We’re going to talk about a time when I was wrong. It doesn’t happen a lot, I’ll admit it. But in this instance, I was wrong and I will tell you why.
It’s all about content pillars.
When I first started in the online space in 2015, I was just on Facebook. This was a time when you were posting every single day three times a day: breakfast, lunch, evening time. The way that pillars were always explained to me and established to me were honestly cheesy, like Wine Wednesday or Tip Tuesday. It just never felt like it fit what I was trying to do.
The Initial Skepticism
The reason why I didn’t like content pillars is because I felt like it was really surface level stuff. I also felt like I was being put in a box.
I don’t want to always give a tip today on Tuesday, I want to do something else!
In the beginning, I was taught that content pillars were more a specific content schedule than actual pillars. What I have found over eight years in the online space is that just like everything, you have to find what works for you.
At the end of the day, content pillars are important. The way I teach my clients to do it, the way I teach in Content Consistency Code and the way I’m going to walk you through it a little bit today is what you become known for.
This is the reason people come back to your profile over and over again.
This is the way that you’ll get people to say, I love your content and share your content.
The Foundation of Content Pillars
The way I establish content pillars, they are more general and they still keep you focused.
They keep you in a branded lane without putting you in a box that makes you feel like you can’t post what you want to post about.
The truth is, in 2023 and moving forward, you have to be known for something online. There has to be a reason that people are coming back to your profile, your stories, your emails.
One of my mentors said to me, think about this as your mission. I love that.
What is your mission online? It cannot be just your tip Tuesday or your inspirational Wednesday and sharing a cheesy quote that we’ve all seen 800 times without telling a story behind it or talking about the reason behind it.
You’re posting all this random content that doesn’t filter into your bigger mission, your bigger focus, which are your content pillars.
Without pillars – people don’t know what to expect from you. They don’t really know who you are. They don’t know what you are specifically the go to person for because there’s a million health and fitness coaches. There’s a million travel agents. There’s a million people in network marketing. There’s a million mindset coaches out there. So by honing in on your mission and your content pillars, it allows you to become known for something.
When I started to craft my content pillars and focus on my mission and focus on really the nitty gritty way I wanted to help people, that’s when I started to get more traction.
Not just in my content as far as engagement, but also more traction in people saying, I want to book a call with you. How can I work with you? How can I get further into your world?
Which hello, if you’re running a business online, that’s really what we want. So content pillars are the staple of the type of content that you are going to create.
Crafting Your Content Pillars
I’m going to walk you through how I teach my clients to create their content pillars. I also want to remind you that this is just a very small piece of establishing your brand message on social media.
Content pillars, in my signature course, Content Consistency Code. There is a foundation video that guides you to get established for content pillars. If you already have foundations established or if you just want to focus on your content pillars, this will still really, really help you.
Let’s get into more of the how to.
What I want you to start thinking about with your content pillars, where you can really get your wheels turning is, what is your specific expertise?
What do you really find that you help people do?
You can go look at testimonials, look at the screenshots you’ve taken of your clients telling you what you’ve done for them, really, really think about what you specifically help people do.
If you’re a health and fitness coach, what do you specifically help people do outside of weight loss, outside of feeling confident about their body? What results do you specifically get?
Are people fitting into their pre-mom jeans again, do they go to functions and parties without being stressed about what they will eat when they get there, do you help them get stronger so they can carry their kids around everywhere.
Then go back to that mission and think about what you really want to be known for in the online space? What do you want people to come to your page and learn about, feel, walk away from knowing you are this person? It’s almost like a mini elevator speech about your page!
I really believe that one of your content pillars should be non-business related. Think about what you would feel good about sharing on a regular basis. For me, my non-business content pillar used to be realistic motherhood, but as my kids have gotten older, I do share less about them. I have pivoted more toward my non-business related pillar to pop culture or talking about Disney and Harry Potter. It makes showing up on my own page more fun than just business. We need a healthy dose of both.
In these exercises, the more that you can write down, the more that you can brainstorm this out, get all the ideas out of your head onto the page, then you can see which ones you lean more toward. When I establish content pillars, I keep them general and then have you brainstorm your post ideas underneath those.
Examples in Action
If you’re a mindset coach, your business pillars might look like tangible mindset tools, habit building, and creating a happy life. Then your personal pillar could look like solo parenting life.
If you’re a health and fitness coach, your business pillars could look like counting macros, prioritizing protein, at-home workouts, and having a salad a day. Your personal pillar would be farm life because you live on a farm.
Let’s say if you’re creating content around counting macros. Why counting macros helps with losing weight? How to make counting macros easier if you’re busy?
Personally, I don’t know anything about counting macros and don’t know what 200 macros look like. I don’t even know what that means, but those are some posts that could be around your business pillars.
One last example. Let’s say that you’re in network marketing, you sell hair care. Your business pillars might look like curly hair, creating an income from home, a five minute beauty routine. Your personal pillar would be kids two under two, life and tips.
I see a lot of network marketers struggle with this because they’re selling a bunch of products all the time. You have to remember that your Instagram is really about people coming in to get to know you.
Your Instagram is the first stop. If you’re always talking about 80,000 different things, it becomes confusing and there’s nothing to latch on to.
If you’re in network marketing and you’re focused, or you’re in a hair care company, if you focus on curly hair, you’re going to attract people that have curly hair. They’re going to come in. They’re going to love those curly girl hair products. Then they’re going to buy makeup from you, or then they’re going to try something for their kids from you.
The same is also true even if you’re not in network marketing. You have to be known for something. You want to draw people into you for something very specific, and then you can take them up that ladder of your other things that you sell.
I don’t just work with people on their content. As people work with me more, they get introduced to what I do as a coach. I work with them on their business strategy, their product suite, and on their bigger picture. Most people start with me about content.
Your content pillars are going to set the tone for all the posts you create, all the emails you write, the freebies that you make. Everything is going to go around those content pillars. Again, this is what you shout from the rooftops, who you are. Again, they don’t need to be overly specific, but we want them to be focused like I just talked about in the examples.
So think about what you want to talk about, what you want to create content around every single day pretty much for the rest of your life. I’m just kidding!
Your content pillars might change. I gave you the example that my personal pillars changed a little bit. If youI have no idea what your content pillars should be, ask your best friend. Ask your spouse. Talk to a favorite client and ask them what brought you to my page? What is the reason that you hired me?
Sometimes we need an outside perspective. We need somebody to tell us what they like about us, why we’re so great, what they see in us.
Putting it Together & Implementing
The way that I walk my students in Content Consistency Code, is to establish your content pillars first, then you brainstorm. Spend some time brainstorming all the ideas you have under each of those content pillars.
Then I teach about authoritative content, educational content, connecting content, sales content, growth content. You go through and categorize the ideas under your content pillars into those categories.
By having these three to five content pillars, you can stay focused on what your messaging is.
You can stay focused on what you want to talk about what you’re going to be known for. Then you can make sure that you’re rotating through the educational content, authoritative content, connecting content, etc.
So this is how I went from not believing in content pillars and basically thinking that they were trash to making them a core part of how I do my own content and how I teach my clients to do their content as well.
If you have questions on content pillars, you know where to find me on Instagram, slide into my DMs. They’re always open.
If you’re like, okay, I need more of this in my life, please go check out Content Consistency Code. It’s my signature course that takes you through the foundations of setting up your brand messaging and then teaches you all the tricks and hacks to stay consistent, plan your content and really build the momentum that you want to build in your online business.
Helpful links:
Purchase my signature course, Content Consistency Code HERE
Follow me on Instagram HERE
Listen to this podcast episode HERE
