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If you have spent any time on the internet lately, chances are you’re familiar with ChatGPT. Since launching in November 2022, ChatGPT has surpassed 100 million active monthly users, a milestone achieved just two months after it entered the zeitgeist.
Business owners and marketers can use ChatGPT to automatically write blog articles, press releases, social media posts, website code or copy, SEO meta tags, product descriptions, e-newsletters and other forms of content. All you have to do is feed it strategic queries, keywords or phrases, and ChatGPT handles the rest for you—or that’s the goal, at least.
Because AI technology still requires careful human oversight, the prompts you create for ChatGPT will dictate the quality and accuracy of its responses. So here’s what you need to know about writing successful prompts for ChatGPT:
Why Do Prompts Matter for ChatGPT?
A ChatGPT prompt is a question or directive that tells the machine learning software what output you need. Be clear and specific with these instructions to ensure ChatGPT delivers what you’re looking for.
Let’s assume you want to publish an article on the latest AI marketing trends for the average consumer who follows your brand but is not well-versed in technical industry jargon. That level of detail matters when creating prompts for ChatGPT, so your initial search query might sound like this:
“Write an 800-word blog post introducing and explaining five new AI marketing trends to a casual audience of non-experts.”
Of course, you’ll want to review this content for accuracy, cite credible sources and infuse it with your personal touch. When you write an effective prompt the first time around, ChatGPT quickly cuts down on your legwork of the content creation process. But if you get it wrong, you probably won’t get the content you’re looking for. So how do you formulate the best prompts for ChatGPT? Use these steps from our team of experts as your guide:
Add Context for Clarity
ChatGPT is intuitive, but it can only generate a response based on the information you provide—it can’t read between the lines. When creating prompts for ChatGPT, talk to the software as if it was another human. You wouldn’t just expect a friend or coworker to catch the intent of a discussion if all you gave them were a couple of half-baked sentences, right?
The more context you include in the prompt, the more nuanced the output. For instance: “Write a 100-word Instagram post about the launch of my activewear brand’s [insert name] new summer tank tops for a target audience of competitive runners” will yield a better response than “Write a social media post about my activewear brand’s new line of tank tops.”
Emphasize Relevant SEO Keywords
Google currently does allow ChatGPT-generated content to feature on its search result pages, but there’s a caveat. Your content must meet Google’s E-E-A-T Guidelines to rank high in the SERP. The algorithm will evaluate each piece of online content based on the following parameters:
- Expertise
- Experience
- Authoritativeness
- Trustworthiness
These guidelines ensure consumers have access to valuable content instead of low-quality spam. Suppose you want to tailor a ChatGPT prompt around your vegan Italian restaurant to attract a hyper-local customer base. In that case, relevant long tail keywords can help establish you as the credible authority within this niche. So, your prompt would look like this: “Write a few sentences to introduce the vegan Italian restaurant I recently opened in Chicago’s West Loop.” Those keywords will make ChatGPT’s response more SEO-friendly, boosting its ranking.
Specify Your P.O.V.
You might’ve seen memes of users asking ChatGPT to assume the voice of an iconic Disney character or adopt the style of a Gothic romance novelist. But you can harness this feature for practical use, too. Need to crank out a news article? Tell ChatGPT to write in a journalistic tone. Want to formulate an e-newsletter campaign? Tell ChatGPT to imitate a marketer. About to release a new item for your online store? Tell ChatGPT to describe it like a product manager.
Not only does this refine the overall quality of writing in ChatGPT’s response, but it makes the content sound relevant, authentic—and ultimately, believable. An e-newsletter from the P.O.V. of a professional marketer will come across as more compelling than an e-newsletter that feels generic or indistinct.
Ask Follow-Up Questions
According to a recent survey, 70 percent of consumers think ChatGPT-generated information is only somewhat accurate and reliable. But technology is not infallible, and it’s crucial to fact-check any material before publishing it.
The most effective prompts for ChatGPT act like a conversation. If the initial output doesn’t outline the topic accurately or mentions a data point without a citation, ask a follow-up question to audit ChatGPT’s response. For instance: “Where does this research come from?” or “What evidence can you show me to back this claim?” or “How can I trust this answer?” When in doubt, ask for clarification.
Achieve Marketing Success with Effective ChatGPT Prompts
To integrate ChatGPT (or other AI-automated platforms) into your content marketing plan, turn to the experts at 10x Digital. We’ll show you how to create effective prompts for ChatGPT that your target audience will resonate with. Reach out to our specialists, and let’s optimize your content with a strategic boost from ChatGPT.