How to create content pillars for your social media content

Some would argue that content pillars are the secret to a brand’s social media success. This is because they are themes that are carefully selected depending on what you hope to achieve from your social media content. 

Content pillars allow you to maintain consistency within your current existing social media content strategy while also ensuring that content is fresh, relevant and exciting for your target audience. 

Continue reading to learn more about content pillars and how to create them to get the most out of social media for your business. 

What are content pillars? 

If this is your first time seeing the term ‘content pillars’, don’t worry. Before we dive into how to create your own, we’ll give you a brief overview of what they are. Essentially, content pillars are a set of topics or themes your brand will use as a guide to creating posts. 

These themes are specific to your brand and are generally based on the most popular content with your online following. The content pillars you select should ideally be consistent with your brand’s values, purpose, positioning, tone of voice, aesthetic and feel on social media. 

Some examples of content pillars include company updates, whereby you create posts that share company news like the launch of a new product. In addition, if your business operates within the wellness sector, you may want to use a content pillar whereby you share well-being guidance or self-care quotes to inspire your audience. 

Why are they important? 

Businesses are increasingly recognising the value social media offers, and as a result, they set their goals and objectives. Having goals is one thing, however, it is vital to not only know what you want but how to achieve it. 

Creating content pillars makes it easier for you to create meaningful content with purpose, that resonates with your audience and helps you achieve your objectives. Besides that, content pillars enable you to bring some organisation to your social media content approach. 

Planning becomes a lot easier when you have a set of specific themes you must post around each week. Ultimately, having these themes helps to speed up the brainstorming process because you already have themes to go off of. 

These themes also help you achieve consistency across all your social media platforms which gives your business a strong identity online. Having content pillars also means your audience knows what to expect from your brand and will likely be excited to be on this journey with you, as a result. 

How to create content pillars to meet your goals 

While content pillars are incredibly helpful, every business is different and has varying objectives. Therefore, not every content pillar will work for every business. What might work for a wellness company may not translate over effectively for a gym, for instance. The content pillars you decide on will vary depending on your customers and the industry you operate in. 

In terms of how to create content pillars or select the right ones for your business, you should begin by looking at your brand’s marketing personas. Who are your ideal customers, and what would they like to see on your socials? What platforms are they using? What are their values? How can your offering resolve their pain points, and how can you best communicate this to them? 

Following that, it’s always good to carry out some competitor research. This will help you better understand the market you are operating in and deliver value to your online community. Take note of competitor posts that performed well and assess the topics they are posting about. Our next suggestion is to remember to keep your ear to the ground on trends as these can positively impact your content pillars. 

Keeping up with current interests will only help to grow your channels, therefore, gaining more customers. On the topic of trends, be sure to always research what the latest big trend is on social media. Sometimes, it is not always a specific soundbite but rather short-form TikTok-style content or less graphics-heavy posts. Our final tip is to do a bit of trial and error, see what works at the moment and identify the areas of improvement. 

Summary

Content pillars can ultimately allow you to level up your social media content efforts to achieve your online objectives. Creating them couldn’t be easier, and they enable you to be that bit more strategic. For assistance with creating content pillars for your brand or a social media strategy that will help you become industry-leading on social media, get in touch with us.