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How to create hooks better than 99% of people — Transcript

by Kallaway · 14,090 words · 1,995 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00In this video, I'm going to break down
0:01exactly how to make your hooks better
0:03than 99% of people. We all know hooks
0:06matter a ton, but there's way too much
0:08noise on the internet about this. So,
0:10this is going to be a master class on
0:11hooks, and it should answer every single
0:13question that you have on how to make
0:15them. First, we're going to start off
0:16with the six easiest tips for improving
0:18your hooks immediately. Then, I'm going
0:20to break down the six best hook formats
0:22and the six power words, the specific
0:25words you can use in each hook that work
0:27super well. At the end, I'm going to
0:28break down the four biggest hook
0:30mistakes that I see in the hundreds of
0:32videos that I review every single week.
0:34And I promise you, once you're done
0:35watching this video, you will know
0:37immediately what to do to level up your
0:39hooks. By the way, if you don't know me,
0:40my name is Callaway. I have 2 million
0:41followers. I've done billions of views,
0:43and content is all I do all day long.
0:46All right, first we're going to start
0:46out with the six fastest ways to improve
0:49your hooks immediately. All right, tip
0:51number one is actually the mega tip.
0:52It's my full three-step hook formula,
0:55and this is how I look at social media.
0:56You are driving down the highway at 70
0:58mph. I need you to see something, stop,
1:01turn around, and come back the other
1:02way. So, how do I get you to do that?
1:04The way I do that is by building a
1:06curiosity loop. And this is one of the
1:08base commandments in storytelling. If
1:10you want to tell a great story, you need
1:11the viewer to watch the first line and
1:13feel so compelled that they can't dream
1:15of doing anything else than watching the
1:17second line and the third line and so
1:19on. The domino effect. This is the
1:21curiosity loop. And the deeper the loop,
1:23the more curious you are, the more I've
1:25hooked you. So the question is, how do I
1:27do that in just three or four sentences?
1:29And the answer is that I built a formula
1:31that does this every single time. It's
1:33three steps. The first step is what I
1:35call the context lean. In the first line
1:37or two, I need to do two things. One, I
1:40need to be super clear about what the
1:41video is actually about. Topic clarity.
1:44And this is so you, as the viewer can
1:46self- select in or out based on your
1:49interest. If I'm talking about investing
1:50and you don't care about investing, I
1:52actually don't want to trick you into
1:54watching the video because you're not my
1:56target viewer. But if you do care about
1:57investing, I want to signal this to you
1:59as soon as possible. So, I need to give
2:01you immediate context about the topic.
2:03The second thing I need to do is get you
2:05leaning in. Context lean. The more you
2:08lean in, the more curious you are. These
2:10are the easiest ways to get somebody to
2:12lean in. Establish common ground.
2:14Reference a benefit or pain point they
2:16may have. Use a metaphor to simplify a
2:18complex idea or tell them something so
2:20interesting it blows their mind. You
2:22need them to be connected and feel like
2:24what you're talking about relates to
2:26them in some way. Let's go through an
2:27example one of my videos. This is the
2:29sphere video I made that got 8 million
2:31views. I want you to just watch the
2:32first two lines. The tech in the Vegas
2:35sphere is insane. Biggest screen ever
2:37built. 20 times bigger than an IMAX.
2:39Right away I'm telling you exactly what
2:41the context of the video is. The sphere
2:43and the tech inside. And I'm getting you
2:45to lean in by talking about the screen,
2:47showing it, and referencing to how much
2:49bigger it is than an iMac, something you
2:50may have known. Now, this is taking the
2:52show you something interesting to blow
2:53your mind route of the options. And of
2:56course, not everyone is going to be
2:57interested in this video, but if you've
2:58heard about the sphere or care about
3:00tech in venues, you're going to be
3:02leaning in. Okay, so that's step one.
3:03Now, step two is what I call the scroll
3:05stop interjection. This is a single line
3:08meant to act like a stun gun. I need you
3:10to start leaning in and then immediately
3:12I need you to stop being able to move
3:13forward like you ran into a window. And
3:15the best way to do this in practice is
3:17by using a contrasting word. I like to
3:19use the word but, but you could use
3:20things like however, yet, although,
3:23therefore, on the other hand, things
3:25like that. And this is more just meant
3:26to be a setup line for the haymaker
3:28that's coming in step three. But in
3:30order for them to accept the haymaker,
3:31you need to stun them first. Now, back
3:33in the sphere example, let's watch both
3:35the context lean and the scroll stop
3:37interjection together. The tech in the
3:39Vegas sphere is insane. Biggest screen
3:41ever built. 20 times bigger than an
3:44IMAX. But get this, the screen is
3:46actually the least impressive part of
3:48the whole thing. So, at this point, I've
3:49kind of stunned you, right? I first
3:51established context and got you leaning
3:52in about how interesting the sphere is
3:54talking about the tech and the screen.
3:56But then I stunned you and told you the
3:58screen is actually not impressive at
3:59all. At this point, you're like, what
4:01could possibly be coming next? I the
4:03screen looks huge. I can see it in the
4:04visuals. And this is the curiosity loop
4:06that is building. You wondering what is
4:08coming next is replacing any thought
4:10that could be distracting you and send
4:12you anywhere else. All right, time for
4:13step three. This is the haymaker. I call
4:15it the contrarian snapback. Now, the
4:18contrarian snapback is a sentence that
4:20goes in the opposite direction of the
4:22initial lean. It's still on topic, but
4:24it snaps the viewer back on a different
4:26path. And the bigger the shock, the
4:27bigger the snap, the better the effect.
4:29So, let's finish this fear example now
4:31with all three parts. The tech in the
4:33Vegas sphere is insane. Biggest screen
4:35ever built. 20 times bigger than an
4:37IMAX. But get this, the screen is
4:40actually the least impressive part of
4:41the whole thing because the most
4:43impressive part is the audio. This is
4:45going to blow your mind. At this point,
4:46I've got you hook, line, and sinker. I
4:48established context immediately. I got
4:50you leaning in the case that you were
4:51interested in something about the screen
4:53or something new you hadn't seen before.
4:55Then I stunned you and played the un
4:57reverse card, snapping you back in a
4:59different direction. Instead of talking
5:00about the screen, now I'm talking about
5:01the audio. That is the snapback. At this
5:04point, you are fully hooked and fully
5:06curious about what comes next. You can't
5:07dream of doing anything else other than
5:10learning how this audio is more
5:12impressive than the biggest screen ever
5:13built. That's hookline and sinker. Now,
5:14it turns out if you go back and you
5:16analyze best performing content from any
5:18creator across any medium, a lot of it
5:20follows this exact same formula. And it
5:23doesn't just have to be the big news
5:24style entertainment style video type
5:27content. If I'm making content as a real
5:28estate agent and I'm purely looking to
5:30drive leads to my real estate practice,
5:32pure B2B, I could say something like
5:34this. There are three massive mistakes
5:36people are making with their mortgage.
5:37The average person pays an extra $12,000
5:40per year. Now, most people think it's
5:41because of high interest rates. But it
5:43turns out it has nothing to do with
5:44that. Because the biggest waste of money
5:46is actually coming from, see what I did
5:48there? Now, I don't know anything about
5:49real estate. I don't know what the right
5:50answer to that is. But just that hook
5:52setup, even without me knowing any
5:53context, I can get you leaning one way
5:56and then the other. And if you're a real
5:57estate agent and you make content in
5:59that format, I guarantee that would
6:00drive so many leads. It would build you
6:02as authority in your category, that's
6:04what you want to do. That hook format
6:06works every category, every space. And
6:09if you don't believe it works, I'm going
6:11to do a magic trick because I use this
6:13same psychology formula on you for the
6:15hook in this video. And if you're still
6:17watching, that proves it worked. Let me
6:19show you exactly what I did. So, I
6:21started off by saying this.
6:25Today we're talking about hooks. If you
6:27want your videos to perform better, you
6:29have to make better hooks. So, right
6:31away, this was me giving context on
6:32exactly what the video is about, hooks,
6:34but also creating common ground and
6:36getting you to lean in around the
6:38benefit of making better videos if you
6:40figure out how to make better hooks.
6:41This started building the curiosity loop
6:43in your mind. Now, if you watch just
6:45those two sentences and you don't really
6:46care about making videos or making
6:47content, then that didn't really apply
6:49to you and you've probably bounced
6:50anyway. But if you're at this point
6:51right now, I guarantee it's because
6:53you're trying to figure out how to make
6:54videos to perform better. So, this built
6:56common ground with you, which is my
6:57target viewer. Okay, so that's step one.
6:59So, context about the video and I got
7:00you leaning in. So, now what's next? The
7:02next thing I said was this. But here's
7:04the thing. I'm not going to give you a
7:05list of 25 proven viral hooks cuz that's
7:08not what you need. This is the scroll
7:09stop interjection, the stop sign, the
7:11red light, the stun gun. And this stops
7:13you in your tracks because I'm
7:15reiterating what you've typically heard
7:17in the past. Typically, you see creators
7:19talk about the list of the 40 best
7:21proven hooks and then they give you the
7:22list. [music] But, you know, this isn't
7:24the answer. I know that's not the
7:25answer. So, I'm using that embedded
7:27belief in your head that you know it's
7:29not the answer to stun you into waiting
7:31to see what comes next. This is just the
7:33setup line to give the contrarian
7:35snapback. But it works especially well
7:37here because you and I both know that
7:39conventional wisdom doesn't work. And so
7:41I'm playing on that embedded
7:42subconscious belief. Okay. So, so far
7:44you've stopped the car and you've exited
7:46off the highway. Now, how do I get you
7:48to turn around? That is step three. So,
7:50what did I do next? This is the last
7:51thing I said. What you need is to
7:53understand the psychology behind why
7:56those hooks worked and then the tactics
7:58for how to use that psychology in your
7:59own stuff. And this is the contrarian
8:01snapback because most people have heard
8:03the word psychology. Whether you study
8:05psychology or not, you've heard the word
8:06psychology and you have a suspicion as I
8:08delivered it that that actually would
8:10result in some surprise or secret
8:12information that's way deeper than the
8:14conventional wisdom. You hear that and
8:16you believe that to be true. So, I've
8:18snapped you back off the conventional
8:20wisdom back to this psychology frame,
8:22which is what I'm talking about. So,
8:23when I say, "Hey, if you want to achieve
8:25X, don't do Y, do Z." And if you want to
8:27achieve X, you're going to listen. It
8:29works every time. The key though is that
8:30you need Z to actually be compelling,
8:32which in this case, I think it is. This
8:34is actually the formula I use, and I
8:35know it's proven to work. If you just do
8:37this game, but then you don't actually
8:38have anything at the end of the rainbow,
8:40people would just churn and you're a
8:41fraud. So, this formula works in all
8:43types of videos. It's not just short
8:44form, long form, and it works everywhere
8:46else. any type of content in
8:47conversation in life. This is base
8:49psychology 101 context lean scroll stop
8:52interjection contrarian snapback. Now
8:54implementing this in every different
8:55video in every different use case that's
8:57what takes reps and practice that is not
8:59easy. All right so now that we walk
9:00through the base psychology and the
9:02formula which is really important to
9:03cover up first let me go through some
9:05extra things that'll really help you s
9:07up your hooks on top of that foundation
9:09cuz I promised six and that formula was
9:11technically just one. So here's the
9:13other five. All right the second thing
9:14is visual hooks. I say this a lot, but
9:16visual hooks are so so so critical in
9:18the video. I cannot overstate the
9:20importance. Visual hooks are probably
9:22100 times more powerful than just spoken
9:24word hooks. And this because people read
9:26faster than they can hear or that they
9:28can visually comprehend a full video
9:31scene. I've said this on many other
9:33videos, but if you just put title text,
9:35your videos will do so much better. So,
9:37step one is put three to five words on
9:38the screen in a big bold font that helps
9:40build that context lean. if you can
9:42speak it in one to two sentences. Can
9:44you write three to five words and
9:46distill that message down? A good
9:47example of this is in my video about
9:49life-size floor plans. This video got
9:51like 15 million views. Check this out.
9:53These are called life-size floor plans.
9:55I use the text future of home design and
9:57life-size floor plans with arrows to
9:59quickly establish the context. And I
10:01used future of home designs instead of
10:03life-siz floor plans at the beginning
10:05because life-size floor plans is kind of
10:07the name of the thing. And I didn't want
10:08to risk misunderstanding. That is how
10:10critical and in detail I get with these
10:12visual hooks. That's how important they
10:13are. Now, the second piece of the visual
10:15hook is the visual itself. You want the
10:17most compelling visual possible with
10:19enough motion to hold their attention.
10:21It's like when a deer sees something out
10:23of the corner of their eye in their
10:24woods. They're going to stop and they're
10:25going to look and they're going to see
10:26it. You want that same effect with your
10:28visual. Too much motion and you're going
10:29to overwhelm them and it'll miss the
10:31context. Too little motion and you're
10:32going to bore them and they may churn.
10:34You need just enough motion. Sometimes
10:35this motion could be a girl in a get
10:38ready with me putting their hair up,
10:39kind of leaning forward and leaning
10:40back. That sometimes is just enough
10:42motion to stun the viewer into holding
10:44and watching for more. This famous Colin
10:46and Samir video about the Ray-B band
10:48metas, this has 60 million views. The
10:50reason this went so viral, in my
10:51opinion, is because the initial clip has
10:53the perfect amount of rapid motion and
10:56then him in the mirror. That motion
10:58holds and allows them to talk about the
11:00point which eventually convinces them
11:01that the Rayban Bas are cool. So motion
11:03is so critical in the visual hook. The
11:05combo of text on screen plus the motion
11:08in the video plus the spoken word. That
11:10combo is way more powerful than just the
11:12spoken word. Now the third and fourth
11:14tips are about helping you build that
11:15common ground that I talked about in the
11:17context lean. The third piece is also
11:19base psychology. It's that people like
11:21hearing things that they're already
11:22interested in, but they're open to
11:24hearing new perspectives on it if they
11:26think that new perspective will unlock a
11:29benefit or solve a pain point that they
11:31have in the category. So, if you make a
11:33video about magnesium as a supplement,
11:35an average way to write that hook would
11:36be something like, "You should be taking
11:38magnesium because it's one of 21 core
11:40building block minerals, it's kind of
11:42decent, but it requires a previous
11:43understanding about magnesium and
11:45doesn't really talk about a benefit or
11:47pain point." A better context lean here
11:49would be something like, "If you want
11:51better sleep, you need to be taking
11:53magnesium." This leads with the benefit
11:55of talking about better sleep and then
11:57introduces magnesium as a potential
11:59solve. Even if someone is against
12:01supplements or against magnesium, they
12:03will likely wait and hear you out
12:04because their desire to solve the pain
12:06of not sleeping well is so strong. When
12:08you're writing hooks, you always want to
12:10think about what the benefit or pain
12:12point solve is to the target viewer and
12:14then work that in if you can. All right.
12:16Now, the fourth piece to building the
12:17common ground is cult hopping. And I've
12:19talked about this before. When people
12:21hear something that they've heard
12:22before, it unlocks a comfort in their
12:24subconscious. And the opposite is true.
12:26It sounds weird, but if you hear a bunch
12:28of stuff you've never heard before, you
12:29start to feel dumb and you don't like
12:31that feeling, so you bounce away. This
12:32is why if you tried to listen to an
12:34advanced physics lecture and you've
12:35never taken a physics class, you would
12:37likely feel super dumb and not want to
12:39listen to it. So, when you're making
12:40videos about complex or niche topics,
12:43you need to find a way to wrap the
12:45unknown idea in something that is known,
12:47some common layer. And one way to do
12:49this is what I call cult hopping. This
12:51is taking a known brand or a celebrity
12:54or a movement or some cultural reference
12:56and using it as a metaphor or a
12:58comparison around your point. For
13:00example, if you make videos about
13:02complex tax planning, maybe you talk
13:03about how Taylor Swift's financial
13:05advisor would plan her estate around the
13:08era's tour earnings she just made. Or
13:10maybe you just reference her in a group
13:11of celebrities when you talk about the
13:13elite level of wealth that you serve.
13:15Using these references is a really easy
13:17way to establish that common ground. and
13:18it's subconscious, but it creates
13:20comfort for the viewer. And you don't
13:21need to make your full piece of content
13:23around that celebrity or brand. But this
13:25will help you draft off the credibility
13:28and the popularity of something that
13:29already exists when you're still smaller
13:31and growing. All right, tip number five
13:32is to compress speed to value. And this
13:35is a saying I use a lot, especially when
13:36I'm talking about short form video. When
13:38you make a piece of content, you should
13:39feel like you have a timer counting down
13:41in your head before that content
13:43explodes and no one pays attention to
13:44it. For short form, that timer is about
13:464 seconds. For YouTube videos, that
13:48timer is maybe 1 to two minutes. So, you
13:50need to find a way to compress the time
13:51to demonstrate initial value to before
13:54that explosion line. And that applies to
13:56both educational and entertainment
13:58content. The best way to do this is to
14:00give a little hit of value right at the
14:02front, either in the hook or right after
14:04the hook. Because you don't want to bury
14:05your best stuff. Think of it like this.
14:06Anything you make after they click off,
14:08might as well be a black screen cuz
14:10they're not going to see it. You should
14:11frontload the value as much as possible.
14:13You're not going for full completion.
14:15your super fans will watch the full
14:16video. You want to frontload the value
14:18as much as possible to eek out an extra
14:2030 seconds at a time. Now, I find that
14:21as long as that first hit of value is
14:23unique and helpful, they will typically
14:25stay around long enough to give you a
14:27chance to show your second hit of value.
14:29That same logic that we apply with a
14:30curiosity loop should apply to this
14:32value loop. Give context immediate
14:34value. Give context immediate value.
14:36Frontload that as much as possible.
14:38Ideally, you can inject that first hit
14:40of value within the hook. That's when
14:41you're really masterful. But if you
14:42can't do it in the hook, do it right
14:44after the hook to keep them. All right.
14:45Now, the sixth super tactical tip is to
14:48make your hook sentences staccato.
14:50[music] And if you don't know what
14:51staccato means, staccato is a type of
14:52note in music that is short. T. That's
14:54staccato. Now, I talked about in my
14:56storytelling video, which I'll link at
14:58the end of this, how it's good to vary
15:00the length of your sentences to create a
15:02diverse rhythm. And that is true for the
15:04whole video. But for the hook up front,
15:06you want to compress short sentences as
15:08much as you can. And the reason why you
15:09do this is because shorter sentences
15:11force you to achieve max clarity. It
15:14increases the density of value per
15:16[music] word at the beginning. And when
15:17time is at a premium at the beginning of
15:19the video, you want to increase density
15:21value per word as much as you can. Go
15:23shorter initially and then expand to
15:25medium and longer as the video extends.
15:27All right, so that covered the six
15:28fastest ways to improve your hooks right
15:30now. Next, we're going to break down the
15:32six hook formats that tend to work over
15:34and over in every single niche. to get
15:37these. I literally analyzed thousands of
15:39the top hooks, and these six kept coming
15:41up over and over. So, if you don't know
15:42how to approach your hooks, just pick
15:44one of these six hook formats and do
15:46this. All right, let's dive in. All
15:47right, now the first hook format is
15:49called the fortune teller, and it's all
15:51about positioning the present against
15:52the future. The creator is using some
15:54scenario or question to build curiosity
15:57about how the future might change. So,
15:59this could mean saying something like,
16:00"That new microwave is going to change
16:02cooking forever." or that little blue
16:04light is going to impact traffic moving
16:06forward. Here are a couple other
16:07examples of the fortune teller hook in
16:09action. We're witnessing one of the
16:10largest breakthroughs [music] in
16:11marketing. This is the future of
16:14animation. And this fortune teller hook
16:16format works super well because the
16:18human brain is designed to constantly
16:20think about the future. So, it's playing
16:21into that. So, the tactical steps for
16:23using this hook format would be a
16:25establish what the current reality is. B
16:27figure out how the future might change
16:29based on the video subject. and C, frame
16:32a question or statement teasing that new
16:34future as a possibility. And this format
16:36is great for breaking news, product
16:38innovations, really anybody that's
16:40trying to build authority or interest
16:41around knowing the future of some topic.
16:44And again, I'm going through all six of
16:45these base formats first so we can build
16:47that baseline before going deeper
16:49tactically into how to actually write
16:51the hooks. And I'll go through that in a
16:52minute. Okay. Now, the second hook
16:54format is called the experimentter. And
16:56this one is all about the creator
16:57showcasing how something works using a
17:00demo or experiment. And specifically,
17:02this is angled as peer-to-peer. It's one
17:04friend showing another what they learned
17:06or came across. So, the contrast that's
17:08being built is coming from, I used to do
17:10something this way. I figured out some
17:12method or format. Let me show you how
17:14now I'm doing this thing this way. And
17:16here are a couple examples of the
17:17experimentter format in action. Does
17:19anything look weird about this shot to
17:20you? I actually don't have a camera in
17:22my hands. I'm recording with these
17:24glasses on my face. These are the RayBan
17:27Meta smart glasses and they're about to
17:29change the way that we create.
17:31>> This right here is the brand new Chad
17:33GBT agent that literally controls your
17:36browser and does tasks for you. And this
17:39is an 11step process. And we're going to
17:42see if it does it. Now, I especially
17:43love the Colin and Samir one because
17:45Samir is actually showing how the
17:46glasses work in the hook as well. He
17:48doesn't have to use the hook to tee it
17:50up in the future because the glasses
17:52camera is the subject itself. And that
17:54video did 50 million views for a reason.
17:56And a lot of Mr. Beast videos fall into
17:58this hook category as well. He doesn't
18:00always explicitly explain them as
18:02experiments, but he's basically doing
18:04human experiments and then letting you
18:06watch in real time to see what happens.
18:08So the tactical steps for using the
18:10experiment or hook framework are to a
18:12establish the base painoint that needs
18:14solving, b show that you solved the
18:16painpoint or tried some new method or
18:18tool with an experiment and then c walk
18:21through why that new experiment or solve
18:22is different and help solve the
18:24painpoint better. And this format is
18:25great for product demos, new frameworks.
18:28It's also great for B2B trying to
18:30showcase how your tool or product works.
18:32This is also the same hook framework
18:33where those people that make the
18:35elaborate outdoor structures, camping or
18:37building a log cabin by hand. This is
18:39the same format they're using as well.
18:40All right, let's keep going. Now, the
18:41third hook format is called the teacher.
18:44And this one is similar to the
18:45experimentter except that instead of
18:46going peer-to-peer, it's going more
18:48teacher to student. And instead of
18:50showing things with a live experiment,
18:52it's more showing them by framing a
18:54lesson. So, it's kind of like I'm the
18:55teacher of this topic. I just saw
18:57somebody who solved X with Y method. Let
19:00me break that down and explain to you
19:01how they did it. Again, the contrast is
19:04coming from you're failing at this
19:05thing. I found a new way to do it. Let
19:07me explain how to do it so that you can
19:09start winning. And here's a few examples
19:10of the teacher format in action.
19:12>> Three things you can learn from Aritzia.
19:14>> Here's how I got this shot.
19:16>> I made this ecom brand a million dollars
19:19in 12 hours using something [music]
19:20called the product drop method.
19:22>> And again, these are all teaching
19:24setups. So, it's either the creator
19:25tried something and extracted the
19:27lessons and is now teaching it, not live
19:29experiment, but teaching the methods or
19:31they studied someone else who solved
19:32that thing and then is now teaching
19:34those lessons back. Either way, it's
19:36show by teaching. And so, the tactical
19:38steps for using this one would be a
19:40establish the base painoint, b show that
19:42you have a solve through some set of
19:44learnings or method, and then c walk
19:46them through why the process or steps
19:47worked because of your solve. And this
19:49format is super good for anybody who's
19:51trying to build authority in the
19:52category or become an expert to then
19:54sell that expertise. Okay. Now, the
19:56fourth hook framework is a little bit
19:57different than the other five. It's
19:59called the magician, and it can be used
20:00as a precursor or in combination with
20:03the rest of them. Now, the magician is
20:04basically a stun gun. It's strategically
20:07using visuals and/or language like,
20:09"Hey, look at that." to visually force
20:11the viewer's attention to a specific
20:13thing in the visual. And it's usually
20:14something outlandish or just rhythmic
20:16and visually pops to stop the scroll.
20:19Now, there are a ton of amazing examples
20:20of people who do this.
20:21>> China ch
20:24What's up, MTV crew?
20:26>> Yo, check this out. So, President Trump
20:28just ordered the resurgence [music] of a
20:301980s plan for nuclear war in space. Let
20:33me explain. So, this can either be
20:34executed with some visual stun tactic
20:36like what Carl Shakur uses, the kind of
20:38snap click, or it could be the spoken
20:40words themselves, like look at that
20:42crazy thing, and really forcing the
20:43attention. My favorite example of this
20:45is the neon sign guy who starts out as
20:47Trump with the wig, makes a joke in the
20:49voice, and then throws the wig off and
20:50immediately starts talking about the
20:52neon signs. I've been using this on my
20:53own videos for the last 30 or so, where
20:56I start all the videos saying, "Check
20:57this out really quick." And I roll into
20:59the first line with it. Check this out
21:01this. Check out this. Check this out
21:02this. Check this out this. It just gives
21:04that kind of unique signature pattern
21:06that people recognize audibly when they
21:08hear it. Another great way to achieve
21:10the magician is with something called a
21:12visual pacifier. Now, this is an
21:14activity that the subject is doing
21:16passively which holds just enough of
21:18your subconscious attention to let you
21:19focus on the thing. This could either be
21:21like Alex Earl doing her makeup or this
21:24guy in this example stacking the cups.
21:26It's the same psychological reason why
21:28people make those GTA gameplay videos,
21:30the split screen, and you see the car
21:32driving through the course on one end
21:33and then the clip on the other. It holds
21:35just enough subconscious attention to
21:37get you to focus and not churn on the
21:39main thing. And I say this format is
21:41different because you can combine the
21:42magician with any of the other five. A
21:44lot of people stack them, so they use
21:46the magician immediately as a visual
21:48stun gun and then layer on one of the
21:49other five below. So tactically to do
21:51this, you either want to find some
21:52visual, some sound, or some signature
21:55thing that you can tie to your videos to
21:56kind of stun that's atypical and stops
21:59that scroll. All right. Now, the fifth
22:00hook format is called the investigator.
22:02And this one is super common. With this
22:04format, you're basically trying to
22:06create contrast against some unknown
22:08secret or some finding that you found in
22:10your research that nobody knows about.
22:12So the contrast is today you don't know
22:14the thing. I show you the thing, now you
22:16know the thing. Very [music] simple.
22:17Almost all of my personal short form
22:19videos fall into this category. It's
22:21kind of unearthing some tech or AI thing
22:23about the future potentially that people
22:25don't know about. And there's a ton of
22:26amazing examples showcasing this format
22:28as well.
22:29>> So this is one of the sneakier marketing
22:31campaigns I've seen. Central's brand
22:33sells out in seconds. And what's crazy
22:34is that it's not just because he's a
22:36rapper. Check this out. This is a secret
22:37Japanese city built at the base of Mount
22:40Fuji. But it's not just any city. So the
22:42tactical steps if you want to use the
22:44investigator would be to tee up the fact
22:46that there is some secret that they
22:47don't know and then frame it against
22:49their current reality which is not
22:50knowing. And the communicated contrast
22:52in this one is pretty straightforward
22:53because the base cases they don't know
22:54and then you tell them something they
22:56know. Some of these don't have to be
22:57super cheeky. They could be pretty
22:59straightforward but [music] inherently
23:00they'll still grab and create that
23:02interest. This format is great for
23:04people to use who are trying to be at
23:05the leading edge of their field or
23:07showcase that in a research capacity
23:09they're finding the deep insights that
23:10most people don't know. Okay. And the
23:12sixth and final hook format is called
23:14the contrarian. And this one is actually
23:16the easiest to understand where exactly
23:18the contrast sits. The contrarian hook
23:20literally has the creator come out
23:22specifically [music] and say what they
23:23believe about the topic that is
23:25different than the conventional wisdom.
23:26And the difference between this one and
23:28some of the others is that a few of the
23:29others kind of slightly try to hide that
23:32contrast in the framing. Whereas this
23:33one immediately you come straight out
23:35and just say you're doing your branding
23:37wrong. You should be doing it this way.
23:38It's very direct. Here are a few
23:40examples of the contrarian in practice.
23:42[music]
23:43>> So I think this is probably the most
23:44important thing that you need to be
23:45doing if you run a brand that [music]
23:47you are probably not doing. And this is
23:49having one-on-one conversations with
23:50your customers.
23:51>> You have no creative ideas because your
23:53space sucks to live in. This guy is a
23:56multi-millionaire from his clothing
23:58brand. And the weird thing is their best
24:00sellers are almost never in stock.
24:02>> Now, of the six hook formats, this one
24:03is the most direct at creating that
24:05contrast. [music] And it's really easy.
24:06The tactical steps would be figure out
24:08what you believe that most people don't
24:10believe and then say it explicitly. This
24:12is great for the smarty pants expert use
24:14case or somebody that's trying to frame
24:16themselves as a contrarian in a crowded
24:18space. Okay, so there we have it. Those
24:19are the six hook archetypes. the fortune
24:22teller, the experimentter, the teacher,
24:24the magician, the investigator, and the
24:27contrarian. Now, I'm going to tell you a
24:28secret. You don't actually have to
24:30figure out which one of the six works
24:32for your video. Because the truth is,
24:34every single video idea could be
24:36manipulated to use any of the six hook
24:39formats. For example, let's say I made
24:40videos reviewing backpacks, and this new
24:43interesting backpack just came out that
24:44I wanted to make a video about. How
24:46would I go about using all six of these
24:48in different ways? So, for the fortune
24:49teller, I may say something like, "This
24:51backpack is going to completely change
24:53the way millennials travel." For the
24:54experimentter, I might say, "I just took
24:56this backpack 7,000 miles across the
24:59world, but it has three major design
25:00flaws." For the teacher, I may say
25:02something like, "If you're traveling
25:03internationally this summer, this is the
25:05best way to pack your backpack." For the
25:07magician, I may do a rapid match cut
25:10with a bunch of different backpacks to
25:11visually stun them. And then with a
25:13voice over saying, "Which of these
25:14backpacks is the best for a guy in their
25:1620s." For the investigator, I may say
25:18something like, "I can't believe this
25:19company isn't marketing this one flaw in
25:21their bag." And then for the contrarian,
25:23I may say something like, "Everybody
25:24loves this bag, but if you use it every
25:26day, it is so overhyped." And see, so
25:28you can pick any of those hook
25:30directions with every single video
25:31topic. And so the real question is, how
25:33do you decide? If you're staring at the
25:34blank page and you're trying to write a
25:36hook, which of these is the best one for
25:38you in any given scenario? And this
25:40really gets into the second part of the
25:41video, which is tactically how do you
25:43actually write a banger hook that
25:46crushes every single [music] time?
25:47Because that's where the sauce really
25:49lies. So, let's walk through that. I'm
25:50going to break the whole thing down
25:51right now. All hooks are made up of four
25:53components. The spoken hook, which is
25:55what you say. The visual hook, which is
25:57what you show on the screen. The text
25:59hook, which is what you write in text on
26:01the screen. And then the audio hook,
26:03which is the sound and sound effects
26:05that you play in the background. And
26:07this is the big secret right here. The
26:08difference between 500 and 500,000 views
26:12is unlocking max alignment between those
26:16four things. So if you say one thing
26:18verbally, but then the visual even
26:20slightly different, that creates
26:21misalignment and then the hook is not as
26:23effective. To nail the hook, you need
26:25all four of these things to line up
26:27perfectly. And the reason this matters
26:29is because of comprehension.
26:31Comprehension is the degree to which the
26:33viewer actually understands what they're
26:35seeing and hearing. You can't hook them
26:37unless they fully understand and are
26:39interested in what they're watching. If
26:41your verbal spoken hook is different
26:42from your visual hook, which is
26:44different from the music in your audio
26:46hook, well, that leads to confusion. And
26:48confusion leads to comprehension loss,
26:50which just makes it harder for the
26:52viewer to stick with the hook. The way
26:54to drive max comprehension is to make
26:56sure the visual and audio hooks are
26:58aligned. And so, how do you do this? The
27:00way you do this is to understand exactly
27:02how the viewer takes in the video when
27:04they're watching. And this gets to the
27:06deep psychology, which is my favorite
27:08thing to do. Imagine a subconscious heat
27:10map. When somebody's watching the video,
27:12where are they actually focusing their
27:14attention? I'm going to tell you this is
27:16what all viewers do. The first thing
27:17they do is they take in the visual and
27:20text hook. They see the visual. They may
27:22read the text hook if it's obvious
27:24enough in the right place. And then
27:25their ears catch up and they hear the
27:27spoken hook after. And after they hear
27:29what you're saying, they look back at
27:31the visual and they're seeking visual
27:33confirmation with what they heard. So
27:35it's visual, audio, visual. That
27:37sandwich is how people actually take in
27:39videos at the subconscious level. Now
27:41why is this the case? Well, the reason
27:42is our eyes process 10 to 100 times more
27:46information per second than our ears.
27:48And this is essentially the speed of
27:49light verse speed of sound phenomenon.
27:51So the viewer is seeing first, then
27:53hearing, and then looking back at the
27:54visual to match what they heard. Okay,
27:56so tactically tying all this together,
27:58what does this actually mean? And why
27:59did I spend so much time going through
28:01those six hook archetypes? What this
28:03means is that the most important part of
28:05getting the hook to actually perform
28:07well is the visual. It's not what you
28:09say, it's the visual. I call this the
28:11key visual. So, when you first have your
28:13video idea, the very first thing you
28:15should do is figure out what visual or
28:17visuals you have at your disposal that
28:19you could actually slot into the first 3
28:21to 5 seconds. And based on that key
28:23visual, you then need to decide which of
28:25the six hook archetypes will create the
28:27most contrast and perfectly align with
28:29what that visual shows. Knowing the
28:31visual lets you set up the speech to
28:33then set back up to the visual. This is
28:36the golden approach to hooks that nobody
28:38talks about at this level. All right, so
28:39now I'm going to say it again one more
28:40time, but more organized. So the very
28:43first step is you need to look at what
28:44visuals do you have. The better the
28:46visual, the more you can lean on the
28:48visual and the easier it will be to set
28:49up the contrast back to the visual. If
28:51you don't have a good visual, you need
28:53to really think, should I make this
28:54video? And if you do want to make it,
28:56how are you going to manufacture the key
28:58visual with motion graphics or some
29:00stock footage to create this [music]
29:02interesting thing to look at? Step two
29:04is that once you have the visual, you
29:05need to think about what are the most
29:07interesting fact sets or angles, things
29:09about the story that you have to work
29:11with. And based on those, what has the
29:13biggest contrast? Whichever one has the
29:15biggest contrast will inform which of
29:16the six hook archetypes that you
29:18actually use. Step three is that I would
29:20then write the spoken hook. This is
29:22going to be two to four lines and it's
29:23going to follow the contextlean [music]
29:25contrast and contrarian snapback
29:27approach that I detailed in my other
29:29hook video. I'll link that here. Step
29:30four is then what text can I put on
29:33screen overlaying the video to support
29:35that initial visual and the
29:37reconfirmation of the visual after
29:39someone hears the speech. And then step
29:41five, I'm going to watch it back and gut
29:43check with myself. Does this achieve max
29:45comprehension? If the viewer goes
29:47visual, speech, visual, are they very
29:50clear on what I'm talking about in this
29:52video and does that align with where I
29:54think the rest of the video will go? If
29:55not, I will stop, not move forward, and
29:58rework the hook. That is how important
30:00it is. All right. Now, really quick, I
30:01just want to walk through a couple
30:02examples of my own content to illustrate
30:05what I mean by good and bad hooks. We're
30:07going to show one of each. The first one
30:09is an example of a perfect hook. This
30:11video is about life-size floor plans,
30:13which is this really cool projected home
30:15floor plans in a warehouse. This video
30:17did 15 million views. So, the first
30:19thing I want you to do is watch this
30:20video with no sound. We're going to turn
30:22the sound off. Just watch the hook
30:24visually. And I want you to think, where
30:25do your eyes go? What do you notice? And
30:28what do you see? So, we're going to play
30:29that right now.
30:32All right. Now, the first place your
30:33eyes probably go is that sliding text
30:35that comes across that says the future
30:37of home design. This first clip with a
30:38split screen, you don't actually see
30:40that. Well, the girl with the arms going
30:42up, that was more just a visual stun
30:43gun. The actual hero visual, the key
30:46visual that I saw in the idea that I
30:47knew I was going to build the whole
30:49video around was the next visual in the
30:51full screen with the people walking on
30:54top of the floor plans. What I did is I
30:56put text that said life-size floor plans
30:58with an arrow, enhancing the fact that
31:00your visual eyline went directly to that
31:03thing. I wanted to make sure you saw
31:05that. And so, this was the visual
31:06shocker, right? There's embedded
31:07contrast here. Most people have never
31:09seen this before. So, the fact that it
31:11existed on its own created a large
31:13contrast. I knew that visual was a great
31:15key visual to build off of. Okay, so the
31:18next thing is I had to actually pick
31:19which of the hook formats that I want to
31:20go with and then how would I actually
31:22write the hook itself. So, when I looked
31:24at the formats, there were two that made
31:25sense. One was the fortune teller. This
31:27is the future of home design. And the
31:29second one was the secret keeper. I
31:31found this secret about how people are
31:32designing homes that nobody knew.
31:34They're close to the same but slightly
31:35different. I went with the fortune
31:37teller one because which is easier to
31:38explain and creates more of a shock.
31:40This is what the future of home design
31:42will look like. Right? So that's what I
31:43picked. And then step three was I had to
31:45actually write the hook. So contextle
31:47lean contrast contrarian take. So I
31:50literally said check this out. That was
31:51my magician scroll stop thing. And then
31:53I said these are life-size floor plans.
31:55You can literally walk through your
31:56exact home design before you build it.
31:59Right? So that's contextle lean. That is
32:01me literally describing exactly what
32:03you're seeing. that is perfect alignment
32:04[music]
32:05with showing the visual and saying the
32:06thing. Then for this one, I didn't
32:08actually need a contrasting word. I
32:10didn't need to say, but here's what's
32:11crazy because the fact that it existed
32:13on its own was already contrast enough.
32:15[music] So my contrarian take, which
32:17maps to the future hook, fortune teller,
32:19was I think this is the future of how
32:20people are going to design their homes.
32:22Right? So it's exactly what I'm saying.
32:23I picked the fortune teller. I talked
32:25about the future. I set up the context
32:27lean what you're seeing with pure
32:29alignment. And then I framed this is the
32:31future of how people are going to design
32:32their homes. That is tailor made how you
32:34build the hook with pure alignment. And
32:36this one [music] worked. 15 million
32:38views. Now, before we end the video,
32:39let's quickly go through one bad example
32:41where I made a video, but it didn't work
32:43out that well. It got maybe 100,000
32:45views or less and the hook was just
32:47executed super poorly. So, I want to
32:48explain what went wrong and what I
32:51should have done looking back. Okay. So,
32:52the same thing here. I want you to watch
32:54this video without sound. Just watch the
32:55first 15 seconds and tell me where you
32:58focus your attention. [music]
33:09So, right away you see the text sliding
33:11across again, future of storytelling.
33:13And then you see a bunch of these rooms
33:15kind of like magically appearing out of
33:17nowhere. Just that alone is kind of
33:19misaligned. Future of storytelling is a
33:21bit of an abstract concept. And so
33:23visualizing that with those rooms, does
33:25that really mean future of storytelling?
33:27Not really. So already just in the
33:29visual and with the text there is
33:31comprehension loss. Then when you turn
33:33the sound on it gets even more
33:34confusing. So [music] I say this is the
33:36future of storytelling. It's called a
33:38generative world model. It lets you turn
33:40a single image into a photorealistic
33:42cinematic world. Okay. So if you really
33:44take that down future of storytelling
33:46it's so abstract. It's like what do you
33:47even show for that? Maybe it's a book
33:49with a video or a robot coming out of
33:51it. Maybe I could have used that. The
33:53problem is nobody knows what generative
33:54world model is. Nobody knows what
33:56photorealistic world. So, I use these
33:57crazy terms that I didn't have good
33:59visuals to show, and you can tell
34:01immediately it's just a little
34:02confusing. It's not as straightforward
34:04as the life-size floor plans one. And
34:06so, when you watch this, yeah, maybe
34:07you're like, "Oh, those are cool
34:08visuals, but you're not actually hearing
34:10what I'm saying." When you don't hear
34:11what I'm saying, you have comprehension
34:12loss. When you have comprehension loss,
34:14you're not purely tied and aligned with
34:16the video. And so, looking back, maybe
34:17what I should have done is gone more
34:19explicit. [music]
34:19So, these rooms are the future of
34:21commercials. And if I had visuals of
34:23guys actually using those rooms to film
34:25commercials and I could show that
34:27perspective, maybe that would have
34:28worked. The truth is, this video didn't
34:30have great B-roll that was easy to
34:31explain. So, what I should have done is
34:33probably canned the idea, not made it in
34:35general. And that's really what you need
34:37to decide when you're going through this
34:38process. What is the visual? What is the
34:40hook format? Writing the hook, is there
34:42clarity and alignment? If there isn't,
34:44you probably should throw out the video
34:46because there's always more ideas that
34:47you could make. All right, so that
34:48covered the six best hook formats that
34:50consistently outperform based on the
34:52data. Now to go a level deeper, if you
34:54actually want to get really good at the
34:55copywriting, there are six power words
34:58structurally within the hooks that tend
35:00to be core components of all the best
35:02performers. If you understand these six
35:04words, not only will you be a better
35:05storyteller, but you'll really hone in
35:07the craft of hook copywriting. And at
35:09the end of this section, I will walk
35:10through four live examples using these
35:12six words so you know exactly how to
35:14make them. All right, let's dive in. The
35:16first word is called the subject clarity
35:18word. And specifically, this applies to
35:20the subject that matters for the video.
35:22It could be you, it could be we, it
35:24could be that AI company over there.
35:26When we were all in first grade, we
35:27learned the way to write sentences is
35:29subject predicate. This is the subject.
35:31For example, let's say we had a hook
35:33that said this. If I had to grow from
35:34zero to 100K subs on YouTube, here's how
35:37I would do it. Let's say that was the
35:38hook. And we're breaking these down. The
35:40subject clarity word in that hook is I.
35:42I'm basically putting myself in the seat
35:44as the subject and the viewer is seeing
35:46me and trying to replicate the action
35:48that I'm talking about. Okay, so that's
35:50the first word of six. The hook clearly
35:52has to define a subject. The second word
35:54is the action word and this represents
35:56the action that the subject took to
35:59create whatever outcome or endstate
36:01change they were looking for. So again
36:03with that same example that I gave about
36:04growing from zero to 100K on YouTube if
36:06I the subject had [music] to grow the
36:08action. All great hooks have some
36:10subject doing some action. All right.
36:12Now the third key hook power word is
36:15very important and this is the objective
36:17or state change word and this really
36:20corresponds to the end result that the
36:22subject took the action to get. Now the
36:24more shocking this result, the more
36:26shocking this outcome or state change,
36:28the better. But regardless you need some
36:30result. So in our example, the YouTube
36:32growth, 0 to 100K on YouTube, the
36:34objective or endstate phrase is 0 to
36:37100K subs on YouTube. That is the
36:40objective or outcome or end state that
36:43we're looking for. I, the subject, need
36:45to grow an action from 0 to 100K subs on
36:48YouTube. The objective. Okay. So, so far
36:50we've covered the top three words.
36:52Subject clarity word, action word, and
36:54then objective or end state word. The
36:56fourth word is the contrast word. The
36:58contrast word is comparing the new
37:00outcome, the objective we just
37:02accomplished versus the base state. It
37:04is meant to intensify the curiosity
37:06going from A to B. So in our example, in
37:09this case, the contrast word also
37:11happens to be 0 to 100K subs. The base
37:13state was zero. The end state is 100K.
37:16We went from 0 to 100K. That is the
37:18contrast. Okay, so these are the four
37:20main hook power words. Now, the last two
37:22are optional and they do really help
37:23ratchet up curiosity where they make
37:25sense. The fifth word is the proof word.
37:28And again, this is optional, but it
37:29helps qualify why the viewer should care
37:31about your perspective, if that matters
37:33in the type of story you're telling. For
37:35entertainment content, you rarely need
37:36proof. But for education content, you do
37:38need proof very often. So, in our
37:40example that I just went through, if I
37:41had to grow from 0 to 100K subs on
37:43YouTube, here's how I'd do it. In that
37:44example, I didn't have a proof word in
37:47that hook. Now, if I wanted to add a
37:48proof word, it's very simple. I just add
37:51one word, the word again. If I had to
37:53grow from zero to 100k subs on YouTube
37:55again, here's how I would do it. All of
37:57a sudden, again, is proof that I've done
37:59it before. Now, saying grow from zero to
38:02100K and you look down and see that I
38:04have, the proof is implied, but if you
38:06want to explicitly state it, you can use
38:07a word to intensify the clarity that
38:10I've done it already. Now, the sixth and
38:12final word, and again, this one's
38:13optional, too, is called the time word.
38:15Now, the time word adds a time
38:17constraint or a time component that
38:19again helps map urgency or speed to
38:21effectiveness to make what you're saying
38:23more desirable to hear. So, for example,
38:25again, in the example we've been working
38:26through, I didn't really have a time
38:28parameter. However, I could very easily
38:30add one. If I did add one, it would work
38:32like this. If I had to grow from 0 to
38:34100K subs on YouTube in 5 months, here's
38:37how I would do it. Or, if I had to grow
38:39from zero to 100K subs on YouTube,
38:41here's how I would do it in the next 90
38:43days. [music] You could do it either way
38:44for this example. Adding that little
38:46time modifier helps increase the
38:48intensity of the speed to effectiveness,
38:50which increases curiosity. Okay, so
38:52those really are the six power words,
38:54the core components to every great hook.
38:56You've got the four main ones: subject
38:58clarity word, action word, objective or
39:00endstate word, and contrast word. And
39:02then you have the two optional ones, the
39:04proof word, and the time word. And
39:05obviously, you can tell by now these can
39:06be single words or phrases, but it's
39:08easy to think of them as like chunks or
39:10pieces that you stack together. All
39:11right, now let's go through four
39:12tactical examples of real hooks that
39:14performed really well. And I'm going to
39:16show you and highlight where in the hook
39:19each of these components live so you can
39:20see a couple different combinations of
39:22using these words. The first example we
39:24have is from one of my videos and then
39:25we're going to go through three other
39:26creators that are not me in different
39:28niches so you can see different flavors.
39:30So let's play this video and you can
39:31hear the hook. Check this out. These are
39:33called life-size floor plans. You can
39:35literally walk through your exact home
39:37design before you build it. All right,
39:39so that was the hook. Ignore the little
39:40check this out. I was just testing
39:41something there. So, really the hook is
39:43these are called life-size floor plans.
39:45You can literally walk through your
39:46exact home design before you build it.
39:48That was essentially the hook. Two-line
39:50hook. All right. Now, this video is more
39:52tech entertainment. So, I am not the
39:53subject. There's really two. One is
39:55life-size floor plans, the entity.
39:57[music] These are called life-size floor
39:58plans. That's the subject we're talking
40:00about. But really, the subject is you.
40:02You can walk through your home design,
40:03right? So, I would basically highlight
40:05life-size floor plans and you as the
40:07subject words. Now the action word was
40:09can literally walk through. You can walk
40:12through, right? You subject are taking
40:14this action. Now the objective or end
40:16state words in this case is being able
40:17to see your own home design before you
40:20build it and actually walk through it
40:21immersively. So technically it could be
40:23any part of that phrase. This allows you
40:25to walk through your exact home design
40:27before you build it. It could be any
40:28part of that phrase. We'll just
40:29highlight a piece of it. Now the
40:31contrast word is also there as well
40:33before you build it. The base state is
40:35you can't see the designs until after
40:36you build it. The new state is you can
40:39with this warehouse life-size floor plan
40:41technology. You can before and after
40:43that's the contrast. So here the same
40:46phrase is serving as the objective and
40:48end state as well as the contrast. And
40:50that's what you see very often. If
40:52you're good at kind of writing this in a
40:54tight way, you're going to use similar
40:56contrasting words that work for the
40:57objective or end state piece as well.
40:59Now, for this video, I obviously didn't
41:01include proof because it didn't really
41:02make sense in this context, but I do
41:04have a pretty subtle time word, right
41:07before you build it. I'm emphasizing the
41:09time. You have to do it after normally.
41:11Now, it's before. So, you could make the
41:13claim that that is or isn't a time word,
41:15but I think it counts for kind of
41:16increasing the urgency that makes sense
41:18for the buyer. And so, there's the first
41:19example of how I incorporated the four
41:22core power words, plus debatably, you
41:24could include the time word as well. All
41:25right, let's do another example. Take
41:27this video from my friend Ava. She goes
41:29by personal brand launch on Instagram
41:31and Tik Tok.
41:32>> This is a shock value hook.
41:33>> This is why you should always wash your
41:35bread before eating it.
41:36>> Okay, so in this video she goes, "This
41:37was a shock value hook." And then she
41:39plays the shock value hook example where
41:42in that one the guy goes, "This is why
41:44you should always wash your bread before
41:46eating it." Now, this example was a bit
41:47sneaky. A is doing something very savvy
41:49here, right? So her hook, this is a
41:51shock value hook, is not really the
41:53hook. The real hook is her going on top
41:56of the video that was already validated.
41:58This is why you should always wash your
42:00bread before eating it. That video got
42:0166 million views or whatever it is.
42:03She's using that as her own hook. So,
42:06when we analyze this, we look past her
42:08first line and we go to the real hook,
42:10which is the first hook she played. So,
42:12let's analyze that line. This is why you
42:14should always wash your bread before
42:15eating it. Now, the subject in this
42:17video is you. This is why you should
42:19take some action. The action word is
42:21should always wash your bread. You
42:23should always wash your bread. Now, the
42:25objective or endstate word here is
42:28washed bread. And it's kind of implied,
42:30right? They don't say you should always
42:31wash your bread. So, you have washed
42:33bread before eating it. That would be
42:34redundant. So, they delete the actual
42:36specific explicit objective word, but
42:39it's very well implied. You're going to
42:40wash your bread and you will have
42:41[music] washed bread. So, that's kind of
42:43the objective here they're going for.
42:45Now, the contrast word here is kind of
42:47before eating it, but really it's
42:48washed. The base state is you don't wash
42:50your bread. The new reality that they're
42:52suggesting is you do wash your bread. No
42:54wash, wash. So, it's like you wash it
42:57before eating it. That kind of
42:58combination is really where the contrast
43:00is. Now, this type of video doesn't need
43:01a time word or a proof word in the first
43:03sentence. However, the next sentence
43:05very well could be I'm a professional
43:07baker that's been doing this for 30
43:08years. That would be proof, right? So,
43:10it doesn't show in the first line. And
43:12typically, that's why time and proof are
43:13optional because you can embed them in
43:15the second and third lines coming up if
43:16you need it. All right, let's do two
43:18more quick examples. This next one is
43:19from Hormosi. Now, this video got 6.3
43:21million views. Absolute banger from him
43:23as well. Let's watch the hook here.
43:25>> If you find a girl who believes in your
43:26dreams more than you do, who makes you
43:28want to be a better man, who's willing
43:30to work alongside you to get there
43:32[music] and is grateful for whatever you
43:33have right now today, no matter where
43:35you're at, just marry her.
43:37>> All right. Now, this hook has all sorts
43:38of these component words in it. There's
43:40going to be highlights everywhere. I'll
43:42try to break down exactly what he did.
43:43Now, the subject word here is you. And
43:45mostly, he's talking to men. So if you
43:46like read the full hook or listen to the
43:47full hook, it's like if you find a girl
43:50that he's mostly talking to men. So you
43:52proxy for men. The action word here is
43:54find a girl at the kind of beginning and
43:56then marry her. If you find a girl and
43:58then marry her, it's kind of separated,
44:00but those are the two actions. Now the
44:02objective or endstate words are pretty
44:03much most of the remaining words.
44:05There's kind of a list of different
44:07objectives that if you find a girl that
44:09does these objectives, you want to marry
44:11her. That's kind of how it's set up. So,
44:13believe in your dreams, make you a
44:14better man, work alongside you, be
44:16grateful for where you're at. Like,
44:17those are the objectives you're looking
44:18for. Now, the contrast is embedded in
44:20some of these phrases. For example, if
44:22she believes in your dreams more than
44:24you do, the dreams are the base state.
44:26You believe in them X, she believes in
44:28them X plus Y. That's kind of the before
44:30and after. This one also has a time word
44:32in it as well, where he says, "Right
44:34now, today." If you find a girl that
44:36does these things, right now today, you
44:38should marry her. This one doesn't have
44:40proof cuz proof doesn't make sense for
44:41this one. All right. Now, the last
44:42example I want to go through is one from
44:43Cat GPT, and this is a different example
44:45than what we covered before. All right,
44:47this one got 2.9 million views and was a
44:48massive outlier as well. Let's listen to
44:50the hook.
44:50>> I think if we were smarter, we would
44:52listen to 13-year-olds more. I studed.
44:54>> Okay, so the hook is, if we were
44:55smarter, we would listen to 13year-olds
44:57more. Now, this one is super simple, but
44:59it really crushes when you can analyze
45:01it with these power words. Now, the
45:02subject here is we. If we were smarter.
45:04It's the royal we. She's basically
45:06talking about her and then the
45:07collective of all the people that she
45:09represents or she is a proxy as a voice
45:12for. Now the action word here is
45:13actually a little bit after the
45:14objective. It's we would listen. So it
45:16really breaks down to if we subject were
45:19smarter objective we would listen action
45:22to 13-year-olds more. Now to 13year-olds
45:24more that's the contrast word because if
45:26you listen to the first part of the
45:27sentence if we were smarter we would
45:29listen. Typically you expect like older
45:31wiser you know smarter people. Instead
45:33she's saying the opposite. Not saying
45:34they're not old, wise, and smart, but
45:36like they're younger. So, it's not what
45:37you would expect, which creates that
45:38base state new reality contrast. That's
45:40why her saying 13-year-olds was shocking
45:42and creates that contrast. All right, so
45:44that was four good examples from four
45:46different creators in different niches
45:48breaking down different effective hooks.
45:50All four of them had the four core power
45:52words and then some of them had a
45:54combination of the two remaining words
45:55as well. Now, of course, the final
45:57question for you as the viewer after
45:59watching this playbook and starting to
46:00get your head around these six words is
46:02this. How do I actually write my own
46:05versions of these hooks on my topics
46:08using this framework with the six words?
46:10Now, the truth is the actual words
46:11you're going to use are going to vary by
46:13topic, video to video. There's not like
46:15one set word you use for every hook
46:17every time. Here's some guidance to
46:19think about which words fit in the
46:21buckets, the six different buckets. For
46:23subject clarity, this one's pretty
46:25straightforward. It's going to either be
46:26I, we, you, or like some subject proper
46:30noun that you're talking about. For the
46:32action word, it's going to be some verb
46:33or some adverb that you're using to
46:35describe the action. For the objective,
46:37it's going to be some end state that you
46:39or the viewer would want the subject to
46:41end up with or on or resulting in. You
46:44want to make this as shocking and
46:45non-obvious as possible. But regardless,
46:48you have to have some objective or end
46:49state. Now, for the contrast, this is
46:51really about asking yourself what is the
46:52base state expectation that the viewer
46:54believes today? And then what new
46:57reality does this objective open up? And
46:59then how do we explicitly create that
47:01contrast with words? That's how you want
47:03to think about it. For proof, this is
47:04really easy. It's just about saying what
47:06you or the subject has done to qualify
47:08your take or their recommendation so
47:10that people trust it more. And then for
47:12time, think about adding some time
47:13parameter, months, days, minutes,
47:15seconds, something to add the intensity
47:17and the speed to result to increase that
47:20curiosity. All right, so that covered
47:21the six hook power words that really
47:23underpin the core of hook copywriting.
47:25Next, we're going to break down the four
47:27biggest hook mistakes and exactly what
47:28you can do to avoid them. Every single
47:30week, I review dozens and dozens of
47:32videos from business owners in my short
47:34form academy. These are the four big
47:36hook mistakes that continue to come up
47:38over and over. So, if you just know what
47:40these are and how to avoid them, you'll
47:42be set. All right, let's dive in. All
47:43right, the first hook mistake is called
47:45delay. And the good news is this one is
47:47the easiest one to fix. When I say
47:49delay, what I mean is that the context
47:50on what the video is going to be about
47:52is delayed too long in the video. If you
47:55were to visualize a script, let's say it
47:56has 13 lines and the third line is the
47:59first time you introduce the topic. This
48:01is delay because those first two lines
48:02are fluff and unnecessary details. You
48:05need to cut those first two lines, move
48:07the third line up to the top so your
48:09topic introduction can happen in the
48:11first 1 to 2 seconds. I often refer to
48:13this concept as speed to value. You want
48:14to increase the speed that the viewer
48:17can get to clarity or get to value.
48:19Here's an example of what bad delay
48:20looks like. Let's say you start your
48:22video with something like this. Guys,
48:23this is one of the craziest things I've
48:25ever seen, and when you see it, you're
48:26never going to believe it. That is an
48:28example of a legit hook that many people
48:29try to use when they're beginners. Now,
48:31in theory, this kind of sounds like it
48:33might be a good hook because it's
48:35building suspense and curiosity about
48:37what that thing is. You might hear that
48:38and wonder, "What did the creator see? I
48:40have to stick around to find out." But
48:42the problem with that sentence and
48:43generally hooks like this is that it
48:45gives me as the viewer zero context on
48:47what is coming next. A crazy thing you
48:49saw could be literally anything. So, if
48:52I have to decide with my time if I want
48:54to keep watching, I'm now unable to do
48:56it after just that sentence because I
48:57don't have the context. The typical
48:59chart for short form video retention
49:00looks like this. It's exponential decay.
49:02You see how steep those first two
49:04seconds are going down? That viewership
49:06falls off like a cliff. Every second you
49:08go without telling somebody what the
49:10video is about, so they have the
49:11information to decide to opt in, a large
49:14portion of your viewers are bouncing.
49:15Now, certain creators with these vague
49:17hooks are able to get some people to
49:19stay. If you look on Tik Tok
49:21specifically, it feels like these type
49:22of vague open-ended hooks work a lot.
49:25But the people that are staying are only
49:26staying because of how the creator
49:28looks, the emotion on the creator's
49:30face, or the text hook that they're
49:32putting on the screen. The spoken words
49:34actually add zero value to getting them
49:36to stay. So, it's not that these types
49:37of open-ended vague hooks can't ever
49:39work. It's just that they work way less
49:41often. So, to recap, hook problem number
49:43one is delay. And the fix is to stop
49:45delaying the introduction and the
49:47clarity of the context on the video. Use
49:49that first sentence in as few words as
49:51possible to give the context that the
49:53viewer needs to have to decide whether
49:55or not to opt in. An example of good
49:57rapid context would be something like
49:58this. Here are three simple ways to
50:00improve your gut health. Or if you have
50:02gut issues, these three remedies will
50:04help you immediately. If you get those
50:06hooks right away as the viewer, I know
50:07exactly what these videos are going to
50:09be about. Gut health and herbal remedies
50:11that can help me solve it. There is zero
50:13delay in the context and so I can opt in
50:15as soon as possible. All right, hook
50:16problem and mistake number two is
50:18confusion. And when I say confusion,
50:20what I really mean is comprehension
50:22loss. So, in this case, the viewer is
50:24just not understanding or comprehending
50:26what you're saying. At this point,
50:28you've eliminated the delay, which is
50:29good, but the words you're using or the
50:31phrasing of those sentences is just not
50:34clear and it's confusing the viewer. So,
50:36the problem here is really just a lack
50:37of clarity in your words. And the reason
50:40this is a problem is again if the viewer
50:41can't assess if this video is actually
50:43for them because they're only
50:45understanding like half the words you
50:46say, then they have trouble deciding
50:48whether or not to opt in. Here's an
50:50example to illustrate exactly what I
50:51mean by lack of clarity and confusion.
50:53Imagine I started a hook like this.
50:55These guys built a $30 million empire
50:57and the online money they made is most
50:59difficult to earn if you don't develop a
51:01journaling practice like they did. And
51:02this is a bit exaggerated obviously. Few
51:04people actually talk like that, but you
51:05get the point of how difficult and
51:07confusing it was to actually parse
51:09through what I was trying to say. If you
51:11hear just that, you can kind of gather
51:13the video is going to be about an online
51:14business and maybe something to do with
51:16journaling, but you're really struggling
51:17to put the pieces together clearly
51:19because of the way I framed the
51:21sentence. And this is a classic clarity
51:23issue. Instead, for that exact same
51:25idea, you could write the hook like
51:27this. These guys built a $30 million
51:29empire. And their secret for earning
51:30money online was their insane journaling
51:33practice. See how just changing the
51:34words slightly and the way the sentence
51:36is ordered makes it way easier to
51:38understand what I'm saying. Essentially,
51:40you as the viewer are able to absorb
51:41more of the words. Your hit rate for
51:43comprehension goes up and then confusion
51:45goes down. Now, the tactics for how to
51:47improve clarity is really about becoming
51:48a better writer. You want to use fewer
51:50words, but enough that the viewer can't
51:52misunderstand you. You want to use
51:54simpler words, ideally at a sixth grade
51:56reading level. And you want to use
51:57direct active voice instead of passive
51:59voice on the sentences so they're easier
52:01to understand. The dog jumped verse the
52:03jump of the dog. Here are two quick tips
52:05for immediately improving hook clarity
52:07and reducing confusion. For the first
52:09tip, you could just take the hook you've
52:11written and drop it into chatbt or
52:13claude with this prompt. I've written a
52:15hook for a short form video about X
52:17topic. I need help increasing the
52:19clarity and the framing of the sentences
52:20I used. I want the meaning to be the
52:22exact same, but can you rewrite this in
52:24a sixth grade reading level so that
52:25there's no misunderstanding from the
52:27viewer? This prompt will automatically
52:29remix and rewrite the hook for you. You
52:30could also just use sandcastles.ai,
52:32which is my AI script writing tool. You
52:35just put the topic in and we'll write it
52:36for you in a very clear way. All right,
52:37the last tip for clarity proofing your
52:39hooks would be to do this. When you read
52:41just the hook, those one to two
52:42sentences in isolation without anything
52:44else. Ask yourself this question. Is it
52:46possible for the viewer to misunderstand
52:49what I'm saying in the wrong way? Is
52:51there more than one way these sentences
52:53could be interpreted? If so, rewrite the
52:55hook so that you eliminate those
52:57alternative understanding paths so
52:59there's only the one that you want. All
53:00right. Now, before I go on to the last
53:01two hook mistakes, and these ones really
53:03are the biggest, I just want to mention
53:04something. I think becoming a master at
53:06hooks is the single biggest lever you
53:09can pull if you're trying to get your
53:10content to perform better. Hooks are the
53:1280 of the 8020 in the content flow. Now,
53:14if you want to become god tier at hooks
53:16and just write bangers every single time
53:18without thinking about it, I just filmed
53:20the most comprehensive training on short
53:22form hooks ever created. So, if you make
53:24Instagram reels, Tik Toks, LinkedIn
53:26shorts, YouTube shorts, this will feel
53:28like a cheat code for you. What I'm
53:30covering in this video right now, it's
53:31like 1 to 2% of the full hook playbook
53:34that I give in this training. In that
53:36training, I covered these things in
53:37depth. One, hook psychology. How do
53:40hooks actually work under the surface
53:41and manipulate viewers brains? Two, what
53:44is my 10-minute cheat code hook
53:46framework? Literally a checklist that
53:48you can follow every single time you're
53:49going to write a hook that works without
53:51fail. And three, what are examples of
53:53good and bad hooks from 11 different
53:56categories and niches, breaking them
53:58down, analyzing why the good ones are
53:59good and why the bad ones are bad? I
54:01also built a full hooks database with
54:03over 400 different videos, deep tagging
54:06across hook format, strategy, visuals,
54:09text, audio, all the components. And I
54:11built a system for analyzing that
54:13database and then coming up with new
54:15hooks for yourself. I literally went
54:16out, found the best creators in every
54:18niche, extracted their top videos,
54:20analyzed their hooks, and then created
54:22frameworks and patterns in that
54:23database. I also in this training teach
54:25the full research method that I use to
54:27go look at other videos, extract their
54:29hooks. How do I actually do that? How do
54:31you find the top videos? I teach that
54:33whole thing. Like I said, my goal was to
54:34make this the undisputed god tier short
54:37form hooks resource. So, if you like the
54:38videos on my channel and most
54:40importantly the way I break things down
54:41and explain things, this training will
54:43be the best way to go from zero to 100
54:45on short form hooks. You watch this and
54:47you'll be set. You can access it at the
54:49link here or in the description. All
54:50right, hook problem number three is
54:51irrelevance. And at this point, so far
54:53you have solved for the first two. So,
54:55you've eliminated delay and you've
54:57maximized the clarity, getting rid of
54:59the confusion so the viewer knows
55:00exactly what the video is going to be
55:02about. Problem number three, irrelevance
55:03means that the viewer is not confident
55:05that what's coming next in the video
55:07after the hook is going to be valuable
55:09enough to help them solve a problem. So,
55:11they know what the video is about, but
55:12they're unclear if it's relevant for
55:14them. Now, there are two easy ways to
55:16solve this problem. The first way is to
55:18say the word you or your instead of the
55:20words me or I when you're delivering the
55:23hook, most people think you should make
55:25hooks like this. I've struggled with
55:26skin problems my whole life. The problem
55:28is this opens a door in the viewer's
55:30mind to question if they see themsel in
55:32the creator because they're thinking
55:34this, well, if you struggle with these
55:35problems, do I also struggle with the
55:37same problems you do? That's what
55:39they're questioning in their mind. If
55:40the viewer doesn't see themsself in the
55:42creator for a number of different
55:43reasons, they're going to put less value
55:45in the incoming solution and they'll
55:47stop watching. This is the irrelevance
55:49problem. The viewer doesn't feel like
55:50what's coming next will be relevant for
55:52them. So, to solve this problem, all you
55:54have to do is frame your hooks using you
55:56and your. So instead of saying, "I've
55:58struggled with skin problems my whole
55:59life," you say, "If you've struggled
56:01with skin problems your whole life," dot
56:03dot dot, when you do this, the viewer
56:05feels like the video is targeted for
56:06them. There's no possible question or
56:08misunderstanding because you're saying
56:09it's for you, for your problems. And
56:11this makes the viewer hold on longer for
56:13the hook. Now, the second way to solve
56:15for the relevance problem is to frame
56:16your hooks around expected value. There
56:19are two types of videos, entertainment
56:21and education. Both of these offer
56:22solutions to a painoint. That solution
56:24is value. Entertainment offers a solve
56:26for boredom. Education offers a solve
56:28for a specific problem. If you want your
56:30hook to feel more relevant for your
56:32viewer, all you have to do is agitate a
56:34pain point that they already have so
56:36that you can tee up a solution that is
56:38for them. For example, can you tell the
56:40difference between these two hooks? The
56:42first one is these are three common
56:43trends in skincare. And the second one
56:45is if you struggle with acne, try these
56:47three things. Learning about trends in
56:49skincare is a nice to have. Solving my
56:51acne problem is a need to have. So, if
56:54you frame the hook around a known
56:55painoint and you deliver it using you
56:57and your instead of me and my, the video
56:59will seem more targeted for the viewer
57:01and it will hook them more. Okay. The
57:02last hook problem number four is
57:04disinterest. And this is the one that
57:06most people fixate on the most. At this
57:08point, the viewer is clear on the topic,
57:10believes there is some relevance or
57:12value incoming for them, but the hook
57:14still just doesn't grab them enough.
57:16This is the curiosity problem. The hook
57:18just doesn't make the viewer curious
57:20enough to want to keep watching. So,
57:21what you want to do in the hook to solve
57:23the disinterest problem is build a
57:25curiosity loop. And everybody talks
57:27about curiosity loop, but nobody ever
57:28explains what it is. A curiosity loop is
57:30when the viewer sees something, asks a
57:32hypothetical question in their mind,
57:34gets some additional context to answer
57:36it, but that spurs a new question, more
57:38context, new question, more context, and
57:40so on. They keep opening loops
57:42throughout the entire video. That's what
57:43a curiosity loop really is. So, your job
57:45in the hook is to open that initial
57:47curiosity loop and start the spiral.
57:49What is that initial question that the
57:51viewer has where they can't look away?
57:53They just have to wait for more context
57:54to answer it. So, the $10 million
57:56content question really is this. How do
57:58you always drive curiosity and build
58:01that curiosity loop every single time,
58:03no matter what type of video you're
58:04making? And the way you do this is by
58:06setting up contrast or comparison in the
58:09hook. Contrast is simply the distance
58:11between the current common belief of the
58:13viewer and some contrarian or
58:16alternative perspective that you offer.
58:17So, for example, if I say in the hook,
58:19"This one trick will clear up all your
58:21acne in 45 minutes without any side
58:23effects." What I'm really doing is
58:25creating a comparison in your mind to
58:27the current baseline. You got to wait 6
58:28months, take Accutane, go through all
58:30these side effects, versus my contrarian
58:32offer, 45 minutes, no side effects,
58:34quick solve. That distance is contrast.
58:37What happens when you do this in the
58:39viewer subconscious is that when you
58:40frame a comparison, A something they
58:43know and B something they don't, B
58:45triggers the sticky pain point they have
58:48from A not solving their pain. And so
58:50essentially that comparison acts as a
58:52reagitator of that painoint which gets
58:54them curious because they want to solve
58:56it. To simplify all this, if you're not
58:58following what I'm saying, it's A versus
59:00B. A is what they already believe. B is
59:03some alternative that you're suggesting
59:04that makes their pain point solved
59:06faster, better, or cheaper. Now, getting
59:08good at learning how to create this
59:09contrast with words is really the secret
59:12to driving curiosity whenever you want.
59:14It's honestly the secret to storytelling
59:15at a macro level. Now, I'm not going to
59:17go too deep into exactly how to build
59:19this contrast and curiosity because it
59:22really does differ for every scenario.
59:23But what I will say is this, there are
59:25two types of contrast. Implied contrast
59:28and stated contrast. Stated contrast is
59:31when you share verbally both A and B
59:34explicitly. So for example, saying
59:35something like this, "Most people solve
59:37their acne with Accutane, but I have an
59:39herbal remedy that does it three times
59:41faster." You're stating Accutane verse
59:43[snorts] herbal remedy, so it's
59:44impossible to miss what that contrast
59:47is. The other type of contrast, which is
59:48way more subtle, is implied. And in this
59:50case, you say what the contrarian
59:53alternative is, but you don't reference
59:54the base because it's implied. People
59:56know what the base solution is. So for
59:59example, if I say if you want to solve
1:00:00your acne, this herbal supplement is
1:00:02eight times more effective. If the
1:00:04common viewer already knows what the
1:00:05baseline solutions are, nothing,
1:00:08Accutane, whatever they are, then you
1:00:09don't need to say it again because it's
1:00:11implied what their baseline
1:00:12understanding is. Essentially, it's your
1:00:14contrarian take verse the field of all
1:00:16other options. So you really have two
1:00:18options to create the contrast. You can
1:00:19go stated, which is way more blunt, a
1:00:21verse B, impossible to misunderstand, or
1:00:23you can go implied, which is a little
1:00:24bit more savvy and you don't really call
1:00:26it out specifically. Now, tactically,
1:00:28when you're writing hooks, typically the
1:00:29topic clarity comes in the first
1:00:31sentence, and then you set up that
1:00:33contrast in the following one to two
1:00:35sentences. This is why I consider hooks
1:00:37to really be like two to three lines.
1:00:38They're not always just a single punchy
1:00:40line. Sometimes you can achieve the
1:00:42clarity and the contrast altogether in
1:00:44one line. And if you can, those easiest
1:00:46hooks that you can reuse. All right,
1:00:47guys. That is all I've got for this
1:00:49video. As always, I'm trying to push the
1:00:50boundaries for what's available free on
1:00:52the internet in this social media
1:00:54content growth category. If you're a
1:00:56business owner and you're focused on
1:00:57using content to grow your business,
1:00:59hopefully you can tell this will be one
1:01:00of the best channels you could possibly
1:01:02watch. Please make sure to like and
1:01:04subscribe. And also, I've got a bunch of
1:01:06free stuff in the description to help
1:01:07you get going as well. If you want my
1:01:09help one-on-one to scale your content,
1:01:11you either want video reviews, you want
1:01:13my coaching, or you just want to get my
1:01:15strategy brain to help you figure out
1:01:17how to grow the fastest, that's what I
1:01:19offer in Short Form Academy. It's
1:01:21specifically designed for business
1:01:22owners. To get my one-on-one help, you
1:01:24can go to callaway.co/ co/academy or
1:01:26check out the link below for that. All
1:01:27right, we will see you guys on the next
1:01:28one.

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