202. How do you blog with AI? (f. Sue Pallen)
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Struggling with ChatGPT for your content? 😫 Phil and Lauren are joined by Phil's mom, Sue Pallen, to discover how she's mastered content creation with ChatGPT for her clients. They’ll take you through a live session, optimizing ChatGPT for blogging, from refining keywords to crafting the perfect tone. If ChatGPT's been a challenge, this episode is your content game-changer!
Episode transcription
Phil
Have ever struggled with ChatGPT for your content needs?
Lauren
Today we're joined by Phil's mom Sue Pallen to talk in more detail.
Phil
Yes, she's been nailing content creation with ChatGPT for her clients.
Lauren
We're diving into a live walkthrough and optimizing ChatGPT for blogging
from perfecting keywords to the right tone, we are covering it all.
If ChatGPT has been a challenge for you, this episode is your game changer. Let's jump in.
phil
No one is sponsoring this video, but my mom should be. Just wait until she realizes how this tool is already going to improve her life. So mom is ChatGPT improving your life yet?
Sue
It is 100% No question.
Phil
How? We want to know how how are you using this tool? How do you even know when you open? Now? How do you know what you're doing already?
Sue
Well, because I'm aware of just what's out there. And I read one of your blogs that helped simplify it. And I knew that there had to be an easier way for me to create content more efficiently. And that's exactly what it's done. I mean, I still need to put my client's voice on it, but it is a major timesaver with not having to think about topics all the time. It's great.
Phil
So we're gonna do a little experiment today. I don't think as many people as you are even this comfortable C
hatGPT. So you may already have a leg up. But I'm not only here to walk through and give you a further demo. But also Lauren, my colleague, who is also an AI land with me. So the two of us are going to do a little tutorial maybe we'll call it on using Chad GBD if you're scared about using it, or you're not sure where to even begin.
Lauren
Great. And I just want to interject for a second because when we say the word content, that could be so many different things. And I know before I started getting into ChatGPT and AI, I was really overwhelmed by the possibilities to the point where I didn't even try to start because I just didn't even know where to begin. So Sue, could you kind of walk us through what content specifically you're creating through ChatGPT currently, and don't worry about mentioning the client names or anything, but just give us kind of like a general idea.
Sue
It's Instagram and Facebook posts on a regular basis. So I would do probably five per day, throughout the week in you can use all of the tactics and techniques that so many people within the industry we'll share with you is like, you know, sit down for three hours and bring all of your content or your ideas into one place and create that way, interview your client to get some ideas that way goes for sound bites, etc, etc. And that's fine in a perfect world, but it's not. And so I'm always interested in what's new for technology, and ChatGPT and AI I just I find fascinating. So when Phil had started talking about it and was traveling and speaking about it, I was listening. And so I just figured there's got to be an easier way to avoid that creative mental block. And just that feeling where Oh, I have to come up with more ideas again, and then I have to, you know, follow through with it to the posting etc. So I was just doing kind of my own research. And I started with Phil first.
Lauren
Perfect. Okay, so sue, we know that you've been using ChatGPT a bit, but maybe you could kind of like, walk us through how you would use this tool.
Sue
Okay, so first of all, let's say my client is in the fitness industry and I need to come up with an Instagram or Facebook post, or actually, let's start with a blog, because then I would break that down into Instagram, and Facebook posts. A blog on reasons why daily exercise is important. So I will type that basically in. But make sure I mention a blog so that it comes out long enough.
Lauren
Great. So you would explicitly write something like ‘help me write a blog post about the reasons why daily exercise is important'. Correct.
Phil
Okay. So we've typed that prompt in we're looking at the results. And right off the bat, we've got a title, the imperative of daily exercise transforming mind, body and soul. We've heard it time and time again, exercise is good for you. How many of us truly understand the myriad benefits that come with daily physical activity? I won't read the whole thing. But listener, you've been queued up to hear at the beginning of it. It goes on to write a blog post with what would you say Lauren? Two to three sentences per paragraph.
Lauren
Yeah. Yeah. And it looks like there's multiple sections It's like a cardiovascular boost weight management, mental health benefits, etc, etc. It even talks about sleep and your immune system. So this is like a really comprehensive blog post and ChatGPT, while I'm speaking is still going.
Phil
It is still going listener and we're just about at the conclusion. Daily exercise is a multifaceted gem that impacts every aspect of our lives. Interesting. I have some thoughts, Lauren, I bet you do too.
Lauren
I also have some thoughts. But Phil, why don't you go first.
Phil
So a fairly simple prompt, let's talk about what that prompt was, again, help me read a blog post about the reasons why daily exercise is important. That's a good starting point that's actually really similar to the first ever prompt that I think I entered into ChatGPT months and months ago. But as people say, ChatGPT is really only as good as the prompt that you enter. So I have some ideas. We are using ChatGPT 4.0 which is generally better than 3.5. It's got more up to date information that it's referencing to write this. But I would say there are opportunities to inject a bit more context and personality. And I'm sure, Lauren, you agree.
Lauren
Yes, context and personality and SEO. So something that I've noticed with the kind of lengthy blog post title is that it mentions daily exercise, it mentions transforming mind, body and soul. But I would be really, really curious to hear if ChatGPT had some SEO optimized titles, and also SEO optimized subtitles for all the various paragraphs within. And that just ensures that you're writing content using ChatGPT that can actually help with discoverability. Now we might find that ChatGPT doesn't have any changes at all, like it's naturally already done at SEO optimized. But I'd be curious to see if there were any changes.
Sue
Exactly, exactly. I wouldn't have even thought of the SEO aspect of it. I would have just asked it to simplify it a bit more. Yep.
Lauren
Yep. And that's actually a good point too. Because if you think about your hypothetical client, by you asking to simplify this, that tells me that you understand your client's tone of voice. And so granted, I need to do a caveat that I am an AI newbie, like, I'm very, very new. But as I do with everything, when I like learn something new, I go all in and it consumes me for days.
Phil
It also it's very closely the function of AI in the context of ChatGPT as a research tool as a writing buddy, not a writing replacement. It's very aligned with the type of work you do today, when you're working on copywriting projects. So it's not so much about that you're a newbie, I mean, yes, you do go all in, I just know you, you go all in on things, but I think you're learning very quickly how to use this very effectively, because it's so aligned with what you do day to day, and you're excited about the efficiencies that it can create.
Lauren
Completely. So when I create a prompt, there are a few things that I always include in the prompt itself. So first, Sue, you got that right off the bat, it's like helped me write a blog post. So you know, it's a blog post, and about XYZ. Now, the way that I would personally flush this out a little bit more is I would make my requirements really, really clear. So I would say I want this to be SEO optimized to help with discoverability. And then I would also add something like, when you write please write this as a fitness influencer based in Los Angeles who's wanting to target an audience of people in university, thus get and then what I would also say is something along the lines of for all subtitles, please make sure that you are answering common questions related to the topic, and ensure the subtitles are also SEO optimized. So that way, instead of having the subtitle a daily dose of discipline, which is something that ChatGPT suggested, you might actually have a replacement for that with another query that people often put into Google.
And the last thing my prompts are, are like, there's like 1000 words long, but it's because ChatGPT has a limit, at least when you have the upgraded version of 50 messages every three hours. And so I want to squeeze as much as I can out of chat with every message so I can use it for everything.
The last thing that I've personally done that has been super, super helpful is I'll actually provide a writing sample of the tone of voice and it is wild, how accurate it can update the tone of voice in response to be in the reply. So I know that we don't necessarily have one for this particular example. But what I would recommend doing is say I would add and do I am providing an example of a blog post written by this client on a different topic. Please encapsulate or recreate this tone of voice exactly for the copy.
And then what I do to take it a step extra step further is all say, whenever I asked you to write a blog post for this client in the future, please use this tone of voice. And also keep in mind all instructions I've provided in the past. So that way, ChatGPT is going to know that you expect an SEO optimized title. It's also going to know that you are targeting this particular audience of university students. It's going to remember the tone of voice that you want. And it's going to remember to make all of this subtitles SEO optimized as well. So it's going to reduce that back and forth, and it's going to be training it right off the bat.
And sometimes if ChatGPT doesn't provide or like comply with those instructions, I will remind it and say if it spits out something I don't like, I'll be like, please remember the instructions I have provided in the past and recreate that, and then it will fix it. But anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.
phil
That's a great point. I think a detailed prompt is going to give you a really good final result. I have a sample mom actually ready from your client. So we're gonna paste it in here. And now let's watch it work. Are we ready?
Lauren
Very exciting.
sue
I just can't believe how quickly it just spits it out.
Lauren
Oh, my goodness. So right off the bat, we see an SEO optimized title change that's very different from the first one. So the Phil, could you scroll up so we can see what the original title was again.
Phil
The imperative of daily exercise transforming mind, body and soul. General right, very general right.
Now, the new one is why daily exercise is a must for university students, your ultimate guide. I love that title.
Lauren
It's amazing. And then it starts off with hey, there beautiful souls of LA. So obviously ChatGPT understands that your personality is based in LA and they're targeting university students. This is a very, very different tone of voice. It's also mentioned in college life. It's a whirlwind of lectures, late night study sessions. And this is a quote from chat. Let's not forget parties. Unbelievable. It's like completely different.
Phil
There's even a little emoji.
Lauren
Now, I really like the subtitles too. And Sue, you can see how this would really help you with content creation. It does for a specific audience in mind.
Phil
So subtitles that we're seeing when we we said earlier, as daily exercise is important for college students. But then there are subtitles beyond that. So can daily exercise help with academic academic performance? Does exercise reduce stress and anxiety? Will exercise improved my sleep?
So you might think, oh, well, these are good questions to be answering. But these are actually again, we asked it to be SEO optimized. So these are actually questions that people are typing into Google. Answering these questions will improve likely can't guarantee but will likely improve the performance of your blog post, especially if you're attaching what we would call a longtail keyword, which is typically a third and or fourth or fifth word to a search query.
So something like daily exercise is going to bring up millions of results. Daily exercise for university students, that's a longer tail keyword. So it's more specific, more niche, you have a better chance of performing because less people are looking for it. Daily exercise for university students in Los Angeles, even fewer people higher chance that you're going to perform. So it's a bit of a balancing act with SEO, and I think ChatGPT btw, while certainly when people are typing in customized prompts, it's starting to make everything sound the same. I got that vibe, but that first draft that we looked at, but when I train it, it sounds like us when we give it enough context, it really makes a lot of sense.
Lauren
Yes. Now something that I have found is helpful with training ChatGPT is actually providing direct edits of texts that it provides if you don't like it. Because that way, if you have a tough time articulating what your own tone of voice expectations are, that's okay, because you're actually giving a specific example and ChatGPT can then fill in the blanks for you. So for example, if I think of my written tone of voice as casual, that might actually be seen as a different thing in the eyes of ChatGPT. So by providing an example of how I would edit a sentence to be more like my tone of voice, then ChatGPT can apply those suggestions to the rest of the content.
So something that I'm wondering is, you can see in one of the sentences here, we've got two things that are pretty specific tone of voice wise, so maybe Phil and Sue you could choose which one you want it alkyl so one of them we have is the use of a semicolon. Exercise isn't just a solo endeavor semicolon, it can be a community affair. So maybe we could say, I don't like semicolons. Here is how I would rewrite this sentence. And then we'll paste that. And then I just need to think about how we would change it. Maybe let's make it exercise isn't just a solo endeavor, period. In fact, comma, it can be a community affair. And then I would finalize that feedback by telling ChatGPT to please incorporate this tone of voice feedback, and rewrite the blog post. And let's see what happens.
Phil
So last tip, that I would say, we've seen it in action, the more context specificity the better. The one thing ChadGPT is missing is up to date information. It's the one thing I'd say probably its biggest weakness is its inability to reference new information that could have been published yesterday, or even last week, the time of recording this video slash podcast, ChatGPT 4.0 is limited up until early 2022. So I can flip on Web Access, which is webChatGPT, a plugin that I use. It's free with Google Chrome used by millions. And what this is going to do is I'm going to click enter, and it will actually first search for web results, and bring those in. And then it will type the prompt for you and actually be able to source relevant web results that ChatGPT can access on its own. So if you for example, were to paste a web URL. You can't do that into ChatGPT. It can't go to the internet and get that information. You can copy and paste text from a web result. That's basically what it does when we use this plugin.
Lauren
Wow, I had no idea about that.
Sue
That's great.
Lauren
Really cool.
Phil
So what are we looking at on screen?
Lauren
Well, it already fixed it already took out the semicolon. I noticed it didn't use the semicolon, and it's using less actual colons. So not only is ChatGPT, you know, listening to my explicit feedback, but it's going the extra mile and making the assumption, well, Lauren doesn't like semicolon, so she probably doesn't like colons as much either. Fascinating.
Phil
And at the end, it is summarizing our web sources that we got in there through webChatGPT that plug in that I constantly mentioned and rave about. Keep in mind if you're using other GPT tools, so it's not just ChatGPT there are three others Bing, Barred, and Claude has such ridiculous names. Some of them are a little better at referencing newer information. But certainly ChatGPT is the best known and used by millions. So that's a handy little plugin in addition to many others, like template writers and such but who needs a template writer or a template plugin when you've got Lauren to craft your prompt for you?
Lauren
I told you I go all in. I've been like dreaming of ChatGPT, I got the app, I'm chatting with it all the time. My partner was like joking the other day, saying, like, he imagined a day where I'd be like, I love you. And then he's like, I love you too. But I'm like talking to chat. It's fantastic.
Phil
Any final thoughts mom on what you're going to do from here?
Sue
I'm going to get that plugin for sources and have it up to date. That's great web access. And I think I'm just going to be a lot more specific and not be afraid. I feel like it's really made a huge difference. But I'm just scratching the surface, I can do a lot more, but still be totally efficient with it.
Phil
Lauren, any closing thoughts, recommendations for people that are just starting to dabble and feel overwhelmed?
lauren
I think the more examples, you can give ChatGPT the better you do not always have to explicitly describe what it is that you're wanting. In fact, just outright copying and pasting what you want. Tone of voice wise really, really helps.
phil
My advice would be hop in here, even if it's uncomfortable and just start to do the resources, the plugins all of that is overwhelming in itself. But certainly finding resources and getting ideas on specific ways that you can talk to ChatGPT, I find are the most helpful advice that's general like hop on the AI train before it's too late. That's just not enough. I was hoping today to accomplish a very specific template that someone else could follow and adapt with little variables like Mad Libs for their own business or projects. That was my goal, and I hope we accomplished that today.
Oh, thank you, mom. Thank you, Lauren. And that was a fun episode to record and listener I hope that you found it even more valuable listening back and getting some ideas for your own business in your own brand in this exciting new world of AI. Let us know what you thought on social media we are @philpallen and @thelaurenmoore #brandtherapy to continue the conversation. If you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review. Five Star five star that helps other people find his podcasts and we work hard to create for you. We'll see you back next week with a brand new episode. This is Brand Therapy. Thanks for listening. See you then.