Study Guide: Alex for Content Creators
Your personal reference for applying Alex to your creative and publishing work. Ready-to-run prompts, core use cases, and a practice progression for content creators.
What This Guide Is Not
This is not a habit formation guide (see SELF-STUDY.md for that). This is a domain use-case library — the specific things Alex can do in your content work, and how to do them well.
Core Principle for Content Creators
The best use of Alex in creative work is not to generate your content, but to sharpen it. AI-generated content without a distinct human perspective and voice is easy to spot and easy to scroll past.
Use Alex to challenge your ideas, find better angles, stress-test your structure, and get you unstuck — then write with your own voice. The content that comes from this process is distinctly yours and better than either pure AI output or unassisted first drafts.
The Five Use Cases
1. Idea Development and Angle Finding
When to use: When you have a topic idea but it doesn’t feel compelling yet. When you’re staring at a blank page.
Prompt pattern:
@alex I want to create content about [your topic].
My platform: [YouTube / newsletter / podcast / blog / LinkedIn].
My audience: [describe who follows you and why].
My angle: [your initial instinct — even if vague].
Give me five distinct angles on this topic:
- Contrarian (challenges conventional wisdom)
- Personal (vulnerability or story-based)
- Data-driven (led by a surprising fact or stat)
- Practical (step-by-step, immediately useful)
- Aspirational (vision of what's possible)
Follow-up prompts:
Which angle do you think would perform best for my audience and why?
What's the most boring, obvious version of this idea — and why does my angle avoid it?
2. Structure and Outline Development
When to use: Before writing or recording. Getting the structure right before execution saves significant time.
Prompt pattern:
@alex I'm creating [a video / article / newsletter / podcast episode] on [topic].
Chosen angle: [the angle you picked].
Target length / format: [describe].
I want the audience to feel [emotion or outcome] by the end.
Build a structure with:
- Opening hook (first 10-30 seconds or first paragraph)
- What I'm setting up and why it matters
- Core sections with the key point in each
- The turn / revelation (where the audience's understanding shifts)
- Closing and call to action
Follow-up prompts:
Where will the audience lose interest in this structure?
How does this structure differ from the obvious way to cover this topic?
3. Hook Writing
When to use: When your opening isn’t pulling people in. This is the highest-leverage single element in most content formats.
Prompt pattern:
@alex I need a hook for [content type] on [topic / angle].
Audience: [describe].
The hook needs to do: [choose: create curiosity / state a bold claim / surface a pain point / open a loop].
Write 10 hooks. Be specific and direct — no fluff.
Follow-up prompts:
Which three of these would you bet on for my audience?
Rewrite hook #3 — make it more specific and less abstract.
4. Repurposing Existing Content
When to use: When you have a piece of content and want to extend its reach across formats or platforms.
Prompt pattern:
@alex I have [a video / article / podcast episode] about [topic].
Here are the key points: [list or paste main ideas].
Repurpose this into:
1. A LinkedIn post (hook + 3 insights + CTA, under 300 words)
2. Three tweet-length insights (each under 280 characters)
3. An email teaser (subject line + 3 sentences + link)
Keep my voice: [describe your tone — direct / warm / analytical / irreverent].
Follow-up prompts:
The LinkedIn post isn't right. Make it more [punchy / personal / data-led].
Write 3 alternative subject lines for the email — more urgent, more curious, more direct.
5. Editing and Quality Review
When to use: Before publishing. Use Alex as a final-pass reader — not to rewrite your work, but to surface what needs attention.
Prompt pattern:
@alex Review this [article / script / newsletter] as if you're the target reader: [describe them].
Tell me:
1. Where do I lose you?
2. What's the one idea that isn't landing?
3. What's the strongest part?
4. What would you change if this were your work?
[paste content]
Follow-up prompts:
Tighten section [X] — same ideas, 40% fewer words.
The ending is flat. Give me three alternatives that land harder.
Your First Week Back: Practice Plan
| Day | Task | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Use the Angle Finding pattern on a content idea you’ve been sitting on | 20 min |
| Day 2 | Build a structure for a piece you’re planning using the Structure pattern | 20 min |
| Day 3 | Run the Hook Writing pattern on your current content backlog | 15 min |
| Day 4 | Pick a recent piece and use the Editing and Review pattern | 20 min |
| Day 5 | Save three prompt patterns that worked using /saveinsight | 10 min |
Month 2–3: Advanced Applications
Audience Voice Library Save verbatim language from your audience — comments, DMs, emails — as Alex insights. Quote this language back in your content.
@alex /saveinsight title="Audience language: [theme]" insight="[Direct quotes or paraphrases of how my audience describes [problem/desire]. Use this language in content.." tags="audience,voice,[topic]"
Series Planning When building a content series:
@alex I'm planning a [video series / newsletter series / podcast season] on [broad topic].
My audience wants to go from [starting knowledge state] to [end state].
Design a series arc: what do they need to understand first, second, third?
What's the tension that runs through the whole series?
Continue your practice: SELF-STUDY.md — the 30/60/90-day habit guide.