What is a content pillar?
A content pillar is simply a topic that your company/brand will consistently feature on their social media. This means it will be discussed and highlighted with content created around it. Decide on 3 to 5 pillars i.e. topics. These topics will form the basis of the content calendar. The pillars are really just categories or groups of similar content. Decide on the categories and all of your content should fit into one of them.
Why use content pillars?
There are a couple of different reasons. First, using content pillars will help you get clarity on your niche. What is it that you are focussing on? Second, by approaching your content using pillars it helps make planning it much easier. Your content will be more balanced, meaningful and consistent by using a content pillar approach.
Are there different types of pillars?
Yes there are numerous different content pillars. The 5 main pillars of content for social media are Promotional, Educational, Community, Entertainment and Engagement. To simplify this a little I recommend that content is grouped under just 3 pillars – Promotional, Personal and Professional. These do cover the 5 areas. Using this approach, only 20% of the content should fall under the promotional pillar.
How do I plan my content using pillars?
Now you have your pillars, think about the types of content that you can produce and publish under each one. This is where you can speak to different audience groups, focus on different objectives, highlight different products. Ultimately these will differ hugely from business to business and industry to industry. Here are a couple of examples.
Examples
A financial brokerage
– Professional: A regular blog on aspect of financial planning, opinion piece on industry developments, news about staff e.g., exam success.
– Personal: Staff involvement in the community e.g. fundraising, volunteering or a personal skill, meet the team profiles, Client testimonials.
– Promotional: A product offer/discount, fact about product, why choose us?
A Gym
– Professional: A regular blog on aspect of health and fitness, news updates on industry developments news about staff e.g., new qualifications.
– Personal: Staff involvement in the community, meet the team profiles, favourite exercise or recipe, motivation quote.
– Promotional: A product offer/discount, fact about fitness, why choose us? New class/equipment.
A Fashion Stylist
– Professional: A regular blog on aspect of styling, body positivity updates/ body shapes, beauty updates staff e.g., new qualifications.
– Personal: Client testimonials, A personal skill (try relate to the industry), meet the team profiles, daily fashion tip.
– Promotional: A product offer/discount, fashion fact, why choose us?, paid partnership.
Using content pillars to plan your social media will make it easier to populate your calendar with ideas and content that will be meaningful to your audience. This approach will also help to ensure that you have a good mix of content. You will be selling your service or product as well as engaging and educating your audience. This contributes to building your brand. And don’t forget if you need any help at all with your content strategy, we’re here to help.