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

today we're talking about hooks if you
want your videos to perform better you
have to make better hooks but here's the
thing I'm not going to give you a list
of 25 proven viral hooks cuz that's not
what you need what you need is to
understand the psychology behind why
those hooks worked and then the tactics
for how to use that psychology in your
own stuff so these are going to be the
six best ways to improve your hooks
immediately and if you do all of these I
guarantee your videos will perform
better I know this works cuz content is
all I do I have almost a million
followers billions of views and these
are the secrets for how I go viral
whenever I want all right tip number one
is actually the mega tip it's my full
three-step hook formula and this is how
I look at social media you are driving
down the highway at 70 mph I need you to
see something stop turn around and come
back the other way so how do I get you
to do that the way I do that is by
building a curiosity Loop and this is
one of the base Commandments in
storytelling if you want to tell a great
story you need the viewer to watch the
first line and feel so compelled that
they can't dream of doing anything else
then watching the second line and the
third line and so on the domino effect
this is the Curiosity Loop and the
deeper the loop the more Curious you are
The more I've hooked you so the question
is how do I do that in just three or
four sentences and the answer is that I
built a formula that does this every
single time it's three steps the first
step is what I call the context lean in
the first line or two I need to do two
things one I need to be super clear
about what the video is actually about
topic Clarity and this is so you as the
viewer can self- select in in or out
based on your interest if I'm talking
about investing and you don't care about
investing I actually don't want to trick
you into watching the video because
you're not my target viewer but if you
do care about investing I want to Signal
this to you as soon as possible so I
need to give you immediate context about
the topic the second thing I need to do
is get you leaning in context lean the
more you lean in the more Curious you
are these are the easiest ways to get
somebody to lean in establish Common
Ground reference a benefit or pain point
they may have use a metaphor to simplify
a complex idea or tell them something so
interesting it blows their mind you need
them to be connected and feel like what
you're talking about relates to them in
some way let's go through an example one
of my videos this is the sphere video I
made that got 8 million views I want you
to just watch the first two lines the
tech in the Vegas sphere is insane
biggest screen ever built 20 times
bigger than an IMAX right away I'm
telling you exactly what the context of
the video is the sphere and the tech
inside and I'm getting you to lean in by
talking about the SC screen showing it
and referencing to how much bigger it is
than an IMAX something you may have
known now this is taking the show you
something interesting to blow your mind
route of the options and of course not
everyone is going to be interested in
this video but if you heard about the
sphere or care about tech in venues
you're going to be leaning in okay so
that's step one now step two is what I
call the scroll stop interjection this
is a single line meant to act like a
stun gun I need you to start leaning in
and then immediately I need you to stop
being able to move forward like you ran
into a window and the best way to do
this in practice is is by using a
contrasting word I like to use the word
but but you could use things like
however yet although therefore on the
other hand things like that and this is
more just meant to be a setup line for
the haym maker that's coming in step
three but in order for them to accept
the hay maker you need to stun them
first now back in the sphere example
let's watch both the context lean and
the scroll stop interjection together
the tech in the Vegas sphere is insane
biggest screen ever built 20 times
bigger than an IMAX but get this the
screen is actually the least impressive
part of the whole thing so at this point
I've kind of stunned you right I first
established context and got you leaning
in about how interesting the sphere is
talking about the TCH and the screen but
then I stunned you and told you the
screen is actually not impressive at all
at this point you're like what could
possibly be coming next I the screen
looks huge I can see it in the visuals
and this is the Curiosity Loop that is
building you wondering what is coming
next is replacing any thought that could
be distracting you and send you anywhere
else all right time for step three this
is the haym maker I call it the
contrarian Snapback now the contrarian
Snapback is a sentence that goes in the
opposite direction of the initial lean
it's still on topic but it snaps the
viewer back on a different path and the
bigger the shock the bigger the snap the
better the effect so let's finish the
sphar example now with all three parts
the tech in the Vegas sphere is insane
biggest screen ever built 20 times
bigger than an IMAX but get this the
screen is actually the least impressive
part of the whole thing because the most
impressive part is the audio this is
going to blow your mind at this point
I've got you hookline and sinker I
established context immediately I got
you leaning in the case that you were
interested in something about the screen
or something new you hadn't seen before
then I stunned you and played the Uno
reverse card snapping you back in a
different direction instead of talking
about the screen now I'm talking about
the audio that is the Snapback at this
point you are fully hooked and fully
curious about what comes next you can't
dream of doing anything else other than
learning how this audio is more
impressive than the biggest screen ever
built that's hookline and sinker now it
turns out if you go back and you analyze
best performing content from any Creator
across any medium a lot of it follows
this exact same formula and it doesn't
just have to be the big new style
entertainment Style video type content
if I'm making content as a real estate
agent and I'm purely looking to drive
leads to my real estate practice pure
B2B I could say something like this
there are three massive mistakes people
are making with their mortgage the
average person pays an extra $122,000
per year now most people think it's
because of high interest rates but it
turns out it has nothing to do with that
because the biggest waste of money is
actually coming from see what I did
there now I don't know anything about
real estate I don't know what the right
answer to that is but just that hook
setup even without me knowing any
context I can get you leaning one way
and then the other and if you're a real
estate agent and you make content in
that format I guarantee that would drive
so many leads it would build you as
Authority in your category that's what
you want to do that hook format works
every category every space and if you
don't believe it works I'm going to do a
magic trick because I use the same
psychology formula on you for the hook
in this video and if you're still
watching that proves it worked let me
show you exactly what I did so I started
off by saying
this today we're talking about hooks if
you want your videos to perform better
you have to make better hooks so right
away this was me giving context on
exactly what the video is about hooks
but also creating common ground and
getting you to lean in around the
benefit of making better videos If you
figure out how to make better hooks this
started building the Curiosity Loop in
your mind now if you watch just those
two sentences and you don't really care
about making videos or making content
then that didn't really apply to you and
you've probably bounced anyway but if
you're at this point right now I
guarantee it's because you're trying to
figure out how to make videos to perform
better so this built common ground with
you which is my target viewer okay so
that's step one so context about the
video and I got you leaning in so now
what's next the next thing I said was
this but here's the thing I'm not going
to give you a list of 25 proven viral
hooks cuz that's not what you need this
is the scroll stop interjection the stop
sign the red light the stun gun and this
stops you in your tracks because I'm
reiterating what you've ially heard in
the past typically you see creators talk
about the list of the 40 best proven
Hooks and then they give you the list
but you know this isn't the answer I
know that's not the answer so I'm using
that embedded belief in your head that
you know it's not the answer to stun you
into waiting to see what comes next this
is just the setup line to give the
contrarian Snapback but it works
especially well here because you and I
both know that conventional wisdom
doesn't work and so I'm playing on that
embedded subconscious belief okay so so
far you've stopped the car and you've
exited off the highway now how do I get
you to turn around that is step three so
what did I do next this is the last
thing I said what you need is to
understand the psychology behind why
those hooks worked and then the tactics
for how to use that psychology in your
own stuff and this is the contrarian
Snapback because most people have heard
the word psychology whether you study
psychology or not you've heard the word
psychology and you have a suspicion as I
delivered it that that actually would
result in some surprise or secret
information that's way deeper than the
conventional wisdom you hear that and
you believe that to be true so I've
snapped you back off the conventional
wisdom back to this psychology frame
which is what I'm talking about so when
I say hey if you want to achieve X don't
do y do Z and if you want to achieve X
you're going to listen it works every
time the key though is that you need Z
to actually be compelling which in this
case I think it is this is actually the
formula I use and I know it's proven to
work if you just do this game but then
you don't actually have anything at the
end of the rainbow people would just
churn and you're a fraud so this formula
Works in all types of videos it's not
just short form long form and it works
everywhere else anytime of content in
conversation in life this is BAS
psychology 101 context lean scroll stop
interjection contrarian Snapback now
implementing this in every different
video and every different use case
that's what takes reps in practice that
is not easy and because it's so hard I'm
actually building a software that's
going to do all this for you
automatically not just the hooks but the
entire script you'll just put in the
topic and I will take all the content
Frameworks and psychology baselines that
I understand and we'll just write the
script and the hook for you to make the
video compelling 60 Minutes of script
writing work distill down into 60
seconds that's what we're going for it's
called sand castles now we haven't
launched it yet it's coming soon the
beta is going to drop soon we have a
massive weight list make sure you're on
that weight list because we're going to
have a launch price that's going to be
lower than we ever offer and anyone on
that weight list is going to get it so
sand castle. we're going to help with
all this automated script writing and
hooking all right so now that we walk
through the base psychology and the
formula which is really important to
cover up first let me go through some
extra things that will really help you
sauce up your hooks on top of that
Foundation cuz I promised six and that
formula was technically one so here's
the other five all right the second
thing is visual hooks I say this a lot
but visual hooks are so so so critical
in the video I cannot overstate the
importance visual hooks are probably 100
times more powerful than just spoken
word Hooks and it's because people read
faster than they can hear or that they
can visually comprehend a full video
scene I've said this on many other
videos but if you just put title text
your videos will do so much better so
Step One is put three to five words on
the screen in a big bold font that helps
build that context lean if you can speak
it in one to two sentences can you write
three to five words and distill that
message down a good example of this is
in my video about life siiz floor plans
this video got like 15 million views
check this out these are called
life-size floor plans I use the text
future of Home Design and life-sized
floor plans with arrows to quickly
establish the context and I used future
of Home Designs instead of Life-Size
floor plans at the beginning because
lify floor plans is kind of the name of
the thing and I didn't want to risk
misunderstanding that is how critical
and in detail I get get with these
visual hooks that's how important they
are now the second piece of the visual
Hook is the visual itself you want the
most compelling visual possible with
enough motion to hold their attention
it's like when a deer sees something out
of the corner of their eye in their
Woods they're going to stop and they're
going to look and they're going to see
it you want that same effect with your
visual too much motion and you're going
to overwhelm them and it'll miss the
context too little motion and you're
going to bore them and they may churn
you need just enough motion sometimes
this motion could be a girl in a get
ready with me putting their hair up kind
of leaning forward and leaning back that
sometimes is just enough motion to stun
the viewer into holding and watching for
more this famous Colin and Samir video
about the Rayband metas this has 60
million views the reason this went so
viral in my opinion is because the
initial clip has the perfect amount of
Rapid motion and then him in the mirror
that motion holds and allows them to
talk about the point which eventually
convinces them that the ray band metas
are cool so motion is so critical in the
visual hook the combo of text on screen
plus the motion in the video plus the
spoken word that combo is way more power
F than just a spoken word now the third
and fourth tips are about helping you
build that common ground that I talked
about in the context lean the third
piece is also based psychology it's that
people like hearing things that they're
already interested in but they're open
to hearing New Perspectives on it if
they think that New Perspective will
unlock a benefit or solve a pain point
that they have in the category so if you
make a video about magnesium as a
supplement an average way to write that
hook would be something like you should
be taking magnesium because it's one of
21 core building block minerals it's
kind of decent but it requires a
previous understanding about magnesium
and doesn't really talk about a benefit
or pain point a better context lean here
would be something like if you want
better sleep you need to be taking
magnesium this leads with the benefit of
talking about better sleep and then
introduces magnesium as a potential
solve even if someone is against
supplements or against magnesium they
will likely wait and hear you out
because their desire to solve the pain
of not sleeping well is so strong when
you're riding hooks you always want to
think about what the benefit fit or
paino solve is to the Target viewer and
then work that in if you can all right
now the fourth piece to building the
common ground is cult hopping and I've
talked about this before when people
hear something that they've heard before
it unlocks a comfort in their
subconscious and the opposite is true it
sounds weird but if you hear a bunch of
stuff You' never heard before you start
to feel dumb and you don't like that
feeling so you bounce away this is why
if you tried to listen to an advanced
physics lecture and you've never taken a
physics class you would likely feel
super dumb and not want to listen to it
so when you're making videos about com
complex or Niche topics you need to find
a way to wrap the unknown idea in
something that is known some common
layer and one way to do this is what I
call cult hopping this is taking a known
brand or a celebrity or a movement or
some cultural reference and using it as
a metaphor or a comparison around your
point for example if you make videos
about complex tax planning maybe you
talk about how Taylor Swift's financial
advisor would plan her estate around the
arist Tor earnings she just made or
maybe you just reference her in a group
of celebrities when you talk about the
elite level of wealth that you serve
using these references is a really easy
way to establish that common ground and
it's subconscious but it creates comfort
for the viewer and you don't need to
make your full piece of content around
that celebrity or brand but this will
help you draft off The credibility and
the popularity of something that already
exists when you're still smaller and
growing all right tip number five is to
compress speed to value and this is a
say I use a lot especially when I'm
talking about short form video when you
make a piece of content you should feel
like you have a timer Counting down in
your head before that content explodes
and no one pays attention to it for
short form that timer is about 4 seconds
for YouTube videos that timer is maybe 1
to 2 minutes so you need to find a way
to compress the time to demonstrate
initial value to before that explosion
line and that applies to both
educational and entertainment content
the best way to do this is to give a
little hit of value right at the front
either in the hook or right after the
hook because you don't want to bury your
best stuff think of it like this
anything you make after they click off
might as well be a black screen cuz
they're not going to see it you should
frontload the value as much as possible
you're not going for full completion
your super fans will watch the full
video you want to frontload the value as
much as possible to eek out an extra 30
seconds at a time now I find that as
long as that first hit of value is
unique and helpful they will typically
stay around long enough to give you a
chance to show your second hit of value
that same logic that we apply with a
curiosity Loop should apply to this
value Loop give context immediate value
give context immediate value frontload
that as much as possible ideally you can
inject that first hit of value within
the hook that's when you're really
masterful but if you can't do it in the
hook do it right after the hook to keep
them all right now the sixth super
tactical tip is to make your hook
sentences staccato and if you don't know
what staccato means staccato is a type
of note in music that is short T that's
staccato now I talked about in my
storytelling video which I'll link at
the end of this how it's good to vary
the length of your sentences to create a
diverse Rhythm and that is true for the
whole video but for the hook up front
you want to compress short sentences as
much as you can and the reason why you
do this is because shorter sentences
force you to achieve Max Clarity it
increases the density of value per word
at the beginning and when time is at a
premium at the beginning of the video
you want to increase density value per
word as much as you can go shorter
initially and then expand to medium and
longer as the video extends all right as
you can tell a lot of this is just
getting the Reps in and continuing to
iterate and learn how to do this make
this subconscious there are dozens of
other tips that I didn't have time for
in this video that I also try to infuse
as well it's all about the Reps now this
takes time I've spent thousands of hours
doing this myself what you really need
are reps and then guidance from somebody
who has more reps than you and this is
the type of thing that I help people
with in short form Academy right now the
academy is closed but make sure if this
is the thing you need help with and
you're interested in be on the wait list
short form. Academy we'll let you know
first when we reopen and also guys check
out all the free resources that I have
in the description I'm not lying when I
say this I put almost all of my best
stuff out for free it's all in the
description you just have to click
subscribe and I will send the stuff to
you so make sure to check that out if
you're you're struggling make sure
you're on the wait list for sand castles
and we'll see you guys on the next video
peace