Anonymous social media networks often struggle to maintain growth. The product architecture must encourage creation and engagement. Yik Yak is one of the fastest growing anonymous networks and still has much room to evolve as a product. Here are some growth ideas for Yik Yak based on a combination of anonymous network product features and research on social networks.

1. Yik Yak Growth Strategy
VICTORIA YOUNG

2. Networks thrive off connection.
And connection occurs when people
discover a similarity.
@victoriahyoung

3. Research has
shown similarity
is the foundation
of relationships.
@victoriahyoung

4. Similarity means connecting with others
over what makes you who you are:
- your interests (“you like making pancakes? me too!”)
- your background (“you’re from LA? me too!”)
- your pet peeves (“i can’t stand cold coffee either!”)
- your sentiment (“taylor swift music video is fierce, right?”)
- your thoughts (“what if cheerios are just donut seeds?”)
@victoriahyoung

5. Yik Yak helps create a community that shares
similarity through physical proximity + anonymity.
Anonymity works when local
networks have strong
existing relationships - like
colleges - because there is a
given amount of similarity.
@victoriahyoung

6. Anonymous networks can make it harder
for people to connect.
Anonymity notoriously reinforces the online disinhibition effect,
where the divide of a screen reduces a sense of personal
accountability online.
The dual nature of anonymity presents serious challenges in the
design of new platforms with a mission to meet a human need for
private social connection.
@victoriahyoung

7. Because of this, anonymous networks struggle to
maintain growth.
@victoriahyoung

8. So what are some ways can Yik Yak
continue to engage its user base?
@victoriahyoung

9. Design to promote the connection users
are looking for in anonymous
communities.
To connect, users need great content.
@victoriahyoung

10. Anonymity fulfills the human need for
sharing without social consequences.
Sharing can be categorized
as four types of information:
sentiment, thoughts,
interests, and facts.
Posted content tends to be
more temporary or
permanent, specific or
general.
@victoriahyoung

11. The product architecture must
encourage creation and
engagement:
1) With content
2) Within the community
@victoriahyoung

12. Product Features That Promote Engagement
@victoriahyoung
Especially in anonymous communities, habit-inducing product features are crucial for
momentum. Habits are formed if products fulfill all four psychological needs: trigger, action,
reward, investment.

13. Product features must encourage the
creation of great content by making it:
● simple to create (frictionless)
● delightful to create (rewarding)
● interesting to create (variable)
@victoriahyoung

14. Research has shown that to balance variety with
consistency, a sweet spot exists between isolation
and an echo chamber.
sweet
*Research from Social Physics by Alex Pentland
@victoriahyoung

15. Current content on Yik Yak is following a feedback
loop based on existing social context and revolves
around the same topics.
@victoriahyoung

16. Diversity increases the rate of idea flow.
To avoid getting trapped in
an echo chamber of content,
Yik Yak must encourage a
diversity of content.
More content, more
opportunities for people to
discover similarities.
More similarities, more
engagement.
@victoriahyoung

17. To grow, Yik Yak has to design an
ecosystem that promotes diverse content.
Real-time, temporary content
is crucial, but Yik Yak also has
an opportunity to become a
forum for discussion across
a variety of more permanent
topics.
@victoriahyoung

18. Fuel Discovery With Content Categories
Since content diversity is important in
generating new ideas and higher-quality content,
introducing new categories that leverage Yik Yak’
s strength can fuel user growth:
● Location: Leverage local news and polls to help locals
connect over regional information.
● Featured: Continue to experiment with featured
topics and categories by analyzing data on which
topics generate most engagement within Yik Yak and
other content leaders (i.e. Buzzfeed).
● Interests: Allow people to connect over key interests
locally, structured like Peeks so that only locals can
engage in a conversation but others can view.
Trending Locally
Bomb Threat In Downtown LA
LA City Council Increase Min. Wage
POLL: Ocean, pool, or water park?
Featured
POLL: Is Tom Brady guilty?
Conversation Corner
Sports
Entertainment
@victoriahyoung

19. Launch Yik Yak At Events
Events are central to Yik Yak’s competitive
advantage with location-driven content.
Drive user adoption at events:
● Increase Awareness: Before an event, establish
partnerships so that Yik Yak is a promoted
partner amongst event attendees via e-mail and
other social media channels (i.e. Shazaam
during Billboard Music Awards). This increases
the likelihood that Yik Yak will be installed on
phones and used day of the event.
● Leverage Top Yakkers: Ensure quality content
by partnering with top Yakkers to seed content
for each event.
Billboard Music Awards
NBA Finals
Global Environment Summit
TechCrunch Disrupt
Wall Street Convention
@victoriahyoung

20. Make It Easy To Share Yik Yak
Current sharing of Yaks does not include a link
back to the mobile app or to download it. Close
the viral loop by ensuring all shares have a link:
● Teaser Yaks: Instead of posting the full Yak, consider
doing a teaser Yak so that users have to click through
the link back into Yik Yak app or download the app in
order to see the full Yak
● Pre-Populated Text: Help users share Yik Yak by
having text such as “Best Yak I’ve seen on Yik Yak all
day + URL” so shares to other social media sites are
more engaging.
@victoriahyoung

21. To grow user engagement, Yik Yak has to
increase rewards and investments.
More so than identity-based
communities where prestige, followers,
and friends automatically create a sense
of investment, anonymous communities
must include variable rewards and
investment within the product
architecture.
*Image from Hooked by Nir Eyal @victoriahyoung

22. Let Yaks Be Loved
Increasing investment and switching costs can
boost user engagement and retention. By
allowing Yakkers to save their favorite Yaks, Yik
Yak taps into these psychological triggers:
● Favorite: Let users save and revisit their favorite Yaks
by adding a heart icon.
● Search: Create section in “Me” of Yik Yak to allow for
searching of favorite Yaks based on keywords or time.
● Spontaneous Yak: Similar to Facebook’s “This Time
Last Year” feature, generate Yaks that have previously
been liked on the same day of a week, etc.
@victoriahyoung

23. Make Yak Karma More Rewarding
Variable rewards are habit-inducing. Create
surprises to reward the most engaged Yaks:
● Virtual Gifts: Surprise top Yakkers with stickers
or other digital gifts that spark delight. Personal
badges that don’t affect ranking of posts but
give users a sense of pride leverage game
mechanics to help keep top users engaged.
● Premium Features: Allow top Yakkers to get
access to premium features (i.e. how reddit gold
is structured), such as custom Yak themes or
turning off ads.
@victoriahyoung

24. Yik Yak Growth Cycle
Diversity of Content
Opportunities for
Connection
More Inspiration
Encourage creation of diverse
content through product
features that help users create
by introducing new topics and
driving in new users from other
social channels.
Make it easier for users to
connect over similarities in new
product features such as
chatting and liking posts. The
more interaction, the stronger
the network effects and
rewards of participation.
Avoid an echo chamber and
introduce variability by
encouraging users to model
new, unique posts that others
create. Lay the foundation for
the right social cues. Help users
inspire each other.
@victoriahyoung

25. Yik Yak Monetization
@victoriahyoung

26. Yik Yak’s Yakkers: A Coveted College Market
Primary Customer: Students
Total Number of Colleges In USA: 4,140
Total Number of Enrolled Students: 17.5 M*
Top Motivations: Community, Connection,
Humor, Opportunity, Recognition
“Marketers are competing for an estimated
$545B in total student spending, with
$163B as discretionary student spending.”
@victoriahyoung

27. Marketers’ Concerns: Context & Relevance
“The important thing is to credibly integrate your brand into the
college experience and not just get it onto campus, because most
purchases are not happening within the campus boundaries. It’s more
about these companies developing effective marketing campaigns on
the devices that these students are using more often – such as mobile.”
- Clark Frederickson, VP of eMarketer
@victoriahyoung

28. Yik Yak: Unique Market Opportunity
With strong growth in college
communities, Yik Yak is uniquely
positioned to be one of the most targeted
social media platforms in the market.
Advertisers love targeting!
Platform
MAU
(U.S.)
2014
Annual
Revenue
ARPU
Yrs
Since
Founded
Facebook 1.39B $12.47B $9 10
Twitter 288M $1.4B $5 8
Tumblr 230M $100M $.48 7
@victoriahyoung

29. Paths to Monetization
Advertising Data Virtual Goods
Sponsored
Content
(i.e. co-creation in
Buzzfeed)
Behavioral (click-
thrus, shares,
upvotes,
downvotes, etc.)
In-app purchases
(stickers, flair,
games)
Promoted Content
(i.e. Promoted
Tweets)
Content -
sentiment
analysis, trends
3rd party
marketplace
purchases (i.e.
Facebook gifts,
“Buy” button)
Contextual Mobile
Advertising
Demographic,
location, etc.
@victoriahyoung

30. Growth of Contextual Mobile Advertising
Mobile ad spending is the fastest growing segment of advertising, forecasted to top
$158 billion in 2017, with 52% of mobile advertising being location-based.*
Yik Yak has valuable data that brands and advertisers need:
● Content - What people are talking about and how they feel about it
● Hyperlocality - Where people are and what places they might be close to
● Trends - Changes in what people talk about and how they feel over time (time
based component)
● Community - Social platforms rely on network effects and the virality of
community
Yik Yak can monetize by creating mobile ad inventory to give advertisers
the chance to learn about Yakkers’ interests and jump in on the
conversation.
@victoriahyoung

31. Ad Product #1: Sponsored Brand Posts
Social native advertising (integrated directly into platform) is
expected to reach $5 Billion this year (across desktop and
mobile).* It provides context without compromising the UX.
At Twitter, to maintain the organic flow of posts, sponsored
content are limited to avoid overcrowding the feed.
SPONSORED
Ready for Spring Break? Red Bull has
you covered. #JoinTheRevolution
KEY WORDS + LOCATION
Based on content in the feed, Yik Yak can apply natural language
processing to identify key terms:
ex) spring break
Yik Yak can provide targeted, contextual advertising by
combining keywords with location.
*eMarketer
@victoriahyoung

32. Ad Product #2: Location Based Ads
Yik Yak has a wealth of user-generated content. Focusing on
expanding data science capabilities is important in providing
contextual, native advertising options.
In Yelp, local businesses are promoted within the relevant
results without reducing the quality of browsing. Facebook’s
location stories command the highest CTR - at 3.2%.
SPONSORED
$5 off your order at 24 hr diner!
KEY WORDS + LOCATION
Based on content in the feed, Yik Yak can apply natural
language processing to identify key terms:
ex) dinner, breakfast, eateries
Yik Yak can provide targeted, contextual advertising by
combining keywords with location.
@victoriahyoung

33. SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
Ad Product #3: Official Yaks Feed
Yik Yak, like Twitter and Facebook, has a chance to allow
key influencers and celebrities to join in on the
conversation through official accounts. To maintain current
Yik Yak democratic, anonymous values, these can be
broken out as separate feeds or peeks based on celebrity
locations.
On Twitter and Instagram, influencers often produce some
of the best content and are welcomed by the community.
TAYLOR SWIFT
When the LA Show is the best night
ever!
INFLUENCERS + LOCATION
Let celebrities, brands, or media be apart of the Yaks organically.
Yik Yak can follow a tumblr creatrs or Pinterest HelloSociety
model and monetize by connecting influencers to brands.
Yik Yak can potentially only allow celebrities, brands, and media to
be geo-fenced as well, making their Yaks more special.
Local Celebrity Feed
@victoriahyoung

34. Yik Yak can give advertisers valuable insight into a local college
demographic that no other social platform can and needs to
monetize through data science & analytics.
Red Bull wants to engage students during back-to-school
Goal: Get a real-time pulse on what students on campus are
talking about and doing to join conversation
Yik Yak Advantage: Data on student conversations,
sentiment, and trends to inform Red Bull’s marketing strategy
TOP YAKS
1) Ready for Spring Break? Red Bull has you
covered. #JoinTheRevolution
IMPRESSIONS: 30K
2) Red Bull is best sipped while living
dangerously.
IMPRESSIONS: 20K
Votes Over Time
Trending Topics
Ad Product #4: Data & Analytics
KPIs (Key Metrics)
● Views of Sponsored Post (Impressions)
● Click Thrus Of Post
● Conversion (Purchase or Sign Up)
Business Intelligence
● Trends over time in topics & user behaviors
● Trends in performance of sponsored Yaks
● Suggestions to improve Yak performance @victoriahyoung

35. To create more opportunities for advertisers to jump in on the
conversation without oversaturating the feed with too many
branded posts, allow advertisers to pay for branded, direct
replies to specific Yaks.
Trending Topics
Ad Product #5: Branded Replies
REPLY
Ready for Spring Break? Red Bull has
you covered. #JoinTheRevolution
KEY WORDS + LOCATION
Based on content in the feed, Yik Yak can apply natural
language processing to identify key terms and
automatically recommend to advertisers which Yaks are
the best fit for a reply.
ex) spring break
Yik Yak can provide targeted, contextual advertising by
combining keywords with location.
@victoriahyoung

36. Yik Yak can give advertisers the opportunity to pay to be a
featured Peek. To add value for the advertiser, Yik Yak needs
to provide additional features for paid Peeks.
Ad Product #6: Featured Peeks
Reporting & Analytics
● # Views of Peeks
● # of Interactions (upvote/downvote)
● Trends analysis
Featured Rich Media Content
● Opportunity to include video and photo at the event as a paid
ad
Customization & Flair
● Similar to reddit, let each unique featured, branded post have
their own logo.
@victoriahyoung

37. SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
Trending Topics
Ad Product #7: Community Targeting
Similar to subreddits on reddit, Yik Yak can create topic-based
discussion forums that focus on cultivating specific interest-
based communities. This can provide advertisers with the
opportunity to hyper-target users based on topics and
interests.
KEY WORDS + CATEGORY
Based on content in the feed, Yik Yak can apply natural
language processing to identify key terms to help
advertisers find contextual advertising opportunities.
For example, Nike can advertise in the Sports feed for a
new pair of sneakers if there is a “hot” Yak about
basketball.
@victoriahyoung

38. Thank You!
Victoria Young
victoria@createinteractions.com
@victoriahyoung