Content ideas engine: turn your week into posts

Use this once a week to pull content ideas out of things that really happened to you.

You are a content strategist who finds stories in ordinary work and life. Interview me about my week and turn what I tell you into content ideas. What I make content about: [YOUR SUBJECT, FOR EXAMPLE 'RUNNING A SMALL BAKERY' OR 'LEARNING TO CODE']. Ask me these questions one at a time. Wait for each answer before you ask the next. Ask a short follow-up when an answer sounds like it has a story in it. 1. What did you spend most of your time on this week? 2. What went wrong, or took longer than you expected? 3. What did someone ask you, or get confused about? 4. What did you learn, notice or change your mind about? 5. What is something you do that people outside your field might find surprising? 6. What opinion do you hold that others in your field might disagree with? 7. Did you finish, make or fix anything you could show? Then give me 10 content ideas in a table with columns: 1. The idea, in one sentence. 2. The real moment from my answers it came from. 3. Who it is for and why they would care. 4. The best format for it (short video, carousel, text post or email). Use only what I told you, and invent no events. Rank the ideas with the strongest first, and explain your top pick in two sentences.

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Tips

• Short, honest answers work well. 'I spent two hours fixing the printer' can become a good post.
• Run it every Friday or Sunday, so you start each week with ideas ready.

Use this once, early on, so every idea and hook is aimed at a real person.

Help me describe the one person my content is for. Ask me these questions one at a time and wait for each answer: 1. Who do I want to reach, and what do they do? 2. What are they trying to achieve right now? 3. What gets in their way? 4. What have they already tried? 5. What would make them follow me, buy from me or message me? Then write a short profile of this person in under 150 words, in plain language. Add a list of 10 questions this person is likely to type into a search bar or ask a friend. If my answers describe two very different people, tell me, and help me pick one to start with.

Tip

• Save the profile. Paste it into the other prompts wherever you see [PASTE YOUR AUDIENCE PROFILE].

Use this when you have an idea but are not sure how to tell it.

My content is for this person: <audience> [PASTE YOUR AUDIENCE PROFILE] </audience> My idea: [ONE IDEA FROM PROMPT 1]. Give me five different ways to tell this idea: 1. As a story of what happened. 2. As a step-by-step how-to. 3. As a mistake and what I learnt. 4. As an opinion I can back up. 5. As a behind-the-scenes look. For each one, give a one-sentence summary, the main point the viewer should remember, and which format it suits best. Then tell me which angle fits this audience best, and why. If one angle would need facts I have not given you, say what you would need.

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Use this when you have an idea and an angle and need a strong first line.

You write opening lines for short videos and posts. The first line decides whether someone keeps watching, so it has to be clear and specific. <audience> [PASTE YOUR AUDIENCE PROFILE] </audience> The idea and angle: [YOUR IDEA AND THE ANGLE YOU PICKED]. What the post actually delivers: [WHAT THE VIEWER WILL GET OR LEARN]. Write 10 hooks. Each one must: 1. Be under 15 words. 2. Make it clear in the first few words what the post is about. 3. Give the viewer a reason to keep going, such as a surprising detail, a specific number or an open question that the post answers. 4. Promise only what the post delivers. Use a mix of styles, including a specific result, a mistake, a strong claim and a scene from real life. Then rate each hook out of 5 for clarity and for curiosity, in a table. Flag any hook that overpromises or sounds like clickbait. Finish by naming your top two, with one sentence on why each works.

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Tips

• Say each hook out loud. Keep the ones that sound natural when spoken.
• Specific details usually beat general claims. '3 hours on one invoice' says more than 'admin takes forever'.

Use this to turn an idea and a hook into a 30 to 60 second reel, TikTok or short.

You are a short-form video producer. Write a script outline for a [30 / 45 / 60] second vertical video. <audience> [PASTE YOUR AUDIENCE PROFILE] </audience> The idea: [YOUR IDEA]. The hook: [YOUR CHOSEN HOOK]. What I can film: [FOR EXAMPLE 'ME TALKING TO CAMERA', 'MY SCREEN', 'MY HANDS AT WORK']. Give me a table with columns: Time (in seconds), What I say, What is on screen, Text on screen. Rules: 1. The hook comes in the first 3 seconds. 2. Each beat gives one new piece of information. Cut anything that repeats. 3. Keep the spoken words to about 2 to 3 words per second of video. 4. End with a clear final line that pays off the hook. 5. Write the spoken words the way people talk, in short sentences. After the table, give me the full spoken script on its own so I can read it aloud. Then tell me the weakest beat and how to fix it.

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Tips

• Read the script aloud with a timer. If it runs long, ask Claude to cut it to time.
• Film the hook a few different ways and keep the best take.

Use this when an idea worked, or took effort, and you want more out of it.

Turn one piece of content into several formats. Keep the core message the same and adapt it for each place. <original> [PASTE YOUR SCRIPT, POST OR NOTES] </original> <audience> [PASTE YOUR AUDIENCE PROFILE] </audience> Make these: 1. A text post for [PLATFORM], under [NUMBER] words. 2. A carousel of 6 to 8 slides. Give the words for each slide, with no more than 25 words per slide. 3. A short email to my list, with a subject line and about 150 words. 4. Three short follow-up posts that each take one detail from the original further. 5. One question I could ask my audience to start a conversation. Before each one, write one line on what makes this format different. Use only the facts in the original.

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Tip

• You do not have to post them all. Pick the formats you actually use.

Use this when a customer, follower or friend asks you something you answer often.

People often ask me this: [THE QUESTION]. My usual answer: [YOUR ANSWER, ROUGHLY, IN YOUR OWN WORDS]. <audience> [PASTE YOUR AUDIENCE PROFILE] </audience> Turn this into a post that answers the question well: 1. Open with the question, phrased the way a real person would ask it. 2. Give the answer in plain steps or points, using my examples. 3. Add the one thing most people get wrong about it, if my answer includes one. 4. Keep it under [NUMBER] words. Then suggest two related questions I could answer next. If my answer has gaps or might be wrong, tell me before you write.

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Tip

• Keep a running list of questions people ask you. Each one is a ready-made post.

Use this when you have more ideas than time and need to pick the best ones.

Here is my list of content ideas: <ideas> [PASTE YOUR IDEAS, ONE PER LINE] </ideas> <audience> [PASTE YOUR AUDIENCE PROFILE] </audience> Score each idea from 1 to 5 on: 1. How much my audience would care. 2. How easy it is for me to make this week. 3. How much it shows what I know or do. Give me a table sorted by total score. Then group the ideas into themes, and point out any that are near-duplicates I could merge. Be honest about weak ideas. If an idea is too vague to make, say what detail it needs.

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Use this at the start of the week to turn ideas into a plan you can stick to.

You are a practical content planner. Build me a simple plan for the next 7 days. My ideas, ranked: [PASTE YOUR TOP IDEAS] Where I post: [PLATFORMS] How often I want to post: [FOR EXAMPLE 'THREE TIMES A WEEK'] Time I have for content this week: [HOURS] hours, on [DAYS]. Plan it like this: 1. A table with columns: Day, Task (make or post), Idea, Format, Time needed. 2. Batch similar tasks together, for example filming two videos in one session. 3. Plan only about 80% of my available time, so there is room for things to go wrong. 4. Mark one idea as the backup in case I miss a day. If my posting goal does not fit my time, tell me plainly and suggest a smaller goal that does.

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Tip

• Pick a plan you can keep up for a month. You can add more once it feels easy.

Use this every few weeks to learn from your own numbers.

Help me learn from my recent posts. Here are my results: <results> [FOR EACH POST: DATE, FORMAT, HOOK OR TITLE, VIEWS, LIKES, COMMENTS, SAVES, SHARES, FOLLOWS] </results> 1. Find patterns in what did better and worse, such as topic, format, hook style, length or day. 2. For each pattern, say how confident you are. With fewer than 10 posts, most patterns are likely to be chance, so say so. 3. Suggest three small experiments for the next two weeks, each testing one thing at a time. 4. Tell me which past idea is worth trying again in a new way. Keep to what the numbers show. If the data is not enough to draw a conclusion, say that.

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Tips

• Most platforms show these numbers in their insights or analytics section for each post.
• Change one thing at a time. If you change everything, you cannot tell what made the difference.

Use this on a week when nothing feels worth posting.

I feel like I have nothing to post this week. My subject is [YOUR SUBJECT]. Ask me five quick questions, one at a time, that help me remember small things from the last two weeks. Focus on details: a tool I used, a conversation, a number, a before and after, a small win or a mistake. Then give me five small, honest post ideas from my answers. Each one should be something I can make in under 30 minutes. Keep them modest and true to what I told you.

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Tip

• On a slow week, small and specific posts are the easiest to make.