When I heard about ChatGPT, a free AI technology tool, my first reaction was, “That’s not for me!”—because I couldn’t see how AI could help me. I want my content to be authentic, because how I communicate about my business is important. I didn’t want to come across as fake or generic. Then I started learning more about the practical uses of ChatGPT for saving time, generating ideas and enhancing productivity.
Using ChatGPT to create content and publish it directly would sound fake because it would be fake. However, using ChatGPT as a tool, which is what it is, has helped me, and can help you, to create authentic text for promotions.
I think it’s important to understand what ChatGPT is and what it isn’t.
ChatGPT is a large language model program that can produce content based on its input—content that spans a vast landscape of information. It basically has the input of the equivalent of 1.5 million books and 350 years of “learning.”
It’s a little mind-boggling, especially for those of us who are not computer scientists. ChatGPT is incapable of learning (beyond what it’s programmed to learn, which is to create words based on input). It does not understand context or have emotional intelligence, memory, ethics or morals. It’s a tool, a powerful one that we can use to help us promote our businesses.
If you want to learn more about what ChatGPT is, how it works and possible future implications, I highly recommend the YouTube video from Cal Newport, who is a computer science professor at Georgetown University, titled “Cal Newport’s Thoughts on ChatGPT.”
Read on for details on using ChatGPT to design promotions for your practice, examples of prompts—and how to customize ChatGPT content.
How to Use ChatGPT to Brainstorm Ideas
ChatGPT is excellent for brainstorming and getting your ideas flowing. It is like brainstorming with a second brain or a very smart business buddy.
Everything starts with an idea, and ChatGPT can give you loads of them. Some will be great, some good but not for your circumstances, and some mediocre. The more specific information you give ChatGPT to work with, the better your results will be. You can build upon the best ideas and make them your own.
Here are a few examples of idea-generating prompts for your massage business.
• Create a list of activities for a massage business open house, incorporating a spring theme, retail and gift certificate sales.
• Generate a list of inexpensive business card alternatives similar to a bookmark, magnet or sticker appropriate for a massage business catering to women.
• Create a list of ideas to promote a massage business that caters to athletes at a mud run event.
How to Use ChatGPT for Competitor Research & Anaylsis
You can useChatGPT to do competitor research and analysis, and industry trend research. Start by asking it to list your competitors, local area prices, and what makes your business unique.
This can give you ideas for positioning your business in relation to local competition. (ChatGPT cannot access real-time data and can only generate general information.)
ChatGPT can help you save time by creating a general report or overview that you can use on Google for more specific research and answers. Here are a few examples of research-type queries you can type into ChatGPT:
• Create a list of massage businesses in Boone, North Carolina.
• Create an overview of the massage businesses near Boone, North Carolina, and their unique selling propositions, price points, and ideal clients.
• What trends are being seen in the massage industry?
• How can a massage business stand out?
How to Use ChatGPT to Create Email & Newsletter Content
If you have sent regular email newsletters, you are probably familiar with the stress of developing valuable, relevant topics on a tight schedule. This is where ChatGPT shines!
Try asking for things like:
• Create a list of ideas for a massage business newsletter that will remind clients to come in and give them tips to stay healthy.
ChatGPT is interactive, so you can build on your requests like this:
• Based on the above, generate 20 engaging subject lines.
• Based on the ideas for a massage business newsletter that will remind clients to come in and provide them with tips to stay healthy, create a newsletter template.
How to Use ChatGPT to Improve Your SEO
ChatGPT can be used to generate keywords that you can then use on your website pages, blog, and in the back end of your website to improve the ranking of your website in Google search results.
Try asking things like:
• How can I choose the best keywords for a massage business in Boone, North Carolina, that offers house calls?
• Provide SEO examples for the above suggestions. (Some of the keywords ChatGPT generated after getting this prompt included: house call massage Portland, mobile massage therapist Portland, and in-home massage service Oregon. You will need to visit your usual keyword- research site to check on search volume and keyword difficulty.)
• You can also ask things that you would normally search for on Google and get results in a faster and more organized way. For example: Where are the best places to use keywords naturally on a small-business website?
How to Use ChatGPT to Create Hashtags
Hashtags will help more people find and see your posts on Facebook and Instagram, but knowing which hashtags to use and coming up with new ones can be confusing and time-consuming.
ChatGPT can help you quickly understand how hashtags work and help you generate almost endless hashtags for your business.
Use such inputs as:
What are best practices for choosing hashtags for Instagram for a local massage center?
• Or, What are best practices for posting on Facebook for a local massage center?
Next, start finding some hashtags by asking:
• Generate 50 hashtags for a massage business in Boone, North Carolina, that specializes in aromatherapy massage and spa days for small groups, and include a sinus treatment service for allergies.
• Generate 20 hashtags for a local business in Boone, North Carolina.
• Generate 20 hashtags for holiday massage gift certificates for a business in Boone, North Carolina.
How to Use ChatGPT to Plan Marketing & Promotions
ChatGPT is great at planning. It can help you create a marketing plan for a period of time, a special event, or even a client welcome and follow-up plan.
As ChatGPT creates output based on your queries, you can refine what you mean, and ask it to regenerate the response.
Try some of these prompts to get you started:
• Create a 12-month weekly marketing plan for a massage business with two newsletter topics each week focusing on self-care, the benefits of regular massage sessions, and yoga. Include dates for each newsletter to send every other Monday starting on July 1, 2023.
(A couple of the topics that ChatGPT returned after getting this input were for yoga poses, so that text would need to be rewritten.)
• Outline a client welcome and follow-up plan for new massage clients. Include a three-email welcome series and a follow-up email for clients who have not visited in three months. The plan should include email subjects, text messages, and a new-client welcome pack with a gift and promotional materials.
• Create a marketing plan for a holiday open house for a massage business with food and festive drinks, one-night-only gift certificate and retail specials and a free gift for everyone who brings a friend. Include three emails, 10 social media posts and other ways to promote the event.
How to Use ChatGPT to Create Captions for Social Media
I frequently hear from my coaching clients and course students that they know they should post more on social media but they just don’t know what to post. I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that ChatGPT can help with that too.
ChatGPT can create social media captions based on your input and help you to improve your captions. Try these types of input or customize your own:
• Generate five funny social media captions about needing a massage. (One of these, as an example, generated by CHATGPT: “When life gives you knots, find a massage therapist who can untangle them like a boss!”)
• Generate 10 social media captions for an established massage business focus on experience, quality and a great location.
• Generate 10 social media captions focusing on relaxing in a spa environment, reducing stress and self-care.
- How to Use ChatGPT and Retain Authenticity
Now that you understand some of the ways you can use ChatGPT for your business, let’s talk about a few ways to make sure you are staying on brand, and remaining authentic and in alignment with your ethics and values.
ChatGPT is a very helpful and powerful business assistant—but of course, we need to filter everything through our brand messaging and unique voice and only use what makes sense for us to use.
For example, with social media posts or captions, you would first delete any that don’t sound like your brand, then with the rest you must edit words to customize the text to your voice.
Let’s look at an example of a short blog article that was generated by ChatGPT based on the input to Create a short blog post about the effects of massage for stressed-out teachers:
Teaching can be a fulfilling and rewarding career, but it can also be extremely stressful. With mounting workloads, tight deadlines and challenging students, it’s no surprise that many teachers experience high levels of stress and anxiety.
Fortunately, massage therapy can help alleviate some of the physical and emotional strain that teachers often experience. Here are just a few ways that massage can benefit stressed-out educators:
Reduces muscle tension: Sitting at a desk, grading papers, and standing for long periods of time can cause tension to build up in the muscles, especially in the neck, shoulders, and back. Massage can help release that tension and promote relaxation, reducing the risk of injury and discomfort.
Lowers stress levels: Massage has been shown to reduce cortisol, a hormone associated with stress, while increasing levels of serotonin and dopamine, which are associated with feelings of happiness and well-being.
Improves sleep: Many teachers struggle with getting a good night’s sleep due to the stress and anxiety they experience during the day. Massage can help improve sleep quality, allowing teachers to feel more refreshed and energized in the morning.
Boosts immune system: Chronic stress can take a toll on the immune system, making it harder for the body to fight off illness. Massage can help stimulate the lymphatic system, which is responsible for carrying immune cells throughout the body.
So, if you’re a stressed-out teacher, consider making regular massage therapy a part of your self-care routine. Not only will it help you feel better physically and emotionally, but it can also improve your overall quality of life.
Here’s my edited version:
Teaching is a fulfilling and rewarding career, and it can also be very stressful. Between paperwork, test weeks, challenging students and parents, it’s not surprising that mosteachers experience high levels of stress.
Fortunately, massage therapy can help with the the physical and emotional stress that teachers
experience. Here are just a few ways that we can help stressed out educators at Downtown Day Spa in Boone, North Carolina:
Massage reduces muscle tension. Sitting at a desk, grading papers, and standing for long periods of time can cause painful tension in the muscles, of the neck, shoulders, and back. Massage can help relieve tension and increase relaxation, which reduces pain and increases flexibility.
Massage lowers stress levels. Massage is proven to reduce cortisol, a hormone associated with stress, and increase levels of serotonin and dopamine, which are associated with feelings of happiness and well-being.
Massage improves sleep. Many teachers struggle with getting a good night’s sleep due stress and anxiety. Massage can improve sleep quality, for good mornings and good days.
Massage boosts the immune system. Chronic stress can take a toll on the immune system, making it harder for the body to fight off illness. Massage stimulates the lymphatic system, which is responsible for carrying immune cells throughout the body.
If you’re a stressed-out teacher, make a regular massage session a part of your self-care routine. It help you feel better physically and emotionally, and improve your mood. At Downtown Spa we offer teachers 15{6b2fa08d5993bc7e76ffaca7a3a295e96a3274ffb0576a302ceddffe26335ebd} off every day, so it’s easy to say yes to your self- care.
As you can see, I changed quite a bit of the article—but ChatGPT got me started and saved me a lot of time.
How to Use ChatGPT Right Now
You can use ChatGPT for free. Give it a try with some of the prompts in this article and testing different inputs. The more you use it the more you will learn how to help ChatGPT help you with your business.
About the Author
Gael Wood is a massage and spa professional with over 28 years of experience in the industry. She is the co-host and co-founder of the Global Wellness Professionals Marketing Summits. She was honored to be inducted into the World Massage Hall of Fame and featured as a MASSAGE Magazine All-Star in 2019. She loves to educate herself and discover new ideas, learning as much as she can through reading books, online research and classes. Her number-one wish is that what she does can inspire other people, and she aims to help as many people as she can to thrive with her courses, books and programs.