Pushing the limits: AI bots are better writing assistants than you think
Maybe Generative AI will wipe us out but for now I intend to embrace it and use it as a patient and inexhaustible assistant to help create content Below is my first foray into seizing the technology
Generative tools like ChatGPT are designed to create new content imitating human creativity and have gone beyond just written text, but we’ll be focusing on text here.
The Task
One of our major goals at our new site 10,000 Barefoot Bees (10K) is to help small businesses — and especially one- and two-person shows — establish an online presence. But where to start? The big advantage of bots like ChatGPT and Copilot over regular search engines is being able to get to the point immediately. So, we started by asking a straightforward question.
10K:
We have started a business and website whose purpose is to help our clients establish an online presence. In creating our content, name five areas we should start with?
ChatGPT 3.5
Certainly! Here are five areas to focus on when creating content to help clients establish an online presence:
- Target Audience Identification:
- Define the target audience personas to tailor content specifically to their needs, preferences, and interests.
- Brand Storytelling:
- Craft compelling narratives that communicate the brand’s mission, values, and unique selling proposition to engage and resonate with the audience.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
- Optimize content with relevant keywords, meta tags, and structured data to improve visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Content Calendar Planning:
- Develop a content calendar outlining the topics, formats, and publishing schedule to maintain consistency and relevance across different platforms.
- Multimedia Content Creation:
- Diversify content formats such as blog posts, videos, infographics, and podcasts to appeal to various audience preferences and enhance engagement.
Focusing on these areas will help ensure that the content effectively reaches and resonates with the target audience, ultimately establishing a strong online presence for your clients’ businesses.
Not everyone can do everything everywhere all at once so I picked my favorite, 5. Multimedia Content Creation, and went back to ChatGPT 3.5 (3.5 is the free version.)
10K:
Give me a list of five skills needed for item 5, Multimedia Content Creation.
ChatGPT 3.5:
Certainly! Here are five skills for multimedia content creation:
- Graphic Design:
- Proficiency in designing visually appealing graphics, illustrations, and infographics using software like Adobe Photoshop or Canva.
- Video Production:
- Ability to plan, shoot, and edit high-quality videos using video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro.
- Audio Editing:
- Skills in recording and editing audio for podcasts, voiceovers, or soundtracks using software like Audacity or Adobe Audition.
- Storytelling:
- Capability to craft engaging narratives and storylines that captivate audiences across different multimedia formats.
- Content Optimization:
- Understanding of how to optimize multimedia content for different platforms and formats to maximize reach and engagement.
Again, there’s lots of work to do here but I’ll pick the most accessible and attractive thing to me as I drill down to a point of departure. Doing what you like is always a good place to start. Item 1, Graphic Design caught my eye because it mentions Photoshop, a tool I’m comfortable with but I know from experience has a steep learning curve which can derail a shop owner from just getting their product out there. So what is Canva?
10K:
In less than 30 words, what is Canva and is it free?
ChatGPT 3.5:
Canva is a user-friendly graphic design platform offering both free and paid versions, providing templates and tools for creating content, including graphics, presentations, and social media posts.
That sounds good so I asked ChatGPT to compare it to other similar free tools (link) and decided Canva really was a good place to start, especially since I knew someone who was using it now. As it turned out, Canva is a great place to start.
The 80/20 Rule for learning a topic
So, the next task was to zero in on the important stuff about how to use Canva and for that I used the 80/20 rule(link to TikTok guy) aka Pareto’s Principle. The idea (it’s a heuristic, not a rule) is that for any topic if you focus on the right 20 percent of its concepts or principles, you’ll understand 80 percent of what there is to know about it. Those are good odds. Sooo.
10K:
Using the 80/20 rule, tell me the 20 percent I need to learn about Canva platform so that I understand 80 percent of what I need to know to use it.
ChatGPT 3.5:
To effectively use Canva, focus on mastering these key aspects:
- Template Customization: Learn to customize templates for various design needs.
- Basic Design Tools: Understand how to use basic design tools like text, shapes, and images.
- Image Editing: Familiarize yourself with basic image editing features such as resizing, cropping, and filters.
- Layers and Arrangement: Learn to work with layers and arrange elements within your design.
- Exporting and Sharing: Understand how to export your designs in different formats and share them across platforms.
At this point I pause to imagine if it’s time to think about specific content.
I can see an introductory video hitting all these Canva basics might be a good place to start and doing it in the context of a project would get the viewer right into the work. If I decide to do the video there I will ask ChatGPT for lists and explanations until the project is done
But this article was about how to use ChatGPT to write this post and what I’ve done so far as the AI work is concerned took about 10 minutes. There is no way to get that specific about a new topic that fast using a regular search engine.
There are still other tasks I will employ ChatGPT including proofing the post for the usual: spelling, grammar, consistency, clarity, etc. But I will also ask for gaps in information and anything else to improve it. I will also ask it to do anything I would normally reach for one of my reference books like check it against the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Canadian Press Style, the Chicago Manual of Style, etc.
In fact, I created a prompt that will do all of this all at once:
10K:
Please proof the following for consistency with Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Canadian Press Style, the Chicago Manual of Style. Don’t change it. Just list the issues: [Post]
Finally, I will ask it to produce a couple of radically different versions of this to see what it produces. I won’t use them, but I want to have a peek at some roads not chosen. I also want to scope out the competition. Generative AI is supposed to be human-like and, as a real human, I want to still be the better option.
