There’s no doubt that using AI tools for content generation can enhance your content marketing strategy. But to really up your game, not just any prompt will do. You need to communicate with your AI system, using clear, concise and robot-friendly instructions.
Unlike traditional AI, which relies on predefined rules and structures, generative AI uses algorithms to generate content autonomously.
This technology can be trained on various datasets, such as text, images and videos, to learn patterns and pump out quasi-original content for you to refine. In other words, it can be tailored to fit your specific needs as the user.
When crafting prompts for generative AI, it’s essential to follow certain guidelines to ensure you get accurate and detailed responses:
Tell it exactly what you want. Instead of vague instructions, be particular. Don’t skimp on the details.
For example, instead of prompting, “Write a blog post about marketing tips,” you can say, “I need an 800-word blog post geared toward B2C marketers on the 5 most effective strategies to improve their digital content marketing efforts, including the quantitative data to back it.”
Define your audience and channel. Be sure to specify your intended target audience and content platform when crating your AI writing prompt.
Whether you’re writing Facebook ads geared to working moms of teenagers or a high-level blog post for CPAs on improving their advisory services, these details will help AI give you the best response.
Take a colloquial tone. You’re not a machine — AI is! So write your prompts like a human in a friendly, conversational style.
Avoid using technical jargon, slang and complex language that the AI might not understand.
Set a persona. Did you know you can also improve the quality of responses by requesting answers from the perspective of a specific individual?
You can ask AI to formulate its response as a microbiologist, a teenager, a high school English teacher or even Warren Buffet!
Specify length. Do you need three sentences or three paragraphs? Guide the generative AI to produce the right amount of content to get the job done.
Ask follow-up questions. This is a great way to delve deeper into your topic. If you don’t get enough information after one go-around, ask follow-up questions to build on your initial prompt and extract more customized details.
Teamwork makes the dream work
AI can be a valuable player in your content marketing strategy — as long as you’re willing to put in the work. AI is intelligent (as the name implies, duh), but you guide the AI output with the quality of your prompts. The old saying, “Garbage in, garbage out” has never been more applicable, so go practice those prompts!