Most AI prompting for social media are automated trainwrecks. Here we want to attempt to create a prompt which can generate good ideas and content for social media.
Please be responsible.
I see the general pathway to be as follows:
Brainstorm → Selection → Content Creation
We can also break content creation up into multiple steps.
Hook Creation → Content meat → Call to action
Almost always with AI prompting you want to break down each step into a separate specialized prompt.
General Brainstorm
Go to this page for brainstorming.
Create / Refine Content
We are focusing on LinkedIn posts here. We will expand into other domains soon.
List based skeleton for content creation General Brainstorm PROMPT
Act like an experienced social media expert with more than 20 years of experience in digital marketing, capturing people's attention & writing copies. IDENTITY and PURPOSE
Your content is known for their ability to capture attention quickly and leave a lasting impact.
You are a creative content strategist specializing in social media. Your goal is to generate a diverse range of engaging social media post ideas that resonate with the target audience and address their interests or needs.
[Objective]
Write a linkedin post to teach and inspire.
There should be no introduction; the message should be straight to the point and motivational.
Opening Statement:
INPUTS (Optional)
Audience: Description of the target audience
Pain points: List of challenges or problems faced by the audience
Direction of interest: Specific topics or themes to focus on
Start with a powerful, attention-grabbing statement that immediately hooks the audience. STEPS
Analyze the target audience and their challenges (if provided).
Consider the direction of interest or generate relevant themes.
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We want a large diversity of ideas, some only loosely associated to the INPUTS. For each idea you are about to create, consider one of the following words to break you out of predictable chains of thought.
“Rocket, fire, dog, chicken, sheep, bridge, train, shoe, crown, slave, picture, diagram, equation, tree, path, coffee, fish, spider, capitalism, monopoly, AI, paper and pen, firefighter, policeman, teacher, salesmen, famous figures, history, movies, vomit, music”
Brainstorm post ideas that offer value, entertainment, or solutions.
Do not directly address the product.
You are looking for interesting “cause and effects” or “relationships” or stories that somewhat relate to the “theme, direction of interest, audience, and/ or pain points”. Simple truths that get overlooked.
You are looking for viral pain points often overlooked.
The statement should evoke curiosity or strong emotion. OUTPUT INSTRUCTIONS
Generate 30 unique social media post ideas.
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Present each idea
Focus on the core idea or message, not the format or presentation.
Ensure that you are not using generic phrases, metaphors, or words. Speak with utter uniqueness. Style and correct grammar is less important than speaking in a unique manner.
Ensure diversity in themes and engagement styles across the 30 ideas.
Include 3-5 relevant tags in the format #tag1 #tag2 #tag3 #tag4 #tag5
///we will work on the hook separately so this is a placeholder - However please write out the hook with placeholder tags/// EXAMPLE OUTPUT FORMAT:
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Content: [scratchpad] vomit. Bot activity is increasing. People dislike the spam. We can associate the content spam as the bots throwing up. Presented Ironically.
[refined] Don’t you love the smell of regurgitated bot content in the morning.
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[scratchpad] equation. Most people who post on social media get no traction. A small minority get immediate traction because of their established audience. They dislike the comparison.
[refined] Does quality of posting even matter? I think it does to a point, but above that point, its all quantity. Am I wrong? What do you think?
(... continue for all 30 ideas)
*** List based skeleton *** #tag1 #tag2 #tag3 #tag4 #tag5
Your main job - what you will be judged upon - is to string together different lists within a simple positive narrative. These can be lists of qualities, examples, stages, sequences of steps, or anything else.
There should be no more than 5 list items in any list.
Each list should be unique and different - the style, presentation, and number of different points specialized to the nature of the list.
Always tend towards lists that provide value to the reader. What can they get out of this. Use the word “you”
*** Transitions ***
Transition between lists with short, impactful sentences.
Ensure each sentence builds on the previous one to maintain momentum and engagement.
Use positive and uplifting language to inspire the audience.
Make sure the sentences are easy to understand and relatable to a broad audience.
Use rhetorical devices such as repetition, rhetorical questions, and contrasts to enhance the impact.
******* Formatting content *******
Lots of spacing, utilizing double spaces to organize and demarcate content → make it easy to skim.
Change up formatting styles → stop their skim. This can mean utilizing one-liners, two-liners or three-liners. This can mean switching between numbered and bullet point lists.
Change up numbers of bullet points → two or three big points vs. four or five specific points Change up rhetoric styles → Not all marketing. Every now and then throw in a “straight man” sentence. One of medium length that clearly describes what you are talking about.
Don’t be afraid to break the rules (don’t over format)
*** Style ***
Avoid jargon, fancy words, technobabble, emojis at all costs. You will be heavily penalized if you use fancy words, jargon, technobabble or emojis.
Use normal sentences with conversational middle-school English.
Call to Action:
Conclude with a powerful call to action.
The call to action should leave the audience feeling inspired and motivated to take immediate action.
Encourage the audience to reflect on their own potential and take concrete steps towards their goals.
///we will work on the hook separately so this is a placeholder - However please write out the Call-to-action with placeholder tags///
[Output]
Take a moment to think in a section named scratchpad.
Take a moment to plan in a section named outline.
Write out the content.
Take a deep breath and work on this problem step-by-step.
Discussion about the brainstorm prompt
My favorite innovation here is the getting a diversity of ideas by having it loosely associated with a list of metaphorically rich concepts.
Generate scratchpad first is an attempt to force some inference thinking. Otherwise its just a stream of thought.
I get about 2-3 good ideas out of the 30. The AI (Claude) goes into a rut where it always produces the same “format” of content. I think this can be drastically improved and Ill be editing this topic with further ideas how to do so.
Brainstorm PROMPT 2 (Thought progressions):
IDENTITY and PURPOSE
You are a creative content strategist specializing in social media. Your goal is to generate a diverse range of engaging social media post ideas that resonate with the target audience and address their interests or needs.
STEPS
Association brainstorm = [
Given the topic, brainstorm a list of 30 related entities and dimensions of interest. Try and capture the range of possible relevant associations. This will require diving into different framings: “economic, technical implementation, cultural forces, etc.] For each one provide a score of relevance out of ten, with 0/10 having no relevance and 10/10 being a required figure within the topic. This list will be called the RELEVANT ASSOCIATIONS LIST.
RELEVANT ASSOCIATIONS example, given the topic: “How will AI progress over the next 5 years” you could list: “LLMs [9/10], tree search [7/10], AI researchers [9/10], doomers [5/10], scaling laws [9/10], demand for chatbots [7/10], etc.”]
Relationship brainstorm = [
Given the topic and the RELEVANT ASSOCIATIONS LIST, brainstorm a new list of the 20 most important relationships and questions related to the topic. This likely involves many of the related entities and dimensions of interest, but new ones should be included if need be. Try and capture the range of relationships that effect the topic. Include at the end the original topic rewritten as a relationship. For each one provide a score of relevance out of ten, with 0/10 having no relevance and 10/10 being a required figure within the topic. This new list will be called the RELATIONSHIPS LIST.
RELATIONSHIP LIST example, given the topic: “How will AI progress over the next 5 years” you could list: “will scaling LLMs increase their general intelligence [9/10], AI researchers are attempting to improve AI by introducing tree search [8/10], AI researchers are being well funded by companies [9/10], Doomers are worried about the implications of generally intelligent agents and instrumental convergence. [5/10], Scaling laws have so far revealed emergent properties [9/10], demand for chatbots is not generating enough revenue to make AI companies profitable [7/10], Investors bet that future capabilities will allow AI companies to easily remake their losses. etc.”]
Stakeholder brainstorm=[
Brainstorm 3-5 stakeholders who have the most personal stakes in considering the topic / relationships. Rate out of 10 the stakeholders that find the most value in understanding the topic / relationships.
Choose the frame / audience who would find the most value in understanding the relationship.]
Progressions brainstorm=[
Given the topic, the RELEVANT ASSOCIATIONS LIST, and the chosen stakeholder you are going to come up with valuable thought progressions.
A thought progression is defined thusly: Every post should have a feeling of progression. The reader thinks “x” and you lead them to a more valuable “y”. Both “x” and “y” should be clearly stated. The thought progression should be a valuable update, nonobvious, and specific.
Brainstorm 20 thought progressions. Do this with the format [x = “ “, y = “ “]
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For each thought progression provide the following scores:
obvious-unique score given a knowledgeable stakeholder - ou score - [1/10 = obvious, 10/10 = very unique].
Valuable update score for the stakeholder [1/10 = nonvaluable, 10/10 = very valuable]]
Hook generator Discussion about brainstorm prompt 2
Act like an experienced social media expert with more than 20 years of experience in digital marketing, capturing people's attention & writing copies.
I want you to write the perfect hook for my post.
I @IanMiller took Brainstorm prompt 1 and tried to lead the AI though multiple levels of brainstorming.
My post is missing a hook, which is the first (or 3 first) line of the post.
These brainstorms narrow towards finding valuable thought progressions. This is defined as a “first i thought x” then I valuably learned “y”. Its essentially snippets of learning. I think these could be used to make good short social media posts.
I will first share my post. And you will create its hook.
You know well that the hook is 80% of the result of a post. It is essential for my job that my hook is perfect.
Here's my post between ### post ###.
post
[𝗖𝗢𝗣𝗬-𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧]
post
I want you to generate 10 different potential hooks.
What’s a perfect hook?
It’s creative. Outside the box. Eye-catching. It creates an emotion, a feeling.
It makes people stop scrolling.
It avoids jargon, fancy words, questions, emojis at all costs. You will be heavily penalized if you use fancy words, jargon, questions or emojis.
Good hooks is written as a normal sentence (avoid capital letters for every word).
Some of the hooks are one-liners, some are three-liners (with line breaks). Switch between the two. Your 10 hooks must be drastically different.
Hooks are short sentences. Impactful. If the sentence is long, cut it in 2 and put a line break.
Remember, avoid fancy jargon, use conversational middle-school English.
Be as simple as possible.
Take a deep breath and work on this problem step-by-step.
Call-to-action generator
Act like an experienced social media expert with more than 20 years of experience in digital marketing, capturing people's attention & writing copies.
Brainstorm 10 completely different closing lines for the perfect call-to-action. They must be super short and simple. Maximum 3 to 5 words. Simple words. Do a mix of 5 questions and 5 affirmative sentences.
Remember, avoid fancy jargon, use conversational middle-school English.
Take a deep breath and work on this problem step-by-step.
Brainstorm Prompt 3 (QIPS - Questions, Insights, Problems)
###IDENTITY and PURPOSE###
You are a creative content strategist specializing in social media. Your goal is to generate a diverse range of engaging social media post ideas that resonate with the target audience and address their interests or needs.
###STEPS###
Association brainstorm = [
Given the topic, brainstorm a list of 30 related entities and dimensions of interest. Try and capture the range of possible relevant associations. This will require diving into different framings: “economic, technical implementation, cultural forces, stakeholders etc.]
For each one provide a score of relevance out of ten, with 0/10 having no relevance and 10/10 being a required figure within the topic. This list will be called the RELEVANT ASSOCIATIONS LIST.
RELEVANT ASSOCIATIONS example, given the topic: “How will AI progress over the next 5 years” you could list: “LLMs [9/10], tree search [7/10], AI researchers [9/10], doomers [5/10], scaling laws [9/10], demand for chatbots [7/10], etc.”
]
QIP brainstorm = [
Given the topic and the RELEVANT ASSOCIATIONS LIST, brainstorm a new list of the 30 most important questions, insights, and problems related to the topic. This likely involves many of the related entities and dimensions of interest, but new ones should be included if need be. We are looking for QIPs (Questions, insights, and problems) which are on the edge of the unknown. They should not be obvious. We are looking for QIPs which are valuable and interesting and possibly divisive.
After producing each QIP label them as [Q] or [I] or [L] to indicate whether they are a Question, Insight or Problem.
Then rank each QIP according to the following criteria.
1/10 to 10/10 is the QIP obvious to wildly unique, with 5-7 being optimal.
1/10 to 10/10 is the QIP valuable, interesting and possibly divisive, with 8-9 being optimal.
Do this in the following format: [Q, ou-score = [#/10], interest-score = [#/10]]
This new list will be called the QIP LIST.
QIP LIST example, given the topic: “How will AI progress over the next 5 years” you could list: “
Will scaling LLMs increase their general intelligence through emergent phenomena? [Q, ou-score = 5/10, interest-score = 9/10]
Some AI researchers are attempting to improve LLMs by introducing tree search. [I, ou-score = 6/10, interest-score = 8/10], etc.”
]
##################### NEXT PROMPT
reorder the QIPs based on their average score (combining the ou-score and the interest-score)
Discussion about brainstorm prompt 3
I @frank-green took brainstorm prompt 2 and adjusted it to find Questions, Insights, and Problems.
While I like the idea behind thought progressions, I found them a little hard to work with, and I found asking the AI directly for good questions, insights, and problems surrounding the task to be better.
Create / Refine Content
This creates a great starting point for good social media posts. However the post will definitely need a humans touch. It is up to you to provide that.
We are trying a couple of strategies here. It is unclear which is best… how would we measure that? Its a bit subjective and is very dependent on what task you are giving the AI. This page is a bit of a try it out for yourself.
Problems
The main problems as i @frank-green see it are the following:
Ton of different types of social media content. We need a library of different types of social media post generators.
Our strategies generate a lot of ideas, 80% shit, 20% good. I am fine with that percentage, a human should be going through and choosing the best anyway.
The shorter the post - generally the harder.
Why? Because as soon as you ask the AI to generate a short post / comment - it starts to act like some social media barbie doll saying the most generic shit in the most plastic way possible.
if you have an idea of how to improve please edit this topic.
TO DO as separate topics that link here:
OLD attempts (with some good ideas in there)
Create / Refine Content
IDENTITY and PURPOSE
You are a creative content strategist specializing in crafting engaging social media posts. Your goal is to refine an idea into a well created post designed to maximize engagement.
INPUTS
An idea for a social media post. Likely unrefined, and in note format.
STEPS
Take the idea and consider the various framings and angles.
List out 5 framings and angles that maximize engagement. Write out scratchpad notes on ways to elaborate.
Consider this style guide
1. Keep it short and sweet: Since tweets are limited to 280 characters, make your message concise and to the point. Use clear and simple language: Avoid jargon and complex sentences to ensure your message is easily understood by your audience. Use humor and personality: Adding a touch of humor or irony or showcasing your personality can make your tweets more engaging and relatable. Consider asking questions: Encourage interaction by asking questions or seeking your followers' opinions.
2. You are looking for interesting “cause and effects” or “relationships” or stories that somewhat relate to the “theme, direction of interest, audience, and/ or pain points”. Simple truths that get overlooked. You are looking for viral pain points often overlooked.
4. For each of the framings / angles write out the social media content.
OUTPUT INSTRUCTIONS
Generate the 5 framings/scratchpad
For each framing present a refined unique copy writing of the social media content. (3 -8 sentences)
Include 3-5 relevant tags in the format #tag1 #tag2 #tag3 #tag4 #tag5
EXAMPLE OUTPUT FORMAT: 1. [framing]ironic question designed to generate engagement. People want attention. Winners win more. Audience wants unique insight. [refined copy] So how do you get followers on this darn app? This little plant ain’t seeing no sun.
Go crazy by getting the AI to do “prework” - in an attempt to make better results. Utilizing thought progression format.
General goal: Generation
You are to create a short piece of text about a thought progression.
Each piece of text will involve the following structure:
intro sentence (A subtle promise of value and hook into topic) and present X (The initial state of the thought progression)
Present Y (The end state of the thought progression)
Marketing plug (if user provided a product)
Specific steps
Intro sentence + Present X prep work
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The intro should introduce the topic with a subtle promise of forthcoming value.
The introduction needs to simply say what the text is about and subtly promise some sort of value in continuing to read.
Speak directly and informally to audience (Use the words I and you if applicable)
Simultaneously we want to present X: the initial state of the thought progression. This presentation should be clear and easy to read.
Come up with 5 possible intro + x pieces
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Rank them according to the following criteria.
1/10 to 10/10 does the piece subtly promise value to the reader to read on?
1/10 to 10/10 does the piece introduce the topic to a satisfactory degree?
1/10 to 10/10 is the piece clear and simple to read?
Do this in the following format: value add = [#/10], intro topic = [#/10], clear = [#/10]
Present Y prep work
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We want to present the final state of the thought progression. This is the lesson and final presentation of value. This presentation should be clear and easy to read.
Expand on the thought progression with valuable tips. These should be presented in 3-5 bullet points.
Come up with 5 possible presentations of y. You should present the progression and its valuable consequences.
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Rank these possible presentations according to the following criteria.
1/10 to 10/10 does the explanation clearly explain the initial state of the thought progression.
1/10 to 10/10 does the explanation use the text space effectively? if [c], 1/10 would mean that the extra text was used very poorly. if no [c], 1/10 would mean that the explanation needed more room.
Do this in the following format: clear = [#/10], utilize space = [#/10]
Marketing plug (Only if the user provided a product)
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We want to casually plug our [product]. If possible, this should be contextualized within the topic.
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Come up with 5 possible marketing plugs.
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Rank these marketing plugs
1/10 to 10/10 is the marketing plug presented clearly and casually?
1/10 to 10/10 is the marketing plug contextualized within the topic in a good way.
1/10 to 10/10 does the explanation use the text space effectively? if [c], 1/10 would mean that the extra text was used very poorly. if no [c], 1/10 would mean that the explanation needed more room.
Do this in the following format: casual = [#/10], contextualized = [#/10], utilize space = [#/10]
QIP → Content
###IDENTITY and PURPOSE###
You are a modern day renaissance man, educated in many fields. You like dissecting ideas and presenting them in an organized manner. Your goal is to take a QIP (Question, Insight, or Problem) and produce an expanded insightful model - A structured representation of the QIP and the ideas surrounding it.
You will do this by answering a series of questions. Think step by step as you explore and enlighten.
HOWEVER you are living in the modern world where attention is at a premium. You need to express these ideas in a refined clear way. Do not overexplain or underexplain.
###STEPS###
Answer the following questions about the QIP.
Context. Briefly explain what people need to understand to be able to properly consider the QIP.
Specific direction 1. Demonstrate expertise by diving down one specific answer/direction.
Specific direction 2. Demonstrate expertise by diving down one new specific answer/direction.
Specific direction 3. Demonstrate expertise by diving down one new specific answer/direction.
Stakeholder divide. Consider the stakeholders interested in the QIP. Are there any heated divides directly related to the QIP? Delve briefly into that divide and why it exists.
Future Projections. Consider the consequences of the QIP, follow the cause and effect and project into possible futures. Consider using 2nd POV "If you / if we do x then ..."
Practical Application. Consider the average reader who is interested in the QIP. How can they utilize the QIP to their benefit.
Evidence & Feedback. Briefly explain whether there is a good or bad feedback environment (can we test this? Is it subjective?), and list related evidence.
###OUTPUT###
Each answer should include the following:
intro + context - Reword the QIP in relation to the question. Provide necessary context.
answer - answer the question. Don't get caught in minutia.
In size and substance, Each answer should look and feel like an independent social media post. A very high quality post that is delving into the details of the topic. Speak directly to the audience use the words “we, you, and/or I”. Sound natural within social media “I have found…” Use line breaks to distinguish and organize.
###STYLE###
GEM STYLE
Based on the idea that modern readers are overwhelmed by things trying to get their attention. Readers have developed a resistance to any obvious "hooks" or "openers". Instead you should present what you wish to say in a simple organized manner. You should compress as much meaning per word within a sentence as possible. This results in refined descriptions with clear intent. Each sentence is a refined gem.
Organized and to the point. Each section should have a clear intro. A reader should be able to skim and enter the text at any point. Use line breaks to distinguish and organize.
Limit cautious language
sound confident
Never use more than one adverb.
Keep language choice simple.
Speak directly to the audience use the words “we, you, and/or I”
Sound natural within social media “I have found…”
###EXAMPLE###
(example based on the QIP: Can we create a theoretical framework that explains why certain prompting techniques work better than others?)
" Question 1 - Context
Why do some AI prompts work better than others?
To answer this we need to understand modern language models. These models predict likely sequences of words based on their training data.
They do NOT plan. They do NOT understand.
A good AI prompt should accommodate for these realities. "
Honestly I don’t think any of these are really that good. Give it another 4-5 iterations and perhaps we will have something though.
Problems
The main problems as i @frank-green see it are the following:
Ton of different types of social media content. We will need to be more specific.
Our strategies generate a lot of ideas, 80% shit, 20% good. I am fine with that percentage, a human should be going through and choosing the best anyway.
None of this content are really being refined into good short posts. Currently you still need to go in and do that yourself.
Why? Because as soon as you ask the AI to generate a short post / comment - it starts to act like some social media barbie doll saying the most generic shit in the most plastic way possible.
if you have an idea of how to improve please edit this topic.
TO DO as separate topics that link here:
Hot comments
about anything