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The Grid Test (2)
Alex Garcia
May 15, 2025
Today, we’re breaking down The Grid Test—a way to analyze a brand’s organic content strategy. By reviewing recent social media posts, you can see patterns in content pillars, intent, formats, and storytelling. To see what a brand is really doing with its content—and how you might apply it to your own strategy.
Let’s get into it.
And a big thank you to Insense for partnering with us and letting us create media for a livin’.
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Want to understand a brand’s organic content strategy?
Run a Grid Test.
Steps to Perform a Grid Test
Look at the last 15 social posts
Dissect them by:
Content Type: What kind of content is it?
Content Format: What is the specific format?
Content Purpose: What is the goal of this content?
Content Story: What narrative or message is the post conveying?
Content Pillars: If discernible, identify which overarching theme or pillar this content aligns with.
Identify Common Denominators: After analyzing all 15 posts, look for recurring patterns and common themes across the categories. This will help you understand the brand's content pillars, their primary content formats, the main purposes of their content, and the types of stories they frequently tell.
Determine Content Pillars (Optional but Recommended): Based on the analysis, try to identify the brand's content pillars. These are the main topics or themes around which their content is centered. Look for recurring themes in the "Content Type," "Content Purpose," and "Content Story".
Analyze Content Purpose Distribution: Observe the primary purposes of the brand's content. Is it mainly focused on awareness, engagement, driving sales, or building brand loyalty?
Analyze Content Format Distribution: Note the distribution of content formats. Are they primarily using videos, images, carousels, or a mix? This can indicate what formats are currently working best for them.
Example: On Running
I made a video talking about how I thought their content was ehhh.
But they’ve made a switch. And their grid proves it.
Here are their last 15 posts:
So, now I plug it into this Google Sheet or Notion Template and dissect it.
How to Use the Worksheet:
Fill in each row with information about one of the last 15 social media posts from the chosen brand.
Be specific when describing the content type, format, purpose, and story.
In the "Potential Content Pillar" column, note any recurring themes or topics you observe.
Use the "Notes" column for any additional observations or context for that specific post.
After analyzing all 15 posts, summarize the common denominators you identified in the designated section.
Based on your analysis, list the content pillars you believe the brand is using.
Note the primary purposes and formats of their content.
Finally, write down any overall observations and insights you gained about the brand's content strategy.
By looking at this I can put together ON’s content strategy.
Pillars and Pillar Content Variations:
Behind The Scenes Variations
Athletes
Products
Campaigns
Athlete and Influencer Content
Behind The Scenes
Challenges
Products
Campaign/Education
Day in the life
Product breakdowns
Workouts
The purpose of their content falls primarily into these two buckets:
Drive hype and awareness for a new product line.
Bringing followers behind the scenes with their brand and athletes to increase affinity.
90% of the content is created for IG Reels.
The other 10% of the content is carousels, focusing on different product lines.
Look at your social grid.
What are your content pillars?
What’s the purpose of each pillar?
What’s your ratio of content types?
Putting your ideas through a process is the first step to 10x’ing your content results.
If you have questions about this just reply to this email and I’ll shoot you back any and all help.
Appreciate you reading,
Alex G