The hype of OpenAI’s ChatGPT has seen the majority of small businesses jumping on board, keen to see how it can to enhance their operations. Many however, are merely scratching the surface by inputting basic prompts, and in return, receiving basic responses. The result is disappointment, and the belief that these new AI tools only produce very basic output, or as one company owner said to me last week – “I tried it Gary, and it was all a bit crap!”.
In truth (and with respect), they’ve simply followed the old GIGO (Garbage in, Garbage out) pattern, not understanding that the key to unlock the robust capabilities of ChatGPT lies in the art of crafting compelling and detailed prompts.
I’d like to introduce you to the “Triple R” framework – Role, Request, and Results, to significantly elevate the quality of your interactions with ChatGPT.
Role: act like…
Setting a role is about providing a context to ChatGPT regarding the persona it should embody. For instance, instructing ChatGPT to act like a ‘Social Media Manager of an SME business specialising in vegan-friendly makeup’ lays a solid foundation for a tailored interaction. This persona aligns ChatGPT’s responses to the niche of vegan-friendly makeup, paving the way for more relevant and insightful interactions.
Request: help me with…
The essence of your interaction lies here, where clarity is king. A prompt like ‘Help me devise a compelling social media campaign for our upcoming cruelty-free lipstick line’ provides a concrete task for ChatGPT. This level of detail steers the AI towards crafting content that resonates with your target audience, ensuring a more impactful social media presence.
Results: and produce…
This stage is about steering the outcome. For instance, instructing ‘And produce a table with the headings: Platform, Post Content, and Hashtags, ensuring to include a call to action and excluding any non-vegan terminology’ provides a clear blueprint of the desired outcome. Defining what you want (and don’t want) ensures the final output is perfectly aligned with your brand ethos and business objectives. Remember that ChatGPT doesn’t just need to output basic text, it can also produce tables, charts, computer code, lists, CSVs, and even images (with the latest update) – what will help you the most?
Following the Triple-R framework should ensure you engage with ChatGPT in a more meaningful and effective manner. By adopting this structured approach, businesses can move beyond basic interactions, unlocking a wealth of possibilities that ChatGPT has to offer, and ensuring the AI serves as a meaningful extension of their operations.
Using the example above, you’ve just turned the basic prompt “write me a social media post for our new makeup” into a killer triple-R prompt “Act like a Social Media Manager of an SME business specialising in vegan-friendly makeup and help me devise a compelling social media campaign for our upcoming cruelty-free lipstick line, producing a table with the headings: Platform, Post Content, and Hashtags, ensuring to include a call to action and excluding any non-vegan terminology”
Take the time and effort, and your ChatGPT responses will stop being crap, they’ll be grrreat! (just think Tony the Tiger!).