3 ways to use content pillars for social media to best benefit you, your business & your marketing
“Content pillars for social media” are definitely not the sexiest words out there.
I know.
But honestly, they ARE an absolute game-changer when it comes to establishing a consistent brand voice, facilitating your content creation for consistency and to improving your SEO efforts.
It’s worth taking some time to dive into, and this is what this blog will be about.
If you’re not familiar with content pillars, what they are and how to choose them, I invite you to listen to the third episode of my podcast, where I talked all about how to choose your content pillars.
Once you’ve chosen them and feel satisfied with what they are, you’re ready for the next step: how to use them.
Let’s dive in.
Content Pillars for Social Media:
Use them to establish a consistent brand voice across (and within!) your platforms
If you have content pillars you love, they will make your life so much easier than it comes to creating social media content.
Because instead of posting whatever comes to mind on a given day, you’ll have a clear direction and framework for your content strategy. You’ll KNOW what to create, instead of wondering what topic to select from a list of hundreds to thousands, depending on how many topics you cover in your business.
By having selected 3 to 5 pillars, you’re ensuring that everything you post will align with YOUR brand’s messaging, your values, and your ideal audience. This consistency will help you establish a clear, concise brand voice that your ideal audience will recognize and trust. When your brand comes to mind, they’ll be able to pin-point it to 3 to 5 clear concepts.
If you are a wellness brand, for example, who focuses on journaling, affirmations, and mindset work and want to be known for the insightful journal prompts you provide to your audience, then journaling is likely to be one of your content pillars.
If you focus on journaling, your audience will remember you are a brand who values, utilizes and talks about journaling, which means that if they are looking for a solution that includes journaling, they’ll remember you as a brand who offers this specific type of solution.
At the end of the day, consistency (in the topics you post) is key in building a strong brand identity.
If you are a coaching business who one day posts about business coaching and the next about wellness coaching, your brand identity will be confusing to your audience. Some will wonder if you have the right credentials to do both, and some won’t realize you are the same person offering both services.
By taking the time to choose 3 to 5 content pillars that truly resonate with who you are and what your business is all about, you’re ensuring that you’ll have a consistent brand voice across AND within your social media platforms.
Content Pillars for Social Media:
Use them to facilitate your content creation
Have you ever stared at a blank page, wondering what you were going to create for social media?
Have you felt lost and overwhelmed knowing there is so much you could talk about, but not knowing what to choose?
Let me tell you something: you are not alone.
If I don’t have a clear strategy or framework for my social media posts, I’ll be staring at my empty document for ages. The reason is simple: there is too much to talk about when you have a lot of knowledge about something, and it is not easy to know right off the top of your head what is THE thing you need to be talking about that day.
Of course, there are days where inspiration will hit and the words will practically write themselves, but if you are a creative, you know that isn’t an everyday thing.
For all the other days, I need a structure. Content pillars give me that. By having clear content pillars to rest on, I can build a framework that includes all five of them and tells me how often I need to speak about each. It guides and facilitates my content creation, and I can guarantee that if your content pillars are aligned, they will help yours, too.
If you don’t know what to create for your next week, your next month, or even for the next day, you can take a look at what you’ve been creating and categorize them into your content pillars (if it’s not done already).
Is there one (or more) content pillar you haven’t covered as much? Then that’s a sign to focus on that pillar for your next content.
When you have aligned content pillars, there’s less second-guessing, more organization and more consistency in your social media content. It truly is worth the time to figure them out.
Content Pillars for Social Media:
Use them to improve your SEO efforts
For those who might not be fully familiar with SEO, it stands for “Search Engine Optimization”. It’s all about finding ways to make your content discoverable by your audience when they search for answers you can provide. One of the things SEO often talks about is keywords, aka the specific words your audience will type in a search box.
Although SEO is more relevant when a platform has a solid search engine, like Pinterest for instance, SEO is still important when it comes to other social media platforms.
For one, it helps the platform categorize your content to then show it to the right people, and that’s incredibly important. You want your content to be shown to the right people, so utilizing the right keywords consistently is definitely an advantage.
By utilizing content pillars that align with keywords often searched by your ideal audience, you are ensuring that your content will rest on those keywords and will utilize them with every piece of content you create.
Content Pillars for Social Media:
Is it worth it?
Short answer: yes.
It doesn’t take a very long time to choose content pillars (though you may update them as your business evolves), and yet it can save you a lot of time when it comes to content creation.
Plus, it ensures you have a consistent brand voice so your content can effectively reach your audience and help them remember what your business stands for and what it’s all about.
Building authority is crucial for a sustainable business, and having content that revolves around 3-5 consistent topics definitely helps.
That isn’t to say that you should never create content about something that doesn’t fall within your content pillars, but your main content should revolve around 3 to 5 specific topics consistent with your brand and your message.
Finally, by consistently utilizing your content pillars as keywords, you are helping social media platforms and search engines categorize your content more effectively, which means there will be a greater chance of the right audience finding your content.
So what's next?
If this blog resonated with you and you’re looking for a tool to guide you on your content marketing journey, I’ve got something for you: Content Compass.
Content Compass is THE tool I’m officially the most proud of at the moment. It makes creating a strong foundation for your content marketing strategy a breeze.
Content Compass an all-in-one tool that streamlines your content creation process and includes a step-by-step guidebook on how to choose, organize, and plan your social media content by utilizing strong, aligned content pillars.
Honestly, this tool will be perfect for when you hit a case of writer’s block and need some inspiration for your next piece of content.
Oh, and did I mention it also includes some pre-made Canva templates?
Here’s all it includes:
✅ 7 pre-made Social Media Canva templates
✅ Step-by-step guidebook on how to choose your content pillars
✅ Organizational tool for all your favourite topics
✅ Content Calendar for your graphics, captions, hashtags, SEO keywords & more.
Get accesss through the Marketing Clarity Hub, which includes a TON of other resources — for a one-time payment of $27.
Have fun with this. It’s absolutely worth it.
