How to create social media content pillars that work
- Dave Endsor
- Aug 18
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 19
*Imagine the most salesy voice you can think of. Probably the bloke who does the JML product voiceovers for DIY shops. Now read this in that voice... *
"Ever stared at your content calendar wondering what you should post next? Stuck for ideas but haven't a clue where to start? Stop needlessly tapping on your keyboard or wasting ink doodling irrelevant pictures. Instead try Content Pillars™, the all-new blah blah blah..."
Ok, enough of that nonsense.
You get the idea.
The point is, content pillars really are a game-changer for social media managers. I'll be outlining why in this post, as well as diving in to what they actually are, why they're important and how you can create ones that work for you.
And, if you haven't developed any for your channels, I hope it will prompt you to get cracking.
What are content pillars?
You'll see a variety of definitions for content pillars when Googling but I'm fan of this description by SEMRush:
What stands out to me in those two sentences are four really key points:
Key themes or broad topics
Guide content creation efforts
Keep your content production focused
Help you develop authority around relevant topics
The challenge is then how to create your own, but we'll get to that.
Something super important to repeat – content pillars should be unique to your business.
When searching for advice on this topic – excluding that excellent SEMRush article – you'll see a lot of people advising you to use generic headings such as 'inform, education, persuade, entertain' etc. This advice is no longer useful. It particularly won't help you with that last bullet point above. How can you become an expert on a relevant topic if your content pillars aren't tailored to it?
Your posts should be engaging your audience anyway, triggering the most appropriate reaction to the content so the naturally inform or educate or entertain – or whatever verb it is you're trying to hit. Those headings and the advice found in those articles is pretty useless if you're looking to develop unique, effective and – critically – relevant content for your audiences.
Instead, you want to be focusing your efforts on creating pillars that are meaningful to the business and usable to you or your team – especially when you're stuck for ideas.
Why do content pillars matter?
Content pillars give you a framework to work out what you're going to talk about, who you're trying to talk to and how you're going to post to get that information across to your audience.
Ultimately, they will stop you from posting for the sake of it and instead give you a thought-through structure to your content that will be far more effective. Perhaps more importantly, you'll have something to turn to on the rare occasion you suffer writers block – or whatever the social media manager equivalent is!
We've all been there.
By aligning what you want to say with the needs of your audience, your content will be far more effective and authentic. If not, then you'll suffer a fate worse than negative engagement – zero engagement!
Content pillars will also demonstrate your expertise or understanding of your audience, ideally align with your business goals, mission, vision etc., but be interesting enough to warrant a like, a comment or a share – helping you to make an impact on social media, or even wider culture.
Plus, they'll quickly give you ideas when you're stuck!
One important but often overlooked reason why they matter is to help secure internal (read: senior) buy-in for your social media strategy. If you're able to succinctly explain your pillars to your CMO or CEO, then you'll have far more success trying to achieve your social media goals – provided they line up with marketing and wider business goals – as your directors will understand the reasons why you've posted that Taylor Swift-related meme from company channels. This is particularly relevant when those above you are not the target audience, as your pillars and bigger picture strategy will give them context for your posts – and won't assume you've completely lost your mind.
(Yet... we're all social media managers after all!)
How to create your own content pillars
I would always start with your audience – who are trying to talk to? Who buys from you? And why? Even more importantly, why should they bother following you on social media? Link this to your service USPs and wider mission, vision and values, and you'll start to have an idea of where this all blends together.
Critically – ask yourself, what action or feeling do you want your audience to have when seeing your socials? Are you trying to build a loyal community of superfans, educate customers or change how people think? This all needs to be considered.
In the middle will be the beginnings of your pillars.
Don't forget to make sure they're goal-orientated – for both your business and customers – and are able to spark an emotional trigger that resonates to give you lasting impact and make you more memorable. All of this matters when you're trying to justify the impact of social on the business.
You can then review legacy content, particularly posts that have worked really well in the past, and assess whether they're still appropriate or in line with your new pillars. What's worked before will often work again, particularly if it's tied to a time of year, a feeling or an unwavering emotional connection that never leaves your audience.
It's also worth looking at content you know was relevant to your audiences but for one reason or another it didn't land. It might have been the wrong time, the wrong format or just bad luck. Make a note of it to see how you can re-purpose it at a later date. You never know!
Once you've done all this work, you will be able to define your content pillars. You don't want to have tonnes as that will defeat the purpose of them being overarching themes for a number of content ideas. Realistically, somewhere between three and six content pillars is the sweet spot.
In the end you should end up with a one-page plan which looks something like this:
You may be only responsible for the social media goals and the pillars, but by following this process you're making everyone in the business aware that what you're doing has meaning, and is grounded in the logic of the wider business objectives. You don't to be seen as a rogue entity within the marketing team, or the business as a whole – it won't do you any good.
It's also important to consider that you have can slightly different pillars depending on the goals of each channel, however they should be broadly the same. One notable exception is if you're a B2C brand and your goals for LinkedIn are vastly different to TikTok, Instagram etc. It might be you're using LinkedIn for recruitment purposes so you need to demonstrate your incredible culture and more about the people within the business – something that might be less relevant on customer-facing channels. For more on this, read my blog all about LinkedIn strategy ideas for B2C brands.
How to use content pillars
Once your pillars are defined, you can then use to craft your ideas – the actual post topics you will be sharing across social channels. Whatever the idea, the format must be tailored to the channel to give you the best chance of engagement and reach. You can still experiment but use your expertise on what works for each channel, applying that to each idea.
You'll have a good idea of what content fits under what pillar, and I often start with a spider diagram – putting the title of the pillar in the middle. This gets your brain working, means you hold a pen (a rarity these days!) and allows you to start jotting potential ideas, and see how they link to each other.
Once you've got a workable list you can then add it into your content planner and then the real fun begins!
Finally, unless you work in a sector where there's real. rapid change on an almost monthly-basis, I would set yourself a reminder to review your content pillars every six months. This is particularly important to remember should business goals or objectives change, as you'll need to consider if your pillars are still fit for purpose at this time. Especially true following new investment or a change in senior leadership.
Real examples of content pillars
I thought I'd finish this post by sharing some real-life examples of content pillars that I've developed. For those that were clients, I won't name them, but I will share their sector in case it's useful.
Across them all you will notice a theme around people. They are one of your strongest assets so use them well and wisely... but make sure you do!
And yes, I will include the Blue Light Card ones too. You'll see we had some variations across B2C and B2B channels.
There might be a familiar one at the end... 👀
Construction company – B2B channels only
New projects and wider company announcements
Team focus
CSR and community engagement
Wellbeing and employability
Food manufacturing recruitment company
Talent and hiring trends and insights
Sector-relevant recruitment best practices
Career growth guidance
Success stories
Team and people news
Independent schools foundation – B2B channels only
Major school news and stories
School moments
Alumni stories
Senior thought leadership
Blue Light Card – B2C
Unrivalled savings
Member recognition
Shared understanding
Unique member experiences
Member engagement
Life with your card
Blue Light Card – B2B
Team and culture
Commercial news and announcements
Engagement activity
Recruitment and hires
And the familiar one...
Chapter (me!)
Practical and actionable social media advice
Learnings from personal experience
News, trends and good examples... shared!
Life as a founder
