Earlier today I presented a brand new webinar Easier Content Creation for Nonprofits: Mastering AI, Repurposing and Curation. In addition to tips on repurposing and curating content, I included a whole section on writing better AI prompts for your communications.

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What Is Generative AI?

Think ChatGPT. Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can create content based on a user’s request.  That request is called a prompt. And how well your prompt is written is the key to getting the best results from generative AI.

(If you aren’t familiar with AI, see How Marketers Are Using AI (Plus 4 Helpful Tips) to get started.)

There are several different types of AI prompts including:

• Creative – when you’re asking AI to create or compose
• Informational – you’re asking for details, facts or other information
• Reasoning – you’re asking AI to draw thoughtful conclusions about a subject
• Listicle – you’re asking AI to give you the results in a list format
• Instructional – you’re asking AI to give you the results in a step-by-step guide
• Differing Viewpoints – you’re asking for AI to take the opposite side of an argument (AI can’t actually give you an opinion)
• Summary – you’re asking AI to summarize a larger amount of information
• Keyword – you’re asking AI to focus on specific words or phrases and include them in its results

If you have tried using generative AI like ChatGPT, but just don’t like the results you are getting, it may be time to work on your prompts.

Writing Better AI Prompts

Use these tips to write better AI prompts that give you the BEST results:

1. Provide as much context as possible
2. Be specific and detailed
3. Explain what you want to achieve
4. Give the platform
5. Define tone of voice (and use it)
6. Give desired length
7. Ask for more than one result

When writing your AI prompts, be as specific and detailed as you can. And provide as much context as you can including where the content will be posted, how long it needs to be, and the tone/voice you want. And be sure to use that tone and voice even in the prompts. AI pays attention to everything you input.

For example, instead of just saying “I need a blog post about hiking safety,” your prompt should be something like:

I need a 400 to 500-word blog post written in a casual friendly tone about the dangers of hiking the Pacific Coast Trail during summer. Make it a top 10 list. The target audience is people in their 30s.

The second prompt will give you more tailored results meaning you don’t have to work as hard to edit it. And don’t be afraid to refine the prompt based on the results you get.

And be sure to ask for more than one result especially if you are using it for email subject lines or titles.

If you didn’t like the content AI comes back with, follow up with a prompt that explains what you liked about the results and what you didn’t. If you didn’t like the tone, give it an example of something written in that tone and ask it to try again.

Think of generative AI as a freelancer and give it the same feedback you would give a graphic designer. It’s really just a conversation.

But remember:

DOUBLE-CHECK EVERYTHING!

Harmful content, racial bias, copyright violations, and misinformation are all real issues. If your organization doesn’t have an AI policy, then go do that first! (And yes, Pass Holders have access to our AI policy webinar recording and templates)

AI is here to stay whether you like it or not. And it can be a helpful tool in your content creation process if you use it right.

Want to work together on your prompts? Join us for a Community Study Hall: Creating Better AI Prompts. Not a member of our community? Join now! It’s free.

Our senior advisor, Anysa Holder, talked about how nonprofit marketers are using AI this past March in Unlocking the Power of AI for Nonprofit Communications. In that post, she shared 11 ways you can use artificial intelligence as well as some pitfalls you need to be aware of.

This past month Hubspot put out The State of AI in Marketing in 2023 which expounds on some of what Anysa shared with us including:

• How AI has gained in popularity
• Why it’s time to look into using AI
• How marketers are saving time with it
• How marketing AI tools are being used
• Tips for incorporating it into your work
• Hesitations about using it
• Predictions for the future of AI

Read the full report.

Marketers are mainly using generative AI for:

• Market Research: You can use an AI tool to tell you what the most popular nonprofits are in your area. Or find who has a similar mission. It can also list those organizations’ social media follower counts and average Google review score.
• SEO Planning and Keyword Research: AI can sift through keyword ideas, help map out keyword research for campaigns, and track website page ranks for various keywords.
• Content Creation and Scaling: While AI can create your content for you, only 5% of marketers say they use it to write entire pieces of content. And according to the report, only 4% make no edits whatsoever to AI-generated content. More often marketers are using AI to help them outline their content or brainstorm ideas.
• Repurposing Content: 21% use it to summarize larger text into key points in order to be used across different channels
• Social Media and Email: Today 31% of marketers are using AI to create social media posts and 28% use it to create and answer emails.
• Product Descriptions: AI rephrasing tools can help teams find new ways of getting the most important features of their products across.
• Performance Optimization: AI can help you analyze your existing content. That includes asking it to provide a list of your underperforming articles or those that need updating.
• Data Analysis: Use it to create quarterly reports or to gather other important data.

Read the full report.

To use AI effectively, you should:

1. Identify the areas that can be improved by using AI
2. Find the right AI tools for you
3. Learn how to write prompts
4. See if services/platforms you already use are adding AI and use those

But remember AI has limitations:

Anysa touched on these in her post too, but here are the mains reasons marketers are hesitant about using AI:

• Inaccuracy
• Bias
• Over-reliance

The report shares ways to solve these issues, but you really do need to beware! And ALWAYS fact-check its work.

To find out how else artificial intelligence is changing marketing, get your full copy of The State of AI in Marketing in 2023.