The core theme is that the first few seconds of a YouTube Short are critically important for capturing viewer attention and driving engagement, requiring a strategic approach to hook viewers and maintain their interest throughout the video.
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This video I uploaded got 34 million
views, whilst this one only got 30,000.
Why? Well, it's all because of the first
couple seconds. Your hook is by far the
most important part of any YouTube
short. And after thousands of hours and
billions of views, I finally figured out
how to make the perfect intro. I'm going
to start by telling you the three most
important tips for writing your hook.
And then I'll break down each individual
sentence in a script. pretty much
showing you how important every single
second is. The number one most vital
part about writing your intro is that
you need to get straight to the point.
You are literally fighting for attention
every time you start a YouTube short
because it doesn't require attention for
people to watch your video. They just
scroll, see it, and they'll only decide
to watch you if you've provided enough
information for them to stick around to
the end. Secondly, everything you write
in your intro has to lead up to the
payoff of your video. We'll talk about
this in a sec, but pretty much every
single word I write in my scripts is so
calculated to the point that I know it's
going to happen in the next 30 seconds,
so I can lead them perfectly into it.
So, if you don't tease the viewer and
really make them interested in what
you're saying, these brain rock kids are
going to scroll off your video before
they even have a chance to watch it. But
that's why lastly, it's so important to
not add any extra fluff or things that
don't contribute to what your video is
actually about. The whole point of your
short is to make the experience
satisfying and good to the viewer. And
if you're not giving them what they
want, aka the satisfying point of the
video where they think, "Okay, I clicked
on this and I'm happy." You're going to
see your attention dip like this, which
is exactly what you don't want in order
to make your video go viral and start
making you some money. The algorithm can
immediately detect when a viewer gets
bored from your video. And all it takes
is one bad sentence. So that's why I'm
about to take you through every sentence
of a typical script, one by one, and
give you the best advice I know on how
to perfect each word. Oh, and at the
end, I'm going to get a YouTube shorts
expert making over $20,000 a month to
critique my advice to see if what I'm
about to teach you actually works. I'm
pretty confident I will.
>> Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Exactly. That's
pretty good. That's a good one.
>> Like I said, the best hook catches your
audience's attention instantly with
either super eye-catching visuals or
even psychological triggers that can
pretty much guarantee they are going to
be interested. For example, the reason
why this video shown in the intro did so
well is because it's extremely
controversial. I mean, literally, just
watch the first few seconds.
>> Have you ever wondered why Asian people
have such small eyes?
>> At first glance, what's being said in
that intro sounds insane, but if you
think about it, we're adding a
controversial figure in the first couple
seconds that almost everybody can
recognize. It's interesting. A lot of
people will have wondered this before,
been too afraid to ask about the topic,
but now we're literally giving them
permission to be curious about it in a
funny and enticing way. Whilst you watch
this though, compare it to the video
that completely flawed.
>> Have you ever experienced a weird
feeling that something has already
happened before, even though you know it hasn't?
hasn't?
>> The concept isn't interesting. The
visuals are kind of ass. And at first
glance, they should be super obvious why
the first video got so many more views
than this one. I think an even better
example is this video I uploaded on Slam
Dunk that got over 12 million views.
>> Do you know why Mr. Beast turned down $1 billion?
billion?
>> The hook is perfect and it's almost
guaranteed to catch the viewers's
interest. $1 billion is a ton of money
and you're immediately left wondering
why he declined it. The first sentence's
only job is to tell the viewer exactly
what they need to know in the most
direct way possible. There simply is not
a way to give a viewer this information
faster, but at the same time, we showed
tons of clips of Mr. beast on the screen
in super fast pace to give the viewer
that visual information as well. The
best thing about this Mr. Beast intro as
well is that everyone pretty much knows
who he is. And so using him as much as
possible in the video whilst relating it
to the context of what we're talking
about is going to get everyone's
attention to stay until after the intro.
But now that you've got their attention
for the first few seconds, what do you
actually do now? Not having a good
supporting hook is like getting a girl's
attention and then having no idea what
you're going to say to her. It's just
going to be awkward. Trust me, I'm
speaking from experience here. So, once
you've established what the video is
about and actually hooked the viewers
into the first couple seconds, you can't
let them escape. You've got their minds
focused on you, now you need to keep
them. You want to subvert the viewers
expectations, add context, and make it
even more interesting for them than they
initially thought it even could be.
Overd delivering on view expectations is
what make videos go viral. That's why
the word clickbait is so famous. You
click a video because you think there's
going to be something and then there
isn't and then you want to click off.
But what if you hook the viewer in with
something insane, but then make the rest
of the video even crazier? In this
example, the supporting hook poses two
of the most possible reasons as to why
Jimmy might have declined so much money.
It guesses what the viewer might be
thinking, but then tells them they're
totally wrong. This sends them into a
frenzy of wanting to actually figure out
what's going on. And this is the type of
psychology that you want to be using in
your videos. Don't give them what they
want right away. Make them fight for it.
Make them think they're right, but
they're actually wrong. There's so many
tactics you can be using that we're
going to get into later. But for now,
let's continue. This specific part of
the script creates a huge amount of
interest as the answer that the majority
of people were thinking get completely
ruled out. And so now they're left
wondering what the reason really is, and
they're sure of the fact that it's going
to be something that they didn't already
know, which is what actually gets them
excited. I'm not going to lie, this is
psychological manipulation, but it works
way too well. You're not just making
them curious, you're making them
actually feel smart at the same time.
You tell them they're wrong, then make
them feel as though they need to prove
their intelligence by figuring out the
real answer and watching to the end.
It's addictive, and there's a way to
exploit this even more as you go through
the video. It's also important to
remember that not all videos necessarily
need a supporting hook, as sometimes a
story is just interesting on its own.
One of our most popular videos on Slam
Dunk didn't have a supporting hook at
all. The concept of a YouTuber going to
an unconted tribe just spoke for itself.
This YouTuber discovered a forgotten
tribe of people and recorded it. Last
week, the YouTuber YBS Young Bloodoods
uploaded a video called Living on the
Forgotten Islands of Vanuatu.
>> So, we didn't need to waste time selling
the viewer further. So, congratulations.
You've got the viewers attention,
something 99% of shorts creators will
never be able to do. So, don't fumble
it. The next few sentences are just as
important as this when you set the
scene. Going into sentences three and
four is super important because this is
where all goes into setting your actual
scene for your video. At this point in
the script, I'll set a timeline or a
location. I then go into actually
developing the context of the video and
slowly lead into the payoff. I'm not the
best drawer. This is the best I could
do. Please don't get mad. See, in our
Mr. Beast video, we said that he went on
a podcast and admitted he received a
billion dollar offer from a private
company. We then quickly explain the
details of the offer, adding context to
what we just said, saying things like it
included all 18 of his channels and all
of his companies. There's no real reason
to waste time on explaining these
details too in depth because the viewers
likely already know. And if they don't,
they can figure it out from the simple
context that you provide them. So don't
insult your audience's intelligence by
overexlaining really simple things. It
won't help your attention and it might
actually kill your video. And now in
just two more sentences, the viewer
pretty much has all the context they
need to actually understand the story
that you're telling in your YouTube
short. And if we did things right, they
should actually be even more curious
now. But we're not done just yet. We
then spend maybe one or two more
sentences actually selling the stake of
the video, saying that if Mr. Beast
accepts the offer, he'd be the world's
first YouTube billionaire and the
youngest self-made billionaire of all
time. So why the hell would he turn it
down? This is crucial because now we've
just turned curiosity into an
investment. It's not just why did he say
no anymore. It's why did he give up
becoming the youngest self-made
billionaire of all time. It's a
completely different much stronger type
of interest for the exact same topic all
because we wrote it in a very specific
way. It's basic human psychology for
them to now want to keep watching. And
you can even slowly tease the viewer and
give them hints as to what the payoff
might actually be at the end. Or as I
actually put it phrased in my course
video specifically, edge them, but don't
make them come. Yeah, I don't know what
the 17-year-old version of me was doing.
But it actually works because in this
video we did about Mr. Beast's rich
janitor, we kept who it was a total
mystery until the very end. But whilst
teasing it throughout the entire video,
saying that the fans loved him, and the
comments just kept asking for way more
of him. It's possible that the viewers
might figure out what the payoff is
before it actually happens, but humans
want to be 100% right. so bad that most
of the times, as long as they're not
100% of the way there, they'll stick to
the end to figure it out. It makes a
viewer feel like they're actively
solving a puzzle and not just passively
watching content that doesn't do
anything for them, even though it's
pretty much the same thing. And that's
when in the very last few seconds of the
video, you give them exactly what they
want. In this case, it was telling the
viewers that the janitor was actually
Chandler, or in the case of the
billion-dollar deal, all we simply said
is that he denied it because he thought
the offer was too low. all of that
buildup, tension, curiosity, and
questioning to a very simple payoff that
still gives the viewer what they wanted
because we answered the question they
had been trying to figure out the entire
time. Now, the payoff is obviously the
most satisfying part of a video, but it
needs to be delivered correctly. Don't
just drag it out. Get to the point,
deliver the answer instantly, and then
end the video because the second the
viewer gets what they came for, they are
clicking off. There is absolutely no
reason for them to continue sticking
around. But there's actually one more
sentence that could skyrocket your
engagement and viewership, and that is
the call to action. This is quite
literally the only time you should ever
go off topic in a video, but even then,
it's best if you can tie it in. For
example, when we would make these Mr.
Beast videos, we would say, "Subscribe
if you love Chandler," or "Subscribe if
you knew who it was the entire time.
This way, you're asking them to do
something for you that they wouldn't
necessarily want to, but because it's
tied to the actions that they put into
the video themselves, there is a very
high chance that they could actually
engage and give you what you want,
therefore pushing that video out even
more. And that in a very digestible form
is how to write a perfect script. But
what does an actual YouTube Shorts
expert think? I hit up a guy making over
$30,000 a month posting faceless YouTube
shorts who wanted to stay anonymous for
this video and sent him a script that I
wrote following this exact same
framework. So, I'm about to hop on a
call with him and see what he rates it.
But the catch is he has no idea who I am
because I am on a completely fake
account. And after I told him who I was,
he didn't want his name in the video.
But this is what he had to say.
>> Yo, can you hear me?
>> Yes, sir.
>> I mean, it's a pretty good hook, not
going to lie. You stating off right off
the get getgo to like popular people and
you start off by saying that and stating
that I show speed hates Mr. Beast. So,
you're pretty much creating already uh a
plot for the people to make them
question, right? And then you continue
by stating, "But what could Mr. Beast
possibly have done to make the biggest
dreamer in the world this mad?" And it's
correct. You're pretty much reading the
thoughts of the people, right? So, you
give a little bit of a context. I feel
like you see where you put the5 to$10
million the pretty much the how
expensive was the I feel like it would
have been better if you would have added
that amount more in the beginning maybe
possibly even in the hook not even in
the hook but you know somewhere in the
first 5 seconds of the video.
>> Yeah. So saying something like
>> I should be hates Mr. Beast over $5
million or something along those lines
to kind of just get it in early.
>> In the payoff and even in the hook I
would have stated something like
scamming. I know for a fact whenever you
talk about scam, specifically when you
talk about Mr. Beast, however unethical
it might be, you got attached though to
to it. You know, that's the game that we play.
play.
>> I think one thing that's good in this
script is like the rehooks. So like for
example, after the context, we say, "Oh,
but how did this situation turn into
speed hating Mr. Beast?"
>> Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. You you
pretty much remind the people why
they're actually on the video to begin
with. Exactly. That's pretty good. I
like also how you added that. So, at the
end, I'm thinking you're trying to do
like the loop effect on the video. Is
that right?
>> Yeah, exactly. One thing as well is I
think for the payoff, I wanted to keep
it like as short and sweet as possible
because after all the context, I just
wanted to get straight into what the
reason for all of this was because once
people get the information that they
want, there's no reason for them to be
around for a video anymore.
>> Exactly. Exactly. That's why the path
should always be in the third quarter of
the video. So, um yeah, that that would
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