Case Study of MyYearbook.com Harrison Kenyon Marketing

OverviewOverviewMyYearbook.com was founded in 2005 by Dave and Catherine Cook. Catherine was 15 years old at the time and a self declared nerd. She got the idea for My Yearbook by flipping through the pages of her own year. She came up with the idea of creating a social site as a way to connect with members of her high school.

In fact, Catherine and her brother were complaining about the photos which had been chosen and wished they could have picked their own. Then an idea sparked about making the yearbook available online, and from there things grew like wildfire.

My Yearbook has now become the leading online community for teens. It has over 20 million users and is growing by an estimated 20,000 users per day.

According to CEO Geoff Cook, the company ended 2009 with an annual revenue run rate of $20 million (meaning its revenue for the most recent 12 months) — up 70% from 2008. Most of that comes from virtual currency within games that the company has built, with titles like Blind Date, Owned and Quiz.

OverviewOverview

How the Company StartedHow the Company Started

Catherine and David received investment from their brother Geoff of $250,000. He had already created two successful online websites, and liked what he saw.

Once Catherine got the idea of creating a website she started developing a basic outline of what she wanted on the site. This included:

•Classes

•Groups

•Profiles

Knowing that she would be competing with the likes of Facebook, she wanted to give her users more than just a way to find friends. She had to decide who her target market was and then design the site accordingly.

Catherine targeted her site to teenagers and added specifically designed core features. Many of the features that are on the site today are based upon ideas and suggestions from users.

How the Company StartedHow the Company Started

Creating My YearbookCreating My Yearbook

Each page of the site was initially drawn by hand until a basic outline was developed. Then Catherine and David hired a team of developers from India to design the site.

This involved long hours and many discussions at 4am in the morning. They got very little sleep but were committed to the project.

Why it WorksWhy it Works

Content is widgetized and can be posted on Facebook, MySpace, Xanga and more. This helps spread the word about the site and the quality of the features. Two popular core features are Battles and Quizzes.

Promotion:Promotion:

Made t-shirtsMade t-shirts -- promoting the site and wore them everywhere.

MembershipMembership - is gained by word of mouth and listening to members and giving them what they want.

AdvertisingAdvertising - Securing advertising with big companies brings in huge revenue amounts.

Features:Features:

Leader board popularity Leader board popularity gives users the chance to vote.

Gold Stars Gold Stars are used instead of Likes. Ability to share likes and dislikes, music, favourite movies and restaurants and more.

Virtual Currency Virtual Currency – This feature allows users to earn Lunch Money. This is done by completing activities on the site or by buying it with real cash. The Lunch Money can then be spent on virtual gifts or donated to charities.

Features:Features:To date, My Yearbook has helped save 3 million square feet of rainforest, sent 22,000 books to Africa and bought 40,000 pounds of rice to feed the hungry. Lunch Money can be donated by using the Causes function.

A third of the site’s revenue comes from the Lunch Money feature. That is almost an eight figure number.

There are now over 40 games that incorporate easily with the Lunch Money feature. Certain games provide the chance for users to earn bonus currency.

Within the first month of installing games on the site, there were over 1 million games being played daily.

ChatterChatter – This feature incorporates media sharing and gaming to bring members together. Inside this stream there are many games that can be played by members including Ask Me, Rate Me and 2 Truths and a Lie. This feature allows members to meet each other. The Chatter feature was installed in April 2009 and by April 2010 1 million posts were being made each day!

Features:Features:

Time LineTime Line•Officially launched in April 2005 from their home in Skillman, New Jersey.

•First launched in their high school Montgomery High School in New Jersey.

•November 2005 allowed all schools nationwide to join. By 2006 opened an office in New Hope, PA, with a staff of 12 developers.

•2006 – Signed a contract with Cliffs Notes to provide study guide free for all members.

•2006 - Had raised $4.1 million from U.S. Venture Partners and First Round Capital.

•2006 – Was voted by Nielsen Net Ratings to be among the top sites for kids between 12 and 17.

•April 2009 - the site added the Meebo instant messaging client in order to provide real time chat.

•January 2010 – A new site design was released for more mass appeal. This sign was chosen through member interactions.

•February 2010 - My Yearbook reported that the company ended 2009 with a $20 million dollar run rate.

Time LineTime Line

Time LineTime Line

•May 2010 – iphone, iPod Touch, and Android applications were added to bring the Chatter feature to real time mobile devices.

•December 2010 - my Yearbook partnered with Viximo service to provide better gaming opportunities for users.

•July 2011 – My Yearbook was bought by Latino social networking site Quepasa for $100 million in cash and stock.

Revenue SourcesRevenue SourcesMy Yearbook draws its revenue from three main sources:

•Advertising

•Virtual-currency sales

•Monthly subscriptions

Advertising makes up two-thirds of its revenue, with the other sources making up the rest. It has an established sales office based in New York City and Los Angeles.

My Yearbook attracts such advertisers as Neutrogena and Disney.

Lessons LearnedLessons LearnedListen to your members and users and then act on it. Take their ideas and turn them into viable on site features.

Specifically target one market.

[Our site is] specifically for high school students, and we really listen to the suggestions of our members.

Current membership stands at over 20 million members with 60% being female.

Recent AwardsRecent Awards

My Yearbook Co-founder Catherine Cook and CEO Geoff Cook were recently named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2011 Greater Philadelphia Award Winners.

This award is chosen by a panel of independent judges and was awarded on June 15 of this year.

In her acceptance speech Catherine shared her vision for the future of the company.

Recent AwardsRecent Awards

"After six years of building My Yearbook into a profitable business with $30 million in revenue, we are thrilled to be recognized by such a prestigious organization," said Catherine Cook. "We have big mobile plans this year with 40 percent of our visits now coming from mobile. We plan to mark the next six years, continuing our pursuit in making My Yearbook the best place to meet new people, online and on mobile devices."

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