AI in Social Media: Turning Dry Prompts Into Bold Content

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Laney Goff: Welcome back to the Untamed Social Podcast. Today, my name is Laney and we're here with...

Tiecen Payne: I'm Tiecen Payne.

Laney Goff: It's Tiecen and me today. Tiecen, this is your, your second episode, right?

Tiecen Payne: That's right.

Laney Goff: Yeah I'm really excited. Um, Tiecen and I work together closely on business development with Strella Social Media, and I think that the topic today is a really kind of different than what we've been doing on the podcast, but I think it's gonna be really helpful for social media managers, digital marketers, marketers in general, um, and really focuses on something that's been a big, big topic, which is AI. Um, Tiecen, what were kind of your initial thoughts a couple of years ago when ChatGPT really came out with that first version? What were your thoughts on it?

Tiecen Payne: So when I first heard about ChatGPT kind of hit the market like a big surprise and I was like, oh great, we're all gonna lose our jobs because I have made my career out of content marketing. I'm being a writer and and ChatGPT is saying they can do that for me. So I kind of pouted for a week and I was like, this is going to be the worst. And then I was like, or I can be the one who knows how to use this, um, and keep moving forward. And so I figured it out. And now, you know, the same as you, like people pay me to show them how to use it. And so I think it's just, you know, we felt the same way about Facebook. Like, Oh, this is gonna ruin everything and now everyone uses it so that's what ChatGPT is gonna be.

Laney Goff: You're really taking it back with Facebook. You're showing our age. But that is true. That is true. Like AI is not the only one that we've seen this with. Um.

Tiecen Payne: And I am showing my age right like you have a choice when new technology comes out like it's time to get old or it's time to figure it out and so this was just the next thing that we needed to figure out.

Laney Goff: Yeah, well, and I think that's natural too, because as my kids get older and they get more involved with, you know, like my daughter just got an iPhone and it's like, I got to really learn how to like do the parental controls and understand like, what is it that her generation is consuming and how do I find out like what she's looking at and searching. So overall like, I think that's a good point that no matter your age, it shouldn't stop you from being ahead of the curve and making sure that you're investing the time and energy into learning new things, even though it may seem exhausting at times. Um, so I think getting on board is definitely step number one. And honestly, I think, you know, there's been so much that has developed with AI over the past couple of years. I mean, the way that ChatGBT alone has enhanced is wild. Um, I mean, it goes without saying that obviously the more you're in it, the more you learn how to work the system. But also, there are so many AI programs out there. That in itself is overwhelming and then you hear about the the AI war going on and how DeepSeek has come out and they have advanced in and how they're actually creating these AI models and so it's only going to get worse. It's only going to--

Tiecen Payne: Or better?

Laney Goff: Better but like more overwhelming in my eyes that like these AI programs are going to advance more rapidly at a cheaper cost there's going to be so much that goes into it and you really have to be on top of your game with the updates that are going to be coming out in my opinion.

Tiecen Payne: Yeah, and I think like if our, if our theme for this season is authenticity, right? I think when you're trying, if you need a goal for like what you're trying to accomplish when you're learning about AI is you're trying to learn how to create something that's still true to your brand, true to yourself, authentic. And that is the, and that's the, uh, the modifier, right? That's the thing that a lot of people are not understanding about AI and the content that they're putting out is awful. Um, and if you can figure that out and be good at that, then, then you can still lead in the market. So.

Laney Goff: Yeah, and that like leads directly into where we're going with this, right? So like, how do you actually become a marketer who utilizes AI in a way that's effective, that not only gives you the responses that you're looking for, but also does it in a way that really represents your brand, the tone, the voice, your messaging, all of that. Um, so if you were to to give kind of like an example of maybe like a basic prompt that somebody would use. How would you spice it up to make it give you a better response that's going to fit for what you're looking for?

Tiecen Payne: Okay. So I think of your prompt as something like, um, Hey ChatGPT, I want to write a blog post about being authentic in social media. And if that's all you put, she's going to give you a really trite list of five, five ways to be authentic that everybody else has mentioned. But if you say, Hey, ChatGPT, this is my name. This is my website. This is my portfolio. Uh, maybe this is the client that I'm working for. Um, my tone is funny, professional, and a little bit sassy, my sense of humor is dry, uh, you know, and give her some parameters to work in, uh, then what's going to come back is going to sound more like you.

And I'm never afraid to make her do it again, like she's a robot and she's going to be okay. So if she comes back and it's too cheesy, or it's too, uh, not deep enough, or if it's too deep, then I just tell her, hey, like, you're only skimming the surface, can you take it down a level? And she will. Um, which is nice. You can just boss her around.

Laney Goff: Boss her around. Also, can we just touch base on how you call it a she? You have definitely gave her a pronoun.

Tiecen Payne: She's a girl. My, my, I, I call her she all the time. My husband asked me the same thing, like, how do you know ChatGPT is a woman? And I, I wrote a blog post about it that we can share on our channel if you want to. Um, but what's funny is when I said, Hey, I want to write. I asked her about it. I'm like, I want to write a blog post about how ChatGPT is woman. And she's like.

Yeah, for sure. I am a woman. And she went for it. And it's really funny. Um, and then when I, I went into like incognito mode and said, hey, justify ChatGPT being a man. And she was straight up rude about it. She was like, always interrupts, like came up with all these negative things. And I was like, so what you're saying is you're a woman. She's like, basically, yes. So.

Laney Goff: Yes, yes I am.

Tiecen Payne: It was so funny. And I even said, like, make a portrait of yourself, and it was straight up a woman. So, um, I'm happy to give you that if you want to post some of that on the, on the post for this.

Laney Goff: I love that so much. But I do think, I do wonder like, what kind of that ratio is between men and women in using AI or ChatGPT specifically?

Like, is it more women or is it more men? Is it kind of catering towards women? I'm just so curious to know what that's like.

Tiecen Payne: I don't know. But she was loud and proud, so.

Laney Goff: But going back to what you were saying about, you know, giving AI more than just the basics is something I've 1000 percent agree on. Um, I've done a number of reels and TikTok videos about this, um, specifically about how detailed your prompts need to be, and really you have to first work on training AI, in my opinion. Um, what I like about ChatGBT is the fact that they obviously log all of, you know, the threads that you have started in the past. And a lot of people don't understand that, like, you can rename those threads. So, like, I have one that's specific for Strella, that I have trained that AI to know exactly what the tone, the voice, the messaging is. But also, um, not just what's about Strella, but what it is about our target audience because that's something that people miss all the time. Especially when creating social media content is that they will say this is what my brand is about blah blah blah and they're completely missing the fact that their content needs to speak to a specific audience. And yes, it is important for ChatGPT or whatever program to understand your brand's voice and tone and all of that but at the same time you want it to really cater to the people that you're trying to attract. So that's definitely something that I always say is that the first thing that you should do is to train that specific thread on whatever brand or business that you're working in. So if you have a client you want to name it, the client's name, and then you want to start with the basics. Um, and just to kind of, maybe something that will be helpful for people to understand, like how to train AI on a specific brand, I always do a brand overview. So that's talking about the nature of the business, the products, the services that they're selling, what their goals are, what they're currently doing for marketing. And then I also give the the target audience information. That's not just demographics. That's things like, what are the psychographics? What's the customer journey? Um, what are their pain points? What motivates them to buy? And then, um, sometimes, depending on who the client is, I might give kind of a competitive landscape. Uh, just to showcase, okay, these are the people in this, this specific niche that are doing really well and what they're doing really well. And then I give them the information about the brand message and the voice. I think for me I feel like the number one thing that helps me to be organized and Effective with ChatGPT is using Google Docs. I have so many Google Docs that are specific for different prompts so that when I am going from client to client, I'm not having to recreate something that I've already done and try to figure out how to enter in that information about the client. And I think that's something that people don't recognize is that you can like write it out somewhere else, keep it safe, and then copy and paste it in with the new information whenever you need to create a new thread for a new brand.

Tiecen Payne: Right. And a couple things there, like, since I've been working here, I've already learned a ton from you about how to do an AI prompt. And I would tell our audience, like, Laney's AI prompts are like two Google Docs pages long.

Laney Goff: Yeah, it's sad.

Tiecen Payne: It's not like when I came, I was like, oh, I'm really good. I had like a two paragraph prompt. Now, Laney has like a two page prompt. Um, and, and again, the more you put into AI, the more you're going to get out, right? So, when you put all that information in, what comes back out is something that sounds more like you, or more like Strella, or more like one of our clients, or whatever we're trying to do. Um, and also, like, as you work with your AI bot, essentially, and it gets to know you, it's going to sound different too. It's going to sound like you. So you and I could take the same two page prompt, and put it into our ChatGPTs and the response would be different because over time and that's why I also would really encourage people to use those channels like you're saying those threads and always go back to it when you're on the same topic because that's what you're putting into that machine learning is teaching it how you sound and teaching it what you're after and like me and you wouldn't even sound the same if we said the exact same thing.

Laney Goff: Exactly. It, well, and it, it comes down to like, if you're not already having these conversations with your clients beforehand to get all of this information, that's a problem. I mean the onboarding in itself for a new client, I think should all automatically get the answers to all of these and my suggestion would be is when you do get a new client and you're doing those, that onboarding and you're getting these answers, go ahead and create a thread in ChatGPT. Enter in all this information and you don't have to give them a specific prompt. Just go ahead and let them know I want you to understand who this client is um, and then when it comes time for you to start creating content or to start analyzing and figuring out a strategy, the it's already created for you. It's going to understand so much easier what it is that you're looking for and you're not having to do double work.

Tiecen Payne: Yeah.

Laney Goff: Yeah, I think that's something that people miss out on is that ChatGPT is supposed to save you time.

Tiecen Payne: Right.

Laney Goff: It's not supposed to create more work for you. So if you're doing it wrong, then it's just creating more work.

Tiecen Payne: Yeah, how many times do you want to say, here's this client, here's the website, here, just one time.

Laney Goff: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And something you brought up about, you know, like tone and voice and how you know, you need that, that differentiation so that it's not just giving you the same answers that it's going to give everybody else. But I think a really great way to do that is to train it about the tone and the voice of the client or your own brand that you're using. So how would you, I mean, obviously you are like a very straightforward, in my opinion, like if you were creating something for yourself, for your own business, I would think that it would come off pretty bold, confident, like straight to the point. How do you yourself kind of train AI to mimic that tone and messaging?

Tiecen Payne: So I, I am critical with AI, like she's not a person, I can't hurt her feelings, um, and so whenever she spits back an answer to me, I'll say, hey, that's not funny, or I'll say that's not bold enough, or, and I'll give her an example, I'll say, hey, I was kind of shooting more for, um, something disruptive in the way of, um, you know, saying something different about this market. I might give her an idea or two, and then she'll come back with more ideas for me about how that's going to go. So I think I argue with my ChatGPT, and if you looked at my ChatGPT responses, it's a conversation where I get something back, and then I say, not quite. And then I fix it, um, and it gets better and better. She's getting funnier, that's for sure, because I've told her she's not funny enough times that she's starting to, to be a little funnier and, um, and give me better answers and just understand my tone. Um, but I, I will say I do that for all my clients too. So I have a separate thread for every client, and, and in mine I'm telling her she's not funny enough, but maybe in another's I'm telling her that she's not professional enough. And, she'll narrow it down for each of those threads differently and do a better job. So.

Laney Goff: Yeah. Um, and I like that you said that because that's something that I do too is giving examples. Um, um, and especially if it's something that you're just starting out with or you have a client that you're just starting to work with that you really want to, to mimic their tone. It's not to say that you always want to mimic what they've done in the past because sometimes you might want to switch that up but a good example would be say you have a new client and they've got all of these Instagram posts carousels and you what I have done in the past is I actually type out like five examples of their carousels with the exact wording that they put in them and then I will say take what they've done here keep the tone, but like maybe add in a little bit more spice or whatever it is that it's lacking to really speak to their audience. Um, and if you give it more examples, then it's going to be more likely to produce that back to you.

Tiecen Payne: Yeah, it kind of works both ways, right? Like sometimes I'm telling ChatGPT what I didn't like. Um, from her result, sometimes I'm saying, hey, I wrote this thing up and it's just not ringing for me. And here's kind of, I'm not sure, but maybe it's not something enough. And then have her help me tweak what I wrote. And it can go both ways. And that's training AI teaching it what you're trying to say.

Laney Goff: Yeah, definitely. And, thinking about it, something else I do with my Google Docs for my prompts is I have like a running list of tone and voice options. I mean, it's long. You know, like, uh, it says a lot of different things because I don't, sometimes you can get stuck, I feel like, trying to figure out what tone or voice you're looking for. So I might have like, witty, clever, sharp, intelligent. Uh, quick humorous remarks, down to earth, relatable, like, and I just have a running list of options so that I can kind of pull and understand like this is what this client is looking for, this is what this client needs instead of trying to think off the top of my brain every five seconds of like I don't even know what the tone is, you know.

Tiecen Payne: Right. Can you share that to me? Can I have your...

Laney Goff: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I like I mean it really I've got unconventional, authoritative, reliable. Like it's just a running list because I think when you're in the moment and you're just trying to get something done again, we're trying to save time here. So if you're spending time trying to think about descriptive words for tone that's slowing you down and it just defeats the purpose of what you're supposed to be doing with AI.

Tiecen Payne: And that customer profile or client profile is really important, right? Saying, this is what the, either what our client is like, what the speaker is like, and so that helps to have a running list.

Laney Goff: Yeah, definitely. And also, I mean, it kind of goes into one of the things that, like, people have struggled with is just saying, you know, like, AI will never have that human voice. I personally think that if you train AI enough on the right things, that's when it becomes what you want it to. You know what I mean? Like, obviously, like you, for example, are talking about how you correct her a lot. But at the same time, like, the more you correct her, the more you're going to get to the point where you're not having to correct her. Which is the goal.

Tiecen Payne: Yeah, on my older threads, I, I don't have to do that as much, right?

Laney Goff: Exactly. Yeah. So I think that, you know, in my opinion, is a little bit of a myth that AI will not replace the human touch. I mean, yes, it takes work to get there. Um, and if it can't do it on its own, we have to be able to, to do that for her. But, um, there, there is a point where it becomes kind of just like clockwork. You're putting in one prompt and she's spitting it out and it's exactly what you're looking for.

Tiecen Payne: Yeah, and frankly, I think this idea of like AI could never sound like a person. We're just comforting, like we're trying to comfort ourselves with that, right?

Laney Goff: That's literally is.

Tiecen Payne: Yeah, AI could never do what I'm gonna, yes she can, she can.

Laney Goff: No, but really, yeah.

Tiecen Payne: Um, but you have to train her, and I know that it, it's, it's disconcerting, but this is gonna happen, so like, learn how to use the technology, and like, one of the ways that I said I know that AI as a woman is because if you're feeling threatened, the AI is gonna take over your job, it's because you're not good enough at it. So, like, get going, you know, and figure it out.

Laney Goff: I love that. That's so true though. That's so true. So, you know, obviously this is a lot of information to kind of take in. I think the overarching theme here is for you to just be as detailed as possible. Um, and, and people are just lazy, in my opinion, and they don't want to take the time to do it. They think it's just some, some magic trick that AI is going to immediately know what it is they're looking for. Um, and it's not. It takes work. It takes a lot of work. Um, but once you get there, you're there and, and you can take that step back and, and actually do things more effectively. And then the time efficiency is just unreal. Um, but, oh, go ahead.

Tiecen Payne: Sorry, and that's where you're going to save your job, right? Like I'm not trying to be death and destruction about this. That's where your real professionalism comes in. Do you understand your audience? Do you understand the tone that's going to hit with them? Do you understand the messaging that's going to hit with them and are you good at telling ChatGPT what that's going to be? Because guess what? She doesn't know that. So if you, if you're good at that, if you're good at reading your audience, that's where you're going to shine with this, with this technology.

Laney Goff: Yeah. And in addition to that, if you're working with a team of people, how, how do you get your team on the same page with that? Because I mean, obviously we want everybody to be working efficiently and to have that effectiveness with their time. Um, it can't just be one person, you know?

Tiecen Payne: Well, our whole team uses it, so how do you make sure that everyone on our team is doing it how you would do it?

Laney Goff: Yeah, well, I think number one is sharing like how you just asked, you know, can I have that running list? Absolutely. I have no problem sharing it with you. Um, I think that if there's consistency with when you find something that works well with training AI. You have to be willing to share that with the team and to say this is how I've been able to kind of skip past all of the BS and dealing with trying to get her to figure it out. I know that this works. Um, and that also means that everybody on your team is going to have to work at trying to get her there. Um, some people may find something that's more effective than others, but at the end of the day you have to be able to share that with everybody. And also something that I think is interesting too is that our entire team except for me and you, I bet, because we have our own subscriptions to ChatGPT. But the majority of our team shares the same login for ChatGPT so that we can see what everybody else is doing. Um, which is nice because again, if there's consistency, if we have multiple people working on one client and there's that consistency there of, okay, we've already trained ChatGPT, here's the thread for this specific client, and we're going in and asking different people in that same thread, you're going to get the same results. If everybody's putting in different information, they're going to get different results from ChatGPT. So, I think that's a benefit for us, is that the majority of the people on our team are using that same account, and they're able to see what everybody else is doing and inputting.

Tiecen Payne: Yeah, and it kind of puts some guardrails, and ChatGPT puts those in for us to keep everyone, um, in, the right tone and voice.

Laney Goff: Yeah, definitely. And it's funny too because half the team is like, I hate that we do that because I don't like when people see what I put in ChatGPT. Like they're embarrassed of it, which I think I can understand.

Tiecen Payne: Maybe we should start pulling some of the funny things each week and putting it in our Slack channel.

Laney Goff: Right, definitely, definitely. So, yeah, I think that those would be, uh, that would be, you know, top tips for how to actually see success with ChatGPT and to stop wasting time with it because I think too many, too many marketers are wasting their time and they're not getting it right.

Tiecen Payne: We're avoiding it or doing it wrong.

Laney Goff: Yeah, exactly. Most avoiding. Definitely. Well, I'm so glad that we had the chance to do this episode together. Um, if you want to check out some of our, our latest episodes from season two, we've got more to come. Um, but in the meantime, feel free to let us know if you've got any AI questions. Tiecen and I would be more than happy to answer and we will see you next time.

Tiecen Payne: See you, Laney.