Content pillars are foundational to your brand’s content strategy. They are the central themes that drive your messaging and shape your identity across platforms.
Developing strong content pillars is crucial for every brand that wants to attract and engage followers online. They help you build connections with your target audience by creating informative, inspiring and entertaining content.
This article explains how to develop content pillars that properly convey your brand’s values.
What is a content pillar?
A content pillar is a fundamental theme that forms the backbone of a brand’s content strategy.
Content pillars establish the overarching topics and messaging that shape a brand’s identity and voice across its online platforms and social media presence.
Effective content pillars resonate with a brand’s target audience and reflect the interests, values, areas of expertise and business goals.
They provide a consistent framework for creating content that educates, inspires, entertains and fosters connections with followers.
Brands can leverage content pillars to develop cohesive, engaging messaging and experiences across their digital properties.
Identifying your brand’s core themes
Your content pillar’s will often be a mix of areas of expertise alongside the values of the business and more personal insight. For example, for an SEO agency, you might have:
SEO journey and case studies
- Sharing personal stories of SEO challenges and successes, including detailed case studies of past clients or projects.
- This pillar humanizes the agency, showcasing the team’s expertise and the tangible results achieved through their strategies. It provides both inspiration and evidence of their capabilities.
Practical SEO tips and tricks
- Offering actionable SEO advice drawn from personal experience and professional practice.
- This could range from basic to advanced techniques, always with a personal touch or unique perspective that reflects the agency’s deep understanding of SEO.
Trends and future predictions in SEO
- Analysis and opinions on current trends in the SEO industry, combined with predictions for the future, based on the agency’s collective experience and insight.
- This pillar positions the agency as forward-thinking and knowledgeable about the direction of SEO.
Behind-the-scenes at the agency
- Content that reveals the day-to-day workings of the agency, including team introductions, office culture and the tools and techniques used to achieve success.
- This pillar fosters a connection with the audience by offering a glimpse into the personal side of the business.
Animal welfare
- Sharing insights on the agency’s fundraising activity and pet-friendly working environment.
- This instills fun into the content by introducing one of the internet’s most popular types of content – animals.
- It also reflects the agency’s commitment to animal welfare and shows a softer and fun side to the business.
Dig deeper: Content strategy: Why less is more
11 tips to craft content pillars that resonate
Making content pillars that really connect with your audience is like tuning a guitar. You must find the perfect mix that makes people pay attention, just like a great song. It’s all about being consistent and creative at the same time, making sure your content teaches, inspires and entertains.
Think of your content pillars as something alive that grows and changes with what your audience likes and how your brand develops.
1. Make your content fit your audience
To make your content pillars fit what your audience wants, you must listen closely to what they’re looking for and what problems they have, just like a tailor carefully measures for a suit that fits perfectly.
Your messages need to speak directly to your audience, making each post feel like it was made just for them.
When you make sure your content meets your business goals and matches your audience’s needs, every piece of content will feel personal and meaningful.
Putting your brand’s story into your content pillars can help by adding an interesting story to your social media posts.
It’s not just about the words you use; it’s about making your audience feel part of your adventure, sharing your ups and downs.
When your content pillars show what your brand is all about, they become more than just facts – they become memorable stories.
2. Mix up your content
Having a variety of topics in your content pillars means giving your audience lots of different posts to enjoy, from simple how-to guides to exciting peeks behind the scenes. Changing up the types of posts and topics keeps your audience interested and makes them want to keep coming back to see what’s new.
Be flexible and ready to change, making sure your topics match what your audience is interested in, but also remember that your content pillars need to fit nicely into the values, goals and ethos of the business.
3. Tailor your content according to each platform
This is about making sure your content is right for each social media platform. You will want to create different types of posts within each content pillar.
Much of this can be tweaked and repurposed and cross-posted. If you are new to this, then focus on one or two platforms first and build it out from there.
4. Keep a consistent voice across platforms
It’s important to keep a consistent brand voice across your content regardless of the platform. This helps make your brand easily recognizable to your followers, whether they are viewing your content on your website, LinkedIn or TikTok.
Even with different mediums and platforms, you must keep that consistency to avoid confusing your audience.
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5. Plan your content with a calendar
Creating a detailed plan for your content helps you keep track of what to post and make sure you cover all important topics and stay organized.
You might choose an overarching topic each month and then fit the different pillars into that topic.
Taking the SEO agency example again, your topic for the month might be Google’s algorithm updates. Then, for the different pillars, you could do the following:
- SEO journey and case studies: Sharing a story of how a client’s website was badly hit by a Google update and what you did to recover. You could include real-life examples of analytics data and testimonials.
- Practical SEO tips and tricks: Top 10 things to consider if your website traffic drops after a Google update. Give your audience actionable ways to identify potential issues and how to address them.
- Trends and future predictions in SEO: A look at the likely upcoming updates and how you can try and mitigate the risk of your website’s performance from suffering.
- Behind-the-scenes at the agency: Video clips of team members’ thoughts around the latest Google updates and their top pieces of advice.
- Animal welfare: Talk about Google’s animal friends (Panda, Penguin) and put out a poll as to new animal names Google might use for future algorithm updates.
6. Post at the best times
Posting when your audience is most likely to see your content can make a big difference.
Using tools to schedule your posts for these times helps keep your brand in the spotlight and increases how much people interact with your posts.
Experiment, analyze and experiment some more.
7. Use real customer content
Adding content from your users brings a real, personal touch that hard-to-beat marketing alone can’t.
Showing real people using your products or services and giving testimonials build trust and make others want to join.
Dig deeper: 4 ways to find unique content ideas from real-life insights
8. Make your content easier to find
Adding keywords to your content across social media posts can help you reach a wider audience. It makes your content easier to find and more relevant to what your audience is searching for.
9. Adjust your strategy based on data
Regularly updating your content strategy based on what’s working helps keep your content fresh and relevant. It’s like pruning a plant to help it grow better.
10. Learn from successful brands
Looking at how successful brands use content pillars can give you great ideas. It’s like getting a behind-the-scenes look at what makes their strategies work so well.
11. Use proven tactics
Applying what works well for other brands to your own strategy helps you build on a solid foundation. Learning from the best practices of others can streamline your efforts.
Content pillars are key to a strong content strategy. From picking your main themes to tailoring them for your audience and checking their impact, they help create a unified online presence and keep your content unique to you and your business.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
