---
title: 'How to get retention SO HIGH your shorts always go viral'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=IPW-MF8Kp0I'
video_id: 'IPW-MF8Kp0I'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 676
---

# How to get retention SO HIGH your shorts always go viral

> Source: [How to get retention SO HIGH your shorts always go viral](https://youtube.com/watch?v=IPW-MF8Kp0I)

## Summary

This video presents a comprehensive process for achieving high retention on YouTube Shorts, based on the creator's personal experience and research into top creators' strategies. It covers composing (hook, storytelling, payoff), editing (pacing, music, sound effects), and leverage tactics (engagement baiting, comment manipulation, cross-linking) to maximize viewer retention and increase the chances of going viral.

### Key Points

- **Retention is key** [0:00] — The creator emphasizes that retention is the single most important metric for going viral on YouTube Shorts, citing personal experience with 91-97% retention rates.
- **Composing as the engine** [1:24] — Composing a short (hook, storytelling, payoff) is compared to a car's engine; without it, the short won't perform regardless of other elements.
- **Crafting an effective hook** [1:56] — The hook should be concise, easy to understand, explain the general idea, and mention a payoff. Examples include text overlays or spoken lines that create curiosity.
- **Storytelling with tension** [3:29] — Storytelling should integrate conflict and suspense, using words like 'but' and 'however' to keep viewers on edge. Tension is the most important storytelling tool.
- **Delivering the payoff** [5:22] — The payoff must meet the expectations set by the hook to satisfy viewers and encourage return visits. Disappointing payoffs lose potential loyal subscribers.
- **Editing for fast pacing** [6:17] — Attention spans are short, so content must be fast-paced. The creator spent an hour condensing footage for a one-minute short to keep it action-packed.
- **Music and sound effects** [7:36] — Music can set mood and build tension, enhancing storytelling. Sound effects add engagement but depend on niche. Wrong music can backfire.
- **Leverage tactics** [9:08] — Engagement baiting (e.g., intentional mistakes) encourages comments, which increases retention as the video plays in the background. Commenting from another account to create curiosity is another tactic.
- **Cross-linking shorts** [10:47] — Linking to another short in the related video section can keep viewers engaged with your content for longer.

### Conclusion

By mastering composing, editing, and leverage tactics, creators can significantly boost retention on YouTube Shorts, making viral success more achievable. The key is to hook viewers quickly, maintain tension, deliver satisfying payoffs, and use clever tricks to keep them watching.

## Transcript

91% retention 93% retention 97%
retention one after another again and
again and again through my personal
experience in making engaging shorts and
my research into the strategies of top
creators I've created an in-depth
process for consistently getting high
retention by following the methods in
this process you'll be able to keep
attention so well that you can't stop
going viral so without further Ado let's
let's
[Music]
begin the shorts algorithm uses
thousands of methods to decide if your
content is worthy of getting views
however there is one single element that
is undoubtedly the biggest factor in
this every Creator acknowledges it as
the single most important metric in
terms of going viral and I'm sure you've
heard of it as
[Music]
well just this simple line on the graph
will decide if your short gets 10 views
or 10 million views so let's make it as
flat as possible now this upcoming
advice can be used across all niches but
for each person it might apply
differently so in these next few minutes
consider how you can tailor this
information to fit your
videos if you were to imagine your
content as a car then the composing of
your shorts would be the engine without
a good engine it doesn't matter if you
have a super nice car a Lamborghini
because you won't be going anywhere so
to explain the concept of composing we
can start by drawing a simple line on
one end we have the hook and on the
other end we have the payoff the line
connecting the two is our storytelling
I'll go through each point in this
drawing and show you how to maximize
retention in all of them let's begin
with the hook and I'll get to the others
later your hook is basically the intro
of your short it should be as concise
and easy to understand as possible since
we don't want to end up confusing the
viewers or giving them too much
information the hook should also explain
the general idea of the video and
mention a payoff now it might seem
difficult to fit all this in less than 5
seconds but it doesn't have to be
complicated find for yourself how this
Creator communicated a simple but
effective hook to his viewers
[Music]
yes even without a voice this simple use
of text is still a very strong hook his
viewers want to see what he's referring
to in the caption which is a good reason
for them to keep watching we also
immediately understand the concept of
the video because the visuals convey
what game he's playing and the situation
he's in which shows that you don't
always have to physically explain the
idea for further reference here's
another very good hook but this time
it's a completely different Niche my
grandma thinks Christmas is expensive so
I'm going to prove her wrong by giving
her the best Christmas present with $5
let's get started so your hook can look
differently depending on your Niche and
video type but as long as you can set up
a payoff and convey an interesting idea
you'll be able to make your viewers
stick around but only initially we still
have to keep these people engaged until
the end of the short or else they'll
just scroll away before reaching that
point that's where storytelling comes in
in and we can start progressing down the
line now this part is interesting
because how you use storytelling will be
very dependent on your Niche and video
type if you make voiceover or original
content then there's a lot more room
with what you can do for that group I
recommend you integrate conflict into
your script have things go wrong and
then resolve the problem with the
solution also use a lot of suspenseful
words like but and however because it
keeps people on edge waiting for what
you say next next now in a more General
sense there is something that's
important to focus on in storytelling
for every Niche faceless or not and
before I reveal it try to catch it for
yourself in this short this is a
Starbucks and down the street is another
Starbucks and today I'mma start some
beef howdy can you give me just like a
really fun drink yeah we can definitely
do that oh my gosh that's so fun
Starbucks a went off this is the most
fun drink I've ever seen I pulled up the
Starbucks B and did what I had to do and
then they said that you guys make super
boring drinks okay so I was just going
to see if you guys can make a more fun
one than them yeah definitely this is
what the Starbucks down the street made
the genuine shock on tor's face right so
in the hook Ryan sets up the plot behind
the video and now we want to see who
will make the better Starbucks drink
then you might have noticed he used a
hidden storytelling tool in order to
keep us engaged throughout the short
let's see even though the concept itself
wasn't very tense there was a lot of
anticipation he framed things in a way
that made made it impossible to scroll
because of the building up towards the
payoff the hidden tool that Ryan used
here was tension and obviously it worked
because this short has nearly 100
million views so tension is the most
important instrument of Storytelling and
it can be applied in very broad
circumstances as long as you're building
suspense in your viewers now that we've
resolved the storytelling and the hook
let's move on to the payoff another
integral part of your content so
remember how I said ear earlier in the
hook that you had to mention a payoff
well now that we're actually here it's
very important that you meet the
expectations you set Ryan set up that
there would be a competition between the
two Starbucks but what if he reached the
end of the short after all of that
tension and buildup and said well it's a
tie that would be lame wouldn't it you
want to satisfy your audience because
the real trick to getting a ton of
retention is returning viewers if you
disappoint someone with your payoff then
you'll have lost a potential loyal
subscriber who would have given you a
lot of Engagement in the long run so
make sure to fulfill the payoff and look
at that we've successfully completed the
composing
[Music]
pathway remember what I said earlier
about composing being the engine of your
shorts well you can think of editing as
the physical part of the car the wheel
the seats and the walls in the same way
that a car couldn't function without an
engine it's just as useless without a
body to start let's talk about your
pacing attention spans are pretty much
fried nowadays especially when it comes
to short form platforms like YouTube
shorts therefore we need to go to Great
Lengths to make sure our content is as
fast-paced as possible I remember on an
old channel of mine in the gaming Niche
I would spend a whole hour getting
footage for a one minute short that way
I could condense all of the most
action-packed moments to make the pacing
quick and entertaining this is so
important because people nowadays value
their time much more why would they
spend 30 seconds watching your short
that isn't even entertaining when they
can just scroll away and watch Mr Beast
so keep your shorts as fast-paced as
possible as for certain tricks like
captions Transitions and zooming there
isn't one concrete answer that I can
give it's heavily dependent on the style
of your content so I recommend recommend
you search for other creators in your
Niche and just do what they
do now there's a whole another side of
editing as well this aspect of it is
often overlooked which is a shame
because it plays one of the biggest
roles in your engagement see if you can
find what it is in this short these are
the internet's weirdest websites spot
the drowning child.com is like a
lifeguard simulator where you're given a
video of real people in a swimming pool
and you click who you think's drowning
to see if you're faster than the
Lifeguard what's my star name.com let
you type in your name and will return
with how a Starbucks employee will find
a way to spell it wrong did you catch it
as the sections of the video switched
the music he used changed as well the
soundtrack you pick for your shorts can
be used to make the audience feel
different moods during different parts
of the short this gets them more
invested into the video and enhances
your storytelling but be careful because
if you pick the wrong soundtrack then it
can backfire heavily another huge use of
music is for building tension I talked
about it earlier so you already know how
important tension is if you pick a
certain song with a buildup then you can
create tension from thin air and
manipulate people into staying engaged I
can't show an example of this because of
copyright but this channel is super good
at it so check out his content to see
what I'm talking about sound effects
again depend on your Niche and type of
content if you can use them then add
them to certain moments for more
engagement but if it doesn't fit your
video style then it's not a big
deal the definition of Leverage is using
something to its maximum Advantage if we
go back to that car analogy leverage
would be like attaching a jet booster to
the back the car does work without it
but we can make it go a lot faster and
what I mean by this is there are some
clever tricks to maximize retention
outside of the traditional composing and
editing some of these tricks will seem
pretty weird but don't underestimate how
effective they are the first one is
called engagement baiting do something
that urges people to comment for example
an intentional mistake until this guy
slides the watermelon through it or a
really crazy moment people will want to
point it out and you might not know this
but your retention increases as people
use the comment section try it for
yourself go to a short and you'll notice
that when you leave a comment the short
keeps playing in the background so get
people to leave comments and you'll see
a massive increase in your retention
another trick related to comments and
this one is kind of underhanded but it
works very well here's how you do it
once you post your short switch YouTube
accounts so that people don't know it's
you then go to the Post you just made
and leave a comment saying something
like that ending was crazy or I didn't
expect the ending most people check the
comments before even watching the short
so they'll see that and wait until the
end because you've made them curious
about what happens the funny thing about
this one is a lot of shorts creators use
this without you knowing it next time
you check the comments on a short and
see one like that just know it might
actually be the Creator in Disguise the
third one is very simple but it's also
very effective go to one of your shorts
and find the related video section click
it and link one of your other shorts a
lot of people will click this link and
since they're already in invested in
your content they're more likely to
watch for longer now I have a lot more
leverage tips to share so I've linked
them in the description for completely
free check those out if you're
interested hopefully you got a lot of
value from this video subscribe if you
did and I'll talk to you in the next one