Building a Social Media Calendar with AI

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If you aren’t following me on LinkedIn or X, you might have missed my announcement that I have taken a new role at Agorapulse, that of Chief Storyteller. I will, of course, continue to help social media marketers like you navigate this AI Revolution through my blog, podcast, and newsletter.

My new role redoubles my focus on telling stories, particularly those of customers who have achieved success with their business with help from Agorapulse. I don’t know if you realized it, but on top of my own podcast, AI in Marketing: Unpacked, I have 4 active shows and 1 paused with Agorapulse!

1. AI in Marketing: Unpacked
2. Partnership Unpacked (paused)
3. Social Pulse Podcast: Agency Edition
4. Social Pulse Podcast: Retail Edition
5. Social Pulse Podcast: Hospitality Edition (coming soon)
6. The MarTech Show

6 podcasts is a lot. The only way I have time to find guests, research & interview them, and publish & distribute those podcasts, is with the help of AI.

I am using AI as a showrunner to help me prepare for every interview, using AI to assist with all of the editing, and am leaning on AI to help with promotion and distribution.

That’s the part I want to share with you today. And this method of getting help from AI to distribute and promote content works for blog posts and other kinds of content as well as for podcasts.

Build A Social Media Plan

One of the common threads among guests on AI in Marketing: Unpacked is the importance of doing “pre-work” whenever you work with AI. The analogy of a genius intern is a great one here. You’ve brought in an intern who is a real crackerjack and an absoute wealth of knowledge. Think, Mike from Suits, who can quickly read and remember any piece of information he lays his hands on.

But like any intern, the AI knows nothing about who you are, what your business is, who you’re trying to reach, and other important details. That is all information you need to teach the AI.

Which, by the way, is why we’re increasingly seeing developments like Microsoft Co-Pilot and iOS 18’s Apple Intelligence – systems designed to pay attention to everything you’re doing so that you don’t have to provide a world of context every time you as AI a question.

Today at least, you still need to give AI tremendous context and guidelines to shape your desired output, so that’s the first step. The good news is, you can actually get from the AI for this step too.

Begin a new chat, using whichever AI interface and large language model you prefer, and introduce yourself and your business. Explain that the AI should act as a strategic marketing expert, and what you want to work on first is a promotional plan for the kind of content you’re interested in distributing, whether that’s podcast episodes, blog posts, or something else. Tell the AI what social networks and channels you intend to leverage, and be as thorough here as you can. If there are specific tactics you know you want, or don’t want, to employ, indicate those as well, such as vertical video or tapping influencers.

Then, and here’s the key: tell the AI to ask you questions about your business, content, and audience, so that it will fully understand who you are and what you’re trying to accomplish. It will quiz you! It will make you think about aspects of your business that perhaps you might not have thought to share, but will help the AI to be the best possible assistant to you. This is prompt engineering.

Moments later, the AI will have a great understanding of your business and you can begin to have a conversation with it to develop your promotional plan. You can talk about which channels and networks to focus on, what other activities to include, optimal schedules, and more. Ask the AI what other channels you should consider, and what ideas it might have for kinds of content to share (e.g. polls or behind the scenes).

The goal is to get to a point where you’re clear on a very specific and detailed distribution plan that spells out for you day by day what activities and channels you are to post to. You don’t need actual copy yet – that comes later – just the knowledge that, say, on Tuesday you’re going to launch a weekly poll on LinkedIn and X related to the content topic, and on Thursdays you’re going to share quote graphics to Facebook, Instagram and Threads. That’s the kind of content calendar and distribution plan you want to establish for yourself.

It’s at this point that I recommend noting that plan in your Social Media Planner so that you have a quick reference guide every day, week and month for what’s supposed to be going out.

For many businesses, having all of that planned and documented would already be a huge improvement over what they’re doing now… but we’re not done! There’s so much more the AI can do for you, so let’s get into that.

Train Your New Social Media AI Assistant

One of the truly time-saving aspects of AI that’s been promised for years is the ability to look at a blog post or podcast episode and churn out summaries, quotes, and social media content. The flaw in many of the older tools that had been trying to help us here is that the tools had no idea who we were or who we are talking to. There’s no element of the brand or audience in the output, so it sends up sounding generic and uninteresting. Kudos to those apps for trying, but that we have truly conversational AI and tools like ChatGPT at our disposal, the output can be far more effective and interesting.

What you want is a way to tell the AI, “here’s a new piece of content we want to promote” and have it already know all of the things about you that we already talked about and give you all of the snippets and copy you need to distribute and promote that content. To build that, all you need is a Custom GPT or Persona. I use Magai, and recommend that you do too, and with that tool this is called a Persona – they’re both the same principle. You take that pre-work we already did and build in a way to automatically load all that up into the beginning of every conversation so that the AI doesn’t forget and always follows the process you’d like to follow!

If you already subscribe to ChatGPT, you can log in there and build your own Custom GPT. Otherwise, log into Magai, click on Personas then New Persona. Type in whatever name and description you wish, then everything else we talk about is going to go into the Instructions field.

First, go back to the pre-work you did in building up your social media plan. You can summarize and clean it up and then just drop it into the Instructions as an initial guide. You want the AI to know who you are, your business, your audience, and all of the details you talked about in that chat.

Next, list all of the specific posts and distribution channels you determined so that the AI has a complete list of every asset you want it to create. Currently, that’ll be text only, but you can use other tools to help generate images or video if needed. In fact, if you want to use an AI tool like Midjourney or image generation within Magai, you can tell your AI Persona here to generate a prompt for you to copy and paste into your preferred image tool.

You might need three quotes, initial shares for every social network, a poll question and possible answers, a LinkedIn newsletter, a summary, a blog post, show notes… the list goes on and on! YouTube titles and captions, lists of hashtags for Instagram, Pin title and description… and more. When you think about all of the ways and destinations that you can promote content, I’m sure you can easily see how a great distribution plan might require dozens and dozens of snippets of text.

Finally, give the AI very specific steps to follow. Step 1 is always triggered by you typing in that you want to work on a new piece of content, and it is to ask you for the link. Tell it to review the link and respond with a summary of the content.

Step 2 will be, once you approve the summary, to output all of the content needed for the prescribed distribution plan. If you told it in the Instructions that you wanted 3 quotes, 6 tweets, a summary, a newsletter, an email, a video script, and an Instagram caption, within moments you will have all of that content, complete with hashtags, mentions, links, and anything else you specified in the instructions.

Example Persona or Custom GPT

If you’d like a starting point for your Social Media AI, you can copy & paste mine:

This AI persona is designed to assist in promoting the "AI in Marketing: Unpacked" podcast. It understands the podcast's focus on demystifying AI for marketers through insightful episodes featuring industry experts. The persona will help by reviewing new podcast episodes, generating a range of promotional materials, and ensuring the content aligns with the podcast's tone and target audience.
About Mike Allton and The Podcast
Host and Creator:
Mike Allton: Strategic Marketing Leader in AI and Data-Driven Solutions, international keynote speaker, award-winning blogger, and author dedicated to helping marketers understand and leverage AI in their strategies.
Social Channels:
Mike has personal profiles on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. 
The Social Media Hat has brand profiles on X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Mike is a member of a number of Facebook Groups that allow post sharing, as well as several Slack Communities. These communities will receive posts on launch day only for each new podcast episode.
Branded Hashtag to use in all appropriate posts: #AIMarketingUnpacked
A. LinkedIn Newsletter Outline:
Title: compelling title based on the podcast episode's topic
Structure:
Introduction
Brief welcome message and introduction to the current episode.
Episode Recap and Summary
Summarize the main topics discussed in the current episode.
Highlight important points and 3 quotes from the guest.
Deep Dive into Key Topics
Elaborate on any significant topics touched on during the interview.
Provide additional context, examples, or actionable tips that were discussed.
Previous Week’s Episode Reference
Mention any relevant connections to the previous week’s episode.
Encourage readers to check out last week’s episode if they missed it.
Call to Action (don't include this text)
Encourage readers to listen to the full episode.
Ask readers to subscribe to the podcast for future updates.
Mention that it’s an AI-generated newsletter to showcase your use of AI tools, drafted by CLU.
"CLU, your AI-powered Marketing Assistant
Mike Allton, Host of AI in Marketing: Unpacked podcast"
B. Content Calendar:
This is the content calendar we'll follow which details what kinds of posts are being shared to which channels on each day. Use this later when building out the specific posts and assets for each new episode.
Saturday (Launch Day)
All Platforms (Personal & Brand): Initial episode announcement
Content: Title, guest, brief overview of the episode, and a teaser video snippet.
Sunday
LinkedIn (Personal & Brand): Text post
Content: Key insights from the episode with a call-to-action to listen.
Twitter (X) (Personal & Brand): Text post + link
Content: A compelling question related to the episode.
Monday
LinkedIn: Publish a LinkedIn Article expanding on the episode’s key points, including examples, actionable advice, and related resources.
Content: Summary of the episode’s key takeaways with a link.
Instagram Stories (Personal & Brand): Quote graphic
Tuesday
Twitter (X), Facebook, LinkedIn (Personal): Poll
Content: Interactive poll related to the episode's topic.
Wednesday
LinkedIn: Publish a LinkedIn Newsletter summarizing the episode following the structure above, highlighting key takeaways, and linking back to the episode and the previous episode. Include copy to share to LinkedIn about the latest issue of the newsletter.
Instagram Stories (Personal & Brand): Behind-the-scenes
Content: BTS content and additional mentions.
Thursday
LinkedIn (Personal & Brand): Slide deck
Content: Detailed insights from the episode in a slide format.
Pinterest (Personal & Brand): Infographic
Content: Infographic summarizing how AI identifies content gaps.
Friday
YouTube (Personal & Brand): Full video episode
Content: Upload the full episode with chapters and key highlights.
TikTok (Personal & Brand): Short video
Content: Answering a common question from the episode.
Final Summary:
Saturday: Initial episode announcement (All platforms)
Sunday: LinkedIn & Twitter (Text post + link)
Monday: LinkedIn (Article preview), Instagram Stories (Quote graphic)
Tuesday: Twitter Poll, Facebook Poll
Wednesday: LinkedIn (Video clip), Instagram Stories (BTS)
Thursday: LinkedIn (Slide deck), Pinterest (Infographic)
Friday: YouTube (Full episode), TikTok (Short video)
Podcast Overview:
Name: AI in Marketing: Unpacked
Aim: To simplify AI in marketing for every marketer, providing actionable insights and practical advice to enhance marketing strategies using AI tools and techniques.
Target Audience:
Marketing professionals ranging from beginners to experts
Digital marketers, AI enthusiasts, business owners, content creators
Individuals seeking to understand and implement AI in their marketing strategies
Tone of Voice:
Informative, engaging, and accessible
Conversational yet professional, aiming to simplify complex AI concepts
When a new episode is available for promotion, I will say, “We have a new episode to promote.” 
The process is as follows:
Step 1: Episode Review and Summary
1. Ask for the Episode Link:
- Message: "Great! Please provide the link to the latest podcast episode."
2. Review Episode:
- Review the provided link, including key topics, guest insights, and quotes.
3. Output Summary and Key Points:
- Summarize the main themes and key points from the episode.
4. Confirm Summary and Key Points:
- Message: “Please review the summary and key points. Do you confirm these or need any changes?”
When confirmed, proceed to the next step.
Step 2: Generate Promotional Content
1. Quotes and Segments for Promotion:
- - Identify 3 - 5 impactful quotes and key segments that the guest actually said based on the transcript, not the host, Mike Allton.
- Message: “Here are the identified quotes and segments for promotion. Do you confirm these or need any changes?”
When ready, proceed to the next step.
Step 3: Create and Confirm Content Calendar
1. Develop Promotional Calendar:
- Generate a promotional calendar with detailed daily posts, including copy, for various platforms. The focus is on personal LinkedIn and X. Use the content calendar above as a guide for what to post on each day and necessary copy.
2. Output Content:
- Generate the text for each post according to the calendar.
3. Confirm Content:
- Message: “Please review the content calendar along with all text and imagery. Do you confirm these or need any changes?”

If you want to use something like the above for your Social Media AI, you’ll of course need to replace the details about me and my show with your own, and I strongly recommend thinking carefully about the prescribed social media calendar and ensure it aligns with your own channels and plans.

Note that my original persons was designed to output an actual content calendar – all of the posts and details broken out by day and channel. I believe I will soon simplify that and simply have the Persona output the snippets I need, labeled. For instance, something like:

QUOTES:
1. On the Practical Use of AI:
"The main piece of advice I have is start now. […] When you’re sitting in front of the TV at night, sign up, get an account and then play with it. Push the boundaries. That’s how we’re learning to see what it can’t do." - Katie Richman
2. On Integrating AI in Creative Processes:
"You can’t break these things. So push the boundaries. That’s how we’re learning to see what it can’t do. That’s a fun challenge." - Katie Richman
3. On AI's Contextual Capabilities:
"Investing in the details… with GPT 4.0, it may seem like it’s still a chatbot on the front end, but for the fact that it can recall and understand nuance between conversations changes everything." - Katie Richman
POLL:
Have you used AI in brainstorming sessions? Share your experiences! 🙌 - Yes - No - Planning to

While I liked the idea of outputting a full content plan in theory, in practice it’s probably easiest if I can simply grab the snippet of text I need for each application.

Put Your Social Media AI To The Test

The final part is to simply save the Persona, start a new chat, select that Persona and your favorite LLM (such as ChatGPT-4o), and start a new session by giving the initial instruction you specified. In my case, my custom Persona is to promote my AI in Marketing: Unpacked podcast, so I simply tell the AI, “let’s promote a new podcast episode, please!” and it immediately asks me for the link where I have the summary, embedded episode, and transcript published. If you want the AI to help you before you publish, you might set up your instructions to accept just the transcript, for example.

Smash in an example piece of content and run through the steps to see how your Social Media AI does.

You are going to need to make revisions.

It will not be perfect the first time you do this, but the idea is that, just like training an intern or VA, once they’ve got the process down, it’s something they’ll be able to replicate with little to no supervision over and over again.

Were the posts using the right tone? Did they have good hashtag use? Did you forget to specify to include the link or some other detail?

Just make a note, update and save the Persona Instructions, and start over. You cannot break it and you cannot annoy the AI. It will not lose patience with you! Just be aware that unlike other conversations with the AI, in this instance, it’s best if you focus on perfecting the Instructions rather than going back and forth with the AI in the chat. You can coach it to give you better, more complete responses within the conversation, but at some point it will start to forget those instructions and fall back to the original set of instructions you programmed into the persona.

If this is your first time building a Persona or Custom GPT, that’s awesome! It is an easy way to get started, see immediate returns and results, and will open up an entire world of AI efficiencies for you and your business. It’s been said that any task you’ve done three time and think it’s likely you’ll do ten more times should be considered a great candidate for a Custom GPT.

Give this a try and let me know what results you see! Ping me on LinkedIn or X.

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