0:01 If you want your content to perform
0:03 better, all you have to understand is
0:05 human psychology. This is the number one
0:07 thing that separates the great creators
0:09 from everyone else. And if you can learn
0:11 this one thing, there is absolutely zero
0:13 chance you will fail in the content
0:14 game. So, in this video, I'm going to
0:16 walk through exactly how to use
0:19 psychology to hack a viewer's brain into
0:20 watching your videos. Now, there are
0:22 eight main psychology principles when it
0:24 comes to content. I'm going to break
0:25 down each one, how it works, why it
0:27 works, and the exact tactics for how you
0:29 can use it for yourself. By the way, if
0:31 you don't know me, I'm Callaway. I have
0:32 a million followers. I've done billions
0:34 of views. And if there's one thing that
0:36 helped me grow super fast on both social
0:38 media and YouTube, it's understanding
0:40 psychology. All right. Now, the first
0:42 psychology principle is called desire
0:44 mapping. And this really is the
0:45 foundational piece for how all of human
0:48 psychology works. All right. Here it is.
0:50 Every human has base desires. Typically,
0:53 these desires map back to money, time,
0:55 health, and status. I call these the
0:57 four horsemen of desires. Typically,
0:59 this is the root of what everyone wants.
1:01 Now, human behavior is wired to make you
1:04 take actions that unlock those desires.
1:05 For example, if I want more money, I'm
1:07 going to figure out what actions I need
1:09 to take so I can make more money. This
1:11 is how base human behavior works. Now,
1:13 the main actions a human can take to
1:15 unlock those desires are to spend time
1:17 or to spend money. Those are the two
1:19 main inputs. So, really, most human
1:22 behavior boils down to this. spending
1:24 time or money to try to get more time,
1:27 more money, more health, or more status.
1:28 And now, that sounds pretty obvious, but
1:31 that fundamental equation is critical to
1:33 understanding exactly how human behavior
1:34 really works. Okay, so what does all
1:36 this have to do with getting people to
1:37 watch your content? When a viewer
1:39 watches something, they're paying with
1:41 their time. This video is free, so it
1:43 doesn't cost any dollars, but you're
1:44 paying with your time and attention. So,
1:46 the question really is, why do you ever
1:49 spend any time watching any educational
1:51 content? And the answer is you do it
1:53 because you believe that time investment
1:55 will help you unlock one of those four
1:57 desires. The truth is you're watching
1:59 this video right now because you believe
2:01 it will help you learn how to get more
2:03 views on your content. And if you do
2:04 that, you'll grow a following. And if
2:06 you grow a following, you'll eventually
2:08 unlock influence and make more money.
2:10 That is why you're watching, whether you
2:12 realize it consciously or not. And this
2:14 really is the psychology secret for why
2:16 anyone watches any educational content
2:19 ever. They believe that time in will
2:22 eventually equal skills and desires out.
2:23 Now, because I know this is how your
2:25 brain works, I've engineered the title,
2:27 the thumbnail, the intro, and the
2:29 storytelling to specifically trigger
2:31 that desire loop. In other words, I've
2:33 manipulated you into watching because I
2:36 already know what you want. And that is
2:37 desire [music] mapping. I figured out
2:39 what you desire and then frame my
2:41 content in the optimal way so that it
2:44 makes you opt in to thinking it will
2:45 help you get it. And that's the big
2:47 psychology trick happening in content,
2:48 especially with anything that's
2:50 educational. All you have to do is get
2:52 someone to trust that if they keep
2:54 watching, they will get closer to their
2:56 desired outcome. But here's where it all
2:57 breaks. As soon as they feel like
2:59 spending more time watching will not get
3:00 them closer, they're going to bounce
3:02 immediately. It's not that they get
3:04 bored, it's that they lose trust that
3:05 the rest of the video is actually going
3:07 to help them. So, in that spirit, for
3:08 the rest of this video, I'm going to
3:10 walk through seven more psychology
3:12 tactics that will get viewers to trust
3:14 your content will help unlock their
3:15 desires. Because if you can get them to
3:17 trust that, they will be watching
3:18 forever. All right. Now, the second
3:20 psychology tactic is called the light
3:22 bulb effect. And here it is. The more
3:24 someone understands what you're saying,
3:26 the faster they will trust you. And this
3:27 is because when people understand
3:29 things, they feel smart. And when they
3:31 feel smart, they also think you're smart
3:33 because you're the one that made them
3:35 feel that way. It turns out people hate
3:37 feeling dumb. and they don't trust
3:38 people that they can't understand. And
3:40 so for you in your content, if you're
3:42 trying to maximize speed to trust, you
3:45 need to increase the viewer's absorption
3:46 rate of the words you're saying.
3:48 Literally, what percentage of the words
3:50 you say does the viewer actually
3:52 understand and comprehend? The higher
3:54 this rate, the smarter they'll feel and
3:55 the faster they'll trust you. Now,
3:56 here's why I call this the light bulb
3:58 effect. The faster you can get a viewer
4:00 to think, "Ah, I get it now. That makes
4:02 so much sense." the sooner they will
4:03 trust you and keep watching because
4:05 they'll want to feel more of those light
4:07 bulb moments. And as soon as you can get
4:09 them to two light bulb moments in the
4:10 video, you've got them hooked, line, and
4:12 sinker forever. Now, tactically, here
4:14 are the four things you need to do in
4:15 your content to make those light bulb
4:18 moments happen sooner. First, talk at a
4:20 fifth grade reading level. No big words,
4:22 short, simple sentences, simple
4:24 phrasing. Don't over complicate it
4:26 unnecessarily. And I say this all the
4:27 time in my videos when I'm talking about
4:29 clarity and comprehension because this
4:31 really is the most important thing. If
4:32 they can't understand your words, then
4:34 they can't understand the meaning and so
4:36 they won't extract what you're trying to
4:38 teach. All right. Second, talk in
4:40 comparisons. You want to relate the new
4:42 thing you're talking about to an
4:44 existing thing they already understand.
4:45 This will make it way easier for them to
4:47 comprehend what you're saying because of
4:48 relative understanding. Have you ever
4:50 wondered why those A versus B
4:52 bodybuilding ads with the pre and post
4:53 always work so well? It's because
4:55 everybody already understands what A
4:57 feels like. That's what they're living
4:59 today. So when you show A versus B, they
5:01 don't need to dream up what A feels
5:03 like. They know. And so B is the future
5:05 that they want. I'm telling you,
5:07 relative understanding is a cheat code
5:09 for explaining anything. Third, remove
5:11 all the fluff in the intro and beginning
5:14 so you can reduce the time to aha. You
5:15 don't get extra points for being the one
5:17 with the most details. So cut everything
5:19 that does not matter. And fourth, use
5:21 visuals to support the words you're
5:23 saying. All these graphics we make, we
5:24 do this for a reason. It's so that they
5:26 can help improve your understanding of
5:28 the words as I say them. Words by
5:30 themselves are very hard to comprehend
5:32 in a long piece of content. The brain
5:34 can only absorb so many words at once.
5:37 But words plus visuals are way easier to
5:38 digest for much longer. Just remember
5:41 this, it's not sexy, but clarity is the
5:42 ultimate psychology hack because it
5:44 means the viewer actually understands
5:46 the words you're saying enough to be
5:47 influenced by them. All right,
5:49 psychology hack number three is called
5:51 emulation. I also call this one the
5:53 mirroring effect. And here it is. People
5:56 trust you faster when you look, dress,
5:58 sound, and act like the person that they
6:00 want to become. In other words, they
6:02 want to emulate your exact action path
6:04 so that they can become a version of
6:06 you. Now, emulation is a subconscious
6:07 psychological trigger, but it's really
6:09 effective at getting someone to trust
6:11 you and watch for longer. And I'll
6:12 admit, it seems kind of silly to think
6:15 your visual representation matters more
6:16 than the words you're actually saying.
6:17 But you would be shocked at how
6:19 influential this can be. And here's why.
6:21 When someone sees you, they take in
6:23 everything they can see and instantly
6:26 form a snap judgment of who you are and
6:27 if they want to be like you. Now, if
6:29 they don't want to be like you or don't
6:30 really like your vibe, they'll put a
6:32 much more rigorous filter on the
6:34 information you share, almost looking
6:36 for a reason to churn or stop watching.
6:38 But if they do want to be like you, they
6:40 will give you a much longer leash of
6:42 attention. Essentially, the bar for them
6:43 to turn off your content is much, much
6:45 lower. And this is because your visual
6:48 presentation or visual vibe signals who
6:50 you really are. and it often gives off a
6:52 representation that your methods or
6:53 teachings have been effective. For
6:55 example, if you have a super crisp
6:57 camera and a really clean setup, it
6:58 signals that you care enough about this
7:01 to invest the money in upgrading the
7:02 quality and that you're serious on it.
7:05 If you're wearing a $50,000 Rolex in the
7:06 video, it signals that you've been
7:08 successful in some way, shape, or form.
7:10 It's visual proof in a way. So
7:12 tactically, it can be extremely helpful
7:14 to look, dress, sound, and act like the
7:17 end state of what your ideal viewer or
7:19 ideal customer wants to be. And it's
7:20 simple. If your target audience is
7:22 aspiring designers, then you want to
7:24 look like what an aspiring designer
7:25 wants to be 10 or 20 years in the
7:27 future. In this example, I think of my
7:29 friend Orin, who is targeting designers,
7:31 and I think of what he wears and how his
7:33 set looks on his videos, and it maps
7:35 perfectly to this visual aesthetic or
7:37 visual vibe. Now, if you make content
7:39 about crypto, you need to look and act
7:40 and talk the way someone that was in
7:42 deep crypto would look. So, don't
7:44 shower, sit in the dark, don't make eye
7:46 contact with the camera. I'm just
7:47 kidding. That was a joke. One joke per
7:48 video. That was a pretty good one. All
7:49 right. Now, I will say one thing. When
7:51 it comes to building this visual
7:53 persona, one word of caution. I would
7:54 recommend that instead of playing a
7:56 character that is not representative of
7:58 who you actually are, lean into your
8:00 true self really all the way into the
8:02 things that actually represent you.
8:04 Because if you play a character that you
8:06 have to lie to embody, eventually it
8:07 will come back to bite you when you
8:09 can't keep up the charade. The point is,
8:11 it can be an extremely helpful exercise
8:13 to map out what the visual
8:15 representation of the end state for your
8:18 ideal audience wants to be. And then try
8:20 to emulate those characteristics in your
8:22 content. things like what you wear, how
8:24 you act, how you talk, the brands you
8:26 reference, the slang you use, it all
8:28 helps influence subconscious liability,
8:30 and will send trust signals to people
8:32 that want to [music] be like that. Also,
8:33 before I go on, if you want to learn
8:35 more about psychology and how to use it
8:37 in content so you can grow faster on
8:38 social media and YouTube, you should
8:40 definitely join Wavy World. It's a
8:41 completely free community that I built
8:43 specifically for business owners and
8:45 entrepreneurs trying to improve their
8:47 content. There's a bunch of other video
8:48 lessons in there on psychology as well
8:50 as all the other pieces of the content
8:53 stack, [music] ideas, strategy, tools,
8:55 everything. There's 36,000 other
8:56 entrepreneurs in there and it's
8:58 completely free. I've got a link in the
8:59 description if you want to join. All
9:00 right, the next psychology trick that
9:02 really holds attention is called
9:03 personalization. The more you make it
9:05 feel like your content is personalized
9:06 to the viewer, the more they're going to
9:08 trust that it will solve their specific
9:10 problem. Now, why is this the case?
9:12 People trust generic solutions less
9:13 because they realize they're going to
9:16 have to both learn the information and
9:18 translate it for their specific use
9:20 case. But personalized solutions for
9:21 them are ready to go off the shelf.
9:23 They're already skinned for the use case
9:25 you have. For example, let's say I ran a
9:26 marketing agency and I was making
9:29 content about social media growth. If my
9:30 advice in the content was generic and
9:32 surface level, then a clothing brand
9:34 founder would have to both learn the
9:36 tactics and try to figure out what
9:38 exactly applies for him. This is much
9:40 less compelling than if I were to make a
9:41 video saying, "Here's how to grow on
9:43 social media if you're a clothing
9:45 brand." Now, obviously, this advice to
9:47 go more personal and more specific
9:48 sounds counterintuitive if you're
9:50 optimizing for max views. Because the
9:52 more specific you get with your content,
9:54 the fewer people it's going to apply to
9:55 and the less views you'll get. But if
9:57 you're running a business, it isn't
9:59 really about pure views. It's about
10:02 ontarget views from your target buyers.
10:04 So, my suggestion here would be to
10:06 experiment with much more personalized
10:08 and targeted content and be willing to
10:11 trade off pure views in exchange for
10:13 precision targeting. To do this, you can
10:15 start packaging or introing your videos
10:17 specifically by calling out the group
10:19 that you're making it for. For example,
10:20 if you're building a clothing brand,
10:22 here are three social media growth
10:24 strategies you should study. Or, these
10:25 are the best three clothing brands
10:27 growing on social media right now.
10:29 Because I hear time and time again from
10:30 business owners that they're getting
10:32 views on their content, but it's not
10:33 converting into actual customers. And
10:35 this is because when you make broad
10:37 content optimized for max views, most of
10:39 the viewers are not in your buyer
10:41 avatar. Now, another way to infuse
10:43 personalization into your content that
10:45 is a lot less limiting is to use the
10:47 words you and your as much as you
10:48 possibly can. When someone hears the
10:50 word you in the content, it feels like
10:52 you're talking directly to them. And
10:54 this has a subconscious psychological
10:56 effect that the content is more
10:58 personalized for them. So the guidance
10:59 really is this. Think about who your
11:02 ideal buyer is and personalize your
11:04 content so it speaks directly to them.
11:06 And this will drive total views down but
11:08 it will bring ontarget views up which
11:10 will increase overall trust with the
11:11 people that are watching. All right, the
11:13 next psychology hack is pretty obvious
11:15 but it matters so much it's worth going
11:17 over and that is proof and hit rate.
11:20 People will trust you way faster if you
11:21 actually have proof that what you're
11:23 talking about has worked for someone
11:25 like them. And they'll trust you even
11:27 faster if you have a high hit rate with
11:29 proof across multiple different types of
11:31 customers over and over. Now, why is
11:33 this? Outside proof is the ultimate
11:36 signal that your knowledge works
11:38 regardless of who implements it. Because
11:39 the truth is, most viewers will stop
11:41 watching once they get the feeling that
11:44 the information is too custom for them
11:45 to be able to implement it themselves.
11:47 But if you have proof that this has
11:48 already worked for somebody else,
11:50 especially if that person kind of seems
11:51 like them, well, they're going to stay
11:53 because they expect you to be able to
11:54 explain it in a way they can use. I
11:57 cannot overstate how critical it is to
11:59 signal this proof as early as possible
12:01 in the video. Now, you have two ways to
12:04 communicate proof, direct and indirect.
12:05 If you actually have proof yourself, you
12:08 should say it ASAP. This is direct. So,
12:09 for example, when I make videos, I
12:10 always say in the intro, "By the way,
12:12 I'm Callaway. I have a million
12:13 followers. I've done billions of views.
12:15 And content is all I do all day long. I
12:16 say that every single time and sometimes
12:18 I even add I've helped hundreds of
12:20 business owners solve their content
12:21 problems or some version of that. This
12:23 is me signaling that I have tons of
12:25 proof myself and that my lessons have
12:27 worked for literally hundreds of others
12:29 just like the people watching. But what
12:31 do you do if you don't have direct proof
12:32 yet? You're more of a beginner and you
12:34 haven't yet established direct proof.
12:36 The indirect proof way would be to
12:38 piggyback off of someone that does have
12:39 direct proof. So, instead of saying,
12:41 "These are the six best viral hooks,"
12:43 and then making someone guess if they
12:44 can trust you or not, you could say
12:46 something like, "I've studied Callaway.
12:47 He has a million followers and a billion
12:49 views, and these are the six best hooks
12:51 that he says work amazingly." And then
12:52 you could break down what I say with
12:54 your own perspective. What you've done
12:56 here is offloaded some of the proof
12:58 requirement onto my personal brand so
13:00 that you don't have to carry the full
13:02 proof yourself. Now, obviously, this is
13:03 going to be less effective than direct
13:05 proof because some of the credit's going
13:07 to go to me in the viewer's eyes, but
13:09 this is a great way to get some proof
13:11 rather than none. If there's one thing
13:12 you can do to get people to trust you
13:15 faster, it's proof. This is why every
13:16 company in the world has case studies,
13:18 public metrics, and testimonials all
13:20 over their site. Proof is the easiest
13:22 way to build instant trust. All right,
13:23 the next psychology hack to use in your
13:26 content is familiarity. And this builds
13:27 on the point before about indirect
13:29 proof. People will trust your content
13:31 more if you show faces or visuals that
13:33 they already recognize. This is why you
13:35 see smaller channels on YouTube use
13:37 famous creators or entrepreneurs faces
13:39 in their thumbnails. This is why you see
13:41 unknown creators using famous names in
13:43 their titles. This is why you see
13:44 visuals of well-known people in the
13:47 intro of most videos. We even use famous
13:48 creators and entrepreneurs in our
13:50 intros. And we do it because giving
13:51 viewers something they're already
13:53 familiar with and recognize is a cheat
13:55 code in getting them to trust you
13:57 faster. And here's why this works from a
13:59 psychology perspective. The brain is a
14:01 pattern matching machine. It releases
14:03 dopamine when it sees something it
14:04 recognized. So when you show someone
14:06 something they've already seen before,
14:08 they get that familiarity recognition
14:10 and they implicitly trust it more. And
14:12 this goes back to both the clarity point
14:14 and the proof. They're going to get more
14:15 clarity when you show them visuals of
14:16 something they already recognize. So
14:18 they'll understand the point you're
14:19 making more. And they're going to trust
14:20 you faster because they're going to
14:23 associate some portion of that point to
14:25 the expert that they already know. When
14:27 you're small and relatively unknown, the
14:29 most important thing is to find points
14:31 of familiarity so you can build common
14:32 ground of trust with the viewer. And
14:34 over time, as you get more credible,
14:35 that's when you start infusing the
14:37 visuals of yourself. All right,
14:39 psychology tip number seven really is my
14:40 secret weapon. This is the thing I
14:42 figured out that really moves the needle
14:44 when it comes to speed to trust. And I
14:46 call it one standard deviation. The key
14:48 with content is getting a viewer to opt
14:50 in that they actually have some pain
14:52 point or blocker without their BS
14:54 detector going off. Because if you come
14:56 right out in the intro or the title or
14:58 the thumbnail and you say, "If you want
15:00 to make more money, do this." It often
15:02 triggers their BS detector and they
15:03 dismiss you immediately. And this
15:05 happens because viewers hear that, "If
15:07 you want more money," and they think,
15:08 "It really can't be that easy, so there
15:10 must be some snake oil thing going on."
15:11 And they dismiss it. And this is all
15:14 happening subconsciously in their mind
15:15 because of psychology. They've been
15:17 trained to see so many of these internet
15:19 scams that the warning bells go off when
15:20 something seems too good to be true.
15:23 Now, once that BS detector is tripped,
15:25 like a bank robber tripping the wire,
15:26 it's over. They don't trust you. They're
15:27 going to bounce and they're never going
15:29 to come back. So, this is where the one
15:31 standard deviation tactic comes in when
15:33 you're either packaging your video,
15:34 writing the intro, or kind of getting
15:36 into the story. Now, I call it one
15:38 standard deviation because sometimes it
15:40 can be easier to package your content
15:42 one standard deviation away from the
15:44 desire the person actually wants and let
15:47 them make the leap themselves. So, for
15:48 example, let's take a piece of content
15:50 about growing on social media. Most
15:52 people want to grow on social media
15:53 because they think it'll make them more
15:54 money. They don't actually want to spend
15:56 40 hours per week making videos. They
15:57 just want more money. That's the desire
15:59 they're targeting. But the beauty is
16:01 most people already believe that if they
16:03 grow on social media, they will make
16:05 money. They think of it as the same
16:07 thing. It's a proxy. So, if I target
16:09 with my content that they're not growing
16:10 their social channels fast enough and
16:12 that there are faster ways, they will
16:15 associate this with the money desire
16:17 that they want. And when they hear not
16:19 growing faster on social media, they
16:21 make the leap and opt in. It doesn't
16:23 trigger the BS detector. And to prove
16:24 this is so effective, if you look at my
16:27 videos, anytime I reference money, the
16:28 videos just don't do that well. And I
16:30 think this is what's happening
16:32 subconsciously. But anytime I reference
16:34 a specific, very clear content painoint
16:37 that is a proxy for growing on social
16:38 media, which will lead to money, the
16:40 videos always crush. And this isn't an
16:42 accident. It's just psychology. people
16:44 are tripping the red wire when you talk
16:46 about the desire directly. But if you go
16:48 one standard deviation away, they won't.
16:50 So the specific tactic is this. Figure
16:52 out which of the four horsemen desires
16:54 you're targeting and then go one
16:56 standard deviation away to package your
16:58 content and make topics about things
17:00 that are proxies for those desires in
17:02 the viewer's mind. All right, guys.
17:03 That's all I've got for this video. As a
17:05 recap, we covered eight psychology
17:07 tactics to help you build trust with
17:09 viewers faster so that they watch your
17:11 content for longer. And when they trust
17:13 you and believe your content will help
17:14 them unlock their desires, they're going
17:16 to keep watching for a long time. As a
17:18 reminder, if you're a business owner and
17:19 you're trying to get better at content
17:21 and you like the way I explain things,
17:22 you should join Wavy World. It's
17:24 completely free and we have over 36,000
17:26 other entrepreneurs that are all working
17:28 together to help each other. If you want
17:29 to do that, there's a link in the
17:30 description where you can join. All
17:32 right, we will see you guys on the next
