Coming up with unique and creative content ideas that will engage your target audience, might be a frustrating process. And when struck with the crisis of: what content should we create? Our anxiety only increases.
So, Is there a cheat code to overcome these crises? Yes!!
Introducing: Content Pillars!!
What are Content Pillars?
Content Pillars are the categories or themes around which your content is structured. They are the groups or clusters into which your overall Content Strategy can be divided. Content Pillars are also often referred to as ‘content buckets’ or simply ‘buckets’.
These Content Pillars can be derived from understanding what the needs are, pain points, and solutions that you can offer to your target customers. This will help you to create a Content Strategy that will not only engage but also connect and retain your target audience by adding value and creating a memorable experience with your brand.
Content Pillars can be specific to your niche and should hence be crafted keeping in mind your brand and Content Strategy. These pillars shouldn’t be less than 3 and more than 9.
Keeping that in mind, here’s how Content Pillars will help you:
- They help to keep your Content Strategy organized by simplifying what content should be created, hence making the overall content creation process easier.
- Since the categories of the content, you will be creating are fixed, your content is consistent + your Content Strategy is focused!!
- The various themes and Pillars give your audience the experience of consuming a variety of high-value content, thus making their overall experience amazing!!
- Since content creation is simplified and focused, the content pillars lead to an increase in the speed of the overall content creation process.
Now that we know how content pillar helps us with our content marketing plan, I’ve listed 15 Content Pillars for small businesses and B2B businesses:
1. Topic-wise content:
Every niche has certain clusters of topics that they can create content on. Identifying what those clusters are creating content related to them is a great way to start!!
You can also change this pillar by categorizing the problems your target audience faces. Once you segregate those problems into clusters, you will find tons of content ideas for your Content Strategy!!
2. Memes:
Memes are something you definitely should jump on. Especially if your target audience is Gen Z. Memes are relatable, and sharable and thus help bring more traffic to your socials!!
Try to browse through the meme templates and ask yourself: “How can I use this template as content?” Once you start asking this question you will find more of such meme-able content.
Even if the general perception of memes is: Childish and ‘not suitable for business, according to me, they have the maximum potential to help you increase your visibility. Memes are highly relatable, and people love sharing them.
So, if you create memes that your target audience can relate to + are funny, you can crack the code to reach, engage and retain your audience.
3. Trends in your niche:
Every industry and niche has trends of its own. They might be about the projections for the next coming years, cool products and services or tools and resources, etc.
Content about these trends is something your target audience is always interested in. Therefore, keep a close eye, observe and analyze these trends and hijack them!!
4. Polls:
Polls serve as a great way to get information about your audience’s preferences, inclinations, and overall demeanor. They are also a great way to spark conversation to boost engagement with your audience.
Polls on Instagram and LinkedIn will help you to understand the outlook of your customers. They also will give you an idea about what content your audience wants to see.
5. Twitter threads:
A great way to repurpose your content is by posting screenshots of your twitter threads on to other socials. It’s a quick and easy trick that helps you use one single piece of content on multiple platforms. I highly recommend using this pillar as a part of your Content Strategy. It’s a cheat code for content creation!!
6. How-to-do /Guides:
How-to-do and guides are the best content pillars to cater to your audience. These guides are the most powerful piece of content that provides incredible value to your customers. They help engage and retain the viewers and build trust with them.
This content pillar can be adapted into any form of content. Whether it be quick and easily consumable content on Instagram or long-form blog posts or YouTube videos. They always work their magic to give you some of the best content ideas.
7. BTS:
Posting you’re Behind Scenes is also a great way to interact with your audience. Showcasing your process, progress and challenges makes them feel as if they are a part of your journey. It helps them connect and resonate with you. it will also add to the authenticity of your journey. Plus, BTS content is easy to create!!
8. Clips from your Live:
Going Live is a great way to interact with your audience. it establishes the trust factor. But another amazing advantage of these lives is that you can save and later post these lives on other platforms, for example, YouTube.
What you can also do is trim some powerful and valuable titbits from these lives and post them as reels on Instagram and as shorts on YouTube.
Thus, just 1 live can give you multiple pieces of content. This pillar is something that is a must-include to your Content Strategy!!
9. Company updates:
Another cool content pillar is company updates. These can be new offers, features, achievements, milestones, or just some updates about your business to your audience.
This pillar can be added intentionally or when content ideas are scarce. Do not confuse this with BTS. These are more like updates for your customers rather than a sneak-peak into your processes.
10. Hacks or Cheat-codes:
Hacks and cheat codes are another content Pillar that people love. Usually, this Pillar is more suited for short-form content.
Post hacks and tricks that solve the problems of your customers or make things easier for them. After all, everyone loves it when the work can be done in easy ways. So, this Content Pillar is something you should consider including in your Content Strategy.
11. Testimonials and User-Generated Content:
The positive testimonials are the essence that works magic for any organization. So, sharing these testimonials with your potential customers is something you must do!!
These positive testimonials will add to your brand value and lead to higher trust in your brand. This trust will in turn garner more customers.
Similar to this, user-generated content which is content created by someone who purchased your product or service also acts as a valuable content pillar.
12. Ask me anything:
AMAs act as a great content pillar for stories. This interaction gives you the 1st hand feedback from your audience. The queries they have also give you an idea about what problems your audience is facing and what type of content you should post more.
13. Tools to be used:
Another amazing Content Pillar is to talk about the tools and resources used in your niche. These could be products, apps, services, websites, templates, etc. that will ease the tasks of your audience.
Make sure to let your audience know why you like and use those tools!!
14. FAQs:
Frequently asked questions are the key content pillar. It provides your audience with an answer to the questions they often have. Therefore, try to include this segment as part of your Content Strategy.
15. Before and After:
The comparison of before and after is also a powerful content pillar. This pillar is the result that your audience gets after they use your product or services. This format can be applied to any form of service or product. For example, for a social media manager, this pillar can be adapted to the growth in the client’s socials before and after their services.
These are the Content Pillars that you can use in your Content Strategy to simplify your content creation process!!
Also Read: How to Get Google Analytics for Your Website: Step-by-Step Guide