A powerful social media advertising technique depends on extra than simply constant posting. It requires various content material that captures your viewers’s consideration, and retains it. Among the finest methods to simplify your planning and keep strategic is by constructing social media content material pillars: the core themes that hold your content material targeted, purposeful and aligned to your targets.
Originality performs a significant position on this. In keeping with The Sprout Social Index™ 2025, in the present day’s customers say that content material originality is among the prime methods a model can stand out—second solely to the standard of their service.
On this article, we clarify what social media content material pillars are, and the way manufacturers are utilizing them to information their technique. Plus, you’ll stroll away with a step-by-step course of to create your personal pillars to refine your social content material output.
What are content material pillars in social media?
Social media content material pillars are the important thing themes or content material sorts you constantly create and share throughout your social media profiles. Every pillar usually aligns to a selected objective, viewers or content material format.
They’re known as “pillars” as a result of they act as structural help in your technique, just like the columns of a Greek temple. They’re used to maintain your content material constant and related throughout every of your accounts.
Each model ought to set up a set of content material pillars. Ideally, these will overlap throughout your entire platforms, although some could also be extra vital for sure networks primarily based on its viewers and options. For instance, a trendspotting pillar may be used extra typically on TikTok than on LinkedIn. As a normal rule, you must have at the least round 3-5 pillars at anyone time. It’s best to keep away from having too many pillars, as this will dilute your model’s message.
Should you’re a meals and beverage model, for instance, your fundamental social media content material pillars may be:
These are just some examples; we discover extra real-world examples under that will help you discover the best match in your model.
Why are content material pillars vital for social media?
Social media content material pillars streamline your content material planning course of. They offer you a transparent route on the kind of content material it is advisable be making, and why.
Pillars additionally assist guarantee every put up serves a objective, speaks to a selected viewers and reinforces your model id. When your content material ladders as much as outlined pillars, your messaging stays aligned throughout all of your social platforms.
Additionally they make it easier to diversify your content material, so that you’re posting differing kinds commonly.
Widespread examples of social media content material pillars
Beneath, we’ve collected some examples of social media content material pillars from manufacturers throughout industries, and defined how every can obtain sure targets. Take into account: content material pillars aren’t one-size-fits-all. Use these examples as inspiration, however tailor your pillars to mirror your model values and the distinctiveness of your viewers.
Model messaging and storytelling content material pillars
Model messaging content material is a pillar that focuses on subjects that revolve round your model’s core id. This may be an Instagram Reel that reveals off your organization’s historical past or narrative, carousels that element your mission assertion or promo movies that visualize your positioning.
Use this pillar to construct consciousness, in addition to belief in your model and its values. This may be helpful for recruitment, and for constructing buyer relationships.
Of all these examples, this pillar is maybe the one with probably the most flexibility, as its success depends upon how properly you align the content material to the model itself. Right here’s a latest instance from the UK chocolate model Resort Chocolat.
They filmed a Reel with their firm founder on location on the firm’s first cacao farm. The video narrates the historical past of their merchandise, in addition to the corporate itself. It succeeds as a result of this content material couldn’t be successfully reproduced by every other model; it depends on the distinct heritage of Resort Chocolat.
Entertaining content material pillars
This content material pillar includes any content material created to attach together with your viewers and brighten their day. It would take the type of comedic sketches, vibrant podcast conversations or skilled adverts made with leisure in thoughts.
Entertaining content material additionally helps construct model consciousness and might improve the attain of your content material, notably for those who mix it with tendencies.
Creating entertaining social media content material is its personal problem, and is an space of social media that’s continually evolving. It’s price researching how your opponents entertain their audiences, and interested by how one can authentically adapt tendencies.
An fascinating instance of such a pillar is the UK grocery store chain Waitrose and its Dish Podcast.
The Dish podcast is entertaining due to its movie star hosts, TV chef Angela Hartnett and Nick Grimshaw, who’s a UK radio movie star. It’s additionally constructed a big following as a result of it’s mixed two favorite pastimes of social media: leisure and meals. They use celebrities and influencers and food-focused interviews to interact viewers whereas nonetheless staying related to what the model provides.
Promotional or product-focused content material pillars
This pillar covers content material particularly created to advertise your merchandise. It would embody characteristic breakdown carousels for software program instruments, demonstrations of how your service works or a reel of most of the people making an attempt your product for the primary time. It’s additionally frequent for this pillar to merge with limited-time gross sales or promotional dates like Black Friday.
The objective of promo content material is often to transform followers into gross sales. For instance, UK pharmacy chain Boots promotes a number of merchandise for festival-goers. The replace has a transparent viewers and has been timed to go reside in the course of the peak of the UK competition season in the summertime. Posts like this typically depend on a social media content material calendar to prepare well-timed promotional content material. You possibly can push your social viewers in the direction of time-sensitive exclusives or offers that may improve conversions.
Person-generated content material pillars
Person-generated content material (UGC) is a strong content material pillar—particularly for lean advertising groups. These campaigns enable your viewers to create and share content material in your model’s behalf. This may be within the type of product testing, competitions or charity challenges.
UGC builds attain and engagement. It may possibly maximise your attain by leveraging model ambassadors to extend your visibility in area of interest areas. It may possibly additionally construct and foster buyer loyalty, maintaining your model within the forefront.
UGC not solely lightens your content material creation load, it additionally builds deeper engagement. That includes your viewers’s content material can foster belief, strengthen group and spark natural conversations round your model.
One method to maximise the affect of your UGC content material pillar is to show it into timed, recurring content material drops. UK clothes model Lucy & Yak do that with their content material pillar #YakMirrorSelfieMonday.
They incentivise content material creation by providing winners a £25 “YakToken” which can be utilized to buy their merchandise. These selfies promote Lucy & Yak merchandise, whereas encouraging group engagement.
create social media content material pillars in your model
Now that you simply’ve seen some profitable social media content material pillar examples, right here’s actionable recommendation on the best way to construct your personal.
Step 1: Outline your model’s targets and viewers personas
Consider content material pillars as ladders, each serving to you progress nearer to your broader enterprise targets. To successfully create pillars, first have a look at your general model targets. Evaluate the targets made by your management workforce, and take into consideration how every of them might be achieved by your content material pillars.
Take a look at how your model targets join together with your viewers personas, as this may assist decide the aim of every pillar. Take into consideration what your viewers desires to see out of your content material, and how one can match this together with your core targets.
Some widespread targets embody elevating model consciousness, producing leads or strengthening your group. The clearer your social media targets and viewers personas are, the better it’ll be to develop profitable, long-lasting content material pillars.
Step 2: Audit your present content material for themes and efficiency
Even for those who haven’t been utilizing social media content material pillars prior to now, you’ve possible nonetheless been posting commonly. Audit all the things you’ve posted till now, and observe what’s labored properly.
Search for patterns amongst your top-performing posts; these will help you outline your future content material pillars.
Align your social metrics to your small business targets, and observe every of them commonly to assist establish the most effective indicators of what’s working. Should you’re trying to construct a group for instance, observe feedback and shares. If you wish to increase model consciousness, have a look at attain and likes. This can decide which of your pillars is performing properly, and which must be optimized. Suppose additionally about how general success on socials is measured by advertising leaders in the present day, based on the 2025 Sprout Social Index, like general engagement, viewers development and social interactions.
When you’ve recognized related patterns in your knowledge, you can begin to formally strategise your pillars.
Step 3: Select 3-5 repeatable content material pillar themes
Outline round three to 5 core themes that may function your fundamental content material pillars. Prioritise any that occurred naturally whereas auditing your present content material first. Additionally, have a look at what’s lacking from these pillars, and create one or two extra pillars to fill these gaps.
Attempt to strike a stability between your model’s priorities and what your viewers is excited about. To do that, map out the principle targets of every pillar and decide how aligned they’re with each your viewers personas and your core social media targets.
Keep in mind that not like Greek temples, your social media content material pillars don’t need to be set in stone. You possibly can evaluation them once more in a number of months’ time, and also can add new pillars for those who discover an rising alternative.
Step 4: Plan your combine throughout channels
When you’ve outlined your pillars, plan the best way to carry them to life throughout your totally different social channels.
Every of your pillars ought to change barely primarily based on the platform you’re utilizing. For instance, you may flex your product-focused pillar as an Instagram Reel, however then flip this right into a demo breakdown video for TikTok or an interactive webinar for LinkedIn.
Should you’re not sure the best way to tweak your social media content material pillars throughout totally different platforms, check with Sprout’s 2024 Social Media Content material Technique Report. In it, you’ll discover data-driven insights into which content material codecs and kinds ought to be prioritised on every community.
measure the efficiency of your social media content material pillars
As soon as your content material pillars are in place and also you’re constantly creating content material round them, it’s time to trace how each is performing. Efficiency measuring is far simpler for those who use Sprout Tagging.
Create a separate, distinctive Tag for every of your pillars, and tag each piece of content material you add with its respective pillar. You possibly can view tagged content material throughout your calendar to ensure you’re diversifying your output.
Then, use the Tag Efficiency Report to trace how particular person content material is performing throughout every of your pillars. Formalise this course of right into a tagging technique to achieve clearer insights into which pillars work greatest in your model, and which want tweaking or altering.
Construct your social media content material pillars to spice up content material efficiency
With outlined social media content material pillars, you may create a simpler social content material calendar and work to raised obtain your wider social media targets. The extra perception you will have into content material efficiency, the better it’s to refine your pillars over time.
Mix your pillars with extra insights into social media content material expectations by downloading the 2025 Sprout Social Index™. You’ll discover an outline of person expectations, in addition to knowledge that may inform the way you construct your social workforce to organize for the way forward for digital advertising.
Social Media Content material Pillar FAQs
What are some frequent errors groups make with social media content material pillars?
One frequent mistake is just not interested by which pillars will work greatest on which social platforms. Be sure that pillars overlap, however take into consideration which networks and audiences work greatest with them. One other mistake is just not refining or altering your pillars over time as your small business grows and your viewers evolves.
What are the three E’s of social media content material pillars?
The three E’s stand for interact, entertain and educate. These ought to be the foundational pillars of your technique. All the things you put up on socials ought to be doing at the least one in every of these three.
