5 Ways a Co-op Communicator can use ChatGPT

I started playing with ChatGPT when it broke into the public beta and was shocked by the headlines and click-bait titles about the negative impacts of the platform. I see it as a super-Google or as an enhanced digital assistant like Cortana or Siri.

My first few prompts were things like "What is an electric cooperative?" or "What is electrical engineering?" Then, I got more experienced and began to ask more nuanced things like, "What are the best books for a non-engineer to learn electrical engineering?" The results were fascinating. It can spit out a bit of copy easily for a bio or a tweet or about us, but the real nuggets are in the insight and the shortcuts to learning new topics.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a training with other co-op communicators (Shout out to CCC 2023 #1), and we talked a little bit about the opportunities and pitfalls of using ChatGPT. After the training, I decided to use ChatGPT to see how I could use it to accelerate content creation in the social media space for co-op communicators. This is a blend of Gary Vaynerchuk 's 64 Pieces of Content in a day.

Here are 5 ways ChatGPT says you can use it to make content:

As an AI language model, ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for content creators looking to generate new and unique social media content. Here are 5 ways a content creator could use ChatGPT to create social media content for any platform:

1. Generate captions for images or videos: Content creators can use ChatGPT to generate captions for their images or videos. They can simply input the image or video into the AI model and it will generate relevant and engaging captions that can be used on social media.
2. Create blog post ideas: ChatGPT can also be used to generate ideas for blog posts. Content creators can input a few keywords related to their niche and the AI model will generate ideas for blog posts that are unique and interesting.
3. Write engaging social media posts: ChatGPT can be used to write engaging and informative social media posts. Content creators can input a topic or a few keywords related to their niche, and the AI model will generate a well-written post that is tailored to their audience.
4. Create social media polls: Content creators can use ChatGPT to create social media polls. They can input a question or a few keywords related to their poll, and the AI model will generate a poll that is engaging and relevant to their audience.
5. Generate hashtags: ChatGPT can be used to generate hashtags for social media posts. Content creators can input a few keywords related to their posts, and the AI model will generate relevant and popular hashtags that can be used to increase engagement on their posts.

Here are the 5 ways I think you can use ChatGPT to make content

1. Take an article that you are writing for your statewide magazine or a press release, and ask ChatGPT to make it into an SEO-enhanced blog for the web. Here is your article for your website. (My article after tweaks)
2. Take the copy for that blog post and ask ChatGPT to make it into a tweet. The tweet: "Northern Neck Electric Cooperative (NNEC) joins the Outage Data Initiative Nationwide (ODIN) to provide real-time and transparent power outage data to members, officials, and the public. This commitment improves emergency response during storms and increases transparency in power outages. #ODIN #energy #transparency" (Note that it already has the hashtags)
3. Speaking of hashtags, ask it what hashtags you should use on Instagram: #utilities #reliability #emergencyresponse #smartgrid #digitization #poweroutage #energyefficiency #cooperative You can also ask it for the hashtags for LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, and more.
4. Take the copy for the blog post and ask it to make it into a Facebook post or an Instagram post, and it will make you something pretty decent: Check out the latest news from Northern Neck Electric Cooperative (NNEC)! We're excited to announce that we have committed to the Outage Data Initiative Nationwide (ODIN), becoming the first co-op in Virginia to join. As part of our commitment, we'll be providing real-time, standardized, and transparent power outage data with ODIN.
5. Lastly, ask ChatGPT to make you an email headline or a teaser to get people to open the email: "Revolutionizing Power Outage Data: NNEC joins ODIN to improve emergency response and increase transparency" If I got that subject line in my inbox, I think I would open it. (Then again, I am biased)

Bonus: You can use ChatGPT to edit for grammar or to get your article in AP style, or just ask it to make it more concise or more engaging, or exciting.

The last 5 steps should have taken you less than 10 minutes, and you have 1 piece of content ready to go as 5 or more pieces of content on multiple platforms. If you ever felt like you needed more time in the day, or couldn't spend enough time to get a LinkedIn started for your co-op or make blogs for your co-op website, you can.

ChatGPT is another tool in the toolbox like Google, Wikipedia, or Siri. I hope you give it a try, but I do caution you to not just copy and paste. You need to review what it gives you to make sure it is your voice and your co-op's voice. Your original blog post will help with that.