7 essential tips for creating effective social media content pillars
Social media content pillars are not just another marketing buzzword. They're essential to your content strategy. They give your content direction and focus and help you understand what content your audience is interested in.
What are content pillars?
Content pillars are 3-5 key topics you want to create content about on social media. These topics are the foundation for all of your content. They are bespoke to your business, and they align with your business' brand values and purpose. They are larger pieces of content that you then break down into further smaller pieces of content.
Why are content pillars important?
Having content pillars makes it easier to implement your social media strategy. They will support you in creating meaningful content that aligns with your strategy and make it easier for you to manage.
What are the benefits of content pillars?
Get a clear focus. Your message is more consistent. You'll create targeted and meaningful content that your audience is interested in, and that solves their pain points.
Get organised and plan your content. It'll speed up finding new content ideas. You won't be sitting for hours wondering what to post next.
Be consistent with posting on social media to help you build brand awareness. Something that becomes tricky to do if you don't have a content strategy with content pillars.
Stand out in a competitive space and grow your audience. You are an expert in your field, and you can easily showcase this with your content and become the go-to business for a specific topic. This will help you find your niche.
Example of content pillars
A personal trainer could focus on workouts, recipes, body positivity and motivational quotes.
A nutritionist could share recipes, cooking tips, educational content about food and myth-busting content.
A digital marketing consultant could focus on sharing tips, news and trends and behind-the-scenes.
A social enterprise could share successful projects, testimonials and their impact on those they help.
Three key content pillars for SMEs are behind-the-scenes, client/customer success stories and educational content.
How to get started...
Think about who your target audience is. What are their pain points?
Review your analytics to find out what type of content has resonated with your audience and what they've engaged with most.
Look at what your audience is searching for online and use Google, social media and Answerthepublic.com.
Keep up-to-date with industry trends. Things change frequently, so you want to know what's working today.
Keep an eye on what your competitors are talking about, as they target the same audience.
Create a social media content pillars list, and remember to narrow it down to 3-5. Remember, social media content needs to be educational, inspirational and entertaining for your audience.
Review your social media content pillars regularly. Your goals may change, and you may target a wider audience.
To wrap up…
Social media content pillars are essential to increase your online presence and help you reach your social media and business goals. They'll keep your audience engaged as they know what content you'll share on social media. Content pillars also help you stay focused.
Over to you… Time to create your social media content pillars. Remember to review these regularly.
Good luck!
