The ChatGPT Prompts You Need for Content Creation (no, the robots are not out to get you)
I recently heard that ChatGPT can do the work of a half time employee. For small businesses and bootstrapping solopreneurs, that’s pretty impactful. Realistically, that could mean the difference between working IN and ON your business…staying up until midnight writing grant proposals, social media captions, newsletter and website copy, content calendars, and all those time-consuming, tedious tasks that take away from the soul-nourishing, restoring work that really matters.
The Truth about ChatGPT
Let me quell some fears: the robots are not taking over. It’s pretty unlikely that it will replace your job, at least foreseeably. I’m also sorry to say that it won’t offload so much work that you can retire right now to Thailand and work passively and remotely for the rest of your life (how awesome would that be?!).
Want to know how I know?
You Get What You Put Into ChatGPT
What you get out of AI language models like Chat GPT is only as good as the information you put in. If you feed it broad, generic questions, you’ll get broad and generic (and often useless) answers that still require research, deep-level thought, analysis, editing.... AI still relies on humans to learn. It still sources information created by humans and published on the wide world of the internet.
Chat-GPT is not the answer to all content creation problems…it is the gasoline.
But it is an accelerator. Anyone who has spent time with it will understand this within the first five minutes of toying with it. It can help you get you from point A to point B, but instead of starting from ground zero, you’re further along…like starting on the highway instead of starting at the car shop with an oil change (the irony of this sounding like ChatGPT wrote it is not lost on me, but alas, that 7th-grade-level comparison came out of my own magical head-thoughts).
I felt like I had cracked the ChatGPT code once I realized this
You have to teach it like you would a human (and HI - I know a lot about that). You have to scaffold it with information, tell it what you’re doing, and feed it context and examples for it to really shine in output. And it doesn’t hurt to encourage it (encourage = “that is correct”) so when the robots do rebel, you will be spared.
Until you know how to teach a robot like you would a human, AI will not be your saving grace. But you can start with this super cool prompt series I created, tweaked, and fine-tuned to help level up my own content creation, and I think it will help you, too.
Don’t Overlook this Crucial ChatGPT Step
If you are a novice AI user: you must, and I mean Must, absolutely MUST…check for accuracy and edit down whatever you get back. I can spot an unedited AI-generated review, caption, whatever from a mile away. AI is not an encyclopedia, it is a language model. That means it can say whatever it wants to, rather eloquently, and in whatever tone you command…but it might be total factual garbage. So it’s on you to make sure what it gives you is actually correct, and drive that content to its final destination, wherever that may be.
Pro tip: if you have a paid Chat-GPT account, keep a chat open for each project you’re working on. When you sit down to write and create content, return to the chat. The predictive language model will improve and learn over time about your content, audience, style, and voice. Like this:
Ready to use ChatGPT to create content? Let’s go.
At the bottom, I’ve put all of this into a google doc for you to copy and paste.
In this article, I have put explainer notes in italics - these are not meant to be used in the actual prompts. Copy and paste the rest for best results.
PROMPT 1
For each of these content types, explain what they are, how they are used, and who uses them:
(note: pick one or several of the types of content you wish to create in your industry)
Affirmation
Advice
Announcements
Articles
Awards
Behind the Scenes
Best Practices
Bios / Get to Know You
Blogs
Bust a Myth
Case Studies
Celebration
Challenges
Checklists
Collaborations / Partnerships
Commentary
Community / Current Event Coverage
Conferences / Workshops
Contests
Data Visual: Pie Chart, Graph, etc
Demos
Difference between
Download
E-mails
External Content (relevant)
Failures / What Not to Do
Glossary
How-To Guides
Images
Infographics
Interview
Listicles
Livestreaming
Motivation
News / Announcements
Polls
Predictions
PSA
Q&A / Ask Anything
Questions
Quizzes
Quotes
Recommendations
Relatable Scenario
Reports
Reviews
Research / Statistic
Roundups
Success Story
Template
Testimonials
Tips
Tools
Seasonal / Holidays (inc. birthdays)
Success Story
Template
Testimonials
Topic Series
Transparencies (Share Financials, Growth Plans, etc)
Troubleshooting
User-Generated
Videos (30 Seconds or Less)
Webinar
Websites
White Pages
Worksheets
PROMPT 2
What topics would a [NICHE INDUSTRY] want to talk about on social media?
PROMPT 3
For each of those topics, give me 3-5 subtopics.
PROMPT 4
For each of these content types, give me a social media idea prompt for an [NICHE INDUSTRY] to use on their social media posts about [TOPICS: SUBTOPIC]. The [NICHE INDUSTRY]’s target audience is [TARGET AUDIENCE]. Put the results in a table. [List of Content Types from prompt 1].
(note: list all of these, or the few you chose in prompt 1)
Affirmation
Advice
Announcements
Articles
Awards
Behind the Scenes
Best Practices
Bios / Get to Know You
Blogs
Bust a Myth
Case Studies
Celebration
Challenges
Checklists
Collaborations / Partnerships
Commentary
Community / Current Event Coverage
Conferences / Workshops
Contests
Data Visual: Pie Chart, Graph, etc
Demos
Difference between
Download
E-mails
External Content (relevant)
Failures / What Not to Do
Glossary
How-To Guides
Images
Infographics
Interview
Listicles
Livestreaming
Motivation
News / Announcements
Polls
Predictions
PSA
Q&A / Ask Anything
Questions
Quizzes
Quotes
Recommendations
Relatable Scenario
Reports
Reviews
Research / Statistic
Roundups
Success Story
Template
Testimonials
Tips
Tools
Seasonal / Holidays (inc. birthdays)
Success Story
Template
Testimonials
Topic Series
Transparencies (Share Financials, Growth Plans, etc)
Troubleshooting
User-Generated
Videos (30 Seconds or Less)
Webinar
Websites
White Pages
Worksheets
FINAL PROMPT 5
Give me a social media idea prompt for an [NICHE INDUSTRY] to use on their social media posts about [TOPIC - SUBTOPIC]. The content type is [CONTENT TYPE]. The [NICHE INDUSTRY]’s target audience is [TARGET AUDIENCE USED IN PROMPT 3]. The tone is [TONE DESCRIPTORS].
Get This ChatGPT Prompt Series for your own Content Creation
I put this series in a super copy-and-paste-able google doc. Get yours so you can get your foot on that content creation pedal.
