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).
Social Media Marketing AI Prompting Guidelines
Industry Overview
Social media marketers use AI prompts to craft platform-specific content, from tweets and Instagram captions to TikTok scripts. AI can quickly generate multiple post ideas or adapt a message to different social networks. In one survey, marketers reported that over 50% of their social media content was generated with the help of AI, showing the growing reliance on tools like ChatGPT for speed and creativity. By tailoring prompts to each platform's style, marketers ensure the AI outputs are engaging and on-brand.
Prompting Guidelines
- Specify Platform: Mention if the content is for Twitter (X), Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., as length and tone differ by platform.
- Include Hashtags/Emojis if Needed: If the platform benefits from hashtags or emojis (Instagram, Twitter), instruct the AI accordingly (e.g., "include 2-3 trendy hashtags").
- Encourage Brevity or Length: Twitter prompts should ask for conciseness (280 characters), whereas LinkedIn can be longer-form; set these expectations.
- Tone per Platform: Guide the tone (professional for LinkedIn, fun and casual for Instagram/TikTok, concise and witty for Twitter).
- Engagement Elements: Ask for a question, call-to-action, or hook if the goal is to increase engagement (e.g., "pose a question to the audience at the end").
Example Prompts
"Write an Instagram caption for a photo of [Scenario/Product] that is upbeat, includes one emoji and 2 hashtags, and invites followers to comment."
"Create a Twitter thread (3 tweets) summarizing key insights from [Article Title], with a compelling hook in the first tweet and no hashtags."
"Draft a TikTok video script idea for promoting [Product/Service] in a humorous way, including a hook, a challenge or trend, and a call-to-action."
"Pretend you are a social media manager. Outline a one-week social media content plan for a [Industry] brand, including one post idea per day for 7 days."
"Write a LinkedIn post highlighting a recent achievement of our company (award or milestone) in a humble and professional tone, about 4-5 sentences."