AI Prompting Guidelines
In the age of generative AI, professionals across industries are leveraging tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and others to boost productivity and creativity. A recent survey found 78% of organizations use AI in at least one business function, illustrating how widespread this trend has become. Below, we provide an industry-by-industry overview of how prompting can be applied, guidelines for effective prompts, and example prompts (with recommended AI tools, difficulty level, and expected outcomes).
Content Creation AI Prompting Guidelines
Industry Overview
Content creators — including bloggers, video creators, and writers — utilize AI prompts to brainstorm ideas, outline content, and refine their work. AI adoption in content marketing is soaring, with one study showing 90% of content marketers plan to use AI to support their efforts by 2025 . Whether it's drafting a blog post introduction, generating video script ideas, or creating social media content, prompting can help creators maintain creativity and efficiency.
Prompting Guidelines
- Define Content Type & Style: Clearly state if it's a blog post, video script, podcast outline, etc., and mention any stylistic preferences (e.g., humorous, formal).
- Provide Topic and Purpose: Include the content topic and what you aim to achieve (inform, entertain, persuade) to guide tone and structure.
- Ask for Structure: For longer content, ask the AI to break the response into sections or an outline (with headings, bullet points, etc.).
- Iterate with AI: You can have the AI expand on outline points, suggest titles, or improve drafts. Use follow-up prompts to refine the output.
- Originality Check: Treat the AI's output as a draft or idea generator and add your own voice. Ensure final content is original and fact-checked, especially for public posts.
Example Prompts
"Outline a blog post about 'Top 5 Benefits of Remote Work' with an introduction, five key points (with brief explanation), and a conclusion."
"Act as a YouTube script writer. Draft an engaging script for a 5-minute video on [Topic], including an intro hook and a call-to-action at the end."
"Brainstorm 10 creative ideas for Instagram Reels or TikTok videos related to [Theme or Niche], each in one sentence."
"Write a catchy intro paragraph for a podcast episode about [Subject], with a hook that grabs attention and sets the tone."
"Suggest a month-long content calendar for a blog in the [Industry] niche, with 8 blog post titles (mix of how-to, listicle, opinion pieces)."