Running out of ideas is a problem of how you set themes
The worry social media managers mention most is running out of ideas. At the start you have plenty you want to post, but once you have used up new products and announcements, you no longer know what to write. The result is repeating the same product promotion in different words, or more posts that are only seasonal greetings.
You run out of ideas not because there is nothing to talk about, but because you haven't decided where to look for topics. Inside any company or shop there is endless material: daily work tips, questions from customers, staff experiences. Content pillars are slots you set up in advance to catch that material.
What is a pillar?
A pillar is a fairly broad theme you can post about repeatedly. "Spring's new cake" is the theme of one post, but "seasonal new items" is a pillar. Inside a pillar, you put a different specific topic each time.
Three to five pillars is a good guide. With two or fewer, topics get monotonous, and with six or more, each pillar appears too rarely and it becomes unclear what the account is about.
Pillars fall into four broad types.
| Type | What you post | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Useful | How-tos, how to choose, answers to common questions | Solves readers' problems and prompts saves and shares |
| Personality | Behind the scenes, staff, your commitment | Makes people feel close to your company or shop |
| Products and services | New products, real examples, how pricing works | Gives people a reason to buy or ask |
| Announcements | Opening days, events, campaigns | Reliably delivers the information people need |
Combine these four to build your own pillars. It is important not to build pillars out of only products and services and announcements. An account that is only promotion gives people little reason to follow it.
How to find pillars
From customer questions
Write down what you are asked again and again by phone, email, in the shop and through contact forms. What you are asked often is what people who haven't asked want to know too. This is where "useful" pillars come from.
From your workflow
Break down the path by which products and services reach customers, such as sourcing, preparation, work, finishing and delivery. Processes people don't normally see can become posts on their own. This is where "personality" pillars come from.
From what only you can say
Write down how you differ from competitors. Your area, how the company began, a craftsperson's experience, the materials you use: facts only your company can write. Mixing these facts into every pillar keeps your posts from turning into generalities.
Examples of pillars by industry
These are examples to help you grasp the idea. Don't use them as they are; rewrite them in your own words.
| Industry | Example pillars |
|---|---|
| Restaurant | Seasonal menu, behind-the-scenes prep, where ingredients come from, staff introductions, opening-day announcements |
| Hair salon / beauty salon | Real examples of treatments, care at home, staff specialties, appointment availability |
| Home renovation | Before and after of work, common damage and when to inspect, how costs work, craftspeople |
| Manufacturing (B2B) | Technical explanations, how products are used, factory equipment, trade show announcements |
| Cram school / classes | Study tips, what the classroom is like, instructors, seasonal course information |
| Recruiting | A day in the life of staff, workplace atmosphere, steps to joining, job openings |
How these work in each industry is also introduced on use-case pages such as social media for restaurants.
Decide the mix
Once pillars are set, decide how much of each to post in a month. There is no correct fixed ratio, but keeping promotion and announcements to half or less of all posts tends to make the account valuable to readers.
For example, with three posts a week and 12 a month, allocate 4 useful, 3 personality, 3 products and services and 2 announcements. In campaign or new-product periods you can increase the share of products and increase useful posts in other periods to balance across months.
Decide the mix in the month layer of your content calendar and fit it to days of the week in the week layer. Fixing a pillar to each weekday (useful on Mondays, announcements on Fridays, for example) makes weekly planning even easier.
How to write pillars down
Once pillars are decided, write these four items for each one and share them with the team. Writing them down lets a new person in charge keep going with the same pillars, and they also serve as material when you ask AI for drafts.
| What to write | Example (the "common damage and when to inspect" pillar for home renovation) |
|---|---|
| Pillar name | Common damage and when to inspect |
| Who it helps and how | Helps people living in older homes decide when to get an inspection |
| Where the facts come from | Damage seen on site, craftspeople's experience, inspection steps |
| What to avoid | Alarmist wording, groundless "right now" urgency |
The key is to write down "what to avoid" too. For some pillars, going too far makes readers anxious or leads to misunderstanding. If you write it down in advance, you can check against the same standard on a day when you are writing in a hurry.
Expanding topics from one pillar
Even with pillars, repeating the same topic bores readers. To widen topics within a pillar, change the angle.
Even for the same "seasonal menu," you can post many times by changing the angle: a photo of the finished dish, sourcing the ingredients, part of the recipe, a customer's comment, a drink pairing suggestion. Even if the topic is the same, change the structure and wording each time. Reusing similar text is treated as spam on some networks and makes posts less likely to be seen.
Swap pillars based on engagement
Review your pillars every two or three months. Comparing average engagement per post for each pillar shows which ones are being read.
Don't drop a pillar with low engagement right away. First try changing the angle or presentation. If engagement still doesn't improve, swap it for a different pillar. To compare numbers by pillar, you need to have tagged posts with the pillar name. If you haven't, you have to go back and sort posts one by one.
Even for a pillar that does well, don't lean on it too much. For example, even if customer stories are read a lot, if it becomes only customer stories, it is hard for new people who don't know your shop to understand it.
Running pillars in SNS TOWN
In SNS TOWN, you can give pillars to the AI as material for drafts. Write the pillar names and what you post in each in your company profile, and the AI reads them for each post cycle slot when it writes drafts, so topics tend to follow your pillars. Add topics you want to announce now to "Key messages" and they join the material for drafts.
If you want to fix a pillar to each weekday, enter "what to write in this slot" for each post cycle slot. Write "answers to common questions" in the Monday slot and "weekend opening announcement" in the Friday slot, and the AI writes about the pillar you set in that slot. If left empty, the AI chooses a topic that doesn't overlap with recent posts. Files and photos you put in the Library also become material for drafts.
To compare numbers by pillar, use internal notes and tags on posts. Add the pillar name as a tag and you can filter the post list by tag. Saving frequent openings and standard notices as templates lets you make pillar posts faster. How to write your company profile is explained in Write your company profile.
Frequently asked questions
How many pillars should I have?
Three to five is a guide. Too few and posts get monotonous; too many and each appears too rarely, making it unclear what the account is about.
Can I build pillars only from product promotion?
You can, but an account that is all promotion gives people little reason to follow it. Mixing in useful information and personality posts makes the promotion posts more likely to be read too.
Should the pillar mix be the same every month?
We recommend deciding a base mix and changing it only in periods like campaigns. If you change it greatly every month, it becomes harder to compare numbers by pillar.
Can I use different pillars on different networks?
You can. You can adjust the mix to each network's character, for example more visual pillars on image-centered networks and more useful pillars on text-centered ones. Keeping the pillars themselves common makes them easier to manage.
When should I review pillars?
Every two or three months is a guide. Compare engagement per post for each pillar, try changing the angle on pillars with low engagement, and swap them out if nothing changes.
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