Artificial Intelligence · 1 min read
AI Prompting 101
Simple prompts can do a lot, but you get better results when you give the AI more to work with.
Parts of a good prompt
- Instruction: what you want done. "Write a follow-up email."
- Context: background the AI needs. "The contact attended our webinar yesterday."
- Input: the content to work with. "Here are the webinar notes."
- Format: how the answer should look. "Under 120 words, with one call to action."
Tips
- Be specific. "Write a friendly two-sentence reminder about tomorrow's 2 PM appointment" beats "Write a reminder."
- Say what to do, not just what to avoid.
- Give an example of the style you want.
- Assign a role. "You are a friendly receptionist for a dental office."
- Break big tasks into steps.
- Revise. If the result isn't right, add the missing detail and try again.
Example
Weak: "Write a social post."
Better: "Write a short, upbeat social post for a bakery announcing our new pumpkin bread. Mention it's available this weekend only and end with a question to encourage comments."