ChatGPT - An Effective Tool for Social Media Marketers or will it make everything sound the same?
ChatGPT has been around long enough now for us social media types to understand how to apply it to the everyday tasks that we may find tedious. At the very least, it can fill a couple of skill gaps that we can identify for ourselves.
But does it work?
Let’s be honest, it’s a great tool when wielded wisely. An AI chatbot that fulfils your every whim (within reason).
What’s not to love?
I’ll be the first to put my hands up and say, copywriting is not in my wheelhouse. I often stare at a blank space on my screen wishing for inspiration to strike only to find myself looking for examples online, just as a jumping off point. That is until I realised how I could be using ChatGPT.
Let’s break it down a bit. What are the advantages of this tool for anyone working in social media specifically?
Keep things tidy: finesse copy that you have already come up with;
Research tool: if you’re not 100% sure about a statistic or nugget of information that backs up your post, ask ChatGPT for more info (be sure to fact check the responses though and cite the info if you can, ChatGPT does not provide this);
Idea generation: Don’t know what to post for the next week? Month? Year? Just ask it to generate some content ideas!
Editorial: Grammar not your strong suit? Run your text through ChatGPT and ask it to correct any errors;
Blog title ideas: you know roughly what you want to write about but maybe not sure what angle to approach it.
Generate new hashtags for your brand: they still need to be used consistently though!
Like every tool in your arsenal, there should be some best practice rules in place that you are aware of. Although ChaGPT seems limitless, you’ll quickly find it probably isn’t.
I always think of a phrase that a previous manager used to say; “S**t in, s**t out”
Don’t just accept the first answer from the chatbot. Could it be refined further? Add commands like; Can you make it shorter? Or, even better, give it the specific amount of characters to stick to.
Give it detail. it won’t know unless you tell it. Include tone of voice, what platform you’re posting to, what type of post is it? Give as much context as you can, this will mean that you will get better examples.
If you’re not happy with the response you have received, could you reword your command so that it’s as clear as possible? Keep iterating until it comes up with something usable;
Reuse/reword previous posts: A slightly different twist could give you something new!
If all else fails, take the responses as an inspirational guide. Copy the bits you like the most and then rework it yourself.
Here are a couple of real life examples that I have used (and disregarded in some cases):
There could be a danger, over time, that everyone will start sounding the same. How boring would that be?
This tool does crawl the internet for examples that already exist after all, so isn’t it just plagiarising lot’s of other people’s hard work?
Working in a strategy and design agency, with multiple clients across a number of industries and sectors, I have to be hyper aware of finding the correct tone for each. Uniqueness and creativity is still as important as ever.
Essentially, the key to using ChatGPT is personalisation. You may not be a good copywriter, but try to get good at editing. 99% of the time, the responses you receive from ChatGPT may not be exactly right, and that’s ok, add your personal touches and knowledge to it.
Noone knows your brand tone of voice better than you (hopefully) so don’t allow this tool to change it.
We still require that human touch and a spark of creativity.
