If you’re here, you’re not alone. You’re one of thousands of creatives around the world who are struggling to feed the insatiable content monster while still finding time to do what you love— that spark that brought you here in the first place. While content may seem abstract, if you step back and take a look at it from the outside, you’ll find that there’s actually a formula, or building blocks to be more specific. They’re known as “content pillars”.

What are Content Pillars?

Content Pillars are topics or themes that all of your content can be sorted into, be it blogs, social media posts, etc. To find your brand’s content pillars, you’ll need to view your business and content on a macro level. Look at your posts, especially the ones that seem to resonate with your clients. For creative brands like photographers and event designers, we think you’ll find that your content falls into two pillars: inspiration and education. 

Now that you have your pillars, you can dig deeper into each of them…

The best place to start is with a long-form blog. We know, it may sound like just one more thing to add to your never-ending to-do list. But, trust us when we say it’s crucial to creating a steady flow of content for yourself and an invaluable resource for your clients. If you don’t already have one, we’d be happy to set one up for you–it’s kind of our thing 😉. From there you can brainstorm topics that interest you or that may help your clients. 

Inspiration Pillar

You may not realize it but you’re constantly adding to this pillar, though you’re probably not maximizing your ROI. Any Pinterest board you’ve ever made, any innovative collab or project that you’ve done, any examples of your work with real clients–all of these fall into your inspiration pillar and can easily be used to create content and engage with potential clients. Most topics or themes in your inspiration pillar will fall under one of these three categories: trends, innovations, or real clients. 

The best part of the inspiration pillar is that the possibilities are infinite! We will never run out of trends. And as a creative, we know that you’re always over one thing and on to the next. Use your blog to tell your clients what you’re excited about. Introduce them to a new color, a trending photography aesthetic, or an exotic new venue find. 

The inspiration category also frees up time for you to play creatively, to experiment with new techniques, and work with new teams–to innovate. Blog about a workshop you’re hosting, a model casting, or your inspiration and ideas behind your latest creative venture. 

And, you’d be surprised just how many brands miss out on the gold mine that is a real client portfolio! Not only does this allow you to showcase your work, but it provides security and inspiration to potential clients–proof of concept if you will. 

Education Pillar

Now, let’s dive into the education pillar. This is your opportunity to tell your potential and existing clients everything you wish they knew. Use this pillar to answer these questions: What is _?, How to _, and How Much _? For example, if you’re a photographer, you may write a post on second shooters: “What is a Second Shooter and do I need one for my Wedding?” An event planner may write a post helping their couples understand their wedding budget like: “How Much Of My Wedding Budget Should I Allocate for Flowers?” The education pillar can also be a space to share helpful tips with your audience like: “5 Ways to Cope With the Pre-Ceremony Nerves” or “The Best Ways to Pose for Your Couple Portraits”. You can also include posts to help your clients avoid common etiquette mistakes like, “PSA: Remember to Feed Your Vendors” 😂. 

Once you have those basic pillars in the form of a blog post, you can easily use them to create social media content. Use excerpts from the text as the captions, use a mix of corresponding photos, and most importantly, make sure you’re directing your clients to more related content (on your channels). 

Even though we’ve broken it down into bite-sized portions, we totally get that there’s already a lot on your plate. Let us take care of this for you. At Masterfully Managed we can work with you to identify your brand’s content pillars, create a plan, and even add to them in the form of blog and social media posts. You’ll continue to do what you love–and we’ll take care of the rest–content pillars and all. 

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