I have been writing Google Enterprise Profile posts and social content material for a small native enterprise shopper for 5 years. I had working relationship, a gradual retainer, and cheap time dedication; it was the type of freelance gig you do not take as a right. Then I accepted a full-time place elsewhere, began exploring Claude’s newer options, and constructed a workflow so succesful that my shopper requested me at hand it off as my substitute. To not one other freelancer however to the workflow itself. I used to be so good at automating processes that I really automated the job totally — and, I’ve sophisticated emotions about it.
My outdated workflow wasn’t “AI-written,” it was AI-assisted
Claude as a private editor
Credit score: Jonathon Jachura / MUO
For many of these 5 years, I wrote every little thing myself. Each GBP submit, each caption, and each content material calendar. I’ve a powerful choice for human-written copy — not out of nostalgia, however as a result of I believe voice and specificity are arduous to duplicate, and each matter for native enterprise content material.
That stated, I wasn’t working in a vacuum. As AI instruments bought higher, I leaned closely on Claude as a type of always-available editor. I might draft a batch of posts, then run them by means of Claude with the shopper’s type information connected. It could flag tone inconsistencies, recommend sharper CTAs, and catch issues that have been technically effective however felt flat. Once I was ideating subjects for the month, Claude helped me brainstorm angles I would not have landed on myself. Once I wasn’t positive if a submit matched the shopper’s model voice, I might ask Claude to check it towards previous examples.
The excellence felt essential to me: I used to be writing, Claude was reviewing and optimizing. The content material was mine. That steadiness labored properly — good output, sooner turnaround, and I by no means felt like I used to be handing the wheel over to one thing that did not perceive the shopper. Any freelance author who’s been on the fence about bringing AI into their course of does not should go all-in. There is a center floor, and it is a fairly snug place to work from.
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Then I went deep on Claude Abilities and Cowork
Constructing a workflow I wasn’t anticipating to present away
Taking the full-time job meant I had roughly a month to wrap up with my freelance shopper. We had a terrific five-year relationship, and I wished to at the very least go away them with one thing helpful. Across the identical time I used to be working by means of the offboarding, I began digging into Claude Abilities and Claude Cowork — Anthropic’s agentic desktop software that brings Claude Code-style capabilities to individuals who have little interest in a command line. It runs regionally in an remoted digital machine, reads information from folders you designate, and handles multi-step duties with out you babysitting each transfer.
I put collectively a folder with the shopper’s model tips, tone notes, a few dozen instance posts I might written over time, and a fundamental immediate template. Then I pointed Cowork at it and requested it to generate a month of GBP posts. The primary cross wasn’t excellent — it not often is with any new workflow — but it surely was genuinely shut. After a couple of rounds of immediate tweaking and updating the talent, the drafts had the correct tone, the correct subjects, and the correct size. They learn just like the content material the shopper was used to getting from me.
That is the second I noticed this wasn’t only a curiosity challenge anymore.
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Anthropic PBC
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I confirmed the shopper, they usually requested me to complete what I began
What the automated GBP workflow really seems like
I demoed the Cowork workflow on certainly one of our offboarding calls, principally to point out them what was doable. Their response was fairly speedy: “If you happen to’re already leaving, are you able to set this up so we will simply run it ourselves?”
The workflow I handed off is straightforward sufficient that they do not want a technical background to make use of it. There is a folder on their machine with model docs, type notes, a immediate template I wrote to create the Ability, and an archive of previous posts. They open Cowork, load the folder, run the immediate, and get a draft content material calendar again. Somebody on their finish — them, or a part-time rent — opinions it, makes edits, and schedules. The AI handles the primary draft. An individual closes the loop.
That evaluate step was the half I pushed hardest on. AI instruments are more and more able to getting into artistic and advertising roles, however no person is aware of a enterprise the best way the folks operating it do. Skipping human evaluate is the place AI-generated content material normally falls aside — not all the time as a result of the writing is dangerous, however as a result of it lacks the particular, ground-level data that makes native content material really feel native.
I will additionally say this: for small companies the place budgets are tight, there’s an actual argument for this type of setup. Outsourcing content material creation provides up quick. If a workflow like this will reduce that overhead whereas holding somebody within the loop on high quality, that is an inexpensive commerce. I get why my shopper wished it.
My tackle AI-written content material is fairly agnostic. For brief-form posts the place consistency and native visibility are the principle targets, the stakes are low sufficient {that a} strong workflow plus human evaluate covers you. It is a totally different calculation than switching wholesale from instruments you really belief. For long-form work, I nonetheless write every little thing myself — there is a texture and specificity to good long-form that I have not seen a mannequin nail persistently.
Once you automate properly sufficient to make your self redundant
There’s apparent irony in all of this, and I am not going to faux in any other case. 5 years of constructing belief with a shopper, and my exit present was a system designed to do with out me. It is a unusual feeling.
What it made clear, although, is how a lot the barrier to this type of automation has dropped. A 12 months in the past, a workflow like this is able to have taken actual technical effort — customized integrations, developer time, or, at a minimal, a steep studying curve. Cowork places it inside attain of anybody prepared to spend a couple of hours setting it up. For freelancers working in content material or advertising, that shift is price taking significantly. Not as a motive to panic, however as a motive to know these instruments earlier than a shopper brings them up first.
