What are strategies to get new users to invite/refer their friends to join a new social network?

Well, first I have very basic information about this social network. What is it about? The key thing I would recommend is finding your Unique Value Proposition and what do you have to offer your users that they can't get from any other app.

Gamification is a good way to motivate users to share and for other things, like: to earn badges, prizes and so on. Also, having a good valuable social network makes it easier for your users to want to invite their friends to participate.

How do you plan to monetize the social network?

If you have something people have to pay for, trade it for referrals.

If you don't, consider trading "X days ad-free" in exchange for referrals.

If you don't have a revenue stream from users or ads, focus on delighting people and offering an easy way to share after they've just gone through an experience that will make them think, "Holy shit that was awesome."

Good luck!

What dropbox did was in Game Design terms, use the recruitment mechanic. It tells players to gather a team in order to accomplish a goal. "Get together your A-team" as the saying goes. Dropbox also understood, or created the perception, that data stored in the cloud was worth more than on the single device. By giving that currency as an incentive for recruitment, they were able to tap into a reward mechanic of greed.

For social media sites, there are different issues. The early days of Orkut [Google's first attempt at social media sites] became extremely popular in Brazil. Mainly because orkut had a leader board based on the number of members per country. The Brazilians saw that they could overtake America and other countries and it became a viral Epic Challenge for the Brazilians. That's not to say I'm a fan of leader boards, but they tapped into the Glory reward mechanic there.

Facebook tapped into the "God reward" which is all about Access. It was a closed system, only available to certain schools and colleges in the beginning. This meant that you had to be special to be on it. Not like today where everyone including your grandmother is on it.

Look at what your social media app has as far as a USP, and grant more of that for signup. Or allow access only by a certain groups at first. The reward needs to fit your app however, but be strong invite to invite.

I recently gave a talk to National Geographic about how they could increase subscribers by using this mechanic. The main idea of the campaign, "Who would you take on a National Geographic adventure? Fill the seats on the plane, and you could both win the trip." Take the usp and grant access to the experience once more than one friend has unlocked it.

I hope this gets your ideas turning.

Acquiring mobile users is increasingly becoming a challenge for businesses. And that does not just include increasing marketing budgets. What users need is a guarantee from someone like them, and that’s where referral marketing comes in. In simpler words, referral marketing is a tactic that must be leveraged from even in the mobile app environment – especially when there are hundreds of apps getting introduced to the stores every other day. While many businesses have an in-app referral campaign running, there are very few that come close to being as successful as Dropbox, Uber, or Airbnb. But in this article, we will look at the most effective measures to take to make the most out of the app referral program. The only way to get your referral program discovered by app users is to proactively share it across various platforms.
If you are too pushy at this instance, you risk even losing the user for being too intrusive or sale-sy. While asking is always an important aspect of referral marketing, it is important that apps focus on engaging the users first. Focus on using in-app elements that will not just help the user understand what your app has to offer, but also keeps him engaged for longer and nudges him to come back to it often. Here is the thing about your app’s users – they may or may not even discover the feature of inviting their friends. When you engage a user actively with your app, it becomes obvious for him to explore all the features of it – even those that you have tucked away under your ‘pro plan’. That is when you should incentivise the purchase – make it free for the user, but after he completes an action you desire. In this case, sending referrals to his circle. The only way to get your referral program discovered by app users is to proactively share it across various platforms.
A push notification every time a friend of theirs accepts the invite and joins the app. Get Social allows you to engage your app users in real-time conversations via chat features and to manage your community efficiently via an intuitive dashboard. It also enables you to incorporate activity feeds and social notifications to keep your community lively, motivated, and participating in the app referral program.
While referral marketing is one of the most effective ways for an app to grow, it is important to implement some post referral strategies to hook your new users straight after the app install. The sooner and longer you can maintain the WOW factor, the greater are your in-app conversions from referral campaigns.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath