Content pillars: how to choose them, with examples by industry
Content pillars are the three to five subjects a brand posts about again and again, each with a fixed share of the month. Choose them from what your customers need to know before they buy, not from the formats you like making. Give every pillar a percentage, plan the calendar against those shares, and check each month whether the split still matches what is selling.
What a content pillar is, and what it is not
A pillar is a subject, not a format. "Reels" is not a pillar. "Behind the scenes" is a format looking for a subject. "How our serum is made" is a pillar, because it is about something the customer cares about and it can be told as a reel, a carousel or a single post.
A good pillar passes three tests:
- A customer would miss it. If you stopped posting it, someone who might buy from you would know less.
- It can run for a year. You can think of twelve different posts for it without repeating yourself.
- It belongs to you. A competitor could not post the same thing word for word.
How many pillars you need
Four is the right number for most brands. Three is fine for a small business posting three times a week. Past five, the month gets split so thin that no subject gets enough posts to land.
Every industry playbook inside Planist uses four pillars, for this reason.
How to choose yours, in four steps
- List the questions customers ask before they buy. Ask whoever answers the phone, the DMs or the shop floor. Those questions are your first pillar, usually something like education or how-to.
- Write down what makes you different, in one sentence. That sentence becomes a pillar: where you make it, how you make it, who makes it.
- Name the proof. Reviews, results, finished projects, customers using what you sell. Proof is almost always a pillar.
- Give the offer a pillar of its own, and keep it the smallest. Offers work better when they are not every post.
Splitting the month between them
A pillar without a share is a wish. Give each one a percentage and plan to it. A store posting four times a week makes about seventeen posts a month. At 40% for products, that is seven product posts, and you can see on the calendar whether you made them.
Here is one real example. VELA, a fictional skincare label built to demonstrate Planist, runs on four pillars that Planist wrote from its website at onboarding:
| Pillar | Share | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| The Barrier Edit | 30% | What the skin barrier does and how the products protect it |
| The Six-Step Ritual | 25% | How the six products are used, in order |
| Made in Beirut | 20% | Where and how the products are made |
| Plain Talk | 25% | Honest answers: prices, ingredients, what a product will not do |
Here is VELA's October, planned against those shares. Each slot is one post, with its channel, its format and where it stands in approval.
Examples by industry
These pillar sets are quoted from Planist's industry playbooks, which are what its planner starts from before a brand's own strategy takes over. Use them as a first draft, then rename each pillar in your brand's own words.
Restaurants and cafés
- The food40%
- The people20%
- Offers and occasions25%
- The place15%
Online stores
- Products40%
- Use and how-to20%
- Offers25%
- Customers15%
Real estate developers
- Properties35%
- The area20%
- Proof and progress25%
- Buying guidance20%
Clinics
- Education35%
- Trust and team25%
- Patient stories20%
- Offers and reminders20%
Fashion labels
- The pieces40%
- How to wear it25%
- Drops and offers20%
- Community15%
Hotels and resorts
- The place35%
- The experience30%
- Offers20%
- Guests15%
Schools
- Learning in action35%
- Teachers and method25%
- Results and events20%
- Enrolment20%
Software and apps
- Problems solved35%
- Customers25%
- Product news20%
- Point of view20%
Professional firms
- Answers40%
- Cases25%
- People20%
- Point of view15%
Non-profits
- Stories35%
- The work30%
- Impact15%
- How to help20%
There are deeper guides for restaurants and real estate.
Mistakes that break a pillar plan
- Too many pillars. Seven pillars at three posts a week means each one appears about twice a month. Nobody notices a subject that rarely.
- Pillars that are formats. "Memes" and "videos" are ways of telling something. They need a subject.
- The offer pillar takes over. When sales are slow, the temptation is to turn every post into an offer. The feed then gives nobody a reason to follow it.
- Generic names. "Educational" tells the writer nothing. "What the barrier actually does" tells them exactly what to write.
- Never checking. Look at the month's results by pillar. If one pillar brings the enquiries, give it more of the next month.
Questions people ask
- What are content pillars in social media?
- They are the three to five subjects a brand posts about consistently, each with a set share of the month. They keep a feed focused and make it easier to plan a month without starting from a blank page every time.
- How many content pillars should a brand have?
- Four suits most brands. Three works for a small business posting three times a week. More than five spreads the month too thin.
- What is the difference between a content pillar and a content format?
- A pillar is what the post is about. A format is how it is told: a reel, a carousel, a single image, a story. One pillar should work in several formats.
- How often should content pillars change?
- Keep the pillars for at least a year and change the shares month to month. Changing the subjects often confuses your followers. Changing the balance is how you respond to what is working.