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I Studied 100 Viral Hooks, These 6 Will Make You Go Viral

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Core Theme

The core theme is that the effectiveness of social media videos hinges on a strong "hook," which is the initial 3-5 seconds designed to create curiosity and prevent viewers from scrolling away. Mastering six specific hook formats and aligning visual, audio, and text elements is crucial for maximizing viewer engagement and achieving viral success.

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the biggest difference between winning

and losing on social media is the hook

this is the 8020 of video if you want

your videos to perform better you need

to focus on leveling up your hooks now

I've studied thousands of videos and it

turns out all of the best performers

only use six different hook formats if

you know these six you're set so in this

video I'm going to break all that down

first we're going to walk through all

six hook formats with examples and then

I'm going to give you a full playbook

for how to actually write winning hooks

on your own I guarantee this this will

be the best video on hooks you ever

watch and I know this works because I've

done billions of views myself using

these exact same methods all right now

first before anything else we need to

understand the psychology behind how

hooks work this is super important hooks

are designed for one reason to create a

curiosity Loop think of it like a rabbit

hole in the viewer's brain we need to

get them curious enough about the topic

that they couldn't dream of doing

anything else other than watching our

video now the best way to create that

Curiosity Loop is with contrast the

viewer starts the video believing one

thing and then we introduce an

alternative in the hook they believe a

we show them B and the distance between

A and B is contrast the bigger the

contrast the more the Curiosity and the

deeper the hook it really is as simple

as that but the hard part is you only

have 5 Seconds to make it stick so each

of these six hook formats are

specifically designed to create that

contrast and build the Curiosity Loop

all right now the first hook format is

called the fortune teller and it's all

about positioning the the present

against the future the Creator is using

some scenario or question to build

curiosity about how the future might

change so this could mean saying

something like that new microwave is

going to change cooking forever or that

little blue light is going to impact

traffic moving forward here are a couple

other examples of the fortun teller hook

in action we're witnessing one of the

largest breakthroughs in marketing this

is the future of animation and this

fortune teller hook format Works super

well because the human brain is designed

to constantly think about the future so

it's playing into that so the Tactical

steps for using this hook format would

be a establish what the current reality

is B figure out how the future might

change based on the video subject and C

frame a question or statement teasing

that new future as a possibility and

this format is great for breaking news

product Innovations really anybody

that's trying to build Authority or

interest around knowing the future of

some topic and again I'm going through

all six of these base formats first so

we can build that Baseline before going

deeper tactically into how to actually

write the hooks and I'll go through that

in a minute okay now the second hook

format is called the experimentor and

this one is all about the Creator

showcasing how something works using a

demo or experiment and specifically this

is angled as peer-to-peer it's one

friend showing another what they learned

or came across so the contrast that's

being built is coming from I used to do

something this way I figured out some

method or format let me show you how now

I'm doing this thing this way and here

are a couple examples of the experiment

format in action does anything look

weird about this shot to you I actually

don't have have a camera in my hands I'm

recording with these glasses on my face

these are the rayan meta smart glasses

and they're about to change the way that

we create this right here is the brand

new cha gbt agent that literally

controls your browser and does tasks for

you and this is an 11-step process and

we're going to see if it does it now I

especially love the Colin and Samir one

because Samir is actually showing how

the glasses work in the hook as well he

doesn't have to use the hook to Tee It

Up in the future because the glasses

camera is the subject itself and that

video did 50 million views for a reason

and a lot of Mr Beast videos fall into

this hook category as well he doesn't

always explicitly explain them as

experiments but he's basically doing

human experiments and then letting you

watch in real time to see what happens

so the Tactical steps for using the

experiment hook framework are to a

establish the base pain point that needs

solving B show that you solved the paino

or tried some new method or tool with an

experiment and then C walk through why

that new experiment or solve is

different and help solve the paino

better and this format is great for

product demos new Frameworks it's also

great for B2B trying to Showcase how

your tool or product works this is also

the same hook framework where those

people that make the elaborate outdoor

structures camping or building a log

cabin by hand this the same format

they're using as well and before we keep

going if you like the way I break this

content stuff down using the metaphors

and the names to make it a little bit

easier I actually did the exact same

thing around virality how does virality

work breaking into a formula you can

actually grabb that it's a free 5-day

email course called The virality

Blueprint explains Concepts like this

but in way more depth you can grab that

there's a link below or go to virality

blueprint.com and you can sign up all

right let's keep going now the third

hook format is called the teacher and

this one is similar to the experimenter

except that instead of going peerto peer

it's going more teacher to student and

instead of showing things with a live

experiment it's more showing them by

Framing a lesson so it's kind of like

I'm the teacher of this topic I just saw

somebody who solved X with Y method let

me break that down and explain to you

how they did it again the contrast is

coming from you're failing at this thing

I found a new way to do it let me

explain how to do it so that you can

start winning and here's a few examples

of the teacher format in action three

things you can learn from aritzia here's

how I got this shot I made this Ecom

brand a million dollar in 12 hours using

something called the product drop method

and again these are all teaching setups

so it's either the Creator tried

something and extracted the lessons and

is now teaching it not like experiment

but teaching the methods or they studied

someone else who solved that thing and

then is now teaching those lessons back

either way it's show by teaching and so

the Tactical steps for using this one

would be a establish the base paino B

show that you have a solve through some

set of learnings or method and then see

walk them through why the process or

steps worked because of your solve and

this format is super good for anybody

who's trying to build Authority in the

category or become an expert to then

sell that expertise okay now the fourth

hook framework is a little bit different

than the other five it's called the

magician and it can be used as a

precursor or in combination with the

rest of them now the magician is

basically a stun gun it's strategically

using visuals and or language like hey

look at that to visually Force the

viewer's attention to a specific thing

in the visual and it's usually something

outlandish or just rhythmic and Visually

Pops to stop the scroll now there are a

ton of amazing examples of people who do

this China

CH what's up mttv chis yo check this out

so president Trump just ordered the

Resurgence of a 1980s plan for nuclear

war in space let me explain so this can

either be executed with some visual stun

tactic like what Carl Shakur uses the

kind of snap click or it could be the

spoken words themselves like look at

that crazy thing and really forcing the

attention my favorite example of this is

the neon sign guy who starts out as

Trump with the wig makes a joke in the

voice and then throws the wig off and

immediately starts talking about the

neon signs I've been using this on my

own videos for the last 30 or so where I

start all the videos saying check this

out really quick and I roll into the

first line with it check us out this

check out this check out this check out

this it just gives that kind of unique

signature pattern that people recognize

audibly when they hear it another great

way to achieve the magician is with

something called a visual pacifier now

this is an activity that the subject is

doing passively which holds just enough

of your subconscious attention to let

you focus on the thing this could either

be like Alex Earl doing her makeup or

this guy in this example stacking the

cups it's the same psychological reason

why people make those GTA Gam gameplay

videos the split screen and you see the

car driving through the course on one

end and then the clip on the other it

holds just enough subconscious attention

to get you to focus and not churn on the

main thing and I say this format is

different because you can combine the

magician with any of the other five a

lot of people stack them so they use the

magician immediately as a visual stun

gun and then layer on one of the other

five below so tactically to do this you

either want to find some visual some

sound or some signature thing that you

can tie to your videos to kind of stun

that's atypical and stops that scroll

all right now the fifth hook format is

called the investigator and this one is

super common with this format you're

basically trying to create contrast

against some unknown secret or some

finding that you found in your research

that nobody knows about so the contrast

is today you don't know the thing I show

you the thing now you know the thing

very simple almost all of my personal

short form videos fall into this

category it's kind of unearthing some

tech or AI thing about the future

potentially that people don't know about

and there's a ton of amazing examples

showcasing this format as well so this

is one of the sneakier marketing

campaigns I've seen Central sees brand

sells out in seconds and what's crazy is

that it's not just because he's a rapper

Che out this is a secret Japanese City

built at the base of Mount Fuji but it's

not just any City so the Tactical steps

if you want to use the investigator

would be to tee up the fact that there

is some secret that they don't know and

then frame it against their current

reality which is not knowing and the

communicated contrast in this one is

pretty straightforward because the base

cases they don't know and then you tell

them something they know some of these

don't have to be super cheeky they could

be pretty straightforward but inherently

they'll still grab and create that

interest this format is great for people

to use who are trying to be at the

Leading Edge of their field or showcase

that in a research capacity they're

finding the Deep insights that most

people don't know okay and the sixth and

final hook format is called the

contrarian and this one is actually the

easiest to understand where exactly the

contrast sits the contrarian hook

literally has the Creator come out

specifically and say what they believe

about the topic that is different than

the conventional wisdom and the

difference between this one and some of

the others is that a few of the s kind

of slightly try to hide that contrast in

the framing whereas this one immediately

you come straight out and just say

you're doing your branding wrong you

should be doing it this way it's very

direct here are a few examples of the

contrarian in practice so I think this

is probably the most important thing

that you need to be doing if you run a

brand that you are probably not doing

and this is having one-on-one

conversations with your customers you

have no creative ideas because your

space sucks to live in this guy is a

multi-millionaire from his clothing

brand and the weird thing is they're

best sellers are almost never in stock

NOW of the six hook formats this one is

the most direct at creating that

contrast and it's really easy the

Tactical steps would be figure out what

you believe that most people don't

believe and then say it explicitly this

is great for the smarty pants expert use

case or somebody that's trying to frame

thems as a contrarian in a crowded space

okay so there we have it those are the

six hook archetypes the fortune teller

the experimentor the teacher the

magician the investigator and the

contrarian now I'm going to tell you a

secret you don't actually have to to

figure out which one of the six works

for your video because the truth is

every single video idea could be

manipulated to use any of the six hook

formats for example let's say I made

videos reviewing backpacks and this new

interesting backpack just came out that

I wanted to make a video about how would

I go about using all six of these in

different ways so for the fortune teller

I may say something like this backpack

is going to completely change the way

Millennials travel for the experimenter

I might say I just took this backpack

7,000 Mi across the world but it has

three major design flaws for the teacher

I may say something like if you're

traveling internationally this summer

this is the best way to pack your

backpack for the magician I may do a

rapid match cut with a bunch of

different backpacks to visually stun

them and then with the voiceover saying

which of these backpacks is the best for

a guy in their 20s for the investigator

I may say something like I can't believe

this company isn't marketing this one

flaw in their bag and then for the

contrarian I may say something like

everybody loves this bag but if you use

it every day it is so overhyped and see

so you can pick any of those hooks

directions with every single video topic

and so the real question is how do you

decide if you're staring at the blank

page and you're trying to write a hook

which of these is the best one for you

in any given scenario and this really

gets into the second part of the video

which is tactically how do you actually

write a banger hook that crushes every

single time cuz that's where the sauce

really lies so let's walk through that

I'm going to break the whole thing down

right now all hooks are made up of four

components the spoken hook which is what

you say the visual hook which is what

you show on the screen the text hook

which is what you write in text on the

screen and then the audio hook which is

the sound and sound effects that you

play in the background and this is the

big secret right here the difference

between 500 and 500,000 views is

unlocking Max alignment between those

four things so if you say one thing

verbally but then the visual even

slightly different that creates

misalignment and then the hook is not as

effective to nail the hook you need all

four of these things to line up

perfectly and the reason this matters is

because because of comprehension

comprehension is the degree to which the

viewer actually understands what they're

seeing and hearing you can't hook them

unless they fully understand and are

interested in what they're watching if

your verbal spoken Hook is different

from your visual hook which is different

from the music in your audio hook well

that leads to confusion and confusion

leads to comprehension loss which just

makes it harder for the viewer to stick

with the hook the way to drive Max

comprehension is to make sure the visual

and audio hooks are aligned and so how

do you do this the way you do this is to

understand exactly how the viewer takes

in the video when they're watching and

this gets to the Deep psychology which

is my favorite thing to do imagine a

subconscious heat map when somebody's

watching the video where are they

actually focusing their attention I'm

going to tell you this is what all

viewers do the first thing they do is

they take in the visual and text hook

they see the visual they may read the

text hook if it's obvious enough in the

right place and then their ears catch up

and they hear the spoken hook after and

after they hear what you're saying they

look back at the visual and they're

seeking visual confirmation with what

they heard so it's visual audio visual

that sandwich is how people actually

take in videos at the subconscious level

now why is this the case well the reason

is our eyes process 10 to 100 times more

information per second than our ears and

this is essentially the speed of light

vers speed of sound phenomenon so the

viewer is seeing first then hearing and

then looking back at the visual to match

what they heard okay so tactically tying

all this together what does this

actually mean and why did I spend so

much time going through those six hook

archetypes what this means is that the

most important part of getting the hook

to actually perform well is the visual

it's not what you say it's the visual I

call this the key visual so when you

first have your video idea the very

first thing you should do is figure out

what visual or visuals you have at your

disposal that you could actually slot

into the first 3 to 5 seconds and based

on that key visual you then need to

decide which of the six hook archetypes

will create the most contrast and

perfectly aligned with what that visual

shows knowing the visual lets you set up

the speech to then set back up to the

visual this is the golden approach to

hooks that nobody talks about at this

level all right so now I'm going to say

it again one more time but more

organized so the very first step is you

need to look at what visuals do you have

the better the visual the more you can

lean on the visual and the easier it

will be to set up the contrast back to

the visual if you don't have a good

visual you need to really think should I

make this video and if you do want to

make it how are you going to manufacture

the key visual with Motion Graphics or

some stock footage to create this

interesting thing to look at step two is

that once you have the visual you need

to think about what are the most

interesting fact sets or angles things

about the story that you have to work

with and based on those what has the

biggest contrast whichever one has the

biggest contrast will inform which of

the six hook archetypes that you

actually use step three is that I would

then write the spoken hook this is going

to be two to four lines and it's going

to follow the context lean contrast and

contrarian Snapback approach that I

detailed in my other Hook video I'll

link that here step four is then what

text can I put on screen overlaying the

video to support that initial Visual and

the reconfirmation of the visual after

someone hears the speech and then step

five I'm going to watch it back and gut

check with myself does this achieve Max

comprehension if the viewer goes visual

speech visual are they very clear on

what I'm talking about in this video and

does that align with where I think the

rest of the video will go if not I will

stop not move forward and rework the

hook that is how important it is all

right now really quick I just want to

walk through a couple examples of my own

content to illustrate what I mean by

good and bad hooks we're going to show

one of each the first one is an example

of a perfect hook this video is about

life-size floor plans which is this

really cool projected home floor plans

in a warehouse this video did 15 million

views so the first thing I want you to

do is watch this video with no sound

we're going to turn the sound off just

watch the hook visually and I want you

to think where do your eyes go what do

you notice and what do you see so we're

going to play that right

now all right now the first place your

eyes probably go is that sliding text

that comes across that says the future

of Home Design This first clip with a

split screen you don't actually see that

well the girl with the arms going up

that was more just a visual stun gun the

actual hero visual the key visual that I

saw in the idea that I knew I was going

to build the whole video around was the

next visual in the full screen with the

people walking on top of the floor plans

what I did is I put text that said

life-size floor plans with an arrow

enhancing the fact that your visual

eyeline went directly to that thing I

wanted to make sure you saw that and so

this was the visual shocker right

there's embedded contrast here most

people have never seen this before so

the fact that it existed on its own

created a large contrast I knew that

visual was a great key visual to build

off of okay so the next thing is I had

actually pick which of the hook formats

that I want to go with and then how

would I actually write the hook itself

so when I looked at the formats there

were two that made sense one was the

fortune teller this is the future of

Home Design and the second one was The

Secret Keeper I found this secret about

how people are designing homes that

nobody knew they're close to the same

but slightly different I went with the

fortune teller one because which is

easier to explain and creates more of a

shock this is what the future of Home

Design will look like right so that's

what I picked and then step three was I

had to actually write the hook so

context lean contrast contrarian take so

I literally said check this out that was

my magician scroll stop thing and then I

said these are life-size floor plant you

can literally walk through your exact

Home Design before you build it right so

that's context lean that is me literally

describing exactly what you're seeing

that is perfect alignment with showing

the visual and saying the thing then for

this one I didn't actually need a

contrasting word I didn't need to say

but here's what's crazy because the fact

that it existed on its own was already

contrast enough so my contrarian take

which maps to the Future hook fortune

teller was I think this is the future of

how people are going to design their

homes right so it's exactly what I'm

saying I picked the fortune teller I

talked about the future I set up the

context lean what you're seeing with

pure Al alignment and then I framed this

is the future of how people are going to

design their homes that is tailor made

how you build the hook with pure

alignment and this one worked 15 million

views now before we end the video Let's

quickly go through one bad example where

I made a video but it didn't work out

that well it got maybe 100,000 views or

less and the hook was just executed

super poorly so I want to explain what

went wrong and what I should have done

looking back okay so the same thing here

I want you to watch this video without

sound just watch the first 15 seconds

and tell me where you focus your attention

[Music]

right away you see the tech sliding

across again future of Storytelling and

then you see a bunch of these rooms kind

of like magically appearing out of

nowhere just that alone is kind of

misaligned future of Storytelling is a

bit of an abstract concept and so

visualizing that with those rooms does

that really mean future of Storytelling

not really so already just in the visual

and with the text there is comprehension

lost then when you turn the sound on it

gets even more confusing so I say this

is the future of Storytelling it's

called a generative World model it lets

you turn a single image into a

photorealistic cinematic World okay so

if you really take that down future of

Storytelling it's so abstract it's like

what do you even show for that maybe

it's a book with a video or a robot

coming out of it maybe I could have used

that the problem is nobody knows what

generative World model is nobody knows

what photorealistic world so I use these

crazy terms that I didn't have good

visuals to show and you can tell

immediately it's just a little confusing

it's not as straightforward as the

life-size floor plans one and so when

you watch this yeah maybe you're like oh

those are cool visuals but you're not

actually hearing what I'm saying when

you don't hear what I'm saying you have

comprehension loss when you have

comprehension loss you're not purely

tied and aligned with the video and so

looking back maybe what I should have

done has gone more explicit so these

rooms are the future of commercials and

if I had visuals of guys actually using

those rooms to film commercials and I

could show that perspective maybe that

would have worked the truth is this

video didn't have great b-roll that was

easy to explain so what I should have

done is probably canned the idea not

made it in general and that's really

what you need to decide when you're

going through this process what is the

visual what is the hook format writing

the hook is there Clarity and Alignment

if there isn't you probably should throw

out the video because there's always

more ideas that you could make so that's

really the process in a nutshell you

have to have that Clarity and if you

don't that's the difference between

10,000 views and 10 million views and

look the reason that I can go so deep

and I'm so nerdy on this stuff is

because I live and breathe this content

stuff all day long and I'm making this

channel because I'm trying to show my

experiments and show my work to help

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YouTube Transcript:I Studied 100 Viral Hooks, These 6 Will Make You Go Viral