The Steal Club - I’ve been using ChatGPT the wrong way

Hey fellow thieves, and welcome back to The Steal Club!

I was in my first in-person event this weekend after a loooong time. And this time, I was there as a speaker!​

Great experience and vibe.

Working from home is cool, but meeting folks IRL gives a different kind of energy.

I plan to meet more people in the flesh this year, so if you ever come to Madrid, say hi!

Now let's dive into this week's content 👇

3 Thefts to Grow your Audience

#1 - Newsletter growth in autopilot with AutoDMs

Yong-Soo Chung writes the First Class Founders newsletter.

And like many of us here, part of his growth comes from Twitter.

What he does differently though, is that he auto-DMs every new follower he gets.

“Spammy, no way that works”.

Those were my first thoughts.

But then I read exactly how he goes about it and it changed my mind.

Whenever he gets a new follower, an auto DM is sent.

This is the content:

→ First, he reminds them why they followed him in the first place

→ Then he goes straight to the newsletter pitch

→ He uses a specific trigger to capture the attention (”make money”, “build an audience”)

→ He filters his target audience by mentioning clearly who this is for

→ He adds a PS inviting people to reply and initiate a conversation

When I came across this tactic I couldn’t believe it worked.

Auto DMs aren’t my favorite thing, but if used correctly and for scaling the personal side, they apparently help!

As with everything, use it with a balance!

🕵️‍♂️ Stolen from Yong-Soo Chung. Here’s the full breakdown of how he does it.

********

#2 - One post content writing lesson

Even if your content is interesting, people won't read it if it's hard to "consume".

Visual representation 👇

First part of the post: "Dang, too much text. I'll keep scrolling"

Second part: Interesting & digestible.

🕵️‍♂️ Stolen from Tom Jacquesson​

********

#3 - I’ve been using ChatGPT the wrong way

I have been trying to incorporate AI into my workflow. While it has helped me with some stuff, content writing hasn’t been the best.

Thanks to Dickie Bush, I realized I’ve been using it incorrectly.

I’ve been asking the AI to think, instead of just doing.

To get more from AI, you must give it very specific instructions.

The more specific you are, the better your results will be.

What I did before: Asking the AI to “write a tweet about XYZ”

What I do now: Asking the AI for something specific (stealing this template from Dickie)

The first results are promising, but I need to test them further.

The concept of AI for content creation is definitely catching my attention, and I’m beginning to delve deeper into it.

Should I write more about it? Let me know!

🕵️‍♂️ Stolen from Dickie Bush

1 Theft for Audience Monetization

Lesson learned: Do you run ads? Write your own copy

As of last week, I was about to stop running ads in this newsletter.

I want to provide the best result possible for the people and brands that trust me with their money.

It hasn't been easy for me to do that.

Two reasons:

Probably some brands weren't aligned with my audience well.

But most importantly, the copy was boring.

And I was too lazy to do anything about it.

So I've been looking for ways to improve my ad clickthrough rate.

Researching, I found two people I highly respect who do newsletter ads really well.

One is Chenell from Growth in Reverse, and the other is Jens Lennartsson, a newsletter growth expert.

In addition to being fully booked, they have high CTRs (click-through).

The secret?

They write their own copy.

And it makes sense!

Ads (if done right) are something that are supposed to help your audience.

And who knows your audience better than you do?

So tailoring these ads to what you think your audience will respond to makes the most sense.

It will increase the click rate because the recommendation comes from someone they trust (you).

Don't make the same mistake I did. Write your own copy if you offer ads!

PS: I decided to keep the ads for The Steal Club. And this time, I’ll write the copy (main sponsor only).

I just opened all April ad slots (at a discounted price). If you want to reach 5,500+ creative entrepreneurs, this is your chance!

That's all for now!

What do you think of today's email?

• ​👍 Worth it​
• ​😐 Meh - was ok.​
• ​👎 Not interesting to me​

See you next week!

Alex Llull, Chief Thief

​The Steal Club | Sponsor this newsletter | Say hi on Twitter​

PS: I'm going to be answering audience questions in an upcoming issue. You can leave your questions here!​