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Content pillars set the foundation for your brand’s content marketing strategy by developing expertise around the core topics your audience cares most about.
The comprehensive coverage of pillar content helps establish topical authority. This topical authority, along with internal and external linking from pillar content to cluster content, helps improve SEO performance.
Once you’ve established the subjects you want to cover, here are some ideas for ways to incorporate topical content into your strategy:
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Explain a pillar topic in depth in a long-form article. Use this article as an information hub from which you can ‘spoke’ related topic cluster articles and dig into further details and other angles of the topic.
For example, a digital marketing agency might choose “Social Media Marketing Strategy” as a content pillar topic to establish authority. Some examples of related “What is” content hub articles might include:
These titles and topics should be chosen based on popular search queries from a brand’s target audience.
Create detailed how-to posts that walk readers through every step of a process with clear and comprehensive instructions. These articles help to build authority by providing helpful, relevant information in the form of a tutorial, often solving a problem for the audience.
For the topic of “Social Media Marketing Strategy,” a content marketer might plan how-to content pillars like these:
These thorough walkthroughs of a process or solution demonstrate the brand’s expertise while matching the target audience’s search intent. A how-to is effective hub content and can branch out into articles covering other closely related topics, boosting topical authority and engaging your audience.
Complete or definitive guides are the most comprehensive post types, going in-depth on all aspects of a particular content pillar.
The thorough coverage provides relevant, valuable information to the reader and answers multiple questions about the topic, establishing the brand as an expert.
Guide articles for a content pillar of “Social Media Marketing Strategy” might include:
Due to their in-depth coverage, definitive and complete guides tend to be longer than other posts, but length isn’t the goal.
The goal is to create helpful, reliable, people-first content with substantial value and comprehensive coverage. The article should be as long as it takes to be complete and definitive.
Show off your real-life results with a curated collection of case studies and testimonials. Demonstrate value and expertise to your audience by letting your success stories speak for your brand and reveal how you’ve helped your customers.
To demonstrate authority on “Social Media Marketing Strategy,” case studies and testimonial collections might include:
In-depth articles about how actual clients benefited from a product or service display authenticity and build trust.
Like case studies and testimonials reveal your expertise and authority to your audience, user-generated content (UGC) is fantastic at delivering social proof and showcasing people engaging with your brand in real life. UGC reflects authenticity, builds trust, and is highly shareable and cost-effective.
User-generated content includes photos, videos, social media content, blog mentions, and other media created by customers, clients, or the community.
Ideas for UGC collections as pillar content might include:
Leverage your audience’s voices to show real-life examples of how your brand is interacting with the world.
Publishing thought leadership pillar content, through blog articles, videos, podcasts, or guest posts, is one of the most effective ways to establish topical authority.
Original content and research through studies, surveys, reports, and analyses provide clear evidence that a brand has undeniable expertise in a topic.
Some examples of thought leadership content pillars for the topical authority on “Social Media Marketing Strategy” might include:
Thought leadership content offers your audience exclusive, valuable information while establishing your brand’s credibility and expertise in your field.
Any of these content pillar ideas can be a hub for cluster content and naturally connect to cluster topics. A well-planned content pillar establishes a clear path to topical authority while providing comprehensive coverage of subjects your audience is searching for.
Through people-first content that serves your readers and effective internal and external linking between pillars and clusters, you improve brand visibility, build credibility, and create valuable conversion opportunities.
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Then, learn more in our pillar content series:
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