January 12, 2023
If you haven’t heard about the new AI chatbot ChatGPT yet, you will soon. This article lays out a clear explanation of how the artificial intelligence tool works, and if you work in marketing, communications, PR, journalism or content creation, you should be paying attention. ChatGPT can be a useful tool in your ’23 toolbelt if you take the time to experiment and find ways it could work for you and your company.
I recently spent a bit of time poking around and asking the chatbot for some inputs and information, and I have to tell you – while it’s not an end-all, be-all, there is certainly some utility in getting a head start when you’re struggling with ideas or content. Here are a few ways I tried out ChatGPT, the results I got and how you might think about using the chatbot for your business to help define your process, develop content or spark ideas.
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MY QUESTION:
What’s a good employer value proposition?
ChatGPT’S ANSWER:
Having worked with a number of companies over the past several years to build and amplify their employer brands, I’ve got to admit this definition is really solid. I did a similar (more general) search for “Explain the branding process to me,” and the results I received aligned well with the process we follow here at Dix & Eaton. So, it seems as though this tool could be helpful in laying out a process roadmap for a variety of instances.
A USE CASE FOR YOU: HELPING WITH PROCESS
If you’re starting a project and aren’t totally sure of the process to follow or elements to include, a tool like ChatGPT might provide you with a solid foundation to get you started.
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MY QUESTION:
Can you write social media copy about ESG reports?
ChatGPT’S ANSWER:
I’m not sure why I was surprised to see that the copy included hashtags (commonly used in social media copy to help people interested in various topics to find information related to it), but that was a pleasant surprise. And while I didn’t count characters, on the surface the posts appear to be the appropriate length for most platforms. As you’ll see, though, all of the hashtags are the same in each piece of content, and they’re pretty limited (but that doesn’t mean you can’t add to them!). While each of the examples are fairly similar, they are well-written and reference the types of information most companies would want to include in their social media copy.
A USE CASE FOR YOU: JUMP-STARTING CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
If your company isn’t fortunate enough to have an internal or external team solely dedicated to your social media efforts, ChatGPT could be a useful resource for helping to generate some foundational copy that you can then personalize for your company. A tool like this could also be useful for writers developing articles or copy about a topic they’ve never written about before – maybe even more for grounding/research than to actually use in the article itself.
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MY QUESTION:
Can you give me some ideas for what to name a product that helps a tire run while it’s losing air?
ChatGPT’S ANSWER:
Are the names suggested by ChatGPT going to put marketers and copywriters out of business? Probably not. But there are some interesting nuggets in the results that might help spur additional thinking or brainstorming for your team. (A quick search also suggests some of these names are already in use – but I didn’t include the phrase “that won’t get me sued” in my original question. 😊)
A USE CASE FOR YOU: IDEA GENERATION
We use several different brainstorming techniques and exercises at D&E for everything from naming companies and products to theming ESG reports. Using a tool like ChatGPT could be incorporated into one of those brainstorming exercises – probably more so to provide a platform to build from than to do all the work. If you’ve ever run a brainstorming session, you know that sometimes there’s a stall in idea generation; pulling up a tool like this in your meeting might help get the creative juices flowing again and get your brainstorm back on track.
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SO, IS IT WORTH IT?
Do I think ChatGPT is going to put communicators and marketers out of a job? No. At least, not any time soon. In fact, in the middle of researching and writing this blog post, I received the following error message on the ChatGPT site, which indicates there are likely to be limitations in using the tool as more and more people learn about and use it.
That said, I do think there is utility in using an artificial intelligence tool like this to help generate ideas when you’re experiencing a block, create some content to build upon, or provide some direction when you’re tackling something new. If you’re willing to take the plunge and play around with the tool a bit (especially while it’s still free!), I’d love to hear your experiences and how you think this may change how marketing and PR specialists approach their jobs, both this year and in the future.
