The Future of ChatGPT for SMBs

ChatGPT is one of the new hot buzzwords in marketing. If you are unfamiliar with ChatGPT, “ChatGPT[a] is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI and released in November 2022,” according to Wikipedia. It has many advantages for small business owners to level the playing field in marketing even more.

We are in the early years of the ChatGPT. I think many think they can use ChatGPT like everyone on Star Trek uses the ship’s computer. I’m sure we will have that one day, but it’s not quite there yet. There are many areas where it’s lacking, but if you feed it data, you get much better results than just asking it random questions. It cant draw inferences between people or things it doesn’t know. Such as, am I friends with John Smith? But, if you ask it to rewrite or summarize the text you give it, it’s incredible.

I decided to take a risk and ask ChatGPT how it can help SMBs. Here is what it told me:

  1. Chatbots: Small businesses can use ChatGPT to develop chatbots that engage customers on social media platforms. Chatbots can help companies to answer frequently asked questions, provide support, and help customers make purchases.
  2. Content Creation: ChatGPT can generate content for social media platforms. Small businesses can use the model to create engaging and unique content that resonates with their audience.
  3. Personalization: ChatGPT can help small businesses personalize their social media content. By analyzing customer data and preferences, the model can suggest personalized content and offers more likely to resonate with customers.
  4. Trend Analysis: Small businesses can use ChatGPT to analyze social media trends and identify new opportunities. The model can help businesses understand their audience and improve their social media marketing efforts by monitoring social media conversations and sentiments.
  5. Ad Targeting: ChatGPT can help small businesses target their social media ads more effectively. By analyzing customer data, the model can suggest the best platforms, audiences, and ad formats to reach the right people with the right message.

These items will be helpful, but I don’t think we are there yet other than Content Creation. The social media posts I had written from a larger text set have been good, but not all are great. Much like how the human mind works, not every post is gold! Sometimes it will miss the mark on what you are trying to say. It’s best to have it write 4-5 more postings than you need. You can pick the best one to post or spice up. It will even suggest hashtags and emojis. If you don’t want those, tell ChatGPT to exclude them. Lastly, tell it which service you wish social media site you want posts written for, such as Twitter, it will make sure it’s not over 240 characters.

As for the other items, it’s coming sooner than we think. Microsoft is working on CoPilot, which will analyze data, create presentations, and more using ChatGPT. As much as I have plaid around with ChatGPT, there is no place for the average user to upload files or data (or at least not that I have found). If you haven’t partaken in the new AI world, I suggest you see what you can create before taking it to live with your business. It’s free now, but a $ 20-a-month paid subscription lets you play with more features. I plan on doing a series on ChatGPT/AI because it’s not going away anytime soon and may help us do business faster and more efficiently.

Tim is the founder of Element33. A social media agency specializing in education, management and strategy for small businesses. He comes from a traditional marketing agency but has embraced all things digital. He considers himself a marketing nerd and believes that all marketing is tied together. This means no matter what silo you are in, social, email, seach, etc, changes in one will affect the other!

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