Social media content pillars are the linchpin of your content strategy.
Why? They provide a framework for you to use when creating content. They also allow you to keep your messaging consistent and on-brand.
In this blog post, I’ll share with you what social media content pillars are, how they can benefit your business, and give you some tips on how to create them.
What are social media content pillars?
Social media content pillars are broad topics or themes that your brand will be talking about. They are the foundation of your social media content marketing.
They will help you brainstorm effective and engaging social media posts so think of them as building blocks that create a consistent message for your brand across all channels.
Why are social media content pillars useful for small business owners?
Content pillars for social media serve two purposes: They provide structure when you’re planning your content, and they give your followers a sense of what they can expect to find on your social media platforms.
Content pillars are especially useful for small businesses because they can help you:
- Plan your content more easily: With a few content pillars in place, you’ll have the most important topics you need to cover in your content mapped out. You can then start creating specific pieces of content that fit into each pillar.
- Repurpose your content: Once you have some content written and published, it’s much easier to create new pieces based on existing ones that are performing well.
- Build a more consistent brand image: When your business is posting useful information about one or two specific topics every week, customers will see you as an expert in those areas – which is exactly what every small business owner wants!
- Create better-performing social media posts: The more relevant and engaging your content is, the more likely your target audience is to interact with it. If you’re posting content that people find valuable, they’ll share it with the people they know. This helps expand your reach, which can help you grow your business.
- Come up with new ideas for social media posts: It’s easy enough when starting out – you probably know five different things about your field that people would like to learn from you! But after a while, it gets harder… That’s why having a list of broad topics helps so much.
How to come up with content pillars for your brand
You can come up with your social media content pillars by thinking about broad (relevant) topics you will cover in your business.
You’ll likely end up with more than just three topics, but I recommend that you don’t come up with more than five.
Once you pick them out, you can build out some subtopics for each pillar. Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty.
Understand your target audience
You’re going to need to be specific about who your target audience is.
What are the pain points and goals of your audience? You can only serve them if you know what they really need, so use this time to do some research.
Find out what their biggest problems are and how you can help solve them. Don’t forget about their values. If you don’t know where your customers stand on certain issues, find out!
How old are they? Where do they live? What do they like to do for fun? What’s important to them?
Use a combination of market research and psychology to understand the needs of your potential customers. This will help you create better content and pillars that speaks directly to the emotions of your audience.
Research your competitors
The best way to figure out what content is working for your competitors is to go research them. Look at their social media pages and see which posts get the most engagement.
Consider adding a few of those types to your content pillars – but don’t copy & paste other people’s work.
By adding in a mix of proven-to-work topics, you can ensure that even if you’re still testing things out, you’ll have some interactive posts on your platforms as well.
Analyze what content works best for your brand
Once you’ve brainstormed a reasonable amount of content ideas, you’ll want to analyze which of those perform best.
The easiest way to determine this is by going into the social media analytics for each platform and checking which posts have the highest engagement.
As I mentioned above, you can also keep an eye on what other brands are posting and see how their content performs. This will help you hone in on what your target audience wants to see.
While it’s important to not be driven solely by numbers, it’s equally true that analyzing data is essential when it comes to making business decisions.
How to use content pillars for your social strategy
Now that you’ve developed your pillar list and some content ideas – it’s time to start using these pillars in your social media strategy.
Here are a few ways you can incorporate them into your plan:
- Use content themes to plan your content calendar.
- Leverage topics from all five of your pillars to develop post ideas.
- When you create content, remember to always apply it to one of your pillars. This will help keep your overall branding consistent across all social media platforms.
Use them in your content calendar
Are you looking for a way to make a content calendar increase your marketing efforts? Then use your pillars to help you:
- stay organized and on track,
- create relevant posts that relate to your overall social media goals,
- and easily come up with new content ideas.
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Social media content pillar examples
Below are some examples of content pillars for social media in different niches and industries:
Social Media Marketing Industry:
| Educational pillar | Sub-pillars: – Social Media Marketing – Social Media content ideas – Different platforms (Facebook, Instagram,…) |
| Engaging pillar | Sub-pillars: – Polls and questions – Quotes – Surveys |
| Promotional pillar | Sub-pillars: – Promoting your products – Business storytelling – Testimonials |
| Community pillar | Sub-pillars: – Asking for feedback – Putting your customers in the spotlight – Sharing a post from your follower |
| Entertaining pillar | Sub-pillars: – Funny memes – GIFs – A day in a life… |
Pet niche:
| Educational pillar | Sub-pillars: – Animal body language – Pet care – Pet comfort |
| Engaging pillar | Sub-pillars: – Contest (the cutest pet pic wins) – Pet infographics – Pet facts |
| Promotional pillar | Sub-pillars: – Pet supplies – Reviews – Customer story |
| Community pillar | Sub-pillars: – Ask your followers to show their pets – Ask your followers to share a story about how they got their pet |
| Entertaining pillar | Sub-pillars: – Funny animal reactions – Funny animal memes – Cute pet videos |
Beauty and personal care niche:
| Educational pillar | Sub-pillars: – Haircare hacks – Skincare advice – Makeup tips |
| Engaging pillar | Sub-pillars: – ‘This or that’ content – ‘Would you rather’ posts – Latest trend |
| Promotional pillar | Sub-pillars: – Haircare supplies – How to use a specific supply – Benefits of a face cream |
| Community pillar | Sub-pillars: – Ask your followers which of your products do they love – Ask your followers which product should you discount next |
| Entertaining pillar | Sub-pillars: – Funny makeup fail videos – Funny (relatable) hair problems – Meme about skincare struggles |
Conclusion on Social Media Content Pillars
First things first: there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to determining your social media content pillars.
Every business owner has something unique to offer its audience in terms of content, products, or services.
Content pillars are the guiding framework for organizing your social media content strategy. They allow you to create a brand identity that is both consistent and dynamic – compelling your audience to stay tuned in for future updates.
If you haven’t developed your social media content pillars yet – this guide will help you do just that. But make sure you keep these things in mind:
- What are the topics your target audience cares about?
- What are the things that make you different from other companies in the industry?
- What does your audience value most in a brand?
Please share this blog post with your business friends on social so they can learn about how important it is to use content pillars for their social media strategy.
Petra Šranc (CEO of Big Income Paradise) is passionate about teaching female entrepreneurs how to do Social Media Marketing to grow their business online. She also focuses on teaching Social Media content tactics to skyrocket traffic, leads, and sales.