A redditor posted a list of SEO resources for writers to my favorite Reddit subgroup the other day. Thanks, ChatGPT! another redditor responded.

The post was helpful enough. There was nothing wrong with it — grammar, spelling, punctuation: check! It just had that chemical-vanilla-candle-scented, untouched-by-human-hands, robotish feel to it.

How can you make sure you’re not writing like a robot?

1. Use a better structure.

Google is testing AI to write news articles. There goes half of our jobs! After all, even a robot can cram all of the W’s into the first paragraph. Even AI can organize the inverted pyramid.

But there’s a better structure — humans love it — and it’s waaaaaazaay above a robot’s pay grade. Start using that structure, and watch your engagement soar. Wait’ll your boss/client/customer sees this!

2.Write human content.

AI doesn’t do human interest, because it doesn’t know humans. Nothing ever happens to it, so it doesn’t tell stories.

Shift the types of content you write from “Just the facts, Ma’am” to more human content, and let ChatGPT catch you if it can. (It can’t.)

3. Make ChatGPT your BFF and research assistant

ChatGPT is a terrible writer. No prompt can make it as compelling as you — a brilliant, real, live human person.

But AI can be a great assistant. Send it out to find the details for a juicy-details lead or to fetch some statistics for your data story or to gather some headlines for your compression-of-details paragraph.

Meanwhile, you’re doing your nails, eating your lunch and hanging up all of the awards in your office.

Let’s see a robot try that.

Learn to outwrite a robot.

Want to use AI to write like a human, not like a robot? Learn all of my hacks.

The post 3 hacks to keep your content human appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..

Are you still using the fact pack — cramming who, what, when, where, why and how into the first paragraph of your news release? Are you still married to the dated “XYZ Company today announced …” approach?

These conventional formulas to press release leads are formulaic, old-fashioned and — let’s face it — dull.

Make sure these PR 101 leads don’t find their way into your releases:

1. Abstraction

Show, don’t tell. When writing news release leads, choose concrete details, not abstract ideas.

2. Announcement

If you have something to announce, announce it! Don’t announce that you’re announcing it:

3. Background

Background — also known as the blah blah blah — is no way to draw readers into a piece. Instead, leave the definitions, history lessons and broader context for the third paragraph.

Don’t start like this:

4. Fact pack

Instead of a “suitcase lead” — one you try to cram all of the story elements into — aim for a bikini lead. Cover just the interesting essentials.

After all, if you lead with all of the W’s, what do you put in the second paragraph?

5. Question

Planning to run a question lead? What if the reader doesn’t know — or care — the answer to your question?

I don’t know. Have I? Maybe start by illustrating some situations where my personal interests are in conflict with my employment contract, instead.

6. Quotation

As anyone who’s ever interviewed an engineer knows, quotes aren’t necessarily riveting. And quotation marks don’t magically make them so.

What to use instead?

Instead, make your release lead compelling with reader benefits, synthesizing the news or illustrating the idea with a feature lead.

The post Six press release leads to avoid appeared first on Wylie Communications, Inc..