While you can ask ChatGPT to create an outline for you and brief it every time to yield pretty good results, you can better scale your content creation by crafting a GPT tailored to your brand and content needs.
It takes a bit of time to set it up, but it will save you even more time in the long run and help you better understand generative AI. You can then use your newfound knowledge to identify other tasks you can automate.
What You Need To Create a GPT
To create a GPT, you’ll need a ChatGPT Pro or Teams account.
To customize your content and ensure consistent output, you’ll also want a copy of your brand voice or style guide. If you’ve previously created content briefs and/or outlines, have an example on hand that you can use to craft a more thorough prompt. If you don’t, that’s ok. However, you may have to iterate more with the GPT until you have an output you’re happy with.
Feel free to use our free blog brief and outline templates to create an example.
Steps for Creating a GPT To Scale Content Creation
Use these steps to build your own GPT, customized to your organization and needs.
1. Create a Prompting Document
A document detailing what you want your GPT to do helps “calibrate” your GPT. Your prompting document should include:
- Detailed instructions on what you want the GPT to do.
- Information about how the GPT should provide you with the information you want.
For our purposes — building a briefing buddy — we’ll need to tell ChatGPT the following:
- Who it is. Basically, you want to tell it what it knows. “You’re an expert XYZ, and you want to share your industry knowledge…” or “You’re a content strategist that specializes in XYZ, and you want to provide detailed briefs and outlines to help your team create thought-provoking content.”
- What information you want it to ask you for. When you start a new piece, what information do you want to be able to provide? I want to provide keywords, the angle of the piece, and other basic information so that the GPT can customize the brief with this information.
- What you want the GPT to do with the information you’ve provided. This will differ depending on the goals of your content. For example, if you’re creating search engine optimization (SEO) blog posts to rank in search engine results pages (SERP), you may want to provide links to the top-ranking pieces so your GPT can analyze the content, determine what’s missing, and tell you how to do it better. If you’re creating a guide, you may want distinct steps and information on why each of them is important so your writer can use this information to flesh out the piece.
- What output you expect. Detail what you want back once you’ve provided the GPT with information. Do you want metadata? A paragraph about the goals of the piece? A hierarchical outline? Note everything you want and provide specifics where needed. Don’t assume that the GPT will know SEO best practices — tell it how long you want your meta description to be and where to include your primary keyword. Also, note how you want the output to appear. This is where an example comes in handy.
2. Upload Your Documents to the GPT Maker
Click on your profile image in the top right corner to access your account menu. Select “MyGPTs” from the dropdown.
Click the plus sign next to “Create a GPT.”
You should now see the GPT “Configure” form.
Click the plus sign at the top to add an image, or use DALL-E to make one.
Give your GPT a name that will help you remember what it does. Mine is creatively called “Brief Creator.”
Next, write a quick description. Mine just says, “Create content briefs for blog posts.”
Under “Knowledge,” click “Upload Files” and select your instructions doc. Repeat this and select your communications style guide.
If you have additional files, like example briefs, that you want the GPT to reference, add them as well.
3. Add in Your Instructions
With your documents uploaded, you’ll want to tell ChatGPT what they are and what to do with them.
In the instructions box:
- Explain what each of your attached documents are.
- Tell the GPT what to do with your documents.
Here’s what I started with:
“This GPT functions as an expert SEO content strategist and helps create a content outline that can be provided to a writer, as described in the uploaded document.
Follow the attached “Instructions” doc and start by asking for the required information. Don’t provide extraneous information about what you’re going to do; just ask for the information you need, and then create the brief as described in “Instructions.” Use the communications style guide for voice and tone guidance.
Always use AP style for capitalization. Never make up information or provide links to pages that don’t exist.”
(See that last line about not making up information? ChatGPT doesn’t always follow it 🙄. Be sure to double-check everything it creates.)
4. Create Your Conversation Starters
The conversation starters are what users see when they open your GPT. Even ChatGPT has some under its message box.
I went with just one for my GPT, but you can create several based on your instructions.
For example, in addition to creating a brief, your GPT can edit an existing brief or outline to improve it or better align it with your goals.
You can create multiple conversation starters, but only the first four will appear on the GPT page.
5. Test
Once you’ve filled out the instructions, take your GPT for a test drive.
Provide it with the information it needs to create a brief outline. Is the output what you expected? Does it meet your needs? How can you improve it?
Keep in mind that ChatGPT is trying to follow your directions. If the output is subpar, ensure you’re not providing contradictory information and that your instructions are precise and well explained. Consider adding an example to improve the output.
Also, know that if you run the same test twice, you’ll get different results. This is because ChatGPT is configured with a set amount of randomization.
6. Iteratate
After reviewing your test, it’s time to provide feedback to ChatGPT. Be clear and specific.
You may find you need to update your instructions doc or style guide. If the feedback doesn’t relate to those documents, you can add it to the knowledge box.
For example, if your instructions specify a specific character limit and ChatGPT isn’t abiding by it, add a note in the instructions to double check the character count.
7. Repeat Steps 5 and 6 Ad Infinitum
No one’s perfect — and learning how to work with large language models (LLMs) takes time. As you use your GPT more, you’ll be able to fine-tune it so you get the results you want.
8. Share With Your Teammates
Congrats! Your GPT is ready to go. You can keep it to yourself and access it by clicking on your profile picture and selecting “GPTs” or adding it to your left-side menu.
Or you can share it with your teammates by clicking the paperclip in the top right corner and copying the link.
Final Thoughts
OpenAI is constantly improving ChatGPT, so you may find the effectiveness of your GPT changes over time. You can still edit your prompting document and instructions, though. This allows you to maintain consistent output.
Creating GPTs for Content Production
Once you’ve built your briefing GPT, you may feel the itch to create additional GPT helpers or expand your briefing buddy. You can expand your GPT by adding more starting prompts and instructions, or you can modify the steps I shared above to create GPTs to:
- Analyze multiple URLs and have the GPT share how they’re similar, where they differ, and what information they completely miss about the topic.
- Provide you with multiple angles from which to tackle a piece.
- Generate ideas for cluster content based on a pillar page and then brief and outline the individual pieces.
- Repurpose the completed content for particular distribution channels.
Need To Scale Content? Victorious Can Help
SEO content writing is a skill, and aligning it with a thoughtful content strategy takes time. Creating a GPT to streamline your workflows can help you craft content more quickly — but if you want to make sure it will help you achieve your goals, partner with an SEO content writing agency that specializes in strategy. Schedule a free consultation to learn more.
