The 5 Content Pillars: The Foundations of Social Media Marketing
When you stop to think about it, it’s amazing how quickly social media has evolved. From ‘neat timewaster’, to ‘handy tool’, to ‘indispensable marketing instrument’ in just a few short years, social platforms are bigger, badder, and busier than ever.
With billions hopping online each day for personal use, news, and to keep up with their favourite brands, not making time for social media for your brand is like walking past a $100 bill on the ground because it would take too long to pick it up.
It makes sense then that almost all businesses and entrepreneurs have a social media presence, with everyone aiming to capture the attention of their users wherever they can. Of course, with so many different platforms and social media styles to consider, it can be tough to know where to start.
That’s why, as a small business owner, a solid content strategy is a must-have. A good plan helps to keep your social media marketing focused, on-brand, and effective at spreading your message. So how do you go about creating this strategy and, more importantly, setting it into action?
Mapping Out Your Content Pillars for Social Media
Here at BNL, social media strategy is our cake and champagne (that’s like bread and butter, but more fun). When developing new content plans for our clients, we always work on a foundation of what we call the 5 content pillars. These pillars are:
Brand Awareness
Education
Entertainment
News and Media Sources
Sales
So what’s the deal with these foundational bits of social media marketing? How do you do each one? When should you use one over the other? Is there such a thing as a perfect balance between them for the best results? Do you literally need a degree in marketing to break a thousand followers? Let’s break it down.
Pillar #1: Brand Awareness
Think about a successful brand that doesn’t do much brand awareness work. Hint: you probably can’t. Before a social media user even thinks about giving you their business, they need to first be aware of you. That’s where brand awareness comes in.
This is the basis of any successful brand you see online. It focuses on increasing the visibility and recognition of your brand, which allows people to get acquainted with not only your work, but also your business’ values and overall vibe. When creating awareness content, focus on making a connection with your followers first and foremost—the rest will follow.
This looks different for everyone, but there are a few ways we often try to raise brand awareness for our clients. Sharing high-end content that shows off your brand’s unique story, values, and qualities is a great example. Think eye-catching graphics, engaging videos, and compelling social media caption copy. You should also be looking into popular hashtags and geotags that will help put your brand in front of your target demographic.
Another great way to boost awareness is by collaborating with influencers and other brands to spread the word, particularly through social media contests like giveaways. Try to find aligned accounts with larger followings you can tap into—the bigger your collaborator, the more buzz your brand is bound to get.
Pillar #2: Education
Another vital step in your content marketing strategy, education is all about providing something of value to your audience. If 100% of your posts are self-promotion, people will start to disengage, either because they’ve already bought something, or are simply no longer interested.
However, if you can share interesting, relevant, industry-specific knowledge on a niche topic, your social media suddenly becomes multi-use, making it a much more appealing follow for the average scroller. Remember: you’re on social media, not sales media!
When considering your educational content, keep your audience in mind at all times. What are their pain points? What questions do they have about your products, services, or industry in general that you could teach them about? The more valuable and targeted your educational content, the more engagement you’ll tend to get.
Pillar #3: Entertainment
This is our favourite pillar of content marketing. Can you guess why?
Entertainment is all about having fun and building an emotional connection with your audience. This is your chance to drop the pretense of being overly professional, formal, and serious, and give your followers a chance to get something a little different out of your page.
The only thing to consider when creating entertainment content is to strike that all-important balance. It should always feel aligned with your brand’s image and values (a funeral home probably shouldn’t make a habit of posting memes, for instance) even if it still feels like a departure from your usual posting.
From reposting a funny meme to creating your own quirky videos, there’s always something new to use as entertainment for the informed social media strategist. Give your audience a little comic relief from time to time—it’ll help them stick around for the long haul.
Pillar #4: News and Media Sources
Many people turn to social media over traditional methods like cable news or websites to stay informed. While it’s not your job to keep people up-to-date on everything that’s going on in the world (that would get out of hand), it can be a good idea to use your page as a place to share important updates that directly affect your industry.
If you’re a Canadian mortgage broker, it’s a good idea to make a post every time the Bank of Canada’s interest rate changes. If you’re in the legal industry, you could create posts for important cases or new laws. But if your industry isn’t often impacted by the news, you should still share the latest info about your company via social media.
You can also think about ‘news’ in a more general sense, using it as a part of your strategy to connect with your audience. Keep people posted on major events happening locally, whether you’re involved in them or not. The more people learn from your page, the more likely they are to hit that ‘follow’ button.
Pillar #5: Sales
The final pillar of social media marketing is also the most obvious. While your social strategy should never be solely focused on selling your services or products, it’s still a vital part of your overall strategy. So how does it work?
First and foremost, you never, ever want to come off as pushy or salesy. There are subtler, more effective ways to convert social media followers into paying customers. You could try uploading product demos, advertising special promotions, or announcing limited-time offers on social media. Do your best to create content that seamlessly integrates your sales message into the overall user experience.
You can also pair sales with any of the above pillars (especially education), identifying pain points and adding in strong calls to action (CTAs) to drive conversion and revenue. Ultimately, the key to great sales content is to continuously think about a mixture of value for your audience and promotion for your business.
Putting Content Pillars Into Action
You’ve learned about content pillars, and now it’s time to create your plan and set it into motion.
First, create a list for each content pillar and brainstorm some ideas on specific types of posts you could do for each category, from product features to testimonials. Then, consider what percentage of your posts you’ll allocate to each pillar. This is always flexible, so it’s best to try something and tweak it as time goes on.
From here, it’s just a matter of paying attention to your social media growth goals versus your actual performance, ensuring a steady stream of high-value, high-quality content, and remaining engaged with other accounts on a consistent basis!
Now, if that sounds like a ton of work, we understand. Small business owners like you are already dedicated to their companies, working tirelessly to keep things running smoothly. While important, we know better than anyone how time consuming an effective social media presence can be.
Chart Your Course With BNL
We’re here with a new offering to help small business owners develop their own roadmap to social media success:
Social Media Strategy Sessions
Through a 75-minute strategy call with one of our lead unicorns, you’ll learn and apply these essential content pillars to your own business, helping to identify a new strategy that will drive revenue and grow your following. Plus, if you need some help on the actual social media management side after your strategy is created, we’re here for that too.
To learn more about our social media strategy sessions, book a free discovery call at the link below and one of our unicorns will be in touch shortly!