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Do you use ChatGPT for your small business? In this blog, I am sharing my top tips for making the most of the superpower of artificial intelligence to reach more people with your small business.

Take a little time to learn how to speak to machines like ChatGPT properly, and the results will astound you! And yes, this works even if you are a complete beginner.

I have been learning how to use generative AI like ChatGPT for about eight months now. It has been a wonderful experience that inspired me and helped me think in more creative ways. I actually struggled to find only five things to share with you today.

Tip 1: Focus on using generative AI to create content for humans, not for search engines. 

There are a lot of ways to use ChatGPT to help you create content for digital marketing or website search engine optimisation. The risk is that the content will be generic and lack the human touch. That will not help your content appear higher in search engine results.

Search engines will always prioritise useful content written for humans, even if it was not necessarily written by humans.

ChatGPT contains the equivalent of 300 years if human knowledge. Yes, I spoke to ChatGPT about that: If I were to print the things it knows on A4 pages, the stack would reach the height of about 300 double-decker buses.

Imagine how generic the results from this pool of information would be, if ChatGPT were to respond to a vague prompt. So the more context you give it, the more relevant it will be to your business. This is especially important if you are using it for strategic projects like a business plan or a content plan for social media.

But there is another bonus of taking the time to use the right prompts: the results will be less generic and more relevant to your audience. Search engines will always prioritise useful content. Google’s Search Engine has very advanced settings to detect the quality of content that is written to rank by utilising keywords. Gone are the days when people used to dump a load of white colour keywords against the white background of the blog! Tools like ChatGPT Zero can even work in your browser to highlight any content that appears to be generated by AI. Search engines are very smart nowadays. 

In a nutshell, when it comes to using ChatGPT as a beginner, you will have a bigger impact by focusing on quality rather than quantity. 

Tip 2: Flip the interaction so that ChatGPT asks you questions about your small business.

I love using ChatGPT to solve business problems. But if you are using it to save time and improve your processes, you have to be smart about it.

If you are a beginner looking to use ChatGPT in a sustainable way, flip the interaction and get ChatGPT to ask you questions about your business.

I recently used ChatGPT to update my business plan. I asked it to ask me questions about my business so we can create an agile plan that I can update every six months. After it set up the first outline, I was able to ask it to expand or fine tune specific areas. Then I got into answering all the questions it had for me. At the end, I created a mind map that I will keep developing over the next few months. 

I also used ChatGPT to roleplay a writing exercise for my workshops. I asked ChatGPT to pretend that it is a small business owner. Then I presented the exercise to it, and it came up with a response. That helped me adjust the exercise to get better results. 

To bring it to perspective, here are some example outputs from ChatGPT with and without the flipped interaction. As you can imagine, this is a great way to get ideas for digital content on social media, and ensure that it reflects your brand authentically. This type of content, since it has your real experience and thoughts, will also resonate more with your audience. 

Example of what happened when I asked ChatGPT to create a prompt without context: 

Example of what happened when I asked ChatGPT to ask me questions to help me create the post: 

Tip 3: Even beginners can learn to use patterns with ChatGPT

Generative AI patterns are how the machine makes sense of 300 double-decker buses worth of information. It groups things into categories, and when it thinks you are asking for a specific type of information, the AI like ChatGPT will behave in a specific way.

Understanding the concept of patterns will help you get better results out of ChatGPT for your small business, even if you are a beginner.

I have my favourite patterns, and I have chosen to show you three. But there are probably hundreds of patterns that you can tap into. Look up some patterns in blogs, videos, or in your favourite way of consuming content. Try different patterns, and make the most of the ones that will serve your small business.

⭐ My favourite ChatGPT patterns for beginners:

• Persona Pattern: Use this to get ChatGPT to speak to you in a specific tone, or with specific expertise. For example, ask ChatGPT to be your social media marketing expert, or to react as one of your target customers. Or, ask it to speak in British English and use inclusive language. Inclusive language is actually a great way to increase your reach online. Check out my blog for more on this topic: How to build a strong brand using inclusive language
• Outline Pattern: This pattern will guide ChatGPT to deliver a bulleted list to help you keep developing a new idea. Try this pattern by asking ChatGPT to create an outline for a training course on how to make the most of LinkedIn. Or, you can ask it to create an outline for a social media campaign to promote your products around Christmas. The results will inspire you. 
• Flipped Interaction Pattern: As you have already seen, this pattern is my top favourite go-to pattern for inspiration. Flipped interactions will help you create unique content that is authentic to your brand and will deliver value to your business. 

Check out this useful article for an index of useful prompts for ChatGPT: ChatGPT Patterns | github

Tip 4: Be honest about using generative AI 

If you use content generated by AI, such as images or any amount of text that is generated to save you time, you must flag that for your audience. It can be as simple as ‘Content created by generative AI’. 

If you are interested in having an authentic brand that your audience can trust, it is essential that you are honest about your use of AI in your business.

This will also help search engines understand how you use AI in your content, and you will be less likely to get penalties. This is important for your website’s search engine optimisation . But you will also find content disclosure options on social media apps like TikTok. 

Tip 5: Use Custom instructions in ChatGPT

If you are using ChatGPT for your small business, you can use the Custom Instructions field to help ChatGPT remember how you want to interact with it.

Custom instructions will give you a more customised base for interacting with ChatGPT for your small business, making it easier to use if you are a beginner.

A key customisation would be to tell it more about your business, so it can be a better business advisor. I also ask my ChatGPT to ask me questions when I put in a prompt, so that I can get more informative and authentic results. Even when I want it to complete the task quickly, this setting forces me to think about what I want to say and customise my message.

Here is an example of what I have told ChatGPT: