Content Pillars 101

Content pillars are an integral part of any successful and fully functional content marketing strategy. Professional content marketing firms will tell any serious company that in order to have the best possible content marketing strategy they must have content pillars in place.

What Are Content Pillars?

Content pillars are essentially content or a topic that can be divided into many sections or areas. Think of the content pillar as a theme under which all other content falls or a large theme or idea broken into several smaller sustainable parts. These pillars are mapped out and then executed.

EBooks and reports are common ways of compiling a content pillar.

Content pillars are important because they allow your content marketing team to generate appropriate content for multiple channels. A content pillar lends itself to divisions into many mediums. Perhaps your divide your pillar into blog posts, infographics and videos.

Content marketing in many areas can be tricky. By sorting things out though a content pillar, difficult areas can be focused on and emphasized.

How to Use a Content Pillar

Implementing a content pillar in your company’s content marketing strategy is easier than you think. The first step is creating a plan. Knowing the direction your company wishes to go in is important. Once you have determined a direction you can create a pillar.

Creating a pillar not only aids in content marketing but makes it easier.

Perhaps you own a small soap shop in small town Utah. Your soap shop hires a local Utah content marketing firm to help you develop your content pillars. The firm helps you determine where you want to go with your content development and together you decide you want to focus on the moisturizing benefits of your soap during the Utah winters.

Your content pillar could then focus on the benefits of moisturizing in the winter.

After you determine your content pillar theme or subject you then divide and conquer. Perhaps you divide the pillar into blog posts, infographics, articles and videos. When talking with your content marketing team develop solid ideas that work for each individual area of the pillar and compile your ideas.

Perhaps your infographic will include Utah landmarks covered in snow and images of chapped lips or skin. With the information included on the infographic your team has the ability create a solid infographic that falls in line with your pillar.

Other areas of the pillar may be more difficult to execute so use your time to develop solid ideas that fulfill other parts of your pillar. You may have to return and tweak your pillar to broaden the idea if you find that it is impossible to divide or execute.

Maddison Driggs writes for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. She writes for many other clients as well. Follow on Twitter.