Are you sick of watching everyone else create a strong, engaged Instagram following? I used to feel the same way. There are lucky people that gain massive followings, but that just wasn’t my luck. I learned, and I’m going to teach you, how to create engaging content for Instagram using content pillars so that you can start building your ideal audience.

What are Content Pillars?

Simply put, content pillars are overarching categories meant to inspire content for social media posts, blog posts and videos. Some content pillars can be purely for fun, but they work best if they are solutions to your followers’ problems. Providing information that is valuable to your followers will give them an incentive to follow you. If your goal is to grow your audience, you need to figure out who your audience is and what is troubling them. 

• Who is your ideal follower?
• What problems are they having?
• How can your content solve that?

Content pillars are a strategic way to build your following through hyper-targeted, relevant posts that speak to your audience. They give you direction on where to go with your content. 

You will be amazed by how quickly the ideas and inspiration flow once you have that seed idea or a direction to follow (i.e. your content pillars). 

Why are Content Pillars So Important?

What’s the big deal about content pillars? Can’t you just create posts when inspiration strikes? Sure, but if you want to truly grow your following, you need to be purposeful with your posts.

Content pillars have many benefits:

• Organization: Your content pillars give you direction and keep your posts organized. Instead of just creating content when the mood strike, your posts have a purpose. You have a detailed calendar of ideas that cover topics your followers are actually interested in.
• Brainstorming: Coming up with fresh ideas is tough. Content pillars help you stay focused and narrow down your ideas to the most relevant ones.
• Relevance: Each content pillar you identify will help you create content for specific segments of your audience. This way, you never leave any of your followers out. 

Suggestions on How to Create Content Pillars

Now that you understand what content pillars are, you can get to work creating yours. But where do you start?

There’s a good chance that you already know what your pillars are – you just haven’t written them down. 

Here are a few simple ways to identify content pillars:

• Use your buyer personas and profiles to identify pain points
• Ask your audience what they want to see
• See who your ideal follower follows and analyze their content
• Pay attention to questions asked by your followers

Here’s a little homework assignment: Do some research and try to identify 4-6 content pillars. These are the pillars that you’ll use to brainstorm more specific topics under each one. I recommend setting aside time every month to brainstorm fresh ideas so that you always have something new to post.

To succeed with your content pillars, you really need to know your audience. When you know your followers, you can create content that they want to see. 

Identifying your content pillars doesn’t have to be a complicated process. It helps to have some guidance, and that’s where I come in. I’ve been down this road, and l want to help you avoid the same mistakes and pitfalls I faced.