3 Video Hooks That Instantly Stop The Scroll — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Unknown: Ever wonder why you can be scrolling on Instagram,
2. 0:03stumble across some rando on the internet saying something like,
3. 0:06"I tried this weird trick, and then before you know it, you're
4. 0:10like 14 minutes deep into your third YouTube video by this
5. 0:14person that you've literally never seen before? But then, if
6. 0:17it's that easy, how come you spend hours planning and writing
7. 0:21and filming and editing a video that only holds your viewers'
8. 0:25attention for approximately um 2.5 seconds. I mean, what gives?
9. 0:30Is it the algorithm? Do you need better editing skills, better
10. 0:34lighting, a better camera, or a more interesting personality?
11. 0:38Actually, probably not, because the biggest difference between
12. 0:42videos that get ignored and videos that people cannot resist
13. 0:47is something that happens before the creator has even finished
14. 0:50their first sentence. Yeah, the viewer decides whether to watch
15. 0:54or scroll within three seconds, or sometimes even faster. Now,
16. 1:00before you go thinking, well, great! I'm absolutely screwed.
17. 1:03I'm not charismatic. I'm an introvert, and I'm so awkward on
18. 1:07video. I will stop you right there because your ability to
19. 1:10captivate an audience quickly has nothing to do with your
20. 1:13charisma or personality or how good you are on video. The best
21. 1:18videos do something that is completely invisible to the
22. 1:22average person, and it's something that you can learn how
23. 1:25to do really quickly, especially if you're a copywriter or love
24. 1:30writing. YouTube videos, Instagram Reels, TikToks,
25. 1:33Netflix documentaries, and even TED talks don't happen by
26. 1:37accident. They are scripted to engineer attention from the hook
27. 1:42to the bridge to the content framework to the CTA and every
28. 1:45single coherence marker transition and open loop in
29. 1:49between. And this is great news for you, my friends. Whether you
30. 1:53are scripting these videos for yourself or you're writing
31. 1:56scripts for your clients, because once you understand how
32. 2:00a great video is engineered. Getting views isn't a random
33. 2:04fluke or dumb luck. It's a simple formula that you can
34. 2:07replicate over and over and over again to start crafting amazing
35. 2:11videos that people can't help but binge. And it all starts
36. 2:16with you guessed it, the hook. Those first few seconds that
37. 2:19decide whether someone stays or goes, so arguably the most
38. 2:23important part of any video script. Today, I'm going to
39. 2:27share three of my favorite types of video hooks that instantly
40. 2:30grab attention. But I'll do you one even better. I have a swipe
41. 2:34file filled with 99 hooks that you can steal word for word,
42. 2:39waiting for you at the end of this video, so make sure you
43. 2:42stick around for that. Now let's get started with the easiest,
44. 2:45but one of the most powerful hooks that you can use:
45. 2:48curiosity. So here is a boring hook. Today I'm going to teach
46. 2:53you three email marketing tips. I mean, yes, you do want to let
47. 2:58your viewers know what your video is about, so they know
48. 3:00they are in the right place and that you're speaking to the
49. 3:03right audience, but nothing about that sentence is very
50. 3:05compelling or interesting, especially now that ChatGPT can
51. 3:09tell you tips on tips on tips on tips for days. There is
52. 3:13absolutely zero urgency or relatability with this hook that
53. 3:17makes me feel like, oh my God, I absolutely have to find out
54. 3:20about this now, compare that boring hook to this. In this
55. 3:24video, I'm breaking down some of my best performing emails right
56. 3:28now, and I think you'll be surprised that many of them
57. 3:31completely break the traditional email rules that marketers have
58. 3:35been following for years. Do you spot the difference? Yes,
59. 3:38immediately. Right, your brain starts asking questions. What
60. 3:42are these rules? How are they wrong? Have I been doing it
61. 3:46wrong this whole time too? That is creating what is called an
62. 3:51information gap. So there's actually a psychological
63. 3:53principle called the information gap theory, which basically says
64. 3:57that when there is a gap between a question that has been opened
65. 4:01in our minds, and the answer, which remains uncertain, our
66. 4:05brains experience tension, and as humans, we just can't help
67. 4:10it. We have to resolve that tension. We have to resolve that
68. 4:14curiosity. It's why you keep reading just one more chapter.
69. 4:18It's why you watch just one more episode, and it's why you click
70. 4:22on headlines that say "scientists discover" or "you
71. 4:26won't believe what happened next.
72. 4:29Your brain wants closure for these open loops, and great
73. 4:32creators understand this concept as they intentionally create
74. 4:37that feeling within the first few seconds of any video they
75. 4:40write now. This is an important distinction. I am not talking
76. 4:44about clickbait. Clickbait creates curiosity, sure, but it
77. 4:48never actually delivers on it. A great hook, on the other hand,
78. 4:51creates curiosity and then actually delivers on that
79. 4:54promise. And there is a big, big difference. Curiosity is
80. 4:58probably the easiest. That you can start writing today, but
81. 5:02it's not the only emotional trigger that stops someone from
82. 5:05scrolling. There is actually another one, and depending on
83. 5:09who you ask, it might even be a stronger itch to scratch than
84. 5:13curiosity, because this one isn't rooted in what your
85. 5:16audience wants to know. It's rooted in what they're most
86. 5:19afraid of. Hook number two is pain. Humans are naturally wired
87. 5:25to pay more attention to pain rather than gain. Psychology's
88. 5:30psychologists call this loss aversion. It's the idea that
89. 5:33losing $100 feels far more painful than finding $100 feels
90. 5:38exciting. I mean, okay, sure, finding $100 would be awesome.
91. 5:42Who wouldn't be excited about that? But losing $100 of your
92. 5:46own hard-earned money when you got bills to pay and a family to
93. 5:49feed-that emotion is much stronger. Which is what makes
94. 5:53this work so well when it comes to getting your viewers'
95. 5:57attention. But before you think, "Cool, so I just need to scare
96. 6:00people? No, let me stop you right there because pain does
97. 6:04not equal fear mongering or putting salt in the wound. It
98. 6:07simply means that you shine a spotlight on a problem your
99. 6:10audience already has because that tells them immediately that
100. 6:14you get what they're going through. So again, here is a
101. 6:18boring hook. Today I'm gonna share three copywriting tips.
102. 6:22Boring turned into a pain hook. Let me tell you the biggest
103. 6:27mistake new copywriters and marketers make that stops them
104. 6:31from building successful freelance businesses. And no,
105. 6:34it's not bad writing. It's not a lack of skills or experience.
106. 6:38It's not even over reliance on AI. Now, this is something that
107. 6:42I see newer creators and writers do all the time. They start
108. 6:45their video script with the solution, right? So they're
109. 6:48like, "Okay, great. Here's how to write better hooks. Here's
110. 6:51how to grow on Instagram. Here's how to get more clients. And
111. 6:55yes, a benefit hook like this can absolutely work. But people
112. 6:59don't buy into solutions until they're first emotionally
113. 7:02connected to the problem. So instead of saying today we're
114. 7:06talking about how to land clients, you might say these
115. 7:09five common mistakes keep new copywriters stuck, broke, and
116. 7:13unsuccessful. Starting with the pain or problems your audience
117. 7:16is already experiencing. In other words, meeting them where
118. 7:20they are at, and then offering your solution is so much more
119. 7:23powerful than starting with the solution or the benefit alone.
120. 7:27So curiosity makes people wonder. Pain makes people pay
121. 7:32attention. And there's a third hook, and honestly, it's my
122. 7:35personal favorite. This hook doesn't just grab attention; it
123. 7:38actually makes people argue with you in their own heads, but hey,
124. 7:44even if they disagree with you, they cannot look away, and that
125. 7:48is exactly the point of hook number three: contrarian. This
126. 7:52is where, yes, you intentionally challenge a common thought or
127. 7:56belief your audience has and believes to be true. So, if I
128. 8:00say optimizing your sales page is important, you're like, yeah,
129. 8:05duh, everyone knows that, and then you immediately move on.
130. 8:08But if I said having great copy on your sales page is no longer
131. 8:13enough, wait, what? Now your brain like slams on the brakes,
132. 8:18and even if you disagree with that statement. You are now
133. 8:22paying attention and maybe even arguing with me in your own
134. 8:25head, and that is the whole freaking point. One of the
135. 8:27biggest mistakes that a lot of creators and scriptwriters make
136. 8:30is saying what everyone else is already saying. Right? Like, how
137. 8:33many times have you seen videos where you're like scrolling
138. 8:36through Instagram or TikTok and you see like five productivity
139. 8:39tips or how to grow on Instagram, or email marketing
140. 8:42best practices, and yes, sure, SEO matters, and those are
141. 8:45probably more SEO optimized.
142. 8:47But when your title says the exact same thing as every other
143. 8:51person out there, nothing differentiates it, and there's
144. 8:54nothing making a person choose your video over all of the other
145. 8:58ones exactly like it. On the other hand, right, when you
146. 9:01utilize a contrarian hook, you instantly create tension and
147. 9:05differentiate your content. You create polarity, and as I always
148. 9:08say, polarity creates popularity. But here's something
149. 9:12else that's important to remember: a contrarian hook is
150. 9:14not about making outrageous claims. It's about challenging
151. 9:18assumptions. You're inviting people to reconsider something
152. 9:21that they've always assumed to be true, and those are two very,
153. 9:24very different things, right? I think we all should be
154. 9:26challenging assumptions. So here are some examples from my own
155. 9:30scripts. Most people think that you should create a product
156. 9:33first and then find customers to buy it, but that's actually
157. 9:36backwards. Or I regret going viral. Or one of my personal
158. 9:41favorites, AI is making you dumb. Now it doesn't matter
159. 9:45whether your audience agrees with you or not. It matters that
160. 9:48they're paying attention. And in the rest of the video, your job
161. 9:52then is to back up your contrarian opinion and maybe
162. 9:56even change some minds. Now, did you notice what all of those
163. 9:59hooks have in common? The curiosity hook, the pain hook,
164. 10:02and the contrarian hook-they're all doing the exact same thing.
165. 10:05They are creating an emotional reaction. One makes you curious,
166. 10:10one makes you concerned, and one surprises you or challenges you.
167. 10:14And the lesson is this: people don't stop scrolling because
168. 10:18something sounds clever. They stop scrolling because they feel
169. 10:22something. That is how you keep people watching. Let me know in
170. 10:26the comments below if you want more training and resources like
171. 10:30this to help you write a great video script from beginning to
172. 10:34end. And don't forget to grab your free copy of my 99 hooks
173. 10:38swipe file below. This has 99 hooks that you can steal word
174. 10:43for word. I will see you next week with a brand new video.
175. 10:46Until then, I'm Alex. Ciao for now. Before you go, if you like
176. 10:49that video, make sure to check out this one next. Today, I am
177. 10:53giving you 10 social media hooks that actually make people stop
178. 10:57and pay attention based on real data from some of my
179. 11:01top-performing Instagram posts this year. But first, can you
180. 11:04guess what the average engagement rate is on Instagram?
181. 11:07Well, based on.