How to Create Irresistible Hooks (and blow up your content)

[00:00] today we're talking about hooks if you

[00:01] want your videos to perform better you

[00:03] have to make better hooks but here's the

[00:05] thing I'm not going to give you a list

[00:06] of 25 proven viral hooks cuz that's not

[00:09] what you need what you need is to

[00:10] understand the psychology behind why

[00:13] those hooks worked and then the tactics

[00:15] for how to use that psychology in your

[00:17] own stuff so these are going to be the

[00:18] six best ways to improve your hooks

[00:21] immediately and if you do all of these I

[00:23] guarantee your videos will perform

[00:25] better I know this works cuz content is

[00:27] all I do I have almost a million

[00:28] followers billions of views and these

[00:30] are the secrets for how I go viral

[00:32] whenever I want all right tip number one

[00:34] is actually the mega tip it's my full

[00:36] three-step hook formula and this is how

[00:38] I look at social media you are driving

[00:39] down the highway at 70 mph I need you to

[00:42] see something stop turn around and come

[00:44] back the other way so how do I get you

[00:46] to do that the way I do that is by

[00:48] building a curiosity Loop and this is

[00:50] one of the base Commandments in

[00:52] storytelling if you want to tell a great

[00:53] story you need the viewer to watch the

[00:55] first line and feel so compelled that

[00:57] they can't dream of doing anything else

[00:59] then watching the second line and the

[01:01] third line and so on the domino effect

[01:03] this is the Curiosity Loop and the

[01:05] deeper the loop the more Curious you are

[01:07] The more I've hooked you so the question

[01:09] is how do I do that in just three or

[01:11] four sentences and the answer is that I

[01:13] built a formula that does this every

[01:15] single time it's three steps the first

[01:17] step is what I call the context lean in

[01:19] the first line or two I need to do two

[01:21] things one I need to be super clear

[01:23] about what the video is actually about

[01:26] topic Clarity and this is so you as the

[01:28] viewer can self- select in in or out

[01:31] based on your interest if I'm talking

[01:32] about investing and you don't care about

[01:34] investing I actually don't want to trick

[01:36] you into watching the video because

[01:38] you're not my target viewer but if you

[01:39] do care about investing I want to Signal

[01:41] this to you as soon as possible so I

[01:44] need to give you immediate context about

[01:46] the topic the second thing I need to do

[01:47] is get you leaning in context lean the

[01:50] more you lean in the more Curious you

[01:52] are these are the easiest ways to get

[01:54] somebody to lean in establish Common

[01:56] Ground reference a benefit or pain point

[01:58] they may have use a metaphor to simplify

[02:01] a complex idea or tell them something so

[02:03] interesting it blows their mind you need

[02:05] them to be connected and feel like what

[02:07] you're talking about relates to them in

[02:09] some way let's go through an example one

[02:10] of my videos this is the sphere video I

[02:12] made that got 8 million views I want you

[02:14] to just watch the first two lines the

[02:17] tech in the Vegas sphere is insane

[02:19] biggest screen ever built 20 times

[02:21] bigger than an IMAX right away I'm

[02:22] telling you exactly what the context of

[02:24] the video is the sphere and the tech

[02:27] inside and I'm getting you to lean in by

[02:29] talking about the SC screen showing it

[02:30] and referencing to how much bigger it is

[02:32] than an IMAX something you may have

[02:33] known now this is taking the show you

[02:35] something interesting to blow your mind

[02:37] route of the options and of course not

[02:39] everyone is going to be interested in

[02:40] this video but if you heard about the

[02:42] sphere or care about tech in venues

[02:44] you're going to be leaning in okay so

[02:45] that's step one now step two is what I

[02:47] call the scroll stop interjection this

[02:49] is a single line meant to act like a

[02:51] stun gun I need you to start leaning in

[02:53] and then immediately I need you to stop

[02:55] being able to move forward like you ran

[02:57] into a window and the best way to do

[02:58] this in practice is is by using a

[03:00] contrasting word I like to use the word

[03:02] but but you could use things like

[03:03] however yet although therefore on the

[03:06] other hand things like that and this is

[03:08] more just meant to be a setup line for

[03:10] the haym maker that's coming in step

[03:12] three but in order for them to accept

[03:13] the hay maker you need to stun them

[03:15] first now back in the sphere example

[03:17] let's watch both the context lean and

[03:19] the scroll stop interjection together

[03:21] the tech in the Vegas sphere is insane

[03:24] biggest screen ever built 20 times

[03:25] bigger than an IMAX but get this the

[03:28] screen is actually the least impressive

[03:30] part of the whole thing so at this point

[03:31] I've kind of stunned you right I first

[03:33] established context and got you leaning

[03:35] in about how interesting the sphere is

[03:37] talking about the TCH and the screen but

[03:39] then I stunned you and told you the

[03:40] screen is actually not impressive at all

[03:43] at this point you're like what could

[03:44] possibly be coming next I the screen

[03:46] looks huge I can see it in the visuals

[03:47] and this is the Curiosity Loop that is

[03:50] building you wondering what is coming

[03:51] next is replacing any thought that could

[03:53] be distracting you and send you anywhere

[03:55] else all right time for step three this

[03:57] is the haym maker I call it the

[03:58] contrarian Snapback now the contrarian

[04:01] Snapback is a sentence that goes in the

[04:03] opposite direction of the initial lean

[04:05] it's still on topic but it snaps the

[04:08] viewer back on a different path and the

[04:09] bigger the shock the bigger the snap the

[04:11] better the effect so let's finish the

[04:13] sphar example now with all three parts

[04:15] the tech in the Vegas sphere is insane

[04:17] biggest screen ever built 20 times

[04:19] bigger than an IMAX but get this the

[04:22] screen is actually the least impressive

[04:24] part of the whole thing because the most

[04:25] impressive part is the audio this is

[04:27] going to blow your mind at this point

[04:29] I've got you hookline and sinker I

[04:31] established context immediately I got

[04:32] you leaning in the case that you were

[04:34] interested in something about the screen

[04:35] or something new you hadn't seen before

[04:37] then I stunned you and played the Uno

[04:39] reverse card snapping you back in a

[04:41] different direction instead of talking

[04:42] about the screen now I'm talking about

[04:44] the audio that is the Snapback at this

[04:46] point you are fully hooked and fully

[04:48] curious about what comes next you can't

[04:50] dream of doing anything else other than

[04:52] learning how this audio is more

[04:54] impressive than the biggest screen ever

[04:56] built that's hookline and sinker now it

[04:57] turns out if you go back and you analyze

[05:00] best performing content from any Creator

[05:02] across any medium a lot of it follows

[05:03] this exact same formula and it doesn't

[05:05] just have to be the big new style

[05:08] entertainment Style video type content

[05:10] if I'm making content as a real estate

[05:11] agent and I'm purely looking to drive

[05:13] leads to my real estate practice pure

[05:15] B2B I could say something like this

[05:17] there are three massive mistakes people

[05:18] are making with their mortgage the

[05:20] average person pays an extra $122,000

[05:22] per year now most people think it's

[05:24] because of high interest rates but it

[05:26] turns out it has nothing to do with that

[05:27] because the biggest waste of money is

[05:29] actually coming from see what I did

[05:31] there now I don't know anything about

[05:32] real estate I don't know what the right

[05:33] answer to that is but just that hook

[05:34] setup even without me knowing any

[05:36] context I can get you leaning one way

[05:38] and then the other and if you're a real

[05:40] estate agent and you make content in

[05:41] that format I guarantee that would drive

[05:44] so many leads it would build you as

[05:45] Authority in your category that's what

[05:47] you want to do that hook format works

[05:50] every category every space and if you

[05:52] don't believe it works I'm going to do a

[05:54] magic trick because I use the same

[05:56] psychology formula on you for the hook

[05:59] in this video and if you're still

[06:00] watching that proves it worked let me

[06:02] show you exactly what I did so I started

[06:04] off by saying

[06:07] this today we're talking about hooks if

[06:09] you want your videos to perform better

[06:11] you have to make better hooks so right

[06:13] away this was me giving context on

[06:15] exactly what the video is about hooks

[06:17] but also creating common ground and

[06:19] getting you to lean in around the

[06:20] benefit of making better videos If you

[06:22] figure out how to make better hooks this

[06:24] started building the Curiosity Loop in

[06:26] your mind now if you watch just those

[06:28] two sentences and you don't really care

[06:29] about making videos or making content

[06:31] then that didn't really apply to you and

[06:32] you've probably bounced anyway but if

[06:33] you're at this point right now I

[06:35] guarantee it's because you're trying to

[06:36] figure out how to make videos to perform

[06:37] better so this built common ground with

[06:39] you which is my target viewer okay so

[06:41] that's step one so context about the

[06:42] video and I got you leaning in so now

[06:44] what's next the next thing I said was

[06:46] this but here's the thing I'm not going

[06:47] to give you a list of 25 proven viral

[06:50] hooks cuz that's not what you need this

[06:51] is the scroll stop interjection the stop

[06:53] sign the red light the stun gun and this

[06:55] stops you in your tracks because I'm

[06:57] reiterating what you've ially heard in

[07:00] the past typically you see creators talk

[07:02] about the list of the 40 best proven

[07:04] Hooks and then they give you the list

[07:05] but you know this isn't the answer I

[07:07] know that's not the answer so I'm using

[07:09] that embedded belief in your head that

[07:11] you know it's not the answer to stun you

[07:13] into waiting to see what comes next this

[07:15] is just the setup line to give the

[07:17] contrarian Snapback but it works

[07:19] especially well here because you and I

[07:21] both know that conventional wisdom

[07:23] doesn't work and so I'm playing on that

[07:25] embedded subconscious belief okay so so

[07:27] far you've stopped the car and you've

[07:28] exited off the highway now how do I get

[07:30] you to turn around that is step three so

[07:32] what did I do next this is the last

[07:34] thing I said what you need is to

[07:36] understand the psychology behind why

[07:38] those hooks worked and then the tactics

[07:40] for how to use that psychology in your

[07:42] own stuff and this is the contrarian

[07:44] Snapback because most people have heard

[07:46] the word psychology whether you study

[07:47] psychology or not you've heard the word

[07:49] psychology and you have a suspicion as I

[07:51] delivered it that that actually would

[07:53] result in some surprise or secret

[07:55] information that's way deeper than the

[07:57] conventional wisdom you hear that and

[07:59] you believe that to be true so I've

[08:01] snapped you back off the conventional

[08:02] wisdom back to this psychology frame

[08:05] which is what I'm talking about so when

[08:06] I say hey if you want to achieve X don't

[08:08] do y do Z and if you want to achieve X

[08:10] you're going to listen it works every

[08:12] time the key though is that you need Z

[08:14] to actually be compelling which in this

[08:16] case I think it is this is actually the

[08:17] formula I use and I know it's proven to

[08:18] work if you just do this game but then

[08:20] you don't actually have anything at the

[08:21] end of the rainbow people would just

[08:23] churn and you're a fraud so this formula

[08:25] Works in all types of videos it's not

[08:26] just short form long form and it works

[08:28] everywhere else anytime of content in

[08:30] conversation in life this is BAS

[08:32] psychology 101 context lean scroll stop

[08:34] interjection contrarian Snapback now

[08:36] implementing this in every different

[08:38] video and every different use case

[08:40] that's what takes reps in practice that

[08:42] is not easy and because it's so hard I'm

[08:43] actually building a software that's

[08:45] going to do all this for you

[08:46] automatically not just the hooks but the

[08:48] entire script you'll just put in the

[08:50] topic and I will take all the content

[08:52] Frameworks and psychology baselines that

[08:54] I understand and we'll just write the

[08:55] script and the hook for you to make the

[08:57] video compelling 60 Minutes of script

[08:59] writing work distill down into 60

[09:01] seconds that's what we're going for it's

[09:02] called sand castles now we haven't

[09:04] launched it yet it's coming soon the

[09:05] beta is going to drop soon we have a

[09:06] massive weight list make sure you're on

[09:08] that weight list because we're going to

[09:09] have a launch price that's going to be

[09:11] lower than we ever offer and anyone on

[09:13] that weight list is going to get it so

[09:14] sand castle. we're going to help with

[09:16] all this automated script writing and

[09:17] hooking all right so now that we walk

[09:18] through the base psychology and the

[09:20] formula which is really important to

[09:21] cover up first let me go through some

[09:22] extra things that will really help you

[09:24] sauce up your hooks on top of that

[09:26] Foundation cuz I promised six and that

[09:28] formula was technically one so here's

[09:30] the other five all right the second

[09:31] thing is visual hooks I say this a lot

[09:34] but visual hooks are so so so critical

[09:36] in the video I cannot overstate the

[09:38] importance visual hooks are probably 100

[09:40] times more powerful than just spoken

[09:42] word Hooks and it's because people read

[09:44] faster than they can hear or that they

[09:46] can visually comprehend a full video

[09:49] scene I've said this on many other

[09:50] videos but if you just put title text

[09:53] your videos will do so much better so

[09:54] Step One is put three to five words on

[09:56] the screen in a big bold font that helps

[09:58] build that context lean if you can speak

[10:00] it in one to two sentences can you write

[10:02] three to five words and distill that

[10:04] message down a good example of this is

[10:06] in my video about life siiz floor plans

[10:08] this video got like 15 million views

[10:10] check this out these are called

[10:11] life-size floor plans I use the text

[10:13] future of Home Design and life-sized

[10:15] floor plans with arrows to quickly

[10:17] establish the context and I used future

[10:20] of Home Designs instead of Life-Size

[10:21] floor plans at the beginning because

[10:23] lify floor plans is kind of the name of

[10:25] the thing and I didn't want to risk

[10:26] misunderstanding that is how critical

[10:28] and in detail I get get with these

[10:29] visual hooks that's how important they

[10:31] are now the second piece of the visual

[10:32] Hook is the visual itself you want the

[10:35] most compelling visual possible with

[10:37] enough motion to hold their attention

[10:39] it's like when a deer sees something out

[10:40] of the corner of their eye in their

[10:41] Woods they're going to stop and they're

[10:42] going to look and they're going to see

[10:43] it you want that same effect with your

[10:45] visual too much motion and you're going

[10:47] to overwhelm them and it'll miss the

[10:48] context too little motion and you're

[10:50] going to bore them and they may churn

[10:51] you need just enough motion sometimes

[10:53] this motion could be a girl in a get

[10:55] ready with me putting their hair up kind

[10:57] of leaning forward and leaning back that

[10:59] sometimes is just enough motion to stun

[11:01] the viewer into holding and watching for

[11:03] more this famous Colin and Samir video

[11:05] about the Rayband metas this has 60

[11:06] million views the reason this went so

[11:08] viral in my opinion is because the

[11:10] initial clip has the perfect amount of

[11:12] Rapid motion and then him in the mirror

[11:14] that motion holds and allows them to

[11:17] talk about the point which eventually

[11:19] convinces them that the ray band metas

[11:20] are cool so motion is so critical in the

[11:22] visual hook the combo of text on screen

[11:24] plus the motion in the video plus the

[11:26] spoken word that combo is way more power

[11:29] F than just a spoken word now the third

[11:31] and fourth tips are about helping you

[11:33] build that common ground that I talked

[11:34] about in the context lean the third

[11:36] piece is also based psychology it's that

[11:38] people like hearing things that they're

[11:40] already interested in but they're open

[11:42] to hearing New Perspectives on it if

[11:44] they think that New Perspective will

[11:45] unlock a benefit or solve a pain point

[11:48] that they have in the category so if you

[11:50] make a video about magnesium as a

[11:52] supplement an average way to write that

[11:54] hook would be something like you should

[11:55] be taking magnesium because it's one of

[11:57] 21 core building block minerals it's

[11:59] kind of decent but it requires a

[12:00] previous understanding about magnesium

[12:02] and doesn't really talk about a benefit

[12:04] or pain point a better context lean here

[12:07] would be something like if you want

[12:08] better sleep you need to be taking

[12:10] magnesium this leads with the benefit of

[12:13] talking about better sleep and then

[12:14] introduces magnesium as a potential

[12:17] solve even if someone is against

[12:18] supplements or against magnesium they

[12:20] will likely wait and hear you out

[12:22] because their desire to solve the pain

[12:24] of not sleeping well is so strong when

[12:26] you're riding hooks you always want to

[12:28] think about what the benefit fit or

[12:29] paino solve is to the Target viewer and

[12:32] then work that in if you can all right

[12:34] now the fourth piece to building the

[12:35] common ground is cult hopping and I've

[12:37] talked about this before when people

[12:38] hear something that they've heard before

[12:40] it unlocks a comfort in their

[12:42] subconscious and the opposite is true it

[12:44] sounds weird but if you hear a bunch of

[12:45] stuff You' never heard before you start

[12:47] to feel dumb and you don't like that

[12:48] feeling so you bounce away this is why

[12:50] if you tried to listen to an advanced

[12:52] physics lecture and you've never taken a

[12:54] physics class you would likely feel

[12:55] super dumb and not want to listen to it

[12:57] so when you're making videos about com

[12:59] complex or Niche topics you need to find

[13:01] a way to wrap the unknown idea in

[13:04] something that is known some common

[13:06] layer and one way to do this is what I

[13:08] call cult hopping this is taking a known

[13:10] brand or a celebrity or a movement or

[13:12] some cultural reference and using it as

[13:15] a metaphor or a comparison around your

[13:17] point for example if you make videos

[13:19] about complex tax planning maybe you

[13:21] talk about how Taylor Swift's financial

[13:23] advisor would plan her estate around the

[13:26] arist Tor earnings she just made or

[13:28] maybe you just reference her in a group

[13:29] of celebrities when you talk about the

[13:30] elite level of wealth that you serve

[13:32] using these references is a really easy

[13:34] way to establish that common ground and

[13:36] it's subconscious but it creates comfort

[13:38] for the viewer and you don't need to

[13:39] make your full piece of content around

[13:41] that celebrity or brand but this will

[13:43] help you draft off The credibility and

[13:45] the popularity of something that already

[13:47] exists when you're still smaller and

[13:49] growing all right tip number five is to

[13:51] compress speed to value and this is a

[13:53] say I use a lot especially when I'm

[13:54] talking about short form video when you

[13:56] make a piece of content you should feel

[13:57] like you have a timer Counting down in

[13:59] your head before that content explodes

[14:01] and no one pays attention to it for

[14:02] short form that timer is about 4 seconds

[14:04] for YouTube videos that timer is maybe 1

[14:06] to 2 minutes so you need to find a way

[14:08] to compress the time to demonstrate

[14:10] initial value to before that explosion

[14:13] line and that applies to both

[14:14] educational and entertainment content

[14:16] the best way to do this is to give a

[14:18] little hit of value right at the front

[14:20] either in the hook or right after the

[14:21] hook because you don't want to bury your

[14:23] best stuff think of it like this

[14:24] anything you make after they click off

[14:26] might as well be a black screen cuz

[14:27] they're not going to see it you should

[14:29] frontload the value as much as possible

[14:31] you're not going for full completion

[14:33] your super fans will watch the full

[14:34] video you want to frontload the value as

[14:36] much as possible to eek out an extra 30

[14:38] seconds at a time now I find that as

[14:39] long as that first hit of value is

[14:41] unique and helpful they will typically

[14:43] stay around long enough to give you a

[14:44] chance to show your second hit of value

[14:46] that same logic that we apply with a

[14:48] curiosity Loop should apply to this

[14:50] value Loop give context immediate value

[14:52] give context immediate value frontload

[14:54] that as much as possible ideally you can

[14:56] inject that first hit of value within

[14:58] the hook that's when you're really

[14:59] masterful but if you can't do it in the

[15:00] hook do it right after the hook to keep

[15:03] them all right now the sixth super

[15:04] tactical tip is to make your hook

[15:06] sentences staccato and if you don't know

[15:08] what staccato means staccato is a type

[15:10] of note in music that is short T that's

[15:12] staccato now I talked about in my

[15:14] storytelling video which I'll link at

[15:15] the end of this how it's good to vary

[15:18] the length of your sentences to create a

[15:19] diverse Rhythm and that is true for the

[15:21] whole video but for the hook up front

[15:23] you want to compress short sentences as

[15:26] much as you can and the reason why you

[15:27] do this is because shorter sentences

[15:29] force you to achieve Max Clarity it

[15:31] increases the density of value per word

[15:34] at the beginning and when time is at a

[15:36] premium at the beginning of the video

[15:37] you want to increase density value per

[15:39] word as much as you can go shorter

[15:41] initially and then expand to medium and

[15:43] longer as the video extends all right as

[15:45] you can tell a lot of this is just

[15:47] getting the Reps in and continuing to

[15:49] iterate and learn how to do this make

[15:51] this subconscious there are dozens of

[15:53] other tips that I didn't have time for

[15:54] in this video that I also try to infuse

[15:56] as well it's all about the Reps now this

[15:58] takes time I've spent thousands of hours

[16:00] doing this myself what you really need

[16:02] are reps and then guidance from somebody

[16:04] who has more reps than you and this is

[16:06] the type of thing that I help people

[16:07] with in short form Academy right now the

[16:09] academy is closed but make sure if this

[16:11] is the thing you need help with and

[16:12] you're interested in be on the wait list

[16:13] short form. Academy we'll let you know

[16:15] first when we reopen and also guys check

[16:17] out all the free resources that I have

[16:19] in the description I'm not lying when I

[16:20] say this I put almost all of my best

[16:22] stuff out for free it's all in the

[16:24] description you just have to click

[16:25] subscribe and I will send the stuff to

[16:27] you so make sure to check that out if

[16:28] you're you're struggling make sure

[16:29] you're on the wait list for sand castles

[16:31] and we'll see you guys on the next video

[16:33] peace