The Three Pillars of Content
Combine informational, aspirational and relational content to build an audience that is fully bought into you
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 70%
Smoak's model says a magnetic personal brand runs on three content pillars. Informational content is the authority figure teaching something you are genuinely competent in. Relational content is human and goofy, low-stakes, low-polish material that feels like a FaceTime from a friend. Aspirational content shows the hardship you overcame so the audience believes they can too. Any single pillar produces a shallow relationship: pure authority reads as an untouchable ivory-tower expert. When all three combine, the audience can learn from you, relate to you, and aspire through you at once, which produces the deepest buy-in. The model also frees the creator from rigid virality formulas, because the diversity itself, driven by inspiration rather than a template, is what makes the person interesting and trustworthy.
Origin
Michael Smoak described the three pillars on Modern Wisdom while explaining why his own channel swings from grief content to reviewing a Coke-flavoured Oreo, citing creators like Leo Skeppy who blend teaching, relatable 'get ready with me' clips, and stories of overcoming adversity.
Core principles
- 01Authority alone does not create loyalty
- 02People bond with creators they can relate to and aspire to be
- 03Diversifying formats is an act of authenticity, not brand dilution
- 04Following inspiration beats forcing a rigid content formula
How to run it
- 1
Build the informational pillar
Make teaching content in a domain where you are genuinely competent, such as explaining creatine or how to cut filler words in public speaking. This establishes authority.
Watch out Authority-only content leaves you looking like an untouchable figure in an ivory tower.
- 2
Build the relational pillar
Make human, unpolished, playful content: reviewing a novelty snack, cracking jokes, or a casual clip that feels like a FaceTime from a friend. This makes you relatable.
Pro tip The 'no value' clips that feel like a personal message often generate the strongest connection.
- 3
Build the aspirational pillar
Share the hardship you have overcome and where it took you, so the audience sees that they can overcome their own hardship too.
Pro tip Aspirational content lands hardest when it is specific and honestly told, not sanitised.
Watch out Only share what you are actually healed from; performing a struggle you haven't processed reads as hollow.
- 4
Rotate and follow inspiration
Move fluidly across the three pillars rather than staying in one lane, and let genuine inspiration choose the next piece instead of a virality template.
Pro tip Treat content like a kid in a sandbox: suspend the belief that it has to be anything and the ideas flow.
In the wild
Smoak points to creator Leo Skeppy as a masterclass: he plays therapist-style teacher on his podcast (informational), posts casual 'get ready with me before Vegas' clips that feel like a FaceTime and draw intense loyalty (relational), and talks openly about overcoming an abusive relationship on his way to health and wealth (aspirational). The combination built roughly ten million TikTok followers and a deeply bought-in audience.
→ A multi-platform audience in the millions that both learns from and feels personally connected to the creator.
Smoak notes that one day he posts a video about grief and what he learned from his father's death, and the next day reviews an Oreo-flavoured Coke Zero, which became his most viral video ever. Conventional advice would call this off-brand, but the range across teaching, playfulness, and vulnerability is exactly what built his business.
→ A diverse, high-engagement channel and business built by following inspiration across all three pillars.
Common mistakes
Living only in the informational pillar
Staying purely in authority mode makes you respected but unrelatable, so the audience never forms a real bond and loyalty stays shallow.
Forcing a rigid virality formula
Sticking to a fixed template for the sake of the algorithm kills the inspiration and range that actually make a creator interesting.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creators and personal brands who feel boxed into one type of content and want deeper audience loyalty.
Not ideal for
Purely corporate or product accounts where personal vulnerability and aspiration have no place.
From the transcript
“There's three pillars I think that exist. There's informational, aspirational, and relational.”
“When you combine those three pillars, you get an audience that is really bought into you.”
From the episode
16 Brutal Life Lessons for Ambitious People - Michael Smoak - #1083
Michael Smoak