ChatGPT is evolving faster than you can write: give-me-a-prompt bot, dude. (Hey 👋 ChatGPT Pro launched just after this post was finalized and CustomGPT upgrades and GPT-4 Vision!) And it’s not a matter of whether we should use ChatGPT for our businesses anymore, but how we should.
When it comes to content specifically, which version you choose can make a big difference to your outcomes.
In this post, we quickly take you through which ChatGPT type is best for which type of content and also include some content prompt examples.
But first, let’s very quickly chat about prompt engineering and how it relates to content.
What Is Prompt Engineering?
Prompt engineering is just a fancy way of saying “giving the AI instructions.”
It’s how you tell your bot what you need and then the way you guide it through generating relevant, on-point outputs. Sometimes, this takes a lot of time and detail, sometimes not, but the concept is the same. It’s how you create outputs aimed at humans that speak to your audiences and hit your niche goals.
And a content-focused prompt engineer? That’s a person (like us!) who makes it all happen. The one fine-tuning your AI, training it to understand your needs, or even coaching you on how to do it yourself. And you want this person to be a content expert (like us!).
Why?
An expert knows what the outcome should be and, therefore, knows how to ask the right questions. They will also learn all the important details your bot needs to know to get the best results more quickly. After all, aren’t these content experts who the bots are learning from?
Now it’s coffee and knowledge level-up time!
For those not in the mood to read on, there is a ChatGPT cheat-sheet infographic at the end of this post!
1. ChatGPT-4
ChatGPT is your know-it-all friend. It is excellent for all those in-depth content projects like planning an ebook or writing a content report for your teams, but it can get a little carried away and is a bit of a perfectionist. This is great if you want to immerse yourself a bit with a topic, but not so efficient if you are looking for quick, straightforward responses to prompts.
What It Can Do:
- Research and outline blog posts, captions, or product descriptions
- Brainstorm ideas, give tips on what your audience wants, and even suggest SEO-friendly words
- Generate responses to common questions and personalized messages for bots and mail
- Build and tweak your content strategy
Content Prompt Example
“We’re working on a blog about [industry/niche] and could use some fresh ideas. Can you come up with 10 blog topics that combine what people are searching for, what’s trending, and what keeps readers interested? A mix of helpful, fun, and thought-provoking would be great.”
What It Can’t Do
ChatGPT-4 is not great at creating super unique or original ideas. If you want something fresh and not just a repeat of what everyone else is generating, then you still need your own creativity — or your awesome content creators 👋 — to make it stand out. ChatGPT-4 also tends to overthink simpler tasks, which can cause you to run around in circles. (You can also use the 4o mini version for faster replies.)
2. ChatGPT-4 Turbo
If you often find yourself saying, “Dude, what are you doing!” to your bot, it’s likely that its context has gone astray. And that could mean you need to switch to Turbo instead. Great for fine-tuning a whitepaper or getting you 10 subject ideas for that New Year’s mailer, because it doesn’t waffle; it is a little better at remembering context.
What It Can Do:
- Process big chunks of information, super quickly
- Take existing content and upcycle it for other channels
- Summarize long-form content into lots of smaller, digestible points
- Come up with creative, quick variations for content like email subject lines
Content Prompt Example
“Can you break down [complex topic] into a short, easy-to-understand explanation for someone who’s new to it? Bonus if it feels friendly and approachable.”
What It Can’t Do
Turbo won’t help you generate never-seen-before ideas or concepts. Well, to be honest, none of them can without a lot of prompting and human input, but Turbo is a little behind with this. It also won’t be able to handle complex emotional nuances in empathetic content. Here’s an example prompt and Turbo’s reply:
Yes, the bot is polite, but it severely lacks an understanding of the emotional gravity of the situation.
To compare, here’s the same response from ChatGPT-4.
(You can also use the o1-mini version for faster replies.)
3. ChatGPT o1-preview
You are a new SaaS brand launching your content strategy from zero. ChatGPT o1-preview could help you build a plan based on your general ideas. It can also help you figure out how to explain the technical features of your product (like API integrations) in a way that non-technical users can easily understand.
So yes, it’s great for planning, but you will want to move it over to 4 when you are ready to work on the final content.
What It Can Do:
- Plan out very intensive technical documentation
- Do detailed data analysis and then give you content strategy insights from it
- Come up with timelines and milestones for your content project plans
- Help you write complex legal documents like contracts or terms and conditions pages
Content Prompt Example
“I need an in-depth summary of [topic/trend/industry concept]. Include key points, recent stats, and examples. Make it detailed enough for a [specific audience — e.g., marketing team, SaaS founders, etc.].”
What It Can’t Do
o1-preview doesn’t handle creative storytelling-type tasks well, and its output for this will feel very generic. You also wouldn’t use it to manage high-volume, repetitive content tasks, like creating hundreds of product descriptions, or automate workflows like scheduling, distributing, or promoting content without integrations.
4. o1-mini
For short, punchy content like product updates or launch teasers, o1-mini could be your bot. It’s also great at helping you decide on micro-copying things such as buttons and menu titles. But if you are looking for attention-grabbing headlines for evolving platforms like TikTok, as it is, it doesn’t adapt to real-time trends.
What It Can Do:
- Help you create your backend documentation for developers and creators
- Create and suggest content metadata tags, descriptions, and titles
- Advise on how to better structure webpage content
- Suggest tweaks to existing content
Content Prompt Example
“I’m working on content metadata for [webpage/product/blog]. Can you suggest SEO-friendly tags, descriptions, and a title that will improve searchability?”
What It Can’t Do
If you want your bot to have a sense of humor, o1-mini wouldn’t be your choice. It’s not great at finding ways to speak to niche audiences creatively or considering cultural nuances. If you are looking for help tweaking your banner CTAs, you are better off teaming up with 4o mini — as you can see from some of these gems it’s given me:
- “Shop the Latest UK Hat Trends Now!”
- “Upgrade Your Look – Shop Premium Hats”
- “Stay Stylish This Winter – Browse Our Hats”
5. ChatGPT with Canvas
ChatGPT with Canvas is a collaborative version of OpenAI that is currently beta testing. It has been created for brainstorming or planning tasks as a team.
What It Can Do:
- Create content planning workflows, flowcharts, or timetables
- Build internal pros and cons lists with detailed breakdowns
- Review and change the length of a piece of content
- Check for grammar, clarity, and consistency
Content Prompt Example
“I need to brainstorm blog post ideas for [industry/topic]. Can you help me create a visual mind map that organizes ideas into categories like educational, entertaining, and thought leadership?”
What It Can’t Do
You wouldn’t use Canvas to create specific content from scratch, as it’s better for planning and organizing. It also cannot write platform-specific content or pull real-time analytics or performance data. And it isn’t impressive at jokes, but then what bot is?
And We’re Out
Whether you use your bot as an entrepreneur’s emotional support animal (ours is a cat, duh) or a content task tracker, it can be a powerful content marketing tool.
The trick is knowing how to wield it. We hope this guide helps you do just that! But, of course, if you have questions, we are here. Drinking coffee and doodling.
For more established brands looking to build comprehensive systems and bots, you may want to consider the following types in addition to the ones mentioned in this post.
- ChatGPT Enterprise: Best for large organizations needing more secure, high-level AI
- Custom GPTs: Ideal for creating your custom AI models specific to a content task or your brand (You can check out ours here!)
- ChatGPT API: Suited for developers integrating ChatGPT into apps or platform tools
Also, keep an eye on ChatGPT with Plugins and GPT-4 Vision, which OpenAI is busy testing now.
Happy ChatGPT’ing
Need some help mastering your prompt engineering? Join the waitlist for our ChatGPT Content-Engineering Workbook that will cover everything you need to know, including the latest Custom GPTs and GPT-4 Vision!
How to Use ChatGPT, a Graphic
