what u eating today?
Pizza 54 votes 23%
Tacos 23 votes 12%
Cake 1 vote 8%
Salad 0 votes 5%
Reach college students where campus culture happens.
College advertising and Gen Z marketing built for campus: targeted ads, student insights, activations, and ambassador campaigns across U.S. college communities.
2.2M+ college student users
.edu verified accounts
~13% of all U.S. undergrads
Trusted by brands trying to win college
First 500 to grab a free can at the quad get a free tote 🧋
Get yours →Math 51 has been one of the single worst experiences of my life and I'm a refugee
best study spot on campus?
Green Library 112 votes 39%
Coupa Cafe 84 votes 30%
My dorm 62 votes 22%
Quick poll - what's your bigger skin issue this semester?
Take the poll →who's walking around campus in a flannel outfit??
what u eating today?
Pizza 54 votes 23%
Tacos 23 votes 12%
Cake 1 vote 8%
Salad 0 votes 5%
First 500 to grab a free can at the quad get a free tote 🧋
Get yours →Math 51 has been one of the single worst experiences of my life and I'm a refugee
best study spot on campus?
Green Library 112 votes 39%
Coupa Cafe 84 votes 30%
My dorm 62 votes 22%
Quick poll - what's your bigger skin issue this semester?
Take the poll →who's walking around campus in a flannel outfit??
Why Yik Yak wins
Broad Gen Z targeting misses the campus context.
Most platforms can target young people. Yik Yak reaches verified college communities, campus by campus, where students are already talking, reacting, joking, and discovering what matters around them.
Verified college audience
Reach students with .edu verification and a massive college footprint.
Campus-by-campus relevance
Show up differently at Alabama, UCLA, Michigan, NYU, and everywhere campus culture has its own language.
More than ad inventory
Run ads, polls, sponsored moments, campus activations, ambassador programs, and custom in-app experiences.
Student attention
A daily habit for college students.
Yik Yak isn't a quick swipe. Students return throughout the day, post real opinions, and treat the feed like their campus group chat.
Yik Yak audience and engagement figures are based on internal platform analytics. The undergraduate-share estimate compares the 2.2M audience figure with NCES fall 2024 U.S. undergraduate enrollment. Campaign outcomes are individual results, not guaranteed benchmarks. Sources: NCES undergraduate enrollment and NielsenIQ and World Data Lab’s Spend Z report.
Solutions
One campus platform. Five ways to activate it.
Run ads, polls, sponsored moments, campus activations, and ambassador programs - all from one campus-native platform.
Campus-native ads
Run in-feed placements, display units, and campus-targeted media that feel native to the student feed.
- Campus and audience targeting
- Managed creative support
- Awareness, traffic, app install, and conversion campaigns
Polls + student insights
Ask students what they actually think. Use polls, comments, and campus-level responses to test messaging, understand demand, and spot regional trends.
- Brand-safe poll concepts
- Campus-by-campus readouts
- Student language and sentiment
Sponsored in-app experiences
Create moments students want to play with: sponsored games, challenges, drops, brackets, campus quests, and custom interactive products.
- Sponsored games
- Seasonal campus moments
- Custom interactive units
Campus activations
Bring campaigns from the feed to campus. Pair digital reach with IRL events, sampling, pop-ups, launch moments, and student-led activations.
- Campus event concepts
- Geo-targeted promotion
- Post-activation measurement
Ambassador network
Recruit, activate, and coordinate student ambassadors who understand the campus voice better than any outside agency can.
- Ambassador recruitment
- Campus-specific launches
- Student-led creative feedback
Differentiation
Not just social ads. Campus-native growth.
Other platforms target young people in general. Yik Yak is built around the college demographic itself - campus by campus.
Target young people broadly
Reach .edu-verified college communities
Optimize for generic impressions
Build campus-specific relevance
Ads sit beside content
Ads can become campus conversation starters
Separate tools for media, insights, creators, and activations
Ads, polls, ambassadors, activations, and in-app experiences in one campus-native platform
National Gen Z trend data
Real student response, campus by campus
Snap, TikTok, Reddit, and Pinterest are powerful broad platforms. Yik Yak is different: it's built around the college demographic itself.
Campaign ideas
Pick the campaign goal. We'll map the campus play.
Launch a product
Recommended: in-feed ads + campus poll + launch-day activation
Plan a launchDrive app installs
Recommended: campus-targeted ads + creator/ambassador support
Grow app installsRecruit ambassadors
Recommended: application funnel + campus segmentation
Recruit studentsTest messaging
Recommended: anonymous poll + comments + campus insights report
Test with studentsDrive foot traffic
Recommended: geo/campus media + offer creative + local measurement
Drive campus trafficCreate a campus moment
Recommended: sponsored game/challenge + feed promotion + social recap
Build a momentCase studies
Campaigns that turn campus attention into action.
College lifestyle & apparel brand
Goal: Increase store foot traffic
Play: In-feed ads for a graduation sale
20% increase in store foot traffic; 60% increase in posts mentioning campus bookstores.
Skincare brand
Goal: Understand college skincare behavior
Play: Unbranded polls across 505 campuses
160K+ votes and 2.4K comments.
Read the campus marketing case study →Dating platform
Goal: User acquisition
Play: Custom in-app matching experience
The experience helped the platform triple its entire user base.
Popular streaming service
Goal: Drive viewership for a new title
Play: In-feed ads and a conversational post students could engage with
Delivered a 5M-impression takeover for the title drop.
Campaign metrics are based on Yik Yak campaign delivery, interaction, or client reporting for the individual programs shown. Results vary and are not guaranteed benchmarks.
College marketing resources
Plan the channel, creative, campus, and measurement together.
Explore practical guidance for advertising to college students, building Gen Z marketing strategies, collecting student insights, and turning campus attention into measurable growth.
College advertising
Reach college students with campus-targeted ads
Compare self-serve and managed campaigns, choose campuses, and measure performance by school.
Explore college advertising → College marketing guideHow to market to college students
Build a useful campaign around student needs, the academic calendar, campus media, and clear objectives.
Read the guide → Gen Z marketingGen Z marketing strategies for college audiences
Create authentic, mobile-first campaigns with student creators, campus context, and measurable learning.
Explore Gen Z strategies → Student researchTurn student polls and comments into decisions
Test messaging, compare campus demand, and use student language to improve creative and launch plans.
Explore student insights →Measurement
Performance reporting plus campus insight.
Get standard campaign metrics and the kind of student response data broad ad platforms can't show: campus-level engagement, poll results, comment themes, creative learnings, and activation recaps.
- Impressions, clicks, CTR, conversions
- Campus-level breakdowns
- Poll vote and comment summaries
- Creative and placement learnings
- Post-campaign recommendations
One company · two campus apps
Advertising on Yik Yak or Sidechat? Same team.
Yik Yak and Sidechat are both run by Flower Ave - the largest anonymous campus network in the country. When you partner with us, a single campaign reaches .edu-verified students across both apps, with the same ad units, polls, and ambassador playbooks for either community.
Reach both communities →Get started
Ready to reach the college demographic better?
Tell us where you want to go. We'll send recommended campuses, formats, and a custom campaign plan within two business days.
FAQ
Questions brands ask us.
How can I advertise to college students with Yik Yak?
Choose the campuses and campaign objective that fit your business, then launch through Yik Yak Ads Manager or request a managed media plan. Campaigns can support awareness, traffic, app installs, events, recruiting, and conversions.
Can Yik Yak ads target specific colleges?
Yes. College advertising campaigns can be planned around individual campuses, groups of schools, regions, or a national college audience.
Does Yik Yak offer self-serve college advertising?
Yes. Small businesses and local marketers can use Yik Yak Ads Manager to select campuses, set a budget, upload creative, and launch directly. Brands and agencies can request a managed plan for more complex campaigns.
What Gen Z marketing services does Yik Yak provide?
Yik Yak supports campus-targeted ads, polls and student insights, campus activations, sponsored in-app experiences, and college ambassador programs.
Can Yik Yak help with campus advertising creative?
Yes. Managed campaigns can include creative support designed to make the benefit, offer, timing, and campus context clear without forcing student slang or imitating the audience.
How is college advertising performance measured?
Reporting can include impressions, clicks, click-through rate, conversions, and campus-level breakdowns. Polls and student-response programs can add message, offer, and sentiment insights.