You probably hear about ChatGPT every week (or even every day). But do you know how to apply it in the field of public relations and communication? Our team of consultants—being tech enthusiasts—has tried out several prompts that are great for making our work more efficient and precise. Don’t expect AI to “do the work” for you… but it can help you achieve better results in less time.
What is a Prompt?
Let’s start from the beginning. If you’ve used ChatGPT before, you know it’s essentially a “chat” where you ask questions and get answers. A “prompt” is the question we ask to the artificial intelligence. If we want the AI to give us an accurate result that matches our search, it’s crucial to phrase these requests correctly, i.e., create a good prompt.
The Benefits of Using AI in Communication
There’s a big debate currently on whether it’s positive (or even ethical) to use AI as part of a communication strategy. Before discussing the benefits of using AI to create content, it’s important to view these tools not as a primary means of content creation, but as a support in generating new ideas. Creating content for press, for instance, using AI instead of a communication professional could lead to disastrous consequences, like disseminating unverified or incorrect information. However, in an information-saturated world, using ChatGPT can help us identify interesting trends to incorporate into our communication plans or assist in crafting a compelling storytelling strategy. Specifically, we’ve found it can be useful for:
Market Research
In communication agencies, we work with clients from all kinds of sectors. It’s clear that we can’t be experts in all of them (at least not initially). ChatGPT can help us get a grasp of the latest trends in an unfamiliar market, provide interesting data, or explain some industry-specific jargon. While we shouldn’t use this information unverified for reports or official documents, it can be a valuable resource for researching a sector or a brand’s competitors when crafting a personalized communication plan.
Finding Content Ideas for Social Media or Blogs
When you’ve been doing the same task repeatedly, you tend to do it the same way each time. Getting ChatGPT’s “advice” when creating a content plan for your social media or blog can help you spot angles you hadn’t considered before. You don’t have to take everything it suggests literally… but it can certainly inspire you with some titles for your next posts!
Summarizing
As communication professionals, we sometimes deal with very detailed reports that can run hundreds of pages. It can be challenging to read through them without missing important details. ChatGPT’s functionality to summarize documents is perfect for extracting specific data or quick conclusions. For example, you might need to find a piece of information in a corporate social responsibility report you prepared years ago that is over 100 pages long. We’re confident that ChatGPT will find what you’re looking for much faster than you would.
Translating from Other Languages
While using AI for official translations is not recommended, as it will never be as precise in language use as a native speaker, it can be helpful for quick translations into your native language. For instance, at LF Channel, we work within the Worldcom Public Relations Group, a network of PR agencies present in over 49 countries. Our partners regularly share interesting communication insights in their regional languages, and being able to quickly translate (even if not perfectly) these texts into Spanish allows us to understand public relations and our profession from the perspective of other regions.
Organizing Your Work
One of the greatest advantages we’ve found with ChatGPT is its ability to organize information and tasks quickly. AI can help you organize your work plan based on your weekly tasks and their order of priority. You can ask it, for instance, to help you generate a list of priority tasks each week based on all your pending tasks. It can also help you prepare outlines and summaries from long texts or notes taken during a meeting. In fact, this is something that can be applied to any area, including personal life.
How to Create a Good Prompt in Communication
Now that we know what it can be used for, how can we ask ChatGPT to give us the answers we need? Since the chatbot remembers the history of your conversations, the more you use it, the better it learns from your conversations and provides better content. Here are some tips to help ChatGPT provide accurate responses in the field of communication:
- Define a Role. First, explain to ChatGPT who you are, or whom you would like to think or act like. For example, if you want to take on the perspective of a brand, you can say: “Act as if you are a communications director of a well-known pet food company.”
- Specify the Action. Tell it what you want to do and what you want to achieve. “I want to find interesting angles to create an opinion piece in the veterinary sector.”
- Define the Language. Specify in what language you want the response.
- Provide Details and Context. Include details like the format you want the response in (do you want a full text or just a list of titles?), the style or tone (formal or informal?), the target audience, and any other detail you think might be relevant. Additionally, don’t forget to provide all necessary context. Imagine you’re asking a task from a person who, while an expert, hasn’t been involved in your project until now.
Creating a good prompt is, ultimately, one of the keys to the success of AI in many aspects of our lives. In fact, some experts predict that giving instructions or prompts to ChatGPT could become a profession in the future. At LF Channel we have been analyzing the latest technologies and innovating in communication for more than two decades. If you want to know more about how to apply an innovative strategy in your company, contact us.
Eloína Rivero
New Business Develompent
