:
- Optimized for speed with custom caching for WordPress
- Daily backups and one-click restores ensure reliability
- Free site migration if you already have a site hosted elsewhere
- 24/7 customer support in case any issues come up
They offer competitive pricing too, with their GrowBig shared hosting plan a nice middle-ground for most startups.
Learn more about SiteGround‘s hosting plans here.
Once you’ve selected a hosting provider, purchase a plan and have your account created. Then you‘ll receive credentials to access your newly hosted space.
Step 2: Pick the Right Domain Name
Every successful site starts with a great domain name—and your Facebook clone is no exception!
Ideally, you‘ll want to choose a .com domain name that:
- Clearly communicates your niche or target community
- Is short, brandable, and easy to remember
- Has keywords related to relationships, networking, community, etc.
For example, if you envision building a career-oriented platform you could choose:
- networkr.com
- linkedcareers.com
Check domain name availability by searching on Namecheap, GoDaddy, or a similar registrar.
Once you‘ve found an available domain you like, purchase and register it for 1 year initially. You can renew for longer terms down the road.
Step 3 – Install and Configure WordPress
Now it‘s time to setup the foundation of your Facebook clone—the content management system that will power it.
For this, we‘ll use self-hosted WordPress. With its plugins and customization options, WordPress can definitely provide Facebook-like features and functionalities out of the box.
Once you complete sign up with your web host from Step 1, you should see options to install WordPress with just a few clicks. The process looks like:
- Select the option to start a new website or install WordPress
- Agree to any terms of service
- Enter your purchased domain name
- Create an admin user name and password
- Wait a few minutes for the automated WordPress installation
That‘s it!
WordPress will handle configuring all the technical details behind the scenes. All you have to do it log in.
In your web host‘s admin panel, you may also see options to install additional performance plugins, content delivery networks, or staging environments. Enable these if you want maximum speed and reliability later on.
Overall this process should take less than 10 minutes start to finish.
Step 4 – Choose and Customize a Suitable WordPress Theme
Next, let‘s make your WordPress install look like Facebook with a tailored social media theme.
WordPress themes control the design, layout, and frontend functionality visitors to your site will see. There are thousands of free and paid themes to choose from.
I recommend a paid theme for a Facebook clone to get premium support and social-focused features. Two great options are:
-
PeepSo – A top WordPress social network plugin with members, groups, and activity feeds.
-
Gecko – A customizable Facebook-style theme made for building social networks.
Either of these themes will allow you to create groups, forums, member feeds, and more out of the box.
Once installed, spend some time getting familiar with customizing site-wide elements in your theme. For most themes you can do this via Appearance > Customize in your WordPress dashboard or using live theme editors.
Plan to:
- Upload a logo & brand all colors/fonts
- Set a homepage layout showcasing new posts
- Enable dark mode for extra polish
- Add any additional widgets like search bars
Properly configuring your theme is key—this controls how your version of “Facebook” actually looks and functions. So take the time to tailor it to your brand.
Step 5 – Integrate Social Plugins to Add Features
At this point, WordPress is installed, and you have the foundation of a great-looking Facebook clone. Now the goal is transforming your basic website into a feature-rich social platform.
We can expand functionality through WordPress plugins. Think of plugins like apps that provide targeted features.
Here are some must-have plugins I recommend installing:
For Social Activity Feeds:
- BuddyPress – Build online communities with groups, activity streams, and private messaging. Complements themes like Gecko nicely.
- Hummingbird – Speed up page load times by minifying CSS, JS, and optimizing images. Critical with heavy social usage.
For Managing Members and Growth:
- Social Share Buttons – Add share icons so visitors can spread the word about your community. This helps growth efforts later on.
- Google Analytics – Connect Google Analytics to track visits, referrers, bounce rates, etc. so you have data to optimize growth and engagement.
For Site Security:
- Wordfence Security – Security plugin for firewall protection, malware scans, blocking threats, and beyond. Guards against hackers or spam.
Install plugins by searching directly in your WordPress dashboard under Plugins > Add New. Or manually upload plugin .ZIP files after purchase.
Activate each one after installing and configure as needed by visiting the plugin’s dashboard page.
I suggest tackling plugins in small batches instead of enabling them all immediately. This ensures nothing conflicts or breaks your site while testing.
Step 6 – Develop a Strategy to Grow Your Community
So now you should have a good-looking, feature-rich platform modeled after Facebook for members to connect and interact…
But with zero current members, your social site doesn’t have a community yet!
Let’s talk tips to actually attract users, spark conversations, and grow your own organic follower base from scratch:
Kick Things Off Strong With a Private Beta Launch
Start by granting access to a private list of beta testers first—friends, family, influencers in your niche—and perfect the user experience based on their feedback. You want to identify issues before any public launch.
Message your beta users announcing early access to your new platform and instructions to signup. Make it feel exclusive to incentivize engagement even with minimal content.
Create Share-Worthy Content to Attract Visitors
Assuming all looks good from private testing, it’s time to spread the word! You obviously won’t have thousands of members generating content yet, so the initial goal here is attracting visitors.
Use your own posts across blog content, forums, groups, etc to provide value and hook visitor interest. Identify topics that tie to your niche that people would want to discuss and connect over.
For example, if you started a social platform for designers, create posts detailing your creative process or highlighting new tools. The goal is engaging design fans first.
Make it easy for these initial visitors to explore more by suggesting additional topics or introducing features like groups or member feeds.
Leverage Social Channels to Promote New Signups
As visitors start trickling in organically, double down promoting your new platform across social media to maximize signups.
Share quick hits about features or active discussions across channels like:
- Facebook Groups
- Subreddits
- LinkedIn with niche hashtags
- Pinterest boards
- Tweet @ influential people in your industry
- Instagram stories
Track what posts or messages convert visitors best. Replicate your successful promotion content and experiment with paid ads if your budget allows.
Spotlight Active Members to Maintain Positivity
As members do begin signing up, you want engagement and positivity to snowball from there.
Jump in group conversations thanking users for getting involved. Upvote and react to member posts so they feel heard.
Consider weekly community digests via email or on-site highlighting different members. This helps newbies connect real people to your community.
Rinse and repeat posting share-worthy content, promoting across social channels, and spotlighting your new champions! Building an active community from scratch takes patience, but doing these things consistently lays that foundation.
Step 7 – Start Monetizing Your Platform Through Ads
Once you’ve hit critical mass with daily active members contributing content, it’s time to start monetizing!
The most logical initial model is inserting advertisements. Serving paid ads allows you to generate revenue from all that community engagement without changing what members are used to on networks like Facebook.
I recommend signing up for an ad network like Ezoic that uses machine learning to optimize ad placement based on engagement data.
With Ezoic, you simply add a few lines of code to pages and their technology handles finding each visitor the best ads in real-time. Their average publishers double ad revenue vs. competitors.
Beyond automated ad placement, a few additional tips to monetize like Facebook:
- Offer promoted posts – Allow advertisers to pay to bump posts higher up in feeds or groups for more brand visibility. Great upsell option.
- Create a marketplace – Let members buy or sell products directly through your community for a small transactional fee.
- Gate premium features – Offer special perks like profile badges or increased analytics to power users that pay a subscription fee.
As long as the experience aligns to member expectations coming from larger public networks, most won’t mind the monetization as your platform continues growing.
Recap and Next Steps
And there you have it – a complete walkthrough to make your own website like Facebook on WordPress, fuel growth through great content and promotion, plus monetize the finished product!
Here’s a quick recap of the key steps we covered in this guide:
- Choose web hosting (get high performance with SiteGround)
- Pick the right branded domain name
- Install and configure WordPress as your CMS
- Select a tailored social media theme
- Expand features through plugins
- Launch privately first then promote publicly across social channels
- Spotlight members and partnerships to maintain growth
- Insert ads or offer premium upgrades to monetize
The hardest part is waiting patiently as you build up initial members and momentum. But stick with the strategies outlined here, continue providing tons of value to your niche, and your own thriving "Facebook clone" isn’t far off.
Once established, there are plenty of opportunities to then scale up from an advertising model with coaching products or virtual events as just a couple examples. But I‘ll save those more advanced concepts for future guides.
For now, start small thinking quality over quantity, promote without spamming, and most importantly – have fun building a community!
I hope this step-by-step WordPress installation and launch process helps you successfully create the next big social platform. Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments below!
