[0:00] I'm about to share with you exactly how
[0:01] you can make better hooks for your reels
[0:04] in order to get more views and
[0:06] potentially go viral. By far the most
[0:09] important part of any short form video,
[0:11] whether it's a real, a YouTube short, or
[0:13] a Tik Tok, is the hook. Those first few
[0:17] seconds are absolutely key. It doesn't
[0:19] matter if the rest of your video has a
[0:21] great story, or a super educational tip,
[0:23] or the cure for cancer. If those first
[0:26] few seconds aren't powerful enough to
[0:28] grab someone's attention, the rest of
[0:30] your video is a waste of time. And
[0:33] that's why I believe that the majority
[0:35] of your time, energy, and effort should
[0:38] be spent on those first few moments of
[0:40] your video. The first few frames, the
[0:43] first one to two sentences, and the
[0:45] first 3 seconds. And so that's why in
[0:47] today's episode, I'm going to share with
[0:48] you seven tips to creating better hooks
[0:51] for social media and seven different
[0:54] kinds of hooks that you can use with
[0:56] examples of each. But before we even get
[0:58] into the tips or the ideas or the
[1:00] examples, I have a super juicy hack that
[1:03] you're going to be able to use that you
[1:04] can keep in mind for the rest of today's
[1:06] episode. And it's what I like to call
[1:07] the hook swap strategy. Here's what the
[1:10] strategy is. Basically, take the content
[1:12] that you've already posted, the talking
[1:14] head reels, the videos, the stories.
[1:17] Take the content that has already been
[1:19] shared that maybe didn't perform very
[1:22] well, or maybe you just thought it could
[1:24] have performed better. Maybe you thought
[1:25] it should have gone viral or maybe there
[1:27] was a really great story or a really
[1:29] great tip in the video, but it just
[1:31] didn't get the recognition that it
[1:32] deserved. take that content and either
[1:35] replace the existing hook with one of
[1:37] the stronger hooks that you're going to
[1:38] learn in today's episode, or if that
[1:40] original video didn't have a hook to
[1:42] begin with, create a new hook and add it
[1:44] onto the front of the video. It doesn't
[1:46] matter that you've already posted the
[1:47] video because remember a few minutes
[1:49] ago, you've already decided that not
[1:51] enough people saw it or didn't get
[1:52] enough views or didn't get the
[1:53] appreciation that it deserved. And even
[1:56] if some people did see it, the
[1:58] likelihood that they're going to
[1:59] remember seeing it, especially remember
[2:01] seeing it when it had a different hook
[2:03] is going to be super super slim. There's
[2:05] going to be like 1% maybe probably even
[2:08] less than 1% of people who remember that
[2:10] they saw this post before. And that
[2:12] small group of people who does remember,
[2:14] they only remember because it was that
[2:16] good. And so they probably wouldn't mind
[2:18] seeing it again. So, yes, what I'm
[2:20] telling you is to go back through all of
[2:22] the short form videos that you've posted
[2:23] over the last few months and pick out
[2:25] the ones that didn't get the recognition
[2:27] they deserve. They didn't get enough
[2:28] views, or maybe you just thought it was
[2:30] a super juicy tip and it should have got
[2:32] more engagement. Take that video, use
[2:35] the hook strategies that you're going to
[2:36] learn in today's episode, and apply it
[2:39] to that video. And you're welcome. Now,
[2:41] you'll get more views and you won't have
[2:43] to do as much work to create new content
[2:45] that's actually going to get views. But
[2:47] with that being said, let me get into my
[2:49] top seven tips for improving your hooks
[2:52] on Instagram. And let me tell you that
[2:53] the tips I'm going to share with you
[2:55] today, as well as the examples and ideas
[2:57] that I'm going to share with you towards
[2:58] the end of the episode, are not just
[3:00] from my brain. They're not just randomly
[3:02] picked out of the universe. These are
[3:04] strategies that have been proven to work
[3:06] not just over the last few months or few
[3:09] years on social media, but these are
[3:11] strategies that have been proven to work
[3:13] for hundreds of years. And I know what
[3:15] you're probably thinking, Brock, there
[3:16] weren't Tik Toks 100 years ago. Brock,
[3:19] there were no Instagram reels back in
[3:21] the 1800s. I hear you. But there were
[3:24] books, there were newspapers, and there
[3:26] was news. And that's why you'll often
[3:28] hear me say that hooks aren't a new
[3:31] strategy. They're not something that was
[3:33] invented for social media. Sure, social
[3:35] media has really accelerated the pace at
[3:37] which hooks have become popular and
[3:40] studied and the pace at which we can
[3:42] discern what a good hook is versus what
[3:44] a bad hook is. But hooks are the covers
[3:47] of books. It's the headlines on
[3:49] newspapers. It's the first sentence in
[3:51] the chapter, right? It's the thing
[3:53] that's going to keep you consuming the
[3:55] content for longer. And so the idea of
[3:58] needing an effective hook isn't
[4:00] necessarily new, but I can guarantee you
[4:02] in today's episode, you will learn
[4:03] something new about hooks to improve
[4:06] your content. Tip number one for
[4:07] improving your hooks is to empathize
[4:10] with your audience. The better that you
[4:13] can understand who your target audience
[4:15] is, the better you're going to create
[4:17] content for them. The more you can use
[4:19] words that they understand and that
[4:21] really tug on their heartstrings, the
[4:23] more you can talk about topics and
[4:25] choose things to say that are really
[4:27] going to grab their attention and hook
[4:29] them in. And I know we're talking about
[4:31] hooks today, so I'm not going to go too
[4:32] far off subject, but the foundation for
[4:35] growing a following on YouTube, on Tik
[4:38] Tok, on Instagram, on Twitter, on
[4:40] threads, on any social media platform is
[4:42] to know your niche, to know your market,
[4:44] to know exactly who it is that you're
[4:46] trying to reach. If you're trying to
[4:48] reach everyone on the planet, it's going
[4:50] to be very tough to come up with hooks
[4:52] and languaging and opening sentences
[4:55] that grab their attention. Because
[4:57] something that's going to grab a
[4:58] 21-year-old college student athletes
[5:00] attention is very different than what's
[5:02] going to grab the attention of a
[5:03] 72-year-old grandmother of 17 kids who
[5:06] lives in the Middle East, right? Totally
[5:09] different things are going to grab their
[5:11] attention. And so the more you know
[5:13] about the pain points, the struggles,
[5:15] the dreams, the challenges, the
[5:18] financial status, the education level,
[5:20] the marital relationship status, the
[5:22] interests and hobbies and passions of
[5:23] your ideal audience, the better you're
[5:26] going to be able to create hooks that
[5:28] actually do their job of hooking them in
[5:30] and grabbing their attention. But
[5:32] admittedly, empathy is a skill set. It
[5:34] is something that is developed over
[5:36] time. You can't just pick out who your
[5:38] target audience is and then suddenly
[5:40] have empathy for them. You have to
[5:41] practice to get good at understanding
[5:44] what their needs, their desires, their
[5:46] wishes, their dreams, and all that other
[5:47] stuff actually is. Tip number two, and
[5:50] really the rest of the tips of my seven
[5:52] tips for improving your hooks are a lot
[5:54] more practical and tactical than
[5:56] empathy. But I will say I think empathy
[5:58] is the most important one. So with that
[6:00] being said, let's move on to tip number
[6:02] two, which is in regards to how long
[6:04] your hooks should be. Your hooks,
[6:07] generally speaking, should be between
[6:09] five and eight words. We at the Insta
[6:11] Club recently conducted a study of about
[6:14] 1,300 different viral Instagram reels.
[6:17] And for this analysis, we classified
[6:19] viral as any reel with more than 1
[6:22] million views. And we took all of those,
[6:24] we transcribed them, and then we took
[6:26] out the first sentence of the reel. And
[6:29] what we found was the ones that
[6:30] consistently performed the best and got
[6:32] the most views were between five and
[6:34] eight words long. I will tell you that
[6:37] you can go up to 12 words, but what we
[6:39] see is as soon as you use less than five
[6:42] or more than 12 words, the return on
[6:45] investment or the number of views and
[6:47] the amount of engagement that you're
[6:48] receiving, it starts to decline
[6:50] relatively rapidly. So sure, it's okay
[6:53] to have a four-word hook. It's okay to
[6:55] have a 15-word hook. And there are
[6:56] definitely outliers of people who went
[6:58] viral with 27 word hooks, but generally
[7:01] speaking, try to keep that first
[7:03] sentence to 5 to eight words. And when I
[7:06] say that first sentence, I don't
[7:07] necessarily just mean the words that
[7:09] you're saying because sure, you might be
[7:11] someone who does talking head reels or
[7:13] voiceover reels. And so that makes
[7:15] sense. I'm going to keep the first
[7:17] sentence that I say to 5 to eight words.
[7:19] But this also applies to those of you
[7:21] who primarily do meme reels or B-roll
[7:24] reels. The kinds of reels where you're
[7:26] not talking. There's no face on the
[7:28] screen talking to the camera, but
[7:30] there's just some text on the screen,
[7:32] maybe layered on top of a funny video or
[7:35] a B-roll video of you. Make that text on
[7:38] the screen follow the same general rule
[7:40] of five to eight words. Tip number three
[7:42] is to keep it simple, to dumb it down,
[7:46] to not use words in your hook that are
[7:49] above a fifth grade reading level. The
[7:52] simpler you can make your hooks, the
[7:54] better. And this is not because your
[7:56] followers are dumb, though I will admit
[7:58] that the average media literacy rate is
[8:00] declining. This is not because you are
[8:03] trying to attract lowhanging fruit. This
[8:06] is because most people are distracted. I
[8:08] mean, think about it. As you are
[8:09] watching or listening to this episode
[8:11] right now, you're likely doing at least
[8:13] one other thing. Maybe you're also
[8:14] scrolling on reels. Maybe you're also
[8:16] doing the dishes. Maybe you're also
[8:18] working out. Chances are you're at least
[8:20] doing something else while watching or
[8:22] listening to this. I highly doubt you're
[8:24] sitting in a classroom with this on your
[8:26] TV and you're like writing notes. If you
[8:27] are, take a picture, post this on your
[8:29] Instagram stories, and tag me cuz I need
[8:31] to see that unicorns like you still
[8:33] exist. But if you're like everyone else,
[8:36] you're probably distracted. you're
[8:37] probably doing multiple things at once.
[8:39] And so when the hook in your reel uses
[8:41] some fancy term or some acronym or
[8:45] insider lingo or just anything that your
[8:47] average follower would not understand,
[8:50] people don't take the time to stop and
[8:52] figure it out. They're not going to
[8:53] crack open a dictionary and a thesaurus
[8:56] and go to Google and start trying to
[8:57] figure out what those words and acronyms
[8:59] mean. They're probably just going to
[9:01] scroll away. When you confuse, you lose.
[9:04] One key thing that I just said that you
[9:06] might have missed is that you want the
[9:07] words to be understood by your ideal
[9:10] audience. So yes, dumb it down, keep it
[9:13] simple below a fifth grade reading
[9:14] level, but you should also consider
[9:16] where your ideal audience is at. And the
[9:19] ideal audience you are trying to attract
[9:22] might understand words and phrases that
[9:24] a different ideal audience might not.
[9:26] For example, I love Pokémon. I subscribe
[9:29] to a lot of Pokémon YouTube channels. I
[9:31] watch a lot of Pokémon videos on Tik Tok
[9:33] and on Instagram. And when a video about
[9:35] Pokémon comes up, they don't have to
[9:38] simplify their hook to say, "Hey, you
[9:40] know that video game that was
[9:41] popularized in the late 1990s that was
[9:44] originally called Pocket Monsters where
[9:46] you travel around and you try to capture
[9:48] and battle with different colorful
[9:50] monsters." They don't have to say that
[9:52] because they don't have to do that
[9:53] background. They don't have to give that
[9:54] context because their ideal target
[9:57] follower understands what Pokémon is.
[10:00] their ideal follower might understand
[10:01] some of the terms and topics that the
[10:04] average person on the planet might not.
[10:06] And so that's why it's important to
[10:07] understand who your target audience is
[10:10] because you don't need to dumb it down
[10:11] so far that like literally anyone could
[10:14] understand, but you do need to simplify
[10:16] it enough so that your average target
[10:18] audience member will understand. And I
[10:20] don't know about you, but it's been a
[10:21] while since I was in fifth grade, so I
[10:23] don't know exactly what a fifth grader's
[10:25] vocabulary level is. So, a simple way to
[10:28] check is just to take the hook that you
[10:31] plan on putting on your video or that
[10:32] you plan on saying at the beginning of
[10:34] your video, pop it into any basic AI
[10:36] tool. I usually just pop it into chat G
[10:38] TBT and then I will ask it, is this at
[10:41] or below a fifth grade reading level? Or
[10:43] if I have a hook that I've come up with
[10:45] that I think might be a little bit too
[10:47] wordy or too advanced, I will ask Chat
[10:49] GPT to help make it simpler or more
[10:51] concise or just easier to understand. An
[10:54] easy example of when I've done this
[10:55] wrong recently is I posted a talking
[10:59] head reel where my opening sentence I
[11:01] said to the camera if you loathe talking
[11:04] head videos and then I went on to talk
[11:06] about what you should do if you dislike
[11:09] creating talking head reels. But why did
[11:11] I use the word loathe? That was a
[11:13] mistake I made. I should have used the
[11:15] word hate or dread. Something that is
[11:17] simpler and easier to understand and
[11:19] easier to pronounce than loathe. like
[11:22] who was I trying to impress? Dumb it
[11:24] down. Keep it simple. More people will
[11:26] understand your content. More people
[11:27] will consume it. More people will
[11:29] engage. Tip number four also relates to
[11:31] the words that you're saying or the
[11:32] words that are on the screen. And it's
[11:34] be negative if possible. Now, when I say
[11:38] be negative, I don't mean that you have
[11:40] to be a Debbie Downer. And I know you
[11:42] might be a positive person. I myself
[11:44] consider myself quite an optimistic
[11:46] positive person. But that doesn't mean
[11:48] that you can't be negative in your
[11:50] hooks. And here's what I mean by that.
[11:52] Simply by using a negative word like
[11:55] don't, stop, avoid, stay away from,
[11:59] crash, diet, lose, etc. Those sorts of
[12:02] things are going to grab people's
[12:04] attention more than their positive
[12:06] counterparts. I bet, and you can check
[12:07] me on this right now, go to ESPN or go
[12:10] go to Sports Center's website, and I bet
[12:12] you a lot of their headlines will be
[12:15] negative. they will be the the team lost
[12:17] the game, the person got hurt, something
[12:19] like that. A great easy example of this
[12:21] that I saw recently on ESPN was that a
[12:24] team won a game, but rather than the
[12:26] headline being the team won the game,
[12:28] which would be positive, it said the
[12:31] team snapped a three-game losing streak.
[12:34] Snapped is a negative word. It's also
[12:36] quite a strong verb. It's not one, it's
[12:40] snapped, right? It's it's very
[12:41] aggressive. It's strong. And then they
[12:43] didn't just snap anything. They snapped
[12:45] a threegame losing streak. Again,
[12:48] focusing on the negative. It's
[12:50] ultimately a positive story, but the
[12:52] headline, also known as the hook, is
[12:54] framed in a negative point of view,
[12:56] which is more likely to grab our
[12:58] attention. Marketing is 80% psychology.
[13:01] I am a firm believer that making great
[13:04] content is more about psychology than it
[13:06] is about tricks and tips. And so, let's
[13:09] think about human psychology for a
[13:11] second. For hundreds of thousands of
[13:12] years, human beings have evolved to pay
[13:14] a lot more attention to the things that
[13:16] could kill us, things that could harm
[13:18] us, the things that are dangerous and
[13:19] negative, rather than the positive
[13:21] things. A couple hundred thousand years
[13:23] ago, when we were living in caves, we
[13:25] had to pay attention to the poisonous
[13:26] berry or the lion that was going to
[13:28] stalk us tonight a lot more than the
[13:31] pretty sunset or the butterfly that just
[13:33] flapped by. My one word of caution with
[13:36] negative hooks is you don't want to
[13:37] overdo it. Unfortunately, I can't give
[13:39] you an exact statistic or an exact
[13:41] percentage of the time that you should
[13:42] be negative versus positive. But if
[13:45] every single one of or let's say greater
[13:47] than 80% I told you I wasn't going to
[13:49] give you a percentage and then I did. If
[13:51] you do more than 80% of your content
[13:53] with a negative hook, it can start to
[13:55] have diminishing returns because over
[13:57] time people stop paying attention to
[14:00] your negative hooks because everything
[14:01] is negative. every single hook that you
[14:03] have is so in their face that they kind
[14:06] of get bored with it and then they
[14:07] either unfollow or they become
[14:09] disengaged. So use negative hooks, but
[14:11] don't use them on every single post that
[14:13] you make. My fifth tip for improving
[14:15] your hooks has nothing to do with the
[14:17] text on the screen or the words that we
[14:19] just said, but it's arguably more
[14:21] important and that is the visual. What
[14:24] is on the screen? Not just in those
[14:26] first 3 seconds, but even in that first
[14:28] half a second, even in those first few
[14:30] frames, what are people seeing? Is that
[14:33] going to grab their attention? A few
[14:35] quick things to keep in mind when you're
[14:36] considering the visuals of your hooks is
[14:38] number one, brighter is usually better.
[14:41] We've seen that videos that just have a
[14:43] slightly brighter hook average about 60%
[14:45] more engagement. So, it doesn't mean
[14:47] that you need to make your hooks like
[14:48] overexposed and super bright, but just
[14:51] making sure that they're not dimly lit.
[14:54] making sure that you have vibrant colors
[14:56] on that you maybe slightly turn up your
[14:58] brightness or your exposure or your
[14:59] saturation so that the video really pops
[15:02] and stands out from those before it.
[15:04] That can be a great way to visually grab
[15:06] people's attention. Besides that, we
[15:08] also see that having a person's face and
[15:10] especially their eyes on the screen
[15:13] within the first second really improves
[15:15] retention. People are more interested in
[15:18] people most of the time. And so when
[15:19] there's a human being, especially a
[15:21] human being who we can see their eyes,
[15:22] right? they're not wearing sunglasses or
[15:24] something in those first few seconds.
[15:26] It's more likely to grab our attention.
[15:28] We also find that hooks perform a lot
[15:30] better when there is a visual prop or
[15:32] element or even just like clip art,
[15:34] something on the screen that relates to
[15:37] the topic of the video. A mistake that I
[15:39] think people often make is they think,
[15:41] "Oh, I need to grab people's attention.
[15:43] So, at the beginning of this video, I'm
[15:45] going to put an emoji of a monkey or I'm
[15:47] going to put a a gif of a dancing clown
[15:49] because that's really exciting and
[15:51] that'll grab people's attention and it
[15:53] might, but it's also going to really
[15:55] confuse them and frustrate them and make
[15:57] it feel like you're just trying to gify
[15:59] or fool them into continuing to watch.
[16:02] And so, don't use silly props. Don't add
[16:05] unnecessary elements. Make sure that if
[16:07] you're doing a video about rock
[16:09] climbing, you are rock climbing. or
[16:11] maybe there's a rock climber in the
[16:12] background or maybe you're at a rock
[16:13] climbing gym, but don't use some random
[16:15] unnecessary prop or element. My sixth
[16:18] tip for improving your hooks is to
[16:20] consider the audio. We often times
[16:22] forget that audio is half of video. So,
[16:25] people spend so much time focusing on
[16:27] getting an HD camera and what's on the
[16:29] screen and is it clear and high contrast
[16:31] when we forget that audio is so
[16:34] important. I'll never forget I was
[16:36] having a conversation with a well-known
[16:37] YouTuber when I was first starting to
[16:39] blow up and have a lot of followers on
[16:41] Instagram and he was like, "Dude, why
[16:43] are you not using an external mic for
[16:46] your reels?" And I was like, "What do
[16:48] you mean? Is my phone's microphone
[16:50] quality not good enough?" And he was
[16:52] like, "Look at this one." And he played
[16:53] me my reel from that day and it sounded
[16:55] like I was like filming in like a tunnel
[16:58] or something. Like there was echoes and
[16:59] it just sounded super hollow. And so
[17:01] luckily this was a good friend and so he
[17:03] gave me a microphone. But to this day I
[17:06] have never not considered my audio
[17:09] before creating my content or before
[17:12] pressing post. So besides just the
[17:13] video, make sure that you're paying
[17:15] attention to the audio in those first 3
[17:17] seconds. Three things that you can do to
[17:19] easily improve the audio version of your
[17:22] hooks is number one, make sure that your
[17:24] audio levels are equal. Basically, make
[17:27] sure that your music isn't too high and
[17:28] your voice isn't too low or vice versa.
[17:30] You want to make sure that things are
[17:32] balanced and so that as someone is
[17:33] listening to it, what they are hearing
[17:36] is what you want them to hear. Speaking
[17:38] of making sure that they are hearing
[17:39] what you want them to hear, get yourself
[17:41] an external microphone. If you don't
[17:43] have a good friend who's just going to
[17:44] lend you one like I did, go on Amazon or
[17:47] go to your local tech store and just
[17:49] purchase a 10, 15, $20 external
[17:52] microphone. I do find that the ones that
[17:54] plug right into your device, whether
[17:56] you're using your phone or a
[17:58] professional camera, the ones that plug
[17:59] right in are actually usually better and
[18:02] cheaper until you get to a certain
[18:04] point. Yes, there are some distinctions,
[18:06] and yes, there are some great USB
[18:08] wireless microphones, but honestly, the
[18:10] plug-in ones work great. You don't have
[18:12] to worry about charging them oftent
[18:14] times, and they produce really great
[18:16] sound quality. Additionally, when you're
[18:17] improving the audio quality of your
[18:19] hooks, consider the music that's playing
[18:22] in the background, using popular songs,
[18:25] trending audios, or even just stock
[18:28] copyright free music can really improve
[18:31] your video. Maybe you're going to add an
[18:33] inspirational piano onto the background
[18:36] of your motivational message. Maybe
[18:38] you're going to add some music that
[18:39] really builds suspense and tension to
[18:42] keep someone watching to the end. Maybe
[18:44] you're going to use some rock and roll
[18:45] music to go along with your more
[18:47] aggressive, in-your-face video. Music is
[18:50] so important for eliciting an emotional
[18:52] response and getting your audience to
[18:54] continue watching. There are some really
[18:56] funny examples on YouTube that you can
[18:58] find where they'll take a popular
[18:59] Hollywood movie and they'll remove the
[19:02] music from the background. So, you can
[19:04] still hear the native sounds that were
[19:05] in the scene. You can still hear the
[19:07] characters talking, but without the
[19:08] music, the feeling is totally different.
[19:10] And then last but not least, sound
[19:12] effects can be used really well. Don't
[19:14] use the silly, goofy sound effects like
[19:17] alarm bells for no reason. Be
[19:19] intentional and make sure that your
[19:21] sound effects actually relate to
[19:22] whatever the video or whatever the topic
[19:24] is. And my final tip for improving your
[19:27] hooks before I share some examples and
[19:28] ideas with you is to create what's
[19:30] called a curiosity gap. The curiosity
[19:33] gap is a little bit of a Goldilocks
[19:35] situation. And let me tell you what I
[19:36] mean by that. when you are planning out
[19:38] what that first sentence is going to be
[19:40] or what your hook is going to include,
[19:42] you want to elicit enough curiosity that
[19:44] someone wants to keep watching. But if
[19:47] you elicit too much curiosity, if
[19:49] there's too much ambiguity or too much
[19:51] unknown in the beginning of your video,
[19:54] again, you're going to confuse and
[19:56] you're going to lose. So, when that
[19:57] curiosity gap is too wide, people just
[20:00] aren't going to keep watching. They're
[20:01] not interested. Maybe they don't know
[20:03] what your video is about. Maybe there's
[20:04] too many words that they didn't quite
[20:06] understand and so they're going to
[20:08] scroll. On the other hand, on the
[20:09] opposite end of the spectrum, there can
[20:11] also be curiosity gaps that are too
[20:13] narrow where you kind of spill all the
[20:15] tea and you give all the answers and you
[20:17] share everything that everyone would
[20:18] want to know in those first few seconds.
[20:21] For example, maybe there's a real estate
[20:22] agent who's making a real helping other
[20:25] real estate agents to sell homes. And so
[20:27] in their hook, they're like, "Okay, I'm
[20:28] going to use negative words. I'm going
[20:30] to keep it short and simple. And so I'm
[20:32] going to say something like, "The reason
[20:34] you're not selling homes is because
[20:36] you're not doing enough open houses."
[20:39] Well, that was negative. And I don't I
[20:42] didn't count how many words that was,
[20:43] but it was relatively short. It was
[20:44] relatively simple. But you spilled all
[20:47] the tea. You gave me everything I need
[20:48] to know. There was no curiosity gap.
[20:51] There's no reason for me to continue
[20:53] watching your video because either I
[20:56] agree and I'm like, "You're right. I'm
[20:57] probably not doing enough open houses
[20:59] and so I'm just going to start doing
[21:00] that." or I disagree. I'm like, "Yeah,
[21:02] no, I disagree. I'm actually doing
[21:04] enough open houses. I have a different
[21:05] problem." And either way, I already know
[21:08] what you're going to tell me and so I'm
[21:09] not interested in continuing to watch
[21:11] the video. So, that would be an example
[21:12] of a curiosity gap that's too small. On
[21:15] the other end of the spectrum, a real
[21:16] estate agent might say, "Here's why
[21:19] you're not having success." That's so
[21:22] vague. Success in what terms? Financial
[21:25] lifestyle. Here's why you like who is
[21:28] you? real estate agents, people who are
[21:29] selling homes, people who are trying to
[21:31] learn to do a 360 on a snowboard. Like,
[21:34] who are we even talking to? What is
[21:35] success? It's so vague. And your thought
[21:38] is, oh well, it's so vague it could
[21:40] apply to anyone. But the reality is when
[21:42] you try to appeal to everyone, you
[21:45] appeal to no one effectively. And so, we
[21:48] got to find that Goldilocks zone. We got
[21:50] to find that sweet spot where the
[21:52] curiosity gap is interesting people and
[21:54] they want to continue watching to hear
[21:56] what else you have to say, but you're
[21:58] not withholding too much information or
[21:59] giving away too much too soon. Those are
[22:01] my seven tips for improving your hooks.
[22:03] I will throw in one more bonus tip,
[22:05] which is that success leaves clues. So,
[22:08] as you're scrolling through social
[22:09] media, just pay attention to your own
[22:11] consumption habits. If there's a video
[22:13] that really grabs your attention, it
[22:15] really hooks you in, it really makes you
[22:16] want to keep watching, just pay
[22:18] attention to why. Was there a word in
[22:19] the hook? Was there something they did?
[22:21] Was there something in the video, in the
[22:22] audio, in the visual? Just pay attention
[22:24] to how you use and consume on social
[22:26] media? And you'll start to pick up on
[22:29] little hooks and little ideas that you
[22:31] can incorporate and apply to your own
[22:33] content. With that being said, I'm going
[22:34] to share some of those clues with you
[22:36] right now. Here are seven different hook
[22:39] ideas that are proven to be effective
[22:41] and they can be used in almost any niche
[22:44] on repeat. The first one is what I call
[22:46] the problem hooks. These hooks are all
[22:49] about identifying a pain point, a
[22:51] challenge, or a problem that your ideal
[22:53] audience is dealing with. Again, going
[22:55] all the way back to tip number one, we
[22:57] got to empathize with our ideal audience
[22:59] to truly know what they are struggling
[23:01] with. A mistake that I see so many
[23:03] people making with their hooks is
[23:05] they're calling out pain points that
[23:07] your audience doesn't already know that
[23:09] they have. And here's the key
[23:11] distinction. You might know that your
[23:13] audience has this pain point, but if
[23:15] they don't already know that they have
[23:17] that painoint, then you have double the
[23:19] work. You don't just have the work of
[23:21] hooking them into your video, but you
[23:23] also have the hook of convincing them
[23:25] that this is a problem that they didn't
[23:26] know that they had. For example, if
[23:28] you're in the fitness niche, you could
[23:30] say something like, "If you're working
[23:32] out 5 days a week, but not seeing
[23:34] results, watch this." Or if you're in
[23:36] the parenting toddlers niche, you could
[23:38] say, "If you're tired of repeating
[23:40] yourself thousands of times a day, try
[23:43] this instead." Here are some other
[23:44] examples in other niches. You're messing
[23:46] up your reels by putting your face in
[23:48] the middle of the video. There's an
[23:49] imaginary line that divides the middle
[23:51] and upper third of your video, and it's
[23:52] called the ey line. By lining up your
[23:54] eyes with the ey line, your followers
[23:56] will stay more engaged. To make sure you
[23:57] remember this for your next reel, hit
[23:59] the bookmark button and save this post.
[24:10] The second category of hooks is what I
[24:12] like to call hot take hooks. These are
[24:15] the unpopular opinions, the
[24:17] controversial points of view, or just
[24:19] the unexpected plot twists that are
[24:22] contrary to the norm. For example, if
[24:24] you're a nutritionist, you could say
[24:25] something like, "Counting calories is
[24:27] the reason you're not losing weight." Or
[24:30] if you're in the mental health niche,
[24:31] maybe your hook is going to be daily
[24:33] journaling is actually making your
[24:35] anxiety worse. Unpopular opinion. If
[24:38] it's taking you more than a few minutes
[24:39] to make your reels, it's taking you too
[24:41] long. Here's an easy to make three-step
[24:43] reel that is proven to get more shares.
[24:45] Step number one, record a clip of
[24:47] yourself saying unpopular opinion. Then
[24:49] record a second clip where you say your
[24:51] unpopular opinion. And then just finish
[24:53] your reel by saying, "Share this if you
[24:55] agree." And that's it. You're done. And
[24:57] if you agree that it's been taking you
[24:58] too long to make your reels, comment I
[25:00] agree down below.
[25:08] Hook idea number three is what I like to
[25:10] call the curiosity gap hook. And yes,
[25:13] while all hooks should create some
[25:14] curiosity, these ones are all about
[25:17] peing people's interest, getting them to
[25:19] lean forward in their seat and be
[25:21] curious to learn more. For example, if
[25:23] you're in the personal development
[25:24] niche, maybe you're going to use the
[25:25] hook, I bet I can get your lazy ass to
[25:28] stop procrastination in less than two
[25:30] minutes with this easy trick. Or if
[25:33] you're in the real estate investing
[25:34] niche, you could use a hook like with
[25:36] this secret hack, you could buy your
[25:38] first investment property with next to
[25:40] nothing down.
[25:52] Hook idea number five is one of my
[25:54] personal favorites. It's one that I use
[25:56] all the time and it's one of our top
[25:58] performing hooks in our paid media, also
[26:01] known as the ads that we run. We see
[26:02] that this style of hook works really
[26:04] well in our advertising and it's the
[26:06] shocking stat hook. Basically, for this
[26:09] hook, you lead with some sort of
[26:10] statistic or numerical value that would
[26:12] really surprise people. I do want to
[26:14] encourage you do your research. Use real
[26:16] stats. Don't just make stuff up. But if
[26:18] you can find stats or data that shock
[26:21] people and surprise them, it can be a
[26:23] really powerful way to peique their
[26:24] interest and get them to want to learn a
[26:26] little bit more. For example, if you're
[26:28] in the sleeping niche, maybe your hook
[26:30] is going to be something like, and by
[26:32] the way, these stats are totally made
[26:33] up, so I don't know if they're true, but
[26:35] your hook could be something like, "Did
[26:37] you know missing just 30 minutes of
[26:39] sleep reduces your productivity by 30%."
[26:42] Or if you're in the dog training niche,
[26:44] maybe the opening stat, and again, I
[26:46] don't know if this is a real stat. Did
[26:48] you know that more than 50% of dogs are
[26:51] overweight? Again, these stats are very
[26:53] surprising. They make people say, "Wo, I
[26:55] didn't know that." And then they're
[26:56] curious to hear your explanation as to
[26:59] why 90% of people miss this in their
[27:01] captions. Everyone, myself included, is
[27:03] always talking about the hooks on your
[27:04] reels. But then when it comes to
[27:06] captions, you're just winging it. Here's
[27:08] the fix. The first line of your caption
[27:10] is by far the most important and it
[27:12] should be treated like a second hook.
[27:14] Just like you're putting in the effort
[27:15] to come up with a good hook for your
[27:16] reel, put in that same effort to come up
[27:18] with a good hook for your caption.
[27:20] Otherwise, people probably aren't going
[27:21] to read it and you're wasting your time
[27:22] typing it. And if you want a free list
[27:24] of caption starters, I have some listed
[27:26] in the caption below. Feel free to
[27:27] screenshot and save this post.
[27:38] Hook idea number six is what I like to
[27:40] call the call out hooks. And essentially
[27:42] for these ones, you are going to name
[27:45] your target market by name. You're going
[27:47] to call them out. You're going to say
[27:49] exactly who your video is intended for.
[27:52] For example, if you create online guides
[27:54] for elementary school teachers, you
[27:56] could use a hook like, "If you're a
[27:58] teacher who's planning their lessons on
[27:59] the night before, watch this." Or if you
[28:02] help people learn to rock climb, you
[28:04] could use a hook like, "If you have less
[28:06] than 10 days of rock climbing
[28:07] experience, here's what you need to
[28:09] know." Basically, when you call out a
[28:10] group of people by their exact name, the
[28:13] people who go by that name and who
[28:14] recognize or identify with that group
[28:16] go, "Oh, hey, that's me." And then they
[28:18] keep listening. If you aren't using AI
[28:20] every single day as a business owner,
[28:22] you're going to be left behind. You
[28:24] don't have to be an AI expert, but you
[28:26] need to at least be AI curious. Now, I
[28:28] don't know about you, but I'm often
[28:29] overwhelmed by the seemingly neverending
[28:32] stream of new AI tools that I have to
[28:34] learn. The reality is 95% of them are
[28:37] junk and you don't need to learn them.
[28:38] If you can just use chat GPT, but use it
[28:40] better, you're going to be ahead of 90%
[28:42] of other business owners. So, to help
[28:44] you out, I put together a free list of
[28:46] 16 Chat GPT prompts. These are the exact
[28:49] prompts I use on a daily basis to help
[28:51] me create better content, write scripts,
[28:53] and work smarter. Comment chat, and I'll
[28:55] send you that list right now for free.
[29:57] And then last but not least, the seventh
[29:59] hook idea is transformation hooks. These
[30:03] are hooks that show off a before and
[30:04] after or some sort of change over time.
[30:07] The two key elements in a transformation
[30:08] hook are number one, the thing that is
[30:11] actually transforming and then number
[30:13] two, the time frame in which it
[30:15] transformed. Again, I don't want you to
[30:17] spew misinformation. I don't want you to
[30:18] make up stories, but if you can
[30:20] highlight examples of massive
[30:22] transformations or transformations in a
[30:24] relatively short time frame, it really
[30:26] grabs people's attention and makes them
[30:28] want to learn more. For example, if
[30:30] you're in the finance niche, maybe
[30:31] you're going to take a B-roll of
[30:33] yourself typing on a computer or writing
[30:35] in a notebook and then you're going to
[30:36] add some text on the screen that says,
[30:39] "Before I started budgeting, stressed.
[30:41] After I started budgeting, debt-free in
[30:44] 2 months." Or if you're in the skincare
[30:45] niche, you could use a hook that was
[30:47] like, "I used to be embarrassed to go
[30:49] out in public, but now my skin is
[30:51] totally clear in less than one month.
[30:53] Here's how." I did an experiment to see
[30:55] what would happen if I posted 100 trial
[30:58] reels in one day.
[30:59] Boy, have you lost your mind, cuz I'll
[31:01] help you find it.
[31:02] I didn't lose my mind, but I kind of
[31:04] broke my Instagram in the process. But I
[31:06] also got tens of thousands of free views
[31:07] and a ton of new followers. But my
[31:09] biggest takeaway of all from the study
[31:10] is that you need to be posting more
[31:12] trial reels. If you want my exact
[31:14] advanced trial reels strategy and to
[31:17] learn exactly what I learned from that
[31:19] experiment, comment the word vid on this
[31:20] reel right now and I'll send you the
[31:21] link to my full YouTube video where I
[31:23] explained everything in depth. And I'll
[31:25] even tell you how I've used trial reels
[31:26] to go viral multiple times.
[32:08] Now, wait, wait. Before we go, I do have
[32:10] one last pro tip that is super helpful
[32:12] to figure out, are my hooks actually the
[32:15] problem? Because you might be creating
[32:17] great content and maybe your hooks are
[32:19] really good, but the rest of your video
[32:21] is where it's falling flat. Instagram
[32:24] actually gave us a statistic to look up
[32:26] whether or not our hooks are performing
[32:28] well. And before I show you that, don't
[32:30] forget to hit subscribe if you found
[32:32] this valuable today. Every single
[32:33] Thursday, I put out a new episode on the
[32:35] latest tricks and tips and strategies to
[32:37] growing and having success on social
[32:39] media. So, don't forget to hit
[32:41] subscribe. But now, let me show you this
[32:42] statistic. All you have to do when
[32:44] viewing your individual reel is tap the
[32:46] view insights button and then scroll
[32:48] down. down towards the bottom of the
[32:50] page, you will see a statistic that's
[32:51] called view rate past first 3 seconds.
[32:54] It's a mouthful, but basically this
[32:56] statistic is telling us how many people
[32:59] or what percentage of your viewers are
[33:01] watching after the 3se secondond mark.
[33:04] It will show you this pink bar, and if
[33:05] the pink bar surpasses the little tick
[33:08] mark, that means that the average viewer
[33:10] is watching for more than 3 seconds. If
[33:12] it's right at the tick mark, that means
[33:13] that your average viewer is watching for
[33:15] 3 seconds. And if it's less than the
[33:17] tick mark, then that means we really
[33:19] need to improve our hooks because that
[33:20] means that the average person isn't even
[33:22] watching the first 3 seconds. Also,
[33:25] below that, you'll see an actual
[33:27] percentage where it tells you what your
[33:29] average is. So, you'll be able to see
[33:31] what your baseline is. And I would
[33:32] recommend writing that down today so you
[33:34] know, hey, my average views past first 3
[33:37] seconds for my typical reel is 41.5
[33:40] seconds. Okay, I'm going to write that
[33:41] down and then see a month from now. Have
[33:44] your hooks improved after watching this
[33:46] video and implementing what you learned
[33:48] today in this podcast? Is that
[33:50] percentage increasing? And one last
[33:52] thing before I let you go. If you do
[33:54] want a free list of 25 viral hook ideas,
[33:57] this is the actual list of the top 25
[34:00] most popular hooks that we found from
[34:02] that analysis of all of those viral
[34:04] videos. That list of top 25 totally
[34:06] free. I'll put that link down in the
[34:08] show notes below so you can download it
[34:09] and check it out. Don't forget to
[34:10] subscribe. I will see you next Thursday.
[34:12] And as always, happy networking.