The content pillars constitute the thematic foundations on which the brand narrative is built.
Defining them precisely is an unavoidable task for anyone who aspires to maintain coherence, relevance and engagement with their target audience.
In this article, we propose to analyze the contours of these content pillars, enlightening the reader about their impact on a brand's marketing strategy.
We will address the relevance of these fundamental structures, identify the preponderant pillars for a robust social media presence and we will discuss the methodologies for selecting the most appropriate pillars for your brand identity.
Additionally, we will provide concrete examples of content pillars that can serve as inspiration. We will also look at techniques for generating content aligned with the selected pillars, without neglecting the importance of monitoring the performance of these strategies.
Last but not least, we will explore the articulation of these pillars with other tactics of social media management. We will analyze how these pillars influence public perception of the brand and share best practices for efficiently implementing these content structures.
Understanding the Basics: What Content Pillars Are
Content pillars are like the foundations of a house: they give stability and direction to your social media strategy. These are the main themes that help to build everything the brand wants to say or show online. This makes it easier for the brand to speak clearly and organizedly to the people who follow it.
In practice, the content pillars define what the brand is and what it wants to convey on social media. They help give the brand a way of speaking and a style, and make people create an idea about it.
Depending on what the brand is and what it wants to achieve, the content pillars can be different. Some examples:
Education: give useful information about what the brand does, such as tips, step-by-step instructions and advice that help people learn something new.
Fun: show things that make people laugh or feel good. It could be a joke, a funny video or even a game.
Inspiration: share stories or phrases that make people want to do something good or achieve a goal.
Conversation with followers: asking questions or raising topics that make people want to respond or talk to each other.
Show products or services: talk about what the brand sells in a way that shows how it is good, useful or different from others.
It's good to remember that content pillars are not a fixed rule. They can change if the brand changes or if the people who follow it start to like different things.
By understanding what the content pillars are, it becomes easier to create a social media strategy that works. They help the brand to make content that is relevant to it and that people like, making the relationship between both sides true and strong.
Choosing Main Topics for Social Media Well
When you want to do well on social media, it is important to know what the main themes the brand will focus on are. They are like the skeleton that helps build everything that will be shown or said online. Here are some steps to help you choose these main themes:
- Know Who Are the People Who Follow You First of all, you need to know who you are talking to. Carry out a study to understand who the people who follow the brand are, what they like and what they are like. This helps them choose topics that interest them.
- Keep in Mind What You Want to Achieve Ask yourself what the brand’s goals are. What do you want to say or make people feel? Knowing this, it becomes easier to align the main themes with what you want to achieve in general.
- Take a Careful Look at the Brand Think about what makes the brand different from others. What are your strengths? This helps to choose themes that clearly show what the brand is.
- See What Others Are Doing Take a look at what other brands are doing on social media. It's not meant to be copied, but it helps you come up with ideas and understand which topics make sense in your case.
- Think of Several Ideas and Make a List With everything you have gathered so far, think of several topics that might be interesting. Make a list of all the ideas you think might work.
- Choose the Best Ideas Now, it's time to smooth out the rough edges. Remove from the list topics that, after all, don't make much sense or don't help you achieve your goals. Stick with the ones that have the most to do with the brand and the people who follow it.
By following these steps, it becomes easier to know which are the main themes that should guide everything you do on social media. They are the basis for creating things that people like and that make the brand stand out online.
How to Create Content Based on Chosen Themes
Once you know what the main themes are for your brand on social media, the next step is to start doing things that people like and that have to do with these themes. Here are some tips to achieve this:
Know What People Want
The first step is to understand what people who follow the brand are looking for. Ask questions, see how they react to what has already been published and listen to what they have to say. This helps you do things that they really enjoy.
Use Themes in Planning
When thinking about what you are going to publish, always keep in mind the themes you have chosen. Make a plan of what you will show over time and tie each thing to a theme. This way, you can talk about everything a little, without getting lost.
How to Make Good Content
There are several ways to make content that people like:
Give useful information: things like step-by-step instructions, tips and advice are always welcome.
Tell stories: People like to feel connected and stories are good for that.
Show in different ways: use videos, images, texts or even audio to reach all types of people.
Be yourself: speak and show things as they really are, so that people like the brand as it is.
See How It's Going
After publishing, it's important to see if people are liking it. See the comments, shares and other things that show if you are on the right track. If not, change whatever is necessary.
Learn From Those Who Do Good
Look for examples of brands that are good at doing this kind of thing. See what they do, how they talk about their topics and how people react. This can give you ideas to do even better.
By following these tips, it becomes easier to do things that people like and that relate to the chosen themes. And remember, the most important thing is to adjust to what people like and what works for the brand.
How to Know If the Chosen Themes Are Working
It is very important to know whether the themes you have chosen for social media are really having an effect. Here are some tips on how to tell if everything is going well:
What to Measure
Choose carefully what you are going to look at to know if you are on the right path. Some important numbers could be:
Likes and comments: see how many people are reacting to what you post.
How many people see it: find out how many people are being reached by what you share.
Sales or website visits: If the goal is to sell or drive people to a website, this should also be measured.
How long they spend watching: if you make longer videos or texts, see how long people spend looking at them.
Tools to Help
Use programs that help you collect and view these numbers. There are several options like Facebook Insights or Google Analytics that show you how things are going.
Change if necessary
Once you know how things are going, you may need to make some changes. If a topic is having more success, it might be worth giving it more attention. If another one isn't working, maybe it's better to think about something different.
Try New Things
Don't be afraid to try different things to see what works best. You can test different types of posts to see what people prefer.
Learn from Successful Examples
Look for stories from brands that have been successful with their themes and see what they did. This can give you ideas and show possible directions for your own strategy.
By paying attention to how things are going, it becomes easier to adjust and improve your social media strategy. This helps not only to be more successful but also to create a stronger relationship with the people who follow the brand.
