Feeling overwhelmed by the constant demand for fresh, engaging content? Looking for ways to scale your copywriting without losing your personal touch?
In this article, you'll discover how to build an AI persona that writes in your voice and style.
This article was co-created by Jeff Hunter and Michael Stelzner. For more about Jeff, scroll to the end of this article.
The AI Revolution in Copywriting: From Threat to Opportunity
You aren't alone if you initially saw AI as a threat to your business model.
In November 2022, the release of ChatGPT created concerns for Jeff Hunter about AI replacing virtual assistants. In less than a month, he flew to the Philippines to create an AI task force with his team. The initial goal was to prove that human virtual assistants are better than AI.
What happened next surprised no one more than Jeff. The more he tried to prove humans were superior to AI, the more he realized AI could enhance human capabilities rather than replace them.
This paradigm shift resulted in him developing the AI Persona Method to leverage AI in copywriting. The benefits of using this method include:
- Significant time savings (8-10 hours per week for Hunter)
- Ability to scale content production across multiple platforms
- Maintaining brand consistency while increasing output
- Freeing up time for strategic thinking and creative ideation
If you're ready to embrace AI as a collaborative copywriting tool rather than a replacement for the human element in your content creation process–as an opportunity for innovation and growth, follow this framework.
#1: The AI Persona Method
Before diving into AI-powered copywriting, you'll need to do some groundwork. Jeff refers to this as AI readiness.
Choose a Role for Your AI Copywriting Assistant
Every AI copywriting persona you create should be a customized AI model trained to write in a specific style to produce a particular type of content. You shouldn't ask your email copywriter to write you a social media post or your AI social media persona to write you an email.
In this article, we'll focus on training AI to write social media posts, but this method also works for blog posts, emails, and landing pages.
Start with one persona, then create multiple AI personas for different content types and platforms to ensure specialized, high-quality outputs for each marketing channel. The more specific and detailed you can be in your persona creation, the more authentic and effective your AI-generated content will be.
Collect Your Content Training Data
When training AI, Hunter emphasizes the importance of showing rather than telling: “If you're doing it right, if you want AI to perform well and write converting copy, copy that crushes, copy that goes viral, copy that people really believe there's no way AI wrote it, you're not going to be able to do it by telling the AI how to write. You're doing it by showing the AI how to write.”
You'll first need to gather your top-performing content across all social platforms, aiming for at least 100 examples of your best work.
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GET THE DETAILSTransfer all the copy and social media content into a spreadsheet and record the following:
- The tone or style of the post (humorous, educational, etc.)
- The social platform for each post
- How many comments, likes, and shares each piece generated
- Whether the post included an image or a video
- The topic of the post is (politics, social media, branding, virtual assistants, etc.)
Hunter has a virtual assistant who transfers all his content and social media posts into a spreadsheet at the end of every month and strongly recommends others do the same. This comprehensive content database will be the foundation for training your AI tools and ensure they accurately reflect your brand voice and style.
Don't have enough content yet? The most ethical way to build a content library is to hire a copywriter until you have enough content to train your AI. This ensures that you don't infringe on someone else's copyright and that your training data truly reflects your brand voice. If you do use others' content for training data, be sure to obtain their permission first.
Next, download your top 100 social media posts from any platform in a Google Doc and export it as a PDF.
Prep Your Audience Persona
It's essential to give your AI writing assistant context for the target audience you write for by creating detailed audience personas that include demographics, psychographics, pain points, desires, and motivations.
Save this persona as a Google Doc and export it as a PDF.
Articulate Your Brand Voice
To help AI write in your unique brand voice and style, document your company's brand, mission, and values. If your brand is personal, include personal details to add human authenticity (e.g., family information, interests.)
For example:
Jeff J. Hunter founded VA Staffer, a virtual assistant agency with over a hundred team members in the Philippines. He specializes in leveraging virtual teams and AI to enhance productivity. He's also the creator of the AI persona method, with three hundred fifty students learning how to use AI for their business to take over their marketing. He's also the creator of the AI consultant certification program—the first of its kind. The program has over one hundred fifty consultants. He has two boys, Jesse's twelve, Lincoln's five. His wife's name is Anna. He's been married to her for fifteen years. He has a rotten little French bulldog named Nugget and a giant cane corso named Cardi. He lives in California and travels the world, teaching people how to build remote teams and leverage AI.
Save this brand voice as a Google Doc and export it as a PDF.
Train Your AI Copywriting Persona
First, open your AI model and upload your brand voice details, audience persona, and content examples.
Pro Tip: Continuously update your personas with new successful training content each month.
If you use ChatGPT, you'll copy the training data from your Google Docs and paste it into a new chat each time you use it. If you use Claude, you'll create a Project and upload your training data as PDFs.
Next, specify the persona's role and output expectations.
When you're ready for the AI to write your social media posts, simply prompt it with the following:
Curious About How to Use AI?
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It's hosted by Michael Stelzner and explores this exciting new frontier in easy-to-understand terms.
Pull up your favorite podcast app and search for AI Explored. Or click the button below for more information.
Write a viral post about [topic].
#2: Tips to Master Prompts for AI-Generated Persuasive Copywriting
Effective use of AI for copywriting relies heavily on crafting the right prompts. Hunter emphasizes simplicity and specificity in prompting. Here's a detailed approach to mastering AI prompts to generate copy that persuades your reader.
Start with Clear Instructions
- Begin with a simple, direct command (e.g., “Write a viral post about [topic]”)
- Specify the content type and desired outcome
Provide Context
- Include relevant information about the target audience
- Mention any specific angles or points you want to cover
Reference Training Data
- Ask the AI to imitate your writing style based on the provided examples
- Mention specific pieces of content you want it to emulate
Specify Format and Structure
- Indicate desired length (e.g., word count, number of paragraphs)
- Mention any structural elements (e.g., “make each sentence its own paragraph”)
Request Variations
- Ask for multiple versions or angles on the same topic
- Use prompts like “Give me three different approaches to this post.”
Iterative Refinement
- Review the AI's output and provide feedback
- Use follow-up prompts to refine and improve the content
Inject Creativity
- Ask the AI to incorporate specific literary devices or writing techniques
- Prompt for unique perspectives or unconventional approaches
#3: 5 Advanced AI Tools for Enhanced Copywriting
Hunter recommends several AI tools to streamline and improve your copywriting process.
Experiment with different AI tools to find the combination that best suits your specific copywriting needs and workflow. If paid tools significantly enhance your productivity and content quality, don't hesitate to invest in them.
Here's a quick look at five tools and how to use them effectively:
Claude
Use Claude to create AI personas and generate long-form content.
Key features include Claude Projects for organizing AI personas, the ability to upload and analyze large datasets, and advanced language understanding and generation.
Best Practices: Use Claude Projects to create separate workspaces for different content types. Leverage its ability to understand and mimic complex writing styles.
ChatGPT
Use ChatGPT for quick content ideation and initial drafts.
Key features include rapid response time, the ability to engage in back-and-forth conversations, and a wide-ranging knowledge base.
Best Practices: Use it for brainstorming sessions to generate multiple ideas quickly.
Perplexity
Use Perplexity for real time research and trend analysis.
Key features include up-to-date information on current trends and the ability to explore topics in-depth.
Best Practices: Use it to stay informed about industry trends and news so you can incorporate trending topics into your content strategy.
OpusClip
Use OpusClip for repurposing long-form video content.
Key features include AI-powered video analysis and segmentation, automatic generation of short-form clips, and multi-platform formatting (vertical, square, horizontal.)
Best Practices: Use it to create multiple pieces of content from a single video.
Castmagic
Use Castmagic to transcribe audio and generate multi-platform content.
Key features include voice-to-text transcription and automatic content reformatting for different platforms.
Best Practices: Use it for quick idea capture and content repurposing so you can generate platform-specific content from a single audio recording.
Jeff J. Hunter is an AI consultant who helps online business owners leverage AI to grow with less effort. He founded VA Staffer and is the author of the AI Consulting Blueprint. Visit his website to learn more about The AI Persona Method membership. Connect with Jeff on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Other Notes From This Episode
- Connect with Michael Stelzner @Stelzner on Facebook and @Mike_Stelzner on X.
- Watch this interview and other exclusive content from Social Media Examiner on YouTube.
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