✱ Mike Means Business · The Stack · Vol.14

The Stack: how to chain Claude × Perplexity

Three prompts. One funnel. Zero blind writing.

You came here from the carousel. You know the bit: Claude is brilliant but blind. Perplexity reads the live internet. Chain them and you stop writing from 2024 vibes and start writing from what your audience said yesterday.

Below is the full system. Three prompts. Copy them, swap the brackets, ship.

These are the exact prompts in my rotation. Not a template store. The actual ones.

1The Perplexity Research Prompt

Run this in Perplexity Pro. It hunts your niche on the live web and returns a structured pack you can hand straight to Claude. Swap [YOUR NICHE] and run it.

perplexity.prompt
Act as a senior market researcher and viral content strategist.
Research the niche: [YOUR NICHE]
Across: Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, YouTube comments, X.
Timeframe: last 30 days only.
Return structured markdown with five sections:
1. TOP PAINS
The 5 most-discussed frustrations.
Quote 2 real comments per pain. Cite source URLs.
2. EMOTIONAL VOCABULARY
Exact words/phrases this audience uses.
No synonyms. Match their language verbatim.
3. TRENDING HOOKS
8 to 12 hooks performing right now.
Include format pattern, engagement numbers,
and the creator handle for each.
4. CONTENT GAPS
Topics asked about repeatedly that no one
is answering well. Be specific.
5. COMPETITOR MOVES
What the top 3 creators in this niche shipped
in the last 7 days. URL each.
Return only the structured pack. No commentary. No filler.

▸ tip: paste output into a doc, you'll reuse it for the next 4 carousels.

2The Claude Carousel Prompt

Drop into a fresh Claude chat. Paste the Perplexity pack inside the tags. Claude reads it like fuel and writes a demand-mode carousel that actually sounds like your audience.

claude.prompt
You are writing an 8-slide Instagram carousel for
[YOUR HANDLE], a creator in [YOUR NICHE].
Goal: drive comment-keyword DMs.
Here is live research, freshly pulled from the internet:
[PASTE PERPLEXITY OUTPUT HERE]
Write the carousel using this 8-slide framework:
SLIDE 1 — HOOK
One sentence. Use a trending hook pattern from research.
Name the identity in slide 1.
SLIDE 2 — SECOND HOOK
Independent re-entry. Same promise, different angle.
SLIDE 3 — FALSE PROBLEM
What they think is wrong.
Pull from the emotional vocabulary.
SLIDE 4 — BELIEF SHIFT
Maximum 12 words. Cognitive dissonance.
SLIDE 5 — REAL PROBLEM
The real diagnosis.
Use audience vocabulary verbatim.
SLIDE 6 — THE GAPS
Solution path WITHOUT the full method. Tease.
SLIDE 7 — TRANSFORMATION
After-state. Quote a real win or use
specific outcome language.
SLIDE 8 — CTA
"Comment [KEYWORD] and I'll DM you [PROMISE]."
RULES
No em-dashes.
No "delve," "leverage," "robust," "seamless."
One idea per slide.
Active voice. Second person. Specific numbers only.
Use the audience's exact vocabulary from research.
Return numbered slides, copy only. No commentary.

▸ tip: if Claude gets generic, paste the research again with "use these exact words from the audience."

3The Handoff Format

The bridge that makes Claude actually consume your research instead of ignoring it. Claude responds better when context is XML-wrapped. This is the format that doubles the quality of every output. Use it every time.

handoff.template
your niche
YYYY-MM-DD
1. [pain] — [real quote] — [URL]
2. ...
[exact phrases the audience uses]
1. [hook] — [pattern] — [engagement] — [@creator]
2. ...
[topics no one is covering well]
[last 7 days, top 3 creators in the niche]
Then prompt Claude:
"Use the research pack above to write
[carousel|reel|newsletter]. Follow these rules:
[your brand voice + format spec]."

▸ tip: save the empty template in a Claude project so every new chat starts pre-wrapped.

▸ The next drop

Want the advanced version?

DM me STACK 2 on Instagram and I'll send you the reel version, the newsletter version, and the ManyChat flow that auto-delivers these.

DM me on IG

Ship faster. Write smarter. ✱ Mike

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