Using AI tools in your podcast process is all about moderation. You want to use tools like ChatGPT to enhance your podcast, inspire creativity and lighten the workload to create a podcast episode.
What you don’t want to do is give ChatGPT free rein so you can sit back and watch a robot take control of your show. Unless you plan to lose all your podcast followers, and credibility, that is.
To help you get the most out of ChatGPT without sucking the life out of your podcast, I’ve pulled together a few helpful prompts.
I’m not here to rattle off hundreds of potential prompts you could use (because ironically, you could just ask ChatGPT to do that for you!).
Instead, I spent some time testing out different variations to whittle down a shortlist of the best and most productive ChatGPT prompts for podcasters. These will support you in making the kind of discoverable, shareable, and thought-provoking content that can really grow your audience and your show.
Here they are…
Seven ChatGPT Prompts for Podcasters
1. Compelling Episode Titles
“Can you help me come up with a name for a podcast episode about [topic]?”
We know that coming up with a catchy podcast episode title isn’t something we should ever skimp on. Episode titles are like news headlines – they need to do a lot of work to draw listeners in at the same time as telling them what the show is about. Not an easy thing to do in 60 characters!
So I asked ChatGPT to come up with some episode titles for a hypothetical podcast on Tupac Shakur’s murder. Here’s are its suggestions:
What’s really interesting about ChatGPT’s response to this prompt is that it didn’t just produce title ideas, but also gave me some inspiration about the direction I’d want to take the episode in. A podcast called ‘The Assassination of Tupac Shakur: What Really Happened?’ is going to be pretty different from one called ‘Tupac Shakur’s Murder: The Impact on Hip-Hop Culture’.
So instantly, this prompt gives me a whole load of ideas I might not have considered before. This is the kind of prompt you’d want to ask early on in the planning stage of your episode rather than at the end. It could give you some ideas about where to focus your discussion.
2. Interesting or Unconventional Podcast Guests
“Can you suggest some experts or interesting guests I could interview on my podcast about [topic]?“
Using ChatGPT to suggest guests for your podcast is a brilliant way to use the tool. This is where AI tools like this can knock hours of research time off without affecting the integrity of your show.
It’s likely you’ll already have interview guest ideas of your own, but asking ChatGPT for some supplementary sparks wouldn’t hurt. I wanted to find some experts for my fictionalised podcast on the art of Capoeira. Here’s what it came back with:
What I liked about the results was that the list was a mixture of capoeira masters and academics. It even included an anthropologist, an out-the-box suggestion that could bring a fascinating and stand-out perspective to the topic.
I also like that the tool didn’t just spit out names for me. It also provided some context to decide whether the guest is worth researching and pursuing further. I’m not going to reach out to everyone on the list, but it’s given me a great starting point I can use in my research.
3. Guest Summaries & Bios
“[Guest name] summary: [insert summary] Write a speaker bio for [guest name] who will be a guest on my podcast about [topic]“
Writing promotional material about your podcast guest can be pretty time-consuming. At least, it’s a time-consuming task if you want to do it well.
The awesome thing about using ChatGPT for these things is that you can copy/paste any summary material you have and ask ChatGPT to generate a promotional bio based on the topic of your show.
When testing this one out, I invited our CEO Colin onto my hypothetical podcast about the future of independent podcasting. I pasted in his LinkedIn summary, and this is what the tool came up with:
While this speaker bio isn’t perfect, it’s an excellent start. Using this as my basis, I could make a few tweaks here and there. I could cut out the boring sentences (of which there are definitely a few), add a bit of spark to it, and this would save me a whole load of time and legwork.
Also, if the bio the tool generates is too long, you can always add parameters like “200-250 word bio” to the prompt, and ChatGPT will streamline it to the length you want.
4. Topical News Stories
“What are some recent news stories related to [niche topic] that I could discuss on my podcast?“
Researching the latest happenings in your podcast niche can be time-consuming. This is especially true if your area of interest is quite broad, like sports or cooking. Without stating the obvious here, the more narrow your podcast niche, the easier it will be to keep on top of the latest trends and headlines on that topic.
With the right ChatGPT prompt, you can let AI do much of the hard work. You can allow the tool to scour the web for interesting news stories so you keep on top of hot topics without putting in a lot of work.
To test this prompt, I asked ChatGPT to give me some recent articles I should check out related to sustainable farming:
Essentially, what this prompt does is focus my research. It doesn’t replace it. I would use this list of articles as inspiration and a starting point to dig deeper into a topic for a podcast episode.
One thing this prompt flagged for me was how cautious we need to be about whether the articles that ChatGPT suggests are real. I struggled to find a couple of the articles mentioned in this list. So do your due diligence before your start quoting ‘facts’ from fictitious news articles in your podcast!
5. Topical Episode Ideas
“Can you suggest some podcast episode ideas that focus on [topic]?“
Coming up with episode ideas for your podcast can be one of the most challenging parts of the creative process. But luckily, it’s one of the tasks that ChatGPT is really good at.
Here are the results I got when I asked ChatGPT to give me some episode inspiration for a fictionalised podcast about women’s health:
I thought this list was pretty impressive. It’s by no means exhaustive (as ChatGPT even admits at the bottom of these results), but it does cover a lot of ground.
In fact, as a listener who is interested in this topic, I’d be happy to tune into every episode of this podcast. And the really important part? The fact that the entire episode list is AI-generated doesn’t even bother me. I’d still tune in even if the host explicitly told me the episode list was AI-generated.
Like 49% of listeners in this study, I’m comfortable with AI being used here because it’s just for idea generation. I’m not tuning into a podcast that’s been entirely created by a robot.
6. Myths & Misconceptions
“What are some common misconceptions in [field/topic] that I could address in my podcast?“
Misconceptions are always a good springboard for a podcast episode. This is because they encourage you to challenge mainstream thought or provide your listeners with information they likely won’t know already.
Sticking with the female health topic, I asked ChatGPT to come up with some misconceptions about female fertility – a topic that continues to be taboo even amongst women themselves.
The results ChatGPT came up with were pretty good:
While some of the answers point out the obvious (who knew women couldn’t get pregnant as soon as they’re born?), they do the job we want them to do: These results get my brain going.
Reading these answers, I now want to research more about all of these statements to find out where these misconceptions come from and how I can challenge them on my podcast.
7. Interview Questions
“Can you help me come up with a list of thought-provoking interview questions to ask [guest name]?”
In my opinion, this is the most helpful chatGPT prompt you could ask if your podcast has an interview format. If you’ve ever had to frantically generate questions for your guest just before going live, you’ll know how stressful this can be (for your guest too, btw! Preparation is key to any good interview).
Here are the results I got when asking ChatGPT for interview questions to ask TV Chef Jamie Oliver:
The amazing thing about this prompt is that the interview questions it brought back were genuinely interesting. There was nothing robotic or predictable about them at all.
These questions are clearly based on information ChatGPT has aggregated from various online sources about Jamie Oliver. There are questions about the campaigns and activism he’s been involved in over the years, not just the fact he’s a celebrity chef.
There were also a whole load of questions to choose from. I’ve included five in the image above, but the tool sent me ten. When I asked for 20, the quality of the questions stayed high.
Ten questions would be ideal to keep a good conversation flowing during my hypothetical interview with Joliver. Now, I just have to convince him to talk to me…
Use AI to Enhance Your Podcast
Whether you’re brand new to podcasting or have been running your show for years, these ChatGPT prompts can offer invaluable support in your creative process. They’ll help you get more done in less time so you can focus on making the best podcast for your listeners.
ChatGPT aside, there are a whole load of other AI tools for podcasters that can help lighten the workload too. It’s worth taking a look at this AI tools for podcasters guide. Right now, it feels like we’re adding a new tool to this list every other day.
Originally posted on April 10, 2023 @ 2:24 am