Create Social Brand Pillars to Strengthen How Your Business Shows Up

As small business owners, we wear many hats. One of our heaviest responsibilities is to show up on social media, showcase our work, and stay in the front of our client’s minds. Social media is valuable and worth our time—but it needs to be done with strategy!

With busy schedules, overwhelm is real, and it becomes heavy thinking about what to post. It’s time-consuming and can be a huge waste of time IF we are not organized.

Today, I want to share one of the techniques that I use to create focus and save time—determining your five content pillars. What do you want to be known for?

Here’s a quick exercise you can do right now: think about (or write down) five things you would like someone to say when they are asked about you. Do you want them to say that you’re creative? Then how are you showing your creativity? Do you want them to say that you’re organized and detailed? How are you sharing that online? Do you want someone to say that you have a creative lifestyle and are stylish both at work and in your personal life? You may want to consider showing more of your personal style.

For my business, I showcase both my expertise and my personal brand. Here is a list of things that I want people to know that I love and connect with me on:

• I am a Brand Strategist

• I am an expert in business

• I have a love of cooking and being on the lake

• I have a strong sense of creativity that shows itself through art, fashion, and creative mood boards

• I work everywhere and travel frequently

We are responsible for controlling our own narrative online and when we know how we want to be perceived, it helps us resonate with our audience.

For me, these five pillars are anchors to my personal brand that I build content around very easily. It allows me to connect with my clients and share my expertise. Looking through my Instagram feed, I want to quickly be able to see a little bit of every pillar. I know that this will be the first impression a potential client or new follower has as well.

Your content pillars should be specific to your business and personal brand but can have a lot of different themes.

For business brands, you may not want to be so personal. But it’s important that you show what it is that you offer. For example, if you are a DJ, and offer photo booth services and lighting offerings (maybe even silent disco), your anchors are going to look something like this:

• Business expertise

• DJ skills

• Photo booth offerings

• Lighting

• Your unique process

If you are a bakery, maybe yours looks like:

• Business expertise

• Ways you get inspiration

• Technical education: flavors, shapes, techniques

• Your process

• Behind the scenes (BTS) of you at work as the artist

If you are a wedding planner, yours may be more:

• Inspirational ideas

• Sharing your organizational processes

• Educational things people should know about a stress-free planning experience

• Your love for X, Y, & Z that inspires your job

• Behind the scenes at on-site events

Once you have your 5 pillars, you are able to post them in rotation. I will typically make 5 folders on my computer and drop imagery into them to be able to pull easily.

For your crafting captions, talk about your processes and what’s happening behind the scenes. Our brains process imagery very fast. You are able to use your captions as mini-billboards to describe the way your clients should see things differently through your eyes as the expert. This is a great way to position your professionalism!

I challenge you to think about how you want to be known, and what you can share that helps position you in a way that people will remember.

Below are a few social posting ideas to get you started. Be sure to keep an eye on your analytics… You’ll see what people are responding to and what people aren't. You can then share the facets of your life that resonate with your ideal vendor partners and potential clients.

Position yourself as an expert by posting your:

• Tips

• Secrets

• Myths

• Mistakes

• Hacks

• Did you knows

• Technical knowledge about your industry segment

• Disagreements, and why

• Story of getting into the business

• Articulation of your company culture

Show your creative/business value with:

• BTS of your process in the office

• BTS of your process on-site

• Tutorials of BTS

• Core values

• Your mission

• Testimonials from pros and vendors

Get those upsells by:

• Sharing every offering you have in one post

• Showing each offering separately and sharing why your clients need it

• Detailing your specific planning process

• Running a promotion

• Posting testimonials about specific offerings

And finally, connect with your audience in a more personal way by sharing:

• Your off-hours life

• Your cooking process, recipes, and reviews

• A local restaurant expert that you recommend

• Your wine expertise

• Your travel expertise

• Your love of cars

• Things you collect

• Your journey with mental health

• Your experience with the military (if applicable)

Try implementing the five pillars in your business this week, and let me know how it goes. Shoot me a DM on Instagram at @gokaleigh — I love hearing from all of you and discussing ways to help your business grow!