Cooler Coolers: How Yeti built a brand on social

There are plenty of coolers out there. If you’re looking for something to keep a beer cool on a warm day. It’s a tough, saturated market to stand out in, but Yeti has managed to become one of the leaders. Yeti has managed to set itself apart as a brand for those who love the outdoors, and are willing to pay a little more for a higher—quality suite of products, one that now includes drinkware, bags and even furniture designed for adventurers.

Yeti products aren’t cheap, but that in itself is part of the statement. The company has built a strong brand that appeals to its audience - affluent lovers of the outdoors who love to ‘rough it’ but don’t see that as synonymous with skimping. They’ve done it through a clearly defined brand identity alongside a product with a distinct look. But they’ve also stood out through becoming a superb content marketer that leverages their social channels to engage their audience and reach new ones.

Yeti’s social channels are awash with inspiring and engaging merchandising content, connecting their product to their audiences interests & aspirations, often through authentic influencer storytelling.

Each of their social channels has a defined role. Youtube delivers a lean-back experience with inspiring long-form storytelling. Beautifully shot with minimal product placement, their films are editorial content designed to inspire their audience to get out and live the kind of life that needs Yeti products.

Instagram, on the other hand, is full of short-form engaging content, mostly merchandising content with a heavier product mix. Films are shot with more of a UGC raw style, with a mix of influencers involved and their own audience.

This creates an authentic style for the social channel, with many of their videos designed for instagram reels. One key aspect of their channels is that despite their distinct roles for each, Yeti’s branding is consistent throughout. This means that any content discovered through sharing or search clearly comes from the Yeti brand.

Yeti has built formats into its social content, creating easily replicable approaches with text over video. This establishes a standard across their feed but also streamlines creation. By establishing an ownable hashtag #builtforthewild the brand is able to encourage its followers and customers to post their experiences with their products, spreading their message and developing more content that can be shared across their own channels.

Where their visual channels are used to inspire, Yeti’s text-based channels are used for a different purpose. Whilst they share links and video, a closer look reveals that Twitter is predominantly used for customer service.

Their use of Twitter reflects the medium’s real-time nature, however unlike some brands that offer stock responses each message is personally tailored. This leads to a higher level of customer satisfaction as they feel like they are being looked after personally.

THE TAKEAWAY

• Establish clear roles for each channel

• Develop a strategy that delivers on your brand positioning

• Leverage the distinct user behaviors on each platform as your build your strategy

GO DEEPER

• Explore Yeti’s long-form content on its Youtube here.