How to find your content pillars

Aug 23

Today we're talking all about CONTENT PILLARS.

This is a super valuable topic because we know that you’re time poor and the last thing you feel like doing on a daily basis is thinking about what to post on social media. It can be super time consuming which is why you need content pillars!

Between us we have 6 or 7 Instagram accounts and have found a way to make posting on social media easier.

And this is by coming up with content pillars and batching content so that you’re not searching for inspiration on the spot.

You know exactly what you’re going to post, what your brand stands for and the information you want to share with your customers to add value to their lives.

Things You’ll Learn in This Episode of Hustle With Heart:

What a content pillar is and WHY it is so important for your business
How to choose your content pillars effectively with ease
How to use your content pillars to support your customers and build our your content strategy
Bonus content pillars we believe EVERY business should have

What is a content pillar?

Content pillars are between three to five topics that your brand consistently discusses on social media.

They also called your content categories or your content buckets.

They’re categories of content that represents your brand and provides value for your community.

Why are content pillars important?

Content pillars help you clarify your niche. This helps people understand where you fit in the market and it positions you as the expert in your market.

In episode 6 we discussed Nailling Your Niche and using your content pillars to convey what you know, and what your field is, can be very beneficial.

Content Pillars don’t just apply to social media either. You can use them in all the content you share.

They also make your planning so much easier. Rather than scrambling to get that last minute post down, you can use them to build out your content for the month (or the whole year if you like!)

We’ve created all of our episodes for the next six months for this podcast. And we’ve used our pillars to be able to systematically do that.

Using content pillars also minimises the pure sales posts. If you're someone who only shares content when there's something that you're asking from your audience (a sale or a new product etc)...you’re quickly going to lose your customers because they don’t want to be sold to 24/7.

But by having these pillars fleshed out, then you move more towards the 3:1 ratio - where you share three pieces of valuable content to every one sales piece. So three gives to one ask is the recipe that can work really well.

Examples of content pillars

Doula/birth support person:

Self care during pregnancy
Birth mindset for the mother
Education regarding the birth system and what to look out for
Yoga for pregnancy

Inclusive Fashion Boutique:

Styling tips to elevate your look
Body positivity.

How to choose content pillars for your business

Step 1 - Survey your audience: Get an insight into what they want to learn from you - by surveying them. A great place to do that is on social media but if you have your customer or client right in front of you, you can ask them the questions too.

Step 2 - Brain dump: Write EVERYTHING down on a piece of paper about all the things that you possibly could talk about. Don’t censor yourself, just get everything out of your brain onto paper.
Step 3 - Cull your list: Cross off everything that doesn't feel easeful. Now, remember, you’re the driver of your business. If it's not something that lights you up and that you feel passionate about, you don’t have to share it (even if your customers want to learn more about it).
Step 4 - Create categories: So now get your highlighters and colour all the items that have the same sort of flavour.
Step 5 - Choose your pillars: Now that you have all of these categories you want to choose the ones that you want to lean into and choose which pillars are for you and what you want your brand to stand for. Remember, it's okay to have a few, but make sure that they're valuable to your niche and also on brand.

Extra content pillars we recommend you have:

Behind the scenes - personality based. For example fun happenings or a day in the life. Your customer wants to see the FACE behind the brand.

Share social proof - such as testimonials or reviews.
Sales, offerings, discounts and launches

Build a content bank

A bonus tip to help you find hundreds of pieces of content that you can use as inspiration to create your content - and that is to build a content bank of ideas.

Visit similar accounts for inspiration (not imitation)
Use your own experiences day to day and save idea to evernote
Write down your pillars and get deeper and deeper into the topic with lots of topics - ask for ideas.

And there you have it!

And there you have it - how to find your content pillars

And before you go - if you’re enjoying our podcast then please let us know by leaving us a five star written review. We LOVE reading all of your comments.

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Jacinta Di Prinzio