The bots are popping off. Artificial intelligence technology is revolutionizing every industry, and digital marketing is no exception.
AI tools like ChatGPT are an asset for modern social media managers. Learning how to leverage ChatGPT—and recognizing the technology’s strengths and weaknesses—is a great way to help you work more efficiently while still producing content that is creative, personal, and authentic.
In fact, according to a Hootsuite LinkedIn survey of social media managers, 46% of respondents use ChatGPT for ideation, 39% use it for copywriting, while 4% use it for planning monthly content calendars.
For the best industry advice, we asked Paige Schmidt, Hootsuite’s Social Engagement Coordinator, how AI tech can best be used for social media marketing.
Key TakeawaysChatGPT is an AI chatbot. It uses a dialogue format (meaning the user interaction is conversational) and can produce human-like responses to questions and requests.
OpenAI created the tool and first launched it in late 2022, reaching 100 million users in two months—a record-setting success. As of January 2024, its web address (chat.openai.com) receives 485 million visits monthly.
How to use ChatGPT for social media marketing Content ideationMeteorologists say a brainstorm is coming. ChatGPT can assist you with coming up with ideas, and creates great starting points to inspire you.
Give the AI a few details about your business, brand, product, or service and then ask questions to help you come up with the perfect content ideas.
Writing captionsComing up with captions is tricky for even the best writers, and ChatGPT will do the work for you (or at least give you some appropriate language and ideas).
Feed the AI some relevant details about your post and it will generate several captions for you to choose from.
Even if you don’t use the full AI-generated captions word-for-word, it helps to get some first drafts started.
Curious? Try our free caption generator or free hashtag generator to start.
Craft perfect posts in secondsOwlyWriter AI instantly generates captions and content ideas for every social media network. It’s seriously easy.
Start free 30-day trial Brainstorming call-to-actionsIt’s important to include a call-to-action whenever possible on social posts—it’s how your followers know what steps to take to further support your brand.
That said, coming up with a ton of creative ways to say “link in bio” isn’t thrilling work… so, let ChatGPT give it a try.
Creating a content calendarUsing ChatGPT is one way to create a content calendar (Hootsuite has lots of tips for this, too).
Just input a few details about upcoming events or social media campaigns and the tool will generate dates, times, and content types for your brand.
ProofreadingPaige Schmidt, Social Engagement Coordinator at Hootsuite, says she primarily uses ChatGPT for proofreading.
Once the copy is written, ChatGPT helps her with revisions. “It’s great to have that second pair of ‘eyes’ to read the sentences,” she explains, “and I mostly use it for rephrasing or shortening my sentences to make them clearer for the reader.”
Sentiment readingSchmidt also uses AI for sentiment reading (in other words, determining the emotion or tone behind words).
This is helpful for addressing comments on viral posts. “Before responding, I like to get an objective view of a comment if I’m unsure of its tone,” says Schmidt.
She believes that ChatGPT can be an effective third-party tool to help understand a commenter’s intent, but context is everything: “It’s important to provide as much context as possible for the most accurate interpretation,” she shares.
4 tips for using ChatGPT for social media 1. Make prompts specificFor the AI to do its best work, specific prompts are required. You’ll need to tell ChatGPT about your brand, your products, the tone you want for the generated text, and any other relevant details.
For example, “Write me a caption for my Instagram photo” isn’t specific enough. However, “Write me a funny caption for my Instagram photo of my chocolate bagel. It’s for my Toronto-based bakery” is better.
“It’s all about being direct with what you want, and the system will adjust accordingly,” says Schmidt. “Even information you think may be irrelevant—it’s good for the program to know the context, and who the audience is.”
2. Be conversational“When talking to ChatGPT, I treat it like a conversation,” says Schmidt. “For instance, if it rephrases a sentence but sounds too formal, I’ll ask, ‘Can you make it more casual?’”
Because the tool is designed to engage in dialogue and to use additional information to tweak the results, thus giving you the most optimal answer, you can offer more information to improve the results. Check out this prompt Schmidt feeds to ChatGPT:
Prompt: Fix the following caption to be short and sweet, I want it to sound playful yet informative because this is going out to my network of experienced social media managers:
“Social listening is one of the most powerful tools in a social media manager’s toolkit. By actively paying attention to conversations, comments, and trends, you can gain valuable insights into your target audience’s needs, preferences, and pain points.”
The result:
Social listening is an SMM superpower! Stay plugged into comments and trends to uncover what your audience really wants. #SocialListening #SMMTools
Not thrilled with ChatGPTs result, “it sounds too much like a bot,” Schmidt explains, she added:
Prompt: This sounds a bit too playful and nonhuman.
And ChatGPT edited the result:
“Social listening is a must-have for SMMs! By keeping an ear on conversations and trends, you gain valuable insights into your audience’s needs and preferences. #SocialListening #SMM”
That’s more like it. “This was great, it’s short but informative,” she says. “I’m just going to remove the hashtags, fix up the emojis and send it off!”
3. Edit, edit, editSee what she did there? Even after Schmidt was satisfied with the generated text, she made her own changes to make sure that the result matched her brand’s style and business goals.
“As people become more familiar with AI-generated text, it’s important to maintain a human touch to make the content feel more authentic,” she says. “Using ChatGPT is a great starting point, but you must take it and make it your own.”
4. Fact-check your resultsBesides editing for style and tweaking results to suit your brand, it’s also important to double-check that the information ChatGPT writes for you is actually true.
“It’s always a good idea to verify the sources and cross-reference different sites to ensure the data or information is correct,” says Schmidt. “Keep in mind that ChatGPT isn’t perfect, and can be influenced by the tone or structure of your prompt.”
What NOT to do when using ChatGPT for social mediaLike a hammer, AI is an effective tool when used properly. To prevent PR injuries, keep these “don’ts” in mind:
Bonus: Download this free cheat sheet with 250 professionally engineered ChatGPT prompts that will help you be more productive at work and in your daily life. We’ve included specific prompts for over 25 industries and professions!
The best AI tool for social mediaChatGPT is a versatile bot, but this jack-of-all-trades isn’t specifically designed to help social media managers. For social-focused AI, Hootsuite’s OwlyWriter answers the call.
OwlyWriter generates content ideas, captions, and ad copy, edits writing and helps you repurpose top-performing posts for more organic reach.
“OwlyWriter streamlines content planning and saves time during brainstorming sessions,” says Schmidt. “It’s a lifesaver for social media managers who need quick content ideas.”
To use Owlywriter AI, go to your Hootsuite dashboard and select Start with AI.
Next, select what you want to use Owlywriter for. For this example, we chose Start from Scratch.
Then, you’ll be prompted to choose what social media platform and style you want the tool to write for. We chose a HOOK post.
The tool prompts you to describe your brand, product, or service (for example, hand-knitting fruit-shaped hats for cats).
Describe, hit Create Caption and you’re ready to rock.
Click Create post to start the next step scheduling your content.
Psst: You can edit the generated text later if it’s not exactly what you want.
Pro tip: For more digital marketing life hacks—including caption, hashtag, and bio generators—explore Hootsuite’s free social media tools.
Save time managing your social media channels with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can create content with an AI assistant, publish and schedule posts, find relevant conversions, engage the audience, measure results, and more. Try it free today.
Get StartedSave time and grow faster with OwlyWriter AI, the tool that instantly generates social media captions and content ideas.
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