The Content Classroom: chatGPT Part 2

Welcome back for this week's newsletter focusing on our second instalment on chatGPT.

If you've been following along, you'll know that this newsletter is aimed at those who want to maximise their content output for their brand or business - without all the fluff, the 'thought leadership' and the super nerdy jargon.

We're showing you HOW to generate large volumes of high quality content - using video as the centre piece, and giving you all the tools, tricks, and tips to go along the way.

Before I get stuck into this week's episode, showing you how to create good quality prompts that get GPT to do what you actually want it to, I just wanted to call out two things:

1) Most 'influencers' on any channel are there because they're either a celebrity of some sort in real life (they're an enigmatic personality who know how to leverage their fame, and skills to their advantage), because they're a bona fide expert at what they do, and people flock to them because of the value they show... or because they're involved in a Pod, and pay for other users to see their posts, and where engagement is rewarded within that platform.

I don't have any bones with any of these influencer types... but if what you came here looking for, is hundreds of views in a matter of minutes... then you're in the wrong place. You either need to make yourself famous, get out your wallet, or learn to be an expert!

It's not a realistic expectation, and the likelihood is you'll let yourself down and make very little money. Not many people know how to create relationships based on engagement with their content, whilst delivering amazing value add content at scale and pace.

We're here to help you with all of these problems.

2) LinkedIn has drastically changed the algorithm of late. I'm seeing some posts with <50 views. It's like being back to the dark ages when I first started on LinkedIn. I don't like it, and neither do a lot of other folks who are genuine about engaging with their audience. Don't panic. It will get fixed. If I know anything about how the team behind the algorithm works, it's that they 'fix' things, watch the consequences, and react to make things right again. Have patience, have a coffee, and keep creating, people!

Creating Prompts that Deliver (Prompt Engineering)

I know folks in this space who would make your toes curl with the programmatical outputs they create, in order to get GPT to output what they want it to. And blimey, it really does deliver some amazing results!

So first up, if you want the best, find someone who spends every day, deep in the matrix. That's not me.

I'm like you - I'm a business owner who is keen to be an early adopter... and sees the amazing value in terms of productivity that GPT can create for us all. I'm better than average, as I've a pretty technical mind... but I only got through my Software Engineering course thanks to the amazing mates I had at the time!!!

Lesson 1: I don't know how to do what I want to do

Let's say you want to write an article for a specific topic. But you've no idea where to start? The best advice I can give you, is to ask GPT directly:

"Act as a world class digital copywriter. I'm your client. I want you to write an article on <TOPIC>. I don't know where to begin. What should I consider before asking you to write anything? What research and thoughts should I have already thought about? Secondly, what questions would you need to ask me to ensure I get everything right? How can I make the article stand out from other articles?"

Just ASK! One thing that GPT is extremely good at, is finding the research on any given subject, and feeding back to you how to do any particular task, no matter what it is, and especially if it is a niche ask.

Lesson 2: BE SPECIFIC

One of the most common complaints I hear about chatGPT is that it doesn't output anything like what the user asked for. And I'll be the first to admit, that sometimes, it just isn't as good at doing what you want, as you'd like it to be. It's still very much a work in progress.

That being said, there are some things it's very, very good at, and folks still struggle to use it for them. The reason it's not performing? GIGO. Garbage in, Garbage out.

If you're not feeding it what it needs to know, it's output will be based on things you've no control over.

My programming based friends are going to hate me for saying this - but the more information, the better. Yes, it's about getting your prompt as short and to the point as possible. But you can condense and refine it over time, once you've got it to output in the way you wanted it to.

For example - I want GPT to mimic the style and tone of 'Stephen King'. It'll inevitably start saying things like "as Stephen King would say..." or "My name is Stephen King". NOOOOOO. I said MIMIC Stephen King's style and tone, not IMPERSONATE HIM!!!

The answer?

Add "Do not mention Stephen King" on the end of the prompt! Simple as that.

In general, have a think about all the things you'd need to know if someone asked you to do it. What would you pass on to a VA to do the work for you? Tell GPT the same things.

All this can be annoying if you're creating a prompt for one simple task - but the moment you apply it to something you're going to do more than a few times, you're winning.

Lesson 3: Iterate!

I keep a copy of all my prompts in Mem.ai. When I need them, I copy and paste them in to the GPT interface. If I change anything, I add a new version at the end (keep the old versions so you can see the changes and why!), and store it again for next time.

Prompts are rarely perfect on the first go - even now, I re-write them various times to get what I want.

If you're iterating, there are a couple of approaches:

1) "Forget everything above" allows you to get GPT to stop, and bring it back to the track. Paste in your prompt and start again.

2) If the output was 'OK' but not great... and you can see the improvement needed... just tell GPT!

"Retry that output, but make it shorter and more personable".

Remember, if you do that, and it works - add the new wording into your original prompt for next time.

DON'T RELY ON YOUR CHATS BEING SAVED!!! I've done this, and lost my prompts, outputs and more. The interface is cloud based, therefore I always make sure I keep it backed up if it's important.

Lesson 4: Brainstorm

The last lesson for today, is that GPT is particularly good at helping you run through large volumes of ideas, theories and strategies to narrow down final outputs.

Not sure what to call your company? What to eat for dinner? What topics to use for your podcast?

Just ask GPT.

"Act as a world class <JOB ROLE>. Help me brainstorm some ideas for <TOPIC>. I want you to ask me as many questions as needed to help narrow down likely solutions and strategies, and I want you to call out pit falls, challenges and rebuttals to any ideas generated. When we chose one, I want to role play you in the role of <CLIENT> to see what your thoughts are on this chosen outcome."

There are so many different ways to get from A to Z with chatGPT - it's really a powerful tool, that's easily the best $24 I spend all month - keep with it, think in terms of 'is this a good issue for AI to help with' and keep trying new things.

Next week, we're going to take a break from GPT and think about using categories to help break up our social media content. I'll answer questions like "What's evergreen content" and "is it applicable to me" as well as "How often should I talk about our services/product".

If you'd like to suggest a topic for a future newsletter, feel free to get in touch - I love to get feedback from the audience here, as well as answering questions or challenges.

If you found value in this article, all I'd ask is that you share it via email, your own feed, or at the very least, comment and tag 2x other folks who you think would benefit from reading it.

Lastly? If you?DON'T?want to try the above, or don't have the?TIME?to do so, the Resources to do it, or just want it off your plate?

Drop me a line ;-)

[email protected]

Javelin Content Management

Our Linktree Site

Website:?I don't have one. Why? Because Content Marketing > Traditional thinking. Linktree does what we need.

Are you starting to see the power of content now?