Sun Tzu once famously said, “Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” The same principle applies to content creation. Without a well-defined strategy built on strong content pillars, your efforts can become scattered, ineffective, and fail to drive meaningful engagement.
As we move into 2025, creating a content strategy rooted in strong content pillars is essential for staying relevant and driving engagement.
In this blog, we’ll explore 12 examples of high-performing content pillars that will inspire your social media game, keep your audience engaged, and build a cohesive brand presence.
What are content pillars?
Content pillars are the core themes or topics that form the foundation of your content strategy on your social channels. They help you create focused, relevant content that aligns with your audience’s needs and your business objectives.
6 Strategic Benefits of Content Pillars
Content pillars are essential for shaping an effective content strategy. Here’s why they matter:
- Focus and Consistency:
Define core themes to align your content with your brand voice, ensuring consistency and keeping your audience engaged. - Streamlined Content Creation:
Simplify brainstorming and planning with clear direction, saving time and improving efficiency in content production. - Boosted SEO and Targeting:
Organize related content around pillars to improve SEO rankings and better address your audience’s needs. - Authority and Trust Building:
Establish expertise by consistently delivering high-quality content, strengthening audience trust. - Efficient Resource Allocation:
Prioritize key topics to maximize the impact of your time, budget, and resources. - Measurement and Optimization:
Track performance by pillar, analyze results, and refine your strategy to achieve better outcomes.
Defining content pillars simplifies content creation and builds authority and engagement in your niche over time. Let’s look at 12 examples of how you can use content pillars to build your brand on social media.
12 examples of high-performing content pillars for your social media
1. Educational content
Educational content is a powerful content pillar that is used to position your brand as an authority while providing real value to your audience. By offering tips, tutorials, and industry insights, you not only help your audience learn but also build trust and establish your brand as a go-to resource.
For instance, Ahrefs focuses on SEO and digital marketing education through its blog and YouTube channel.
By offering in-depth tutorials on SEO, link-building, and keyword research, they go beyond promoting their tools to provide actionable solutions for real-world challenges.
This approach drives significant organic traffic and showcases their tool’s relevance in solving audience problems.
2. Inspirational stories
Humans are naturally drawn to stories that inspire and motivate. Sharing success stories, personal anecdotes, or testimonials that resonate with your audience’s aspirations and values can foster a deeper emotional connection with your brand while boosting engagement.
Inspirational content serves as a powerful content pillar, helping brands build trust and loyalty through relatable narratives on social channels.
Salesforce leverages inspirational stories on LinkedIn to highlight its commitment to inclusivity and accessibility.
By showcasing initiatives like mentoring programs, where seasoned employees guide candidates through interviews and celebrating their inclusive work environment for employees with disabilities, Salesforce inspires engagement and reinforces their role as a leader in corporate responsibility.
3. Behind-the-scenes sneak peeks
Transparency is key to building trust with your audience, and behind-the-scenes content is a powerful way for SaaS companies to achieve this.
By offering glimpses into your product development, team culture, or day-to-day operations, you humanize your brand and help your audience connect with the people and processes behind the platform.
This type of content fosters authenticity, builds loyalty, and makes your audience feel like part of your journey.
Notion Instagram Story series from their retreat, “Make with Notion,” is a standout example of behind-the-scenes content that offers a promise of much more to come.
Through these stories, Notion invites its followers into an exclusive look at their event, which includes speaker sessions and product launches.
By sharing these moments on Instagram for the world to see, Notion builds excitement and inclusivity, giving followers a front-row seat to the action.
This example shows how a business can utilize behind-the-scenes content to connect deeply with an audience while generating buzz around a brand’s culture and innovation.
4. User Generated Content
According to a 2022 Mckinsey article, the “big idea” in 2020s marketing is reaching consumers and helping them participate in your brand.
Your audience is your biggest advocate, and user-generated content (UGC) is a powerful way to harness that advocacy.
By featuring reviews, testimonials, or creative projects created by your users, UGC validates your brand’s credibility, drives engagement, and fosters a sense of belonging among your community.
Trello’s X page showcases user-generated content to highlight the versatility of their tool.
These posts effectively engage the audience by showing how Trello simplifies organization and inspires others to share their own success stories.
5. Interactive polls and quizzes
Engagement is the name of the game in today’s social media landscape. Polls and quizzes are fun and interactive ways to involve your audience, gather valuable feedback, and gain insights into their preferences and interests.
By encouraging participation, you create a two-way conversation that strengthens the bond between you and your audience.
Look at Monday.com’s X page. This brand leverages interactive questions and quizzes brilliantly to engage their audience and gather insights.
These interactive posts are designed to spark creativity and interaction. In addition to this, they also boost engagement and help the brand understand their users better, making their content more relatable and impactful.
6. How-to guides and DIYs
People love practical, actionable content that they can apply to their own lives. Share step-by-step guides or do-it-yourself (DIY) tutorials related to your products, services, or industry.
How-to content educates your audience and demonstrates the real-world applications of your offerings, driving engagement and establishing your brand as a valuable resource.
Ahrefs’ X page is a great example of leveraging how-to guides and DIY content for social media. One standout post includes a video tutorial on addressing content gaps, complete with examples.
The video simplifies a complex topic, helping users quickly grasp the concept while showcasing Ahrefs’ expertise.
This approach works well on social media by delivering valuable, actionable insights in an easily digestible format, encouraging users to engage and learn more.
7. Trending topics and news commentary
Staying relevant is crucial in a fast-paced digital world. Keep your audience informed and engaged by discussing trending topics, industry news, or current events within your niche.
Offering your perspective or insights on timely issues demonstrates your brand’s awareness and keeps your audience coming back for more.
In 2015, HubSpot’s X page tapped into the buzz around Lady Gaga, who was in the news for her Oscars performance and artistic transition.
HubSpot connected this trending moment to marketing principles, showcasing Gaga as an example of exceptional branding and storytelling.
By aligning their content with a hot topic, HubSpot stayed culturally relevant, engaging their audience by tying Lady Gaga’s evolution to valuable marketing insights.
This strategy demonstrated how leveraging current events can amplify engagement and make content more relatable.
8. Entertaining content
Laughter is universal, and humor is a powerful tool for connecting with your audience on a personal level. Incorporate humor, memes, or entertaining videos into your content mix to provide a welcome break from the mundane.
A staggering 8 in 10 marketers agree that funny content is the most effective for social media, as highlighted by WPBeginner.
And this is because entertaining content humanizes your brand and makes it more relatable to your audience, fostering a sense of camaraderie and loyalty.
HubSpot’s LinkedIn page effectively uses entertaining content to engage their audience with humor. For example, they shared two lighthearted business jokes that resonated with their professional audience, sparking significant reactions and shares.
These posts combine relatability and fun, offering a break from the usual professional tone.
The strong engagement these posts received highlights the power of humor in sparking conversations and building an approachable brand image.
9. Product spotlights and reviews
Your products or services are the heart of your brand, so why not showcase them in the best possible light? Highlight your offerings through in-depth reviews, demonstrations, or comparisons.
Product spotlights not only showcase the features and benefits of your offerings but also help potential customers make informed purchase decisions.
Zapier effectively uses product spotlights and reviews to engage their audience on LinkedIn by showcasing practical updates and features.
For instance, they highlight product improvements designed to simplify workflows, paired with actionable explanations to help users see the immediate benefits.
In another example, they introduce a new feature with a concise, visually appealing explainer video, making the information easy to understand and apply.
These LinkedIn posts not only inform their audience but also build trust, demonstrating Zapier’s commitment to constantly improve the user experience.
10. Industry expert interviews
Position yourself as a thought leader within your niche by conducting interviews with industry experts, influencers, or thought leaders.
Expert interviews provide valuable insights, increase your brand’s credibility, and attract a broader audience interested in your industry.
At TimeSmart.ai, their highest performing content pillar is ‘Industry Insights.‘ They share relevant news, blog posts, and resources related to their ICP to position their brand as a thought leader in the industry.
Jade Dsa from their marketing team explains, “By providing valuable resources and educational content, we strive to show commitment to adding value to the industry, and this has been leading to increased visibility and brand awareness.”
Similarly, HubSpot and Ahrefs effectively use industry expert interviews to engage their audiences.
HubSpot’s LinkedIn posts highlight a growth playbook featuring expert insights and promote their presence at a conference, inviting attendees to visit their booth for demos.
Ahrefs hosted a global conference in Singapore, sharing opportunities to learn marketing strategies and enhance SEO skills. These posts showcase thought leadership and provide valuable learning opportunities, reinforcing their authority in their industries.
11. Seasonal and holiday content
Capitalize on seasonal themes, holidays, or special occasions to add variety to your content mix.
Tailoring your content to align with timely events shows that you’re in tune with your audience’s interests. This helps you capitalize on opportunities to engage with them in meaningful ways.
Asana creatively leverages seasonal and holiday content to engage their audience. One example is their “’Tis the Season for Strategic Planning” post, which includes a poll hinting at the Christmas season, encouraging users to share their planning habits.
Another example is their Halloween-themed update, which highlights October’s product features while addressing challenges with playful language like, “Stirring up your project’s cauldron with too many stakeholders?”
These posts effectively tie product updates to festive themes, making their content both engaging and timely.
12. Customer stories and testimonials
Your customers are the lifeblood of your business, so why not let them do the talking? Share real-life stories and testimonials from satisfied customers to build trust, validate your brand’s value proposition, and encourage others to engage with your products or services.
Zendesk effectively uses customer stories and testimonials to showcase the impact of their solutions.
Their case studies, shared on social platforms, illustrate Zendesk’s value while building credibility and trust with potential customers.
The bottom line
Building a robust social media strategy starts with identifying the right content pillars. These 12 examples demonstrate how versatile content pillars can be in creating a consistent, engaging, and relevant brand presence.
By integrating these pillars into your strategy, you can cater to diverse audience preferences, and build trust. Position your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
Don’t shy away from experimenting with new formats across your social channel. Find what resonates with your audience and aligning it with your overarching business goals.
Ready to take your content strategy to the next level? Schedule a consultation with our experts today.
FAQ
1. What are pillar content examples?
Pillar content examples include educational posts, inspirational stories, behind-the-scenes content, user-generated content, how-to guides, product spotlights, interactive polls, and trending topic discussions.
2. What is a content pillar?
A content pillar is a central theme or topic that forms the foundation of your content strategy. It helps guide your content creation by aligning it with your audience’s interests and your business goals.
3. How do I figure out my content pillars?
To identify your content pillars, focus on topics where your expertise overlaps with your audience’s needs, challenges, and goals. These will be your content pillars that align with your business values and objectives.
