Content Pillars

Transform brand positioning into 3-5 repeatable content categories (pillars). Each pillar is a lens through which the brand talks about the world. The topic taxonomy underneath ensures the agent never runs out of specific, on-brand ideas.

Purpose

Without pillars, content is random. With pillars, every post has a job: educate, persuade, prove, humanize, or convert. Pillars make the content calendar fillable without creativity blocks, and they make the brand's feed feel cohesive instead of scattershot.

When to Use

• After positioning is locked, before the first calendar
• Content feels repetitive or scattered
• Quarterly strategy refresh
• Expanding to a new platform
• Founder says "I don't know what to post about"

Inputs Required

• Positioning statement (from positioning-statement skill)
• Brand voice guide (from brand-voice-system skill)
• Customer interview insights or audience pain points
• Competitor content audit (what's working for them)
• Platform strategy (which platforms are active)

Quick Reference

Procedure

1. Start with the positioning statement. For each potential pillar, ask: "Does content in this pillar reinforce the brand's core message?" If the answer is "not really," that pillar doesn't belong.
2. Define 3-5 pillars. Each pillar gets:
   • A name (1-3 words)
   • A one-sentence description of what content in this pillar does
   • A target split (% of weekly output)
   • 10-15 specific topic ideas (not templates — actual topics that could be posts)
   • The target emotional response: do we want the reader to think, feel, or act?
3. Map each pillar to the right formats:
   • Education: threads, carousels, how-to videos, LinkedIn carousels
   • POV: short takes, quote tweets, contrarian threads, LinkedIn opinion posts
   • Proof: case study posts, metric screenshots, testimonial graphics, revenue update threads
   • BTS: photo + caption, process videos, unfiltered updates, TikTok POV content
   • CTA: launch announcements, link posts, demo clips, waitlist pages
4. Map each pillar to the right platforms:
   • Education dominates LinkedIn and X
   • POV lives primarily on X (and occasionally LinkedIn)
   • BTS thrives on IG Stories and TikTok
   • Proof works everywhere but lands differently (metrics on X, stories on LinkedIn)
   • CTA works where the audience already trusts you — earn it with other pillars first
5. Define the pillar mix (recommended starting point, adjust per data):
   • Education: 35% of weekly output
   • POV: 25%
   • Proof: 20%
   • BTS: 15%
   • CTA: 5% (you earn the right to ask)
6. Build a 15-topic bank per pillar. Topics should be specific, not generic. Bad: "SaaS tips." Good: "Why charging monthly killed our growth (and what we switched to)."
7. Set pillar health check rules:
   • Any pillar exceeding 50% of weekly output? Rebalance.
   • Any pillar with zero posts this week? Fill it.
   • Any pillar consistently underperforming (below average ER for 3+ weeks)? Diagnose or retire.

Output Format

# [Brand] Content Pillars — [Date]

## Pillar 1: [Name]
**Goal:** [What this content achieves for the audience and the brand]
**Target split:** [X]% of weekly output
**Best formats:** [List 2-3]
**Platform priority:** [Platform A > Platform B > ...]
**Emotional target:** [Think / Feel / Act]

### Topic Bank (15 ideas)
1. [Specific, actionable topic]
2. [Specific, actionable topic]
...15

## Pillar 2: [Name]
...

## Pillar Mix Target
| Pillar | % of Weekly | X | LinkedIn | IG | TikTok |
|--------|------------|---|---|-----|--------|
| Education | 35% | Threads | Carousels | Carousels | How-tos |
| POV | 25% | Short posts | Opinion posts | — | Reaction videos |
| Proof | 20% | Metric posts | Case studies | Testimonials | — |
| BTS | 15% | Photo posts | — | Stories | POV clips |
| CTA | 5% | Launch posts | Demos | — | — |

## Pillar Health Check (Review Monthly)
- Which pillar drives the most engagement?
- Which pillar drives the most conversions?
- Which pillar is underrepresented or overperforming?
- Is any pillar below average ER for 3+ weeks? Diagnose.

Done Criteria

The skill is complete when:

1. 3-5 pillars are defined with names, goals, and target splits
2. Each pillar has 10-15 specific topic ideas (not generic categories)
3. Each pillar is mapped to formats and platforms
4. The pillar mix totals 100% and is actionable
5. The health check rules are documented

Pitfalls

• More than 5 pillars dilutes everything — the audience can't tell what you stand for
• Pillars that are too broad ("Business Advice") are useless as a filter
• Same pillar mix on every platform (X is not LinkedIn is not TikTok)
• CTA content without scaffolding from other pillars (you can't ask before you give)
• Topic banks that run dry in 2 weeks (aim for 15 topics per pillar — that's 3 months of material before repeating)

Verification

Map the last 2 weeks of posts to pillars. If more than 20% don't fit any pillar, the taxonomy is wrong. If one pillar exceeds 50% of output, rebalance. Can you look at the topic bank and immediately write a post from any topic? If a topic makes you think "I have nothing to say about this," it's not specific enough.

Example

Input: SaaS analytics tool positioning = "Product analytics for B2B founders who hate dashboards."

Output:

• Pillar 1 (Education): "Product analytics that actually matter" — topics: 3 metrics that predict churn, why DAU is a vanity metric, how to set up your first retention cohort
• Pillar 2 (POV): "Unpopular analytics takes" — topics: why dashboard tools make worse decisions, the metric VCs care about that you're ignoring
• Pillar 3 (Proof): "Customer results" — topics: how [customer] reduced churn 40%, revenue impact of fixing onboarding drop-off
• Pillar 4 (BTS): "Building an analytics company" — topics: why we rebuilt our data pipeline, the feature customers begged for that we said no to
• Pillar 5 (CTA): "Try it" — topics: free trial launch, comparison vs. competitors, feature deep-dives