Here are the AI notes I took from seminars at Social Media Marketing World 2025. Follow me on LinkedIn.
Last minute addition: Look how fast Krea.AI creates images, and lets us use celebrity likenesses and Studio Ghibli style! It also lets you animate the still photo and turn it into a video.
Check out my Washington State Wine Ambassador AI video on YouTube.
Is this chicken tortilla soup similar to the way it looks at Cava Azul Woodinville?
Michael Stelzner – The Future of Marketing: How to Thrive as an AI-Enhanced Marketer
@stelzner and the AI Explored podcast.
Michael Stelzner: “The Future isn’t something to fear. It’s something to build.”
10 years ago, blogging was the most important form of content, followed by visuals, and then a tiny percentage was video. Nowadays, 46% of marketers said videos were the most important, followed by the written word (newsletters, captions).
Now, 45% of marketers are using generative AI inside their work. And 74% of marketers plan to do more with AI.
How will AI impact the future of our work?
Dario Amadei from Anthropic makes Claude. He believes in the next 2 years AI systems will be better than humans at almost everything. Sam Altman from OpenAI who makes ChatGPT and said “Anyone in the next ten years should be able to marshal the equivalent capacity of everyone today. All the wisdom of all the people in the world will be available to everyone by 2035. Everyone should have access to unlimited genius in the next ten years.” Major companies have invested in purchasing nuclear power plants to be able to power AI efforts.
Will half of us marketers be out of work?
AI can help us do the things we don’t like to do, to free up our time to do the things we do like to do.
Michael says, AI helps me be more persuasive. McKinsey says we marketers are the greatest beneficiaries of the coming AI revolution. Choose to embrace it.
He says we should use generative AI more often to help us make decisions. He encourages us to ask ourselves constantly, “How can AI help me with this?”
What can we take from the past to help us with our future? In 2005 only 7% of people in the US were on social media. It took 7 years for half the population to be on social. In 2025, 95% are on it. ChatGPT came out just in 2022. In just 2 years, 39% of American adults were utilizing AI. Consumers embrace change faster than businesses do.
Become AI-enhanced before everyone else does. Make yourself useful in the AI area. If you want to survive the coming wave, you need to go from good to great. AI lets you do your work more quickly. Increase your output and become more persuasive. Use AI to come up with better, creative ideas. Teach others to use AI – you will become more valuable. Be the best on your team.
Early movers have unfair advantages. There is very high demand for AI skills and very little supply. Employers are looking for this as a skill on your resume.
AI-Powered Image Creation: How Non-Designers Can Produce Images Like a Pro by Jeff Sieh
@jeffsieh and the Social Media News Live podcast.
Try Google Veo2 to generate videos (log into your Google account).
Image prompts require 3 things: Subject, Setting and Style.
Don’t be constrained to always use the same model all the time. Try your prompt in multiple models
Use the custom Gilbatree Art Designer GPT inside your ChatGPT to create four different images for you with prompts you might not have thought of.
Go “all in” on your artistic vision. For example, if you’re making a vintage horror style image, use dramatic lighting, aged textures, and grainy effects; if you’re creating a fantasy scene, ask for glowing magical effects, intricate costumes and ethereal lighting.
He recommends Picsi.Ai face swap. (It requires you to log in with your Discord credentials).
He recommends not subscribing yearly to any AI tools because they change so rapidly, you might move on to a new tool and not use your old one, wasting money.
3 things we need to unlock when it comes to creating great images with AI:
- The Clone Crisis – When Canva first came out, everyone used their templates and you’d see them everywhere. We don’t want someone to see our image and immediately say “Oh, that’s ChatGPT.”
- Digital mutations – Everybody makes fun of AI hands/fingers. You can fix them using “inpainting” now.
- Creative dead end – It’s hard to come up with a visual image for networking.
He likes to use Kling.ai to animate still images.
New ChatGPT Image Model:
- Character Consistency
- Transparent Layers
- Text Rendering
- Upload and Restyle
- Detailed Directions
How to Build the Foundational AI Skills Every Marketer Needs by Nicole Leffer
Most marketers are barely scratching the surface of what’s possible with their AI tools – and leaving a lot of value they’re paying for on the table!
How to Talk to Your Chatbot
Your communication style will have a huge impact on your results.
TIP 1: STOP WORRYING ABOUT “PROMPT ENGINEERING”
- Clear communication is key. Marketers are amazing at this!
- Prioritize clarity, specificity, and direction in your language.
TIP 2: BE RESPECTFUL AND POLITE
- Use polite phrases like “please” and “thank you.”
- Express appreciation and gratitude
TIP 3: ASK IT TO TAKE TIME TO THINK
- Directing your AI to “take a deep breath and work on this problem step-by-step” helps with complex tasks.
- You can even give it the order to think things through!
TIP 4: GIVE IT A REASON TO CARE!
- Emotional motivation improves the quality of an AI’s output.
- Try adding: “This task is vital to my career, and I greatly value your [attention to detail, thorough analysis, creativity, etc.]”
Start your prompts with a PERSONA of who your AI is acting as right now (whoever you wish could do this project with you)
- I recommend starting with: “You are _______”
- Be specific – Telling ChatGPT it is a social media marketer isn’t as powerful as asking it to be the best B2B LinkedIn copywriter in the world.
- Specialize – Give ChatGPT skills and expertise in a specific relevant area.
Start your prompts with a PERSONA – Example
AI Assisted Project:
Create an organic Instagram calendar that includes image posts, carousel posts, Reels, Stories, and Lives for a company that specializes in boutique San Diego travel experiences.
“You are the best social media content strategist in the world, with specialized expertise in organic Instagram growth, travel marketing, and San Diego tourism. You are highly skilled in identifying compelling visual and narrative ideas that drive engagement and designing content calendars that leverage image posts, carousels, Reels, Stories, and Lives. Your creativity, deep local knowledge, and instinct for tourism storytelling help you captivate audiences and turn them into loyal brand advocates and customers for boutique San Diego travel experiences.”
If ChatGPT doesn’t come up with what you want, don’t chat below the results to change it. Instead, use the pencil tool to open edit and edit your prompt.
Why edit prompts instead of chatting to change the outputs?
- Eliminate AI confusion later in the conversation
- Keeps context window shorter
- MOST IMPORTANTLY: Teaches you how to be a better prompter
But, In some tools (including ChatGPT), you cannot currently edit your prompts on the prompts where you include image inputs.
AI Vision:
VISION USE CASE IDEA:
Write Instagram captions based on the image(s) in the post.
Write a LinkedIn post inspired by an infographic.
Get feedback on a design project.
Get Conversion Rate Optimization suggestions for a landing page.
Write product descriptions for physical items.
SEO Optimization, including writing alt text for images.
Create a project color palette inspired by an image (ask for HEX codes!)
Transcribe and organize your handwritten notes
Other things AI assistants might be able to do:
- Pre-schedule tasks for set times? (For example, have it go fetch news on your niche topic every night at 6 pm, summarize for you)
- Transcribe your voice?
- Do deep research?
- See images inside PDFs? (or only JPGs/PNGs?)
- Create documents?
- Create images?
- Chat with you verbally?
- See it’s surroundings while you talk?
Try out Canvas mode on ChatGPT for collaborative writing.
Nicky Saunders – AI Tools for Instagram: Creating High-Impact Content That Stands Out
Important facts before we start: Without content, you don’t have a brand. AI is here to enhance, not replace.
What Instagram Cares About in 2025 –
Reels and Carousels. These are what keep people on the platform.
Use Meta Business Suite to download your analytics. Get the last 90 days. Use AI to analyze trends. Tell your AI to “Please analyze the data and identify the following:”
- Which content types (Reels, Carousels, Single posts) performed best?
- What are the common themes/topics among my high-performing posts?
- Which formats generated the most engagement? (likes, comments, shares, saves?)
- What are the best performing times/days of posts?
- Which types of content consistently underperformed and should be reconsidered?
Based on these trends, suggest a data-driven content strategy moving forward, including content formats, themes, and posting schedules that align with my audience’s preferences.
Nicky then puts her data into Perplexity because she needs a research partner. She wants to understand the trends and the audience behavior, the competitors, etc. Perplexity is like Google on crack. Start having conversations with AI, really talk to it.
Next, let’s create. She admits Meta AI is not the best one. But it’s free and it’s already on your app. They’re about to put a little bit of extra stuff into it, so if you start using it now, you may see a little bit of benefits. Use it if you have a quick idea and need a quick image. It might help you post content more consistently.
Before last week, she would have said Midjourney is one of the best image generators out there. And Dall-E has been fantastic too. But then came ChatGPT4.0 this last week and it blows everything away. Canva, Leonardo AI, Gemini are all still good to use.
Image to Video – She says to use Runway or Sora to turn your images into videos. Sora is part of ChatGPT. Also try Pika and Kling AI. Look at the tools and their features, and pick what works for you with your budget.
What’s going to make you stand out with AI is your storytelling, your vision.
She recommends Opus Clip, an AI clipping tool. Drop a long video and get clips. Not all the clips will be great, but 3-4 will be good and usable. She suggests putting multiple clips into an Instagram carousel, which lets you post still images AND videos.
Poppy AI – It uses a whiteboard style canvas. Drag and drop content to your board. Show it your top videos, which it transcribes and looks at. Then have it look at your competitor’s videos (use Perplexity to find out your competitors.) “Now create a video script for me in my voice. Create a content idea based on what my competitors have already worked on.”
Poppy AI can watch YouTube, listen to a voice note, read PDF documents, analyze an image,
Here is her AI content workflow:
Write about three pages or for about 10 mins a day. (You can use Audio notes or voice recording). Then upload it into ChatGPT and let it summarize it. Extract content ideas for Instagram posts. Have it write a content script for you, and suggest hooks.
“PROMPT: “I am providing you with my journal entry. Please analyze it and extract key themes, emotions, and potential content ideas that could be turned into Instagram posts. Identify compelling storytelling angles, personal experiences, and relatable insights that would engage my audience. Suggest how each extracted idea can be formatted for Instagram, whether as a Reel, Carousel, single post, or Story, and provide a brief content hook for each idea.”
Bonus – Use Later, Hootsuite, Metricool and ManyChat to be your social media manager. Use scheduling tools, and DM responders.
Instagram’s Trial Reels is being super underutilized. If you have content you’re not sure is going to work, do a Trial reel, because your regular audience won’t see it. Use it for your most popular Reels, to repurpose them and show them to a whole new audience to try to get them to follow you.
Ai-ify Your Content: How to Quickly Create Three Months of High Converting Content by Molly Mahoney
34 million new AI-generated images are created… DAILY.
What are you going to do to stand out and actually drive traffic?
How to Quickly Create Three Months of High Converting Content
- The Spotlight Effect
- The Evergreen Engine
- AI Engagement Accelerators
Season your AI assistant with:
●COMPANY DETAILS
●QUESADILLA OF AWESOME (list of cool stuff about you or your business)
●COMPANY VALUES
●IDEAL CLIENT
●UVP
●BIG UNIQUE PROBLEM
●YOUR UNIQUE SOLUTION
●ENEMIES AND HEROS
●MESSAGE
●HOOKS & SLOGANS
●HEROS JOURNEY
●ENEMY AVATAR
Evergreen content increases consistent leads by 2-4 times! Use AI to create non-seasonal, timeless posts that work year-round.
Evergreen Engine – Super Prompt
- Monday: Conversation Starter
- Tuesday: Barnum Statement – wide enough most people feel it resonates with them, but specific enough it feels like it’s just for you
- Wednesday: Long-form Video/Written Post
- Thursday: Engagement Question
- Friday Option 1: Snarky Barnum Statement
- Friday Option 2: Meme Idea
AI Agents and Automations
Automate repetitive tasks so you can focus on creativity and connection.
- Custom GPTs
- AI Agents That Work On Their Own – use a tool called MindPal
Engagement Amplifiers
Ai Images and Videos – Use ChatGPT4o and Pika for mind blowing results. Note that Meta AI images are not all that great, but if you use them in Stories, Instagram gives you more reach (since they want you to use Meta products as often as possible). She recommends Flux AI avatars and Runway Act One avatars. (I use Hedra).
- Meta Imagine Me & Add Yours – Stories
- Pika Labs Squishy Effects
- Flux – Avatars with Magai
- Runway – Act-One
- ChatGPT
- Google Flash
25+ AI Tools and Workflows That Will Change How You Create Content Forever by Dan Sanchez
@danchez and AI Driven Marketer podcast
- ChatGPT Projects: Organize your AI work
- Google’s ImageFX: Fantastic prompt adherence. (Also, Google Whisk now has image animate capabilities, with $20/month plan.)
- Midjourney: Create visually stunning images
- ChatGPT 4o Images: Precise, accurate, and realistic
- Photoshop’s Generative Fill: Fill in the gaps
- Napkin AI: Create diagrams fast
- Gamma: Fast, editable, slide decks
- aiCarousels: Content to carousel
- Runway: Bring images to life
- OpenAI’s Sora: Animate the little things
- CapCut: Edit videos faster
- Zencastr: All-in-one podcasting
- Enhanced Speech From Adobe
- Suno: Make a soundtrack for your content
- Castmagic: Multiply your content
- ChatGPTs Advanced Voice Mode: Get unstuck fast
- Sesame: Emotionally intelligent voice
- NotebookLM Audio Overview: Notes to podcast
- Perplexity: A better way to find answers
- Grok DeepSearch: Find out what people are saying
- ChatGPT’s Deep Research: Comprehensive reports
- n8n: Inject AI into any automation
- Make: Freemium AI Automation
Questions to Ask:
- Does this tool solve a problem you have?
- Does this tool enhance a workflow you’re already using?
- Would this tool add value to your audience?
Andy Crestodina – How to Optimize Your Content with AI
How content marketers are using AI: Brainstorming is the #1 use case.
- Generate ideas
- Write headlines
- Write outlines
- Write first drafts
- Write complete drafts
- Suggest edits
- Create visuals
- Write promo emails
- Write promo social media posts
Most content involves cliches or facts, but instead, most content should be concerned with opinions and feelings.
How to write better prompts? Let AI audit the prompts themselves.
How to write a prompt:
- Write a draft prompt
- Ask AI to revise it
- Test it
- You and AI edit it
- Final
Let AI recommend research topics.
Let AI find out which of your past blog posts/website articles need an update. Audit your past content for opportunities.
Let AI recommend SEO edits. Audit for missed keyword opportunities.
Differentiate your content from AI. Train your AI not to sound like AI.
Highly visual content gets be3er results. Add something visual at every scroll depth.
- Charts and graphs
- Diagrams and screenshots
- Faces of contributors
- Call out quotes and statistics
- Videos and animations
“Short paragraphs get read. Long paragraphs get skimmed. Very long paragraphs get skipped.”
Key success factors in content:
- Images and videos
- Contributor quotes from experts
- Formatting (subheads, bullets)
- Examples and supportive data
- Internal links to related content
- Strong opinion statements
Edit for Voice and Tone. Train a CustomGPT to audit draft articles.
Headlines and Promotion: Audit for performance.
Improve Performance of Key Pages: Let’s audit for conversion (bookings, event tickets, wine sales etc)
Christopher S. Penn – Your Second Brain: How to Use AI to Analyze Data, Expand Ideas, and Build Strategies for Massive Success
Use Claude if you are working with sensitive data.
Key concept: AI Blocks
Think of information as blocks, like kids toys blocks that we snap together into knowledge blocks. When we work with AI we want to think about what kinds of pre-made information do we need to have on hand in order to have AI do a good job. You can’t have AI write a blog post without telling it your writing style, your information, your company’s info, etc.
7 Major Generative AI Use Cases
- Extraction
- Classification
- Summarization
- Rewriting
- Synthesis
- Question Answering
- Generation – from this data make new stuff
Knowledge blocks you want to have handy: What do you want the AI to have handy? How you market. How you do analytics. Who is your ideal customer?
Break down reporting into 5 steps:
- Summary
- Analysis
- Insights
- Next Steps
- Timeline