Creating content pillars for your cleaning company can be incredibly beneficial.
Not only will it ensure you’ve got a constant bank of content ideas to fall back on, but it’ll also help to speed up the content creation process overall, leaving you with more time to do what you do best – run your business.
Now that may sound great – a speedy content creation process and endless content ideas. But what on earth is a content pillar? And how should you go about creating them for your business?
What are Content Pillars?
Put simply, content pillars are a set of themes or topics that you can use to base your posts upon. These topics or themes can be absolutely anything, but to get the best out of them, you’ll need to ensure they encompass everything your brand stands for.
Content pillars should be focused on topics and themes that are most popular with your current or target audience, and they should represent the values, purpose and mission of your brand.
Once you’ve created them, sticking to them will help you create consistent content that is easily recognisable and familiar to your target audience.
The Benefits of Content Pillars
While content pillars may sound snazzy, what is it that actually makes them worthwhile? We’re glad you asked!
Meaningful Content
The purpose of creating content is to make a connection with your target audience. To do that, you need to be posting content that is both meaningful and valuable to them. Having consistent themes and topics in the form of content pillars to stick to makes this far easier.
Instead of trying to think up content ideas on the spot, referring to your content pillars ensures that you’ll always have something purposeful to post about.
Organisation
Sticking to consistent themes and topics gives your social feeds and business blog page a sense of well-planned organisation. You won’t be posting sporadically when ideas pop into your head, and you’ll ensure that everything you post flows together nicely.
Content pillars are great for avoiding disjointed content.
Efficient Content Creation Processes
As we mentioned before, having a bank of themes and topics to refer back to when creating content is certain to speed up your content creation process overall. You won’t have to peruse Google for content ideas, and you won’t be struck down with a bad case of creative block.
Instead, your ideas will be there for you, and your content creation process will be streamlined and efficient.
Coming up with Content Pillars
Now that we know what a content pillar is and the benefits of creating them for your business, the next part of the process involves determining the pillars themselves.
To do so, try following our three-step process below:
- Target Audience Research
If you’ve already created personas for your target audience, this is a great time to utilise them! Tap into the wants and needs of your target audience, as well as any pain points they may be facing. You should also identify any topics they talk about regularly.
Use this information to form categories that can then be turned into refined pillars.
- Conduct Competitor Research
Knowing what your competitors are posting about is vital when it comes to determining your own content pillars. If something is really working for them, it might be an idea to utilise similar themes or topics in your own content pillars. Similarly, if it’s clear that something isn’t working for them, it would be wise to steer clear of this.
However, it’s important to remember that each business is unique. Not everything that works for your competitors will work for you. Competitor research is more about getting a feel for the market and using it to determine your own approach.
- Analyse your Current Content
If something you’re already doing on social media or on your business blog is really working, it would be silly to get rid of it. Audit your current content and set aside anything that works for a potential content pillar.
Similarly, anything that doesn’t work, eliminate it as a content pillar contender. The main aim of your content is to connect with and appeal to your target audience. Anything that isn’t doing so isn’t worth your time when it comes to creating new content.
Once you’ve completed the process, you’ll likely have a lengthy list of things that could be potential content pillars. Sit down with your team and pick out four or five topics or themes that you think will work best in terms of creating the content itself and how that content is received by your target audience.
If, at this point, you’re torn as to what to include, take a look at our recommended content pillar ideas for cleaning companies.
Content Pillars for your Cleaning Company
Pillar 1 – Service Focus
This is your opportunity to showcase the services you offer. Create social media posts providing information about the services you offer, encouraging target customers to invest.
Remember, talking about your services doesn’t have to be sales-y, but it is important that your target audience is aware of exactly what you’re offering.
Pillar 2 – Industry Top Tips
You’re an expert in your industry, and your target audience is looking for all the advice they can get. Take the time to share top tips and how-to guides with your target audience. Not only will this mean that your content is relevant and valuable, but you’ll always have something to share.
Pillar 3 – On the Job
Sometimes, creating content is about building credibility. And there’s no better way to do that than to prove that your services do what they say on the tin. Document each job you complete and share your progress and the final result on social media.
By using this as one of your pillars, you’ll have a constant source of content, and you’ll ensure that what you’re putting out there is having a direct impact on your target audience. They’ll be able to see for themselves that what you’re offering is worthwhile.
Pillar 4 – Relatable Content
Often, target audiences of smaller businesses respond well to content that is relatable. This may mean resharing a funny video that aligns with your values or reposting an amusing meme that relates to one of your services.
By doing so, you’ll humanise your content and be better able to make connections with your target audience.
Utilising these content pillars and sticking to posting within their themes and topics will not only streamline your content creation process, but it’ll also ensure that anything you create will appeal to your target audience, which is always the aim of the game!
Content Creation with The Edwards Company
Once you’ve established your content pillars, it’s time to start creating your content.
However, when you’re running a busy business, it can be difficult to find time to create content consistently. If this is an issue you often run into, The Edwards Company can help.
Our content creation team are on hand to provide you with valuable, purposeful content whenever you need it. We have a range of flexible, affordable content creation packages available, designed to support cleaning companies like yours.
For more information, please do not hesitate to get in touch – we’d love to work with you!