Designing Content Pillars for Effective Social Media Strategy

Content pillar is the main topic that is used as the foundation or basis of the content that will be published periodically. By having content pillars, brands can create more varied and engaging content for their audience because it is not monotonous on one topic such as hard-selling only.

Steps for Designing Content Pillars

There are several steps that need to be taken to design effective content pillars, namely:

1. Understand the audience

The first step is to understand the target audience. This can be done by conducting research to find out the needs, preferences, and interests of the audience. By understanding the audience, brands can design content that is more relevant and engaging for them.

Examples of audience research

• Age: How old is the target audience?
• Gender: Male or female?
• Location: Where is the audience located?
• Interests: What interests the audience?
• Behavior: How does the audience use social media?

2. Understand the competition

In addition to understanding the audience, brands also need to understand the content produced by competitors. This can be done by conducting research to find out the strengths and weaknesses of competitor content. By understanding competitor content, brands can find gaps to create more unique and engaging content.

Examples of competitor research

• What topics are discussed by the competitors?
• What types of content are used by the competitors?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of competitor content?

3. Identify the main topic

After understanding the audience and competitors, the next step is to identify the main topic that will become the content pillar. The main topic should be relevant to the brand and the interests of the audience. For example, a cosmetic brand may have a content pillar about beauty, skin care, makeup tips, and facial care tutorials.

Examples of main topics

• Products or services: Content that discusses products or services offered by the brand.
• Solutions: Content that discusses solutions offered by the brand to meet the needs of the audience.
• Inspiration: Content that provides inspiration to the audience.
• Branding: Content that discusses the brand or identity of the brand.
• Trends: Content that discusses the latest trends that are relevant to the audience.

4. Create a variety of content

After identifying the main topic, the next step is to create a variety of content for each main topic. For example, for the main topic about skin care, the brand can create content about product reviews, skin care tips, or even stories about user experiences with the product.

Examples of content types

• Text: Content in the form of writing, such as articles, blog posts, or captions.
• Images: Content in the form of images, such as photos, infographics, or illustrations.
• Video: Content in the form of video, such as tutorials, vlogs, or behind the scenes.
• Audio: Content in the form of audio, such as podcasts, music, or audiobooks.

Tips for Creating Effective Content Pillars

Here are some tips for creating effective content pillars:

• Low complexity: Effective content pillars are those that are easy to understand by the audience. Therefore, it is advisable to choose a simple and not too complex topic.
• Focus on one topic: Do not try to create too many content pillars. Focus on one main topic for each social media account.
• Be sustainable: Content pillars should be sustainable. This means that the brand must be able to produce content that is relevant to the main topic on a regular basis.

Examples of Content Pillars

Here are some examples of common content pillars:

• Educational/Practical content: Content that provides added value and provides useful information to the audience related to the brand. Example: Cooking recipes and nutritional content on a spice brand.
• Promotional content: Content that displays the brand’s products or services. However, it is important to remember that this type of content should be interspersed with other types of content so as not to be too disruptive to the audience. Example: Introduction of new products, discount promotions, or invitations to try products.
• Engagement content: Content that makes the audience feel relatable or close to the products offered by a brand. Example: Memes or snippets of film clips that are relatable to everyday life on Netflix’s social media accounts.
• Informational content: Content that explains about products or brands, including features, benefits, how to use, and all related