Hey there!
Welcome back to another edition of The Automated Growth Blueprint.
I'm Travis Steffen, and last week’s newsletter was about automating your data analysis with Narrative BI. I’ve been using the tool for over a week now, and it’s saved time and has been useful.
I also heard from Michael, co-founder and CEO at Narrative BI (who is now a newsletter subscriber - hi Michael!) who told me that they’re actually working on many of the things I mentioned I was craving that didn’t exist yet.
Once those get rolled out, I may do a second issue on that tool. Stay tuned.
Okay - onto this week’s content…
In my quest to build a fully-automated, 7-figure, one-person business, I’ve found that one of my LEAST favorite activities these days is posting to social media.
While building my previous businesses, I wasn’t even active on social media at all.
No social media apps on my phone, Chrome plugins to block me from viewing any social media sites - the works.
It was fantastic.
That said, I heard enough compelling arguments about building an audience from people I respect in business that I decided to jump back into social media in January of this year.
I’ve been relatively consistent, but it’s been a bit of a time-suck, and I’ve also absolutely noticed the addictive power of each platform, which I’d prefer to opt out of without losing the ability to disseminate great information back into the startup ecosystem.
This week, I began a multi-week project to change my approach.
My first step, which I’m about to share with you, involves content planning.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll add more steps to this one - so consider this post the first in a series.
My ChatGPT Prompt
What I was hoping to accomplish here was to get a detailed, itemized plan for a full week’s worth of content.
I realized that because I want to maintain an active presence across four social networks (LinkedIn, X, Threads, and Instagram), I would need to attack the problem day by day.
I fumbled around with a half dozen or so attempts with mediocre results, but eventually landed on something pretty solid.
Below is the exact prompt I used. Feel free to steal it and repurpose it for your unique use case.
I need you to create a daily editorial calendar for my social media posts. But first, here's some context on what I am trying to accomplish:
I am attempting to build a fully-automated, one-person, 7-figure business for TravisSteffen.com. My focus is helping entrepreneurs systematically grow their business more rapidly, augment their efforts with AI, and automate as much as they possibly can along the way.
The following is the general topic I would like to touch on for each day of the week across LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Threads, and Instagram.
- Monday - Similar topic to my upcoming newsletter on Wednesday. Tactical in nature.
- Tuesday - Similar topic to my upcoming newsletter on Wednesday. Narrative, storytelling-centric.
- Wednesday - Teaser to my newsletter issue that will have just come out.
- Thursday - Customer acquisition. One post for each social network on a framework, one on a tactic or a story.
- Friday - Customer activation and habit creation. One post for each social network on a framework, one on a tactic or a story.
- Saturday - Customer retention and engagement. One post for each social network on a framework, one on a tactic or a story.
- Sunday - Customer monetization and pricing. One post for each social network on a framework, one on a tactic or a story.
On each day, I would like:
- Two post topics for LinkedIn, and the ideal time of the day to post each.
- Three post topics for X (formerly Twitter), and the ideal time of the day to post each.
- Two post topics for Instagram (one Reel and one Story), and the ideal time of the day to post each.
- Two post topics for Threads, and the ideal time of the day to post each.
My audience is made up of new and established entrepreneurs interested in growing their business faster using AI, automation, frameworks, tactics, and growth hacks.
Please mock up a grid that functions as an editorial calendar for Thursday, August 24, 2023. Include the topic for each piece of content, as well as the ideal time of day to post it, and for which social network (LinkedIn, Threads, X, and Instagram). Also include a sample prompt I can provide ChatGPT for each post to help me write the first draft of each post faster.
ChatGPT’s Output
As a quick disclaimer, I’m likely going to continue to tinker with the prompt a bit because I’m a bit of a sticker for formatting, and I’m also likely going to pull this prompt into Zapier so it adds all this, plus posts for numerous other days, into a Google Sheet.
But here’s what ChatGPT came up with…
Editorial Calendar for Thursday, August 24, 2023
Topic: Customer Acquisition
---
LinkedIn:
1. Time: 9:00 AM
- Topic: "The AI-Powered Customer Acquisition Framework."
- Sample Prompt for ChatGPT: "Write a detailed post about the benefits and implementation steps of an AI-powered customer acquisition framework tailored for entrepreneurs."
2. Time: 3:00 PM
- Topic: "Story: How Jane Doe Quadrupled Her Client Base Using a Simple AI Tactic."
- Sample Prompt for ChatGPT: "Craft a compelling narrative about an entrepreneur named Jane Doe who saw exponential customer acquisition growth by implementing a specific AI tactic."
---
X (formerly Twitter):
1. Time: 8:00 AM
- Topic: "Why every entrepreneur should leverage AI for customer acquisition."
- Sample Prompt for ChatGPT: "Draft a concise tweet highlighting the imperative for entrepreneurs to adopt AI-driven customer acquisition strategies."
2. Time: 12:00 PM
- Topic: "Quick Tip: AI tools to boost your lead generation efforts."
- Sample Prompt for ChatGPT: "Provide a quick tip about a specific AI tool or tactic that can significantly enhance lead generation."
3. Time: 5:00 PM
- Topic: "Customer acquisition success stories from top AI-driven businesses."
- Sample Prompt for ChatGPT: "Craft a tweet showcasing statistics or short success stories from businesses that effectively use AI for customer acquisition."
---
Instagram:
1. Time: 11:00 AM (Reel)
- Topic: "Demo: AI Tool in Action for Customer Acquisition."
- Sample Prompt for ChatGPT: "Describe a short demo or a step-by-step visualization of how a specific AI tool can boost customer acquisition efforts."
2. Time: 6:00 PM (Story)
- Topic: "Quote: The Future of Customer Acquisition."
- Sample Prompt for ChatGPT: "Create an inspiring quote about the future of customer acquisition being heavily intertwined with AI."
---
Threads:
1. Time: 10:00 AM
- Topic: "Diving Deep: AI's Transformational Role in Customer Acquisition."
- Sample Prompt for ChatGPT: "Draft a deep dive into the nuances of how AI is revolutionizing the customer acquisition landscape for modern entrepreneurs."
2. Time: 4:00 PM
- Topic: "Case Study: Startup X's Remarkable AI-Powered Growth."
- Sample Prompt for ChatGPT: "Detail a case study about a fictitious startup 'Startup X' that achieved remarkable growth rates by leveraging AI for customer acquisition."
---
Note: Remember, the suggested times are based on general best practices and may require adjustments based on your audience's specific engagement metrics and behaviors.
Honestly, I don’t hate it.
I’ll be swapping out any reference to a “case study about a fictitious startup” due to it being completely unhelpful for anyone consuming that totally made-up content - but the rest was a pretty solid start.
If you’re a more advanced social media creator than I am, I’d love for you to reply with ideas on how to improve all of the above so I can build a slick automation you can use to save yourself time without sacrificing too much quality.
Next week, I’ll likely format a Google Sheet and use Zapier to automatically create a week’s worth of this content.
I suspect it would also be useful to include a section that factors in the performance of each post on each network to enable ChatGPT to learn what my audience responds to…
Stay tuned!
→ Today's action steps: Customize the above prompt for you. Tinker with it a half dozen times until you get something that works well for you, then try it out in the real world for a day to see how it compares to what you’ve done in the past.
That’s all for today.
Stay hungry.
- Travis Steffen
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If you have an idea for something you’d like to see in this newsletter, follow me on social media and let me know.
If you’re hungry for more, you can…
- Connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter where I share bite-sized nuggets about starting, growing, and selling companies every single day.
- DM me directly via social media with a specific question, and I can explore it for a future newsletter.
