In today’s world, creating and maintaining a social media page is on a company’s non-negotiable list. Providing a consistent output of posts to loyal followers is no secret to brands trying to market themselves online. But the difference between a successful online social page and a mediocre one is the value of the content it provides. Content that serves is content that sells. An easy way to provide this to your followers is content pillars.

Content pillars are topics or themes that a brand consistently amplifies and discusses through its posts. They establish the foundation for your overall social media and content strategy. Content pillars help navigate your brand in the overcrowded social media space toward your niche. Once you find that sweet spot that connects your followers to your brand, it makes planning out content much more effortless. Though your pillars will likely be specific to your brand, they can include multiple themes. 

Using Markerly as an example, our content pillars include influencer strategy, trends and analytics, and social media tips, to name a few. You can divide the categories we focus on via our blog and get a sense of the type of content we create and the niche we focus on.

Content pillars keep your social media strategy focused and on-brand. They organize core concepts and ideas that make up a brand and make it easier to create content as a whole. They also give a clear picture of the types of posts you’ll want to explore, whether that be community spotlights, informational posts, quotes, etc. Creating content pillars also benefits your target audience. Your followers are the people you need to cater to. If you continue to provide the content they enjoy and extract value from, they’ll show their appreciation through engagement.

It may also help to take a closer look at your audience. Can they be broken up into subgroups? If the answer to that question is yes, you’ll need to consider the marketing differences between each of them. Creating posts for Gen X will be worlds away from marketing to Millennials. The message you want to convey, each groups’ motivations, goals, and pain points can help you hit the mark on what content pillars you choose to stick with.

Sometimes, practice makes perfect. Not everything you envision for your brand may resonate with the people you’re trying to reach. Taking diligent notes of your analytics is the ideal way to experiment and find out what content performs and engages well with your audience. Listening to your audience is always the best course of action because they are who you’re serving with your content. It’s also always a good idea to take note of industry trends and news. Using tools like Google Trends and Pinterest makes market research easy and accessible.

Centering content pillars around providing value makes your page not only a hub for your brand’s content, but also a page that inspires, entertains, and educates. Following these steps leads to higher engagement, builds relationships between you and your target audience, and creates greater brand recognition.