Identify the content pillars and build your strategy

Creating content for your social networks, website or blog is always a task that will bring much success to your business or project, however if you do not define certain parameters you can end up saturating your audience with content without being able to have benefits, so today we want to explain what are the pillars of content and how to build your strategy, to help you build a focused and enriching strategy for your audience.

If you are a regular reader of our blog then you will have already read that content is everything, but it is important to have a clear strategy, with well-defined goals and paths, because it will save you a lot of time and work, so you can focus on the content your audience needs. The content pillars are the central part of this strategy.

 

Why is a content strategy important?

When we reviewed the importance of having a blog, something we emphasized a lot is that your communication strategy should not be focused on selling or presenting your products, although you can do it sometimes. The content that is focused only on selling will not take you anywhere, you will not achieve sales and only bore your audience. Your content strategy should be focused on positioning your brand as an authority in your niche.

In summary, the first thing you need to know about your content strategy is that its objective is not to sell, it is to position your brand or business as a reference in the market. So, you must prioritize content with relevant information for your consumers, providing them with information that they can find interesting and useful.

Another of the most common problems when you start publishing content is that you may end up working more to create content than for your business itself, or you may end up with a high volume of content but that does not arouse interest in your users. What we mean is that surely in your niche there is a world of information, but it does not mean that you have to cover everything, for example if you have a clothing business you can focus on describing trends, giving style tips, recommendations on clothing or accessories, but writing about the type of fabric or tips for importing, can be boring for a retail audience.

That’s why you need content pillars that give structure and shape to your strategy, but also set a limit on the topics you’re going to cover.

What are content pillars?

Content pillars are broad, general topics or categories that represent the main interests of your audience, in other words they are the core topics you focus on to create your social media posts or blog posts. These content pillars become the foundation on which you build all your content.

All companies should have their own content pillars, however there are specific objectives that your strategy must meet, so depending on the objective we can divide them into the following:

 

Entertainment content

The content will be focused on entertaining the audience. This type of content is often forgotten, especially if our market is not very young, but dedicating a space to a more playful and light content will help you connect much better with the audience. Making an entertaining content does not mean that you have to dance, you can also make a post with simpler and more striking information than the one you usually publish. This type of content is especially attractive on social networks, because remember that your audience enters to relax and have fun for a while.

Informative content

This type of content is the one you probably have more clear, because it is focused on providing information to our audience. It offers information on topics related to your business and that are of value to your audience. Informative content can be an excellent opportunity to solve some of your audience’s doubts, so try to make your publications answer the questions: how, what, why. It works best if you publish through a blog.

Emotional content

The content of this pillar must connect with your users on a very emotional level, regularly the purpose is to call to action, either to get the user to subscribe or to make a purchase. This is the perfect space for storytelling or even to give more visibility to the positive comments of your users, because you can motivate them to leave their experience with your brand. You can use it both on your website and on social networks.

Promotional content

This pillar allows you to present your products or services to the public, although you should not overuse it. Another objective is to create interaction with your audience, this can be through contests or promotions for special days. This type of content can work better in social networks because the interaction is much higher.

How to create a content strategy

To build an effective content strategy, it is essential to be clear about the content pillars you will focus on. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Answer the question What does your brand stand for? The first step is undoubtedly what you want to project, in other words how you expect others to see your brand. Taking into account the values and mission of your business is one of the most important guidelines to start designing our content.
2. Know your audience: before choosing your content pillars, it is important to understand your audience and what topics are of interest to them. Find out what questions they have, what information they are looking for and what topics they are most interested in. Also, answer the question of what their search intention is, since it is very different to create content for someone who is just looking to be entertained for a while than for someone who is looking to learn or clear doubts.
3. Research your competition: in such a competitive world, not looking at others is a mistake, so in order to design your content strategy it will also be necessary to review your competitors. Observe what kind of information they are publishing, what their tone is and most importantly, what they are missing. With this information you can establish what your added value is.
4. Identify your main topics: Once you have researched your audience and competitors, identify the main topics you will cover in your content strategy. These topics should be broad and general so that you can create a large number of subtopics that focus on them.
5. Choose your content pillars: From the main topics, select your content pillars. These should be the most important topics that you will focus on and create the most content around.
6. Create an editorial plan: With your content pillars selected, create an editorial plan that allows you to organize and plan the publication of your content in the long term. Define the specific topics you will cover in each content pillar and establish a publishing frequency for each.
7. Maintain consistency: It is important to maintain consistency in the creation of content for each content pillar. Make sure the tone, voice and focus of the content is consistent and aligns with your brand. Fortunately, there are several tools available today to help you plan your social media content.
8. Analyze and adjust: Measure the success of your content strategy and analyze what content is working best. Use this information to adjust your strategy and improve the performance of your posts.

In summary, the content pillars are the overarching themes that you will focus on in your strategy. By being clear about them and planning your content properly, you can create an effective strategy that attracts and retains your audience. Do you know of any other tips for planning a content campaign?