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If You Don't Understand Hooks, You Don't Understand YouTube Shorts — Transcript

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0:01If you don't understand hooks, you do
0:02not understand YouTube shorts. And I'm
0:04not talking about putting some
0:05eye-catching text on the screen, using a
0:07red arrow, or asking the viewer [music]
0:09some sort of question. I've spent the
0:10last 4 years basically studying YouTube
0:12shorts, making and reviewing thousands
0:15of them. And I'd say hooks are still one
0:17of the most misunderstood parts of
0:19making them. So, I'm going to show you
0:20exactly what I look for in a great hook,
0:22break down real examples of shorts that
0:24get it right [music] and wrong, and I'll
0:26even fix some myself. But first, we're
0:27going to start with what actually makes
0:29a good hook. So, whenever I look at a
0:31hook, I'm usually paying attention to a
0:33few things. And the first one is the
0:34reason to watch. Like, is there anything
0:37interesting here that I'm waiting to
0:38see? And in this example, like I'm just
0:41going to play the video.
0:41>> Jamie, pull up an image of it. It's very
0:43strange.
0:44>> Jamie, pull up an image of it. It's very
0:46strange. Instantly, I'm thinking as the
0:48viewer, like, what is the image? Of
0:50course, Joe Rogan is a known person as
0:52well, but if anyone said that, you know,
0:54I'd be interested like what sort of
0:55image? Why is it strange? That provides
0:58the reason to watch. So, the second
0:59thing that I look for in a great hook is
1:01the topic. Is it something interesting
1:03enough for me to actually care about?
1:05And here I'm going to show you an
1:06example of one of my students. He runs
1:07this channel.
1:08>> A pilot had a seizure mid-flight and the
1:09plane started [music] going down.
1:11>> Right. So, the the pilot's had a
1:12seizure, the plane's going down. I want
1:14to see what's going to happen next.
1:15Right. It's interesting. Plane and
1:17emergency stories always do pretty well
1:19here. Lives are at risk as well. So, I'm
1:21curious. Is there going to be a
1:23solution? And if you play this for a few
1:25more seconds,
1:25>> the flight attendant ran down the aisle
1:27screaming if anyone had flying
1:28experience.
1:29>> Had flying experience. Yeah. So
1:30instantly you're thinking maybe there's
1:31going to be someone on the flight that
1:32can save the day. I mean there's a full
1:34short being made out of it. There's
1:36probably going to be some sort of hero
1:37superhero type of story. But yeah, this
1:39is just naturally interesting, right? So
1:41reason to watch and topic. And the third
1:43thing is clarity. How fast do I actually
1:46understand what is going on? I mean you
1:47can see that visually including the text
1:50as well. And here the principal is
1:51saying something. So, I understand the
1:53setting and I'm going to find out in the
1:55next 2 3 seconds what I'm actually going
1:57to be staying to watch for.
1:58>> Excuse me, I'm being told that we have a
2:00small problem.
2:01>> There you go. So, a small problem that
2:03instantly gives the reason to watch or
2:04we want to find out what the problem is.
2:06And second, the topic. Is it something
2:08actually interested enough to care
2:10about? Well, yeah, you know, there's a
2:12problem at a graduation ceremony. Uh,
2:14it's a relatable type of thing. So, it's
2:16quite interesting to see what's going to
2:18happen. You know, I care to see the
2:19problem. And the third thing, clarity.
2:22We know exactly what's going on and now
2:23we're watching to see what the problem
2:25is and if there is some sort of
2:26solution. But before you start changing
2:28any words or visuals in your hook, there
2:30is something even more important.
2:32Sometimes your hook isn't actually the
2:33problem. It can be the thing that you're
2:35trying to hook people into that just is
2:37not interesting enough. So here's an
2:39example of a very simple hook attached
2:41to a killer topic. No pun intended,
2:43though.
2:44>> Have you ever killed someone? I'm
2:45walking across. Have you ever killed
2:46someone? I'm walk.
2:47>> So like, have you ever killed someone? I
2:49mean, what a question, right? Instantly,
2:51I'm hooked. I want to know if he's
2:52killed anyone. But now, let me show you
2:54a bit of a flashy hook with an
2:56uninteresting topic.
3:00>> See, like zooms, pops, right? I don't
3:02really know what's going on here. You
3:03got grandma. She's walking past.
3:08>> Yeah, you can see it's a bit all over
3:09the place, right? We don't know if it's
3:11an interesting topic. We're not really
3:12clear on what's going on. There's no
3:14reason to watch in the first couple
3:16seconds.
3:18She's covering her hair on a rainy day.
3:20[ __ ] brilliant. But here's how I
3:22would improve it. Like the clip itself,
3:24I'm not going to lie, isn't actually
3:25that good. Let me just watch the video
3:27again.
3:33>> Okay, so she gets soaked trying to help
3:36older woman cross the road. If I was to
3:38do this video myself, if you're going to
3:39force yourself to keep this clip, this
3:41clip actually isn't that good. Um, but
3:44you could make it better for sure by
3:46starting it from here. Let's just go
3:48over the hook quickly.
3:51>> You should have just started the video
3:53about here.
3:55>> No need to say rainy day.
3:58And instead of that, I would have had
4:00the text of like sees a grandma
4:02struggling. You know, that would have
4:04instantly made it very clear what we're
4:06going to be watching. It's a woman. We
4:08can see she's about to cross a road and
4:10she sees a grandma struggling. an older
4:12person in need. That's a topic that I
4:14care about. I'm interested in it because
4:16I care about it. I want to see an older
4:18person be helped, right? And that also
4:21provides the reason to watch. We want to
4:22see if she's actually going to do it.
4:24So, that little text change and just
4:26starting the hook a bit later would have
4:28made it dramatically better. Just make
4:30sure again like whatever you are making
4:32a hook on, whether it's an original idea
4:34or a clip, make sure it's something that
4:36is always interesting. I'm going to keep
4:38saying this point because creators often
4:40spend a lot of time trying to find a
4:41better way of saying something nobody
4:43cared about in the first place. And this
4:45is actually one of the most common
4:46things that I see when reviewing videos
4:48inside of Earn It, especially with
4:50beginners. It's that sometimes the hook,
4:52like you can fix it all you want and
4:54adjust the first sentence, but if the
4:56topic and what you're making the video
4:58about isn't actually interesting enough,
5:01then a hook can only do so much. You
5:03know, I've reviewed thousands of
5:04channels at this point. Me and my
5:06coaches inside of Vern are reviewing
5:08video scripts and clips every single
5:10day. So, if you are serious about
5:11YouTube shorts and want me and my team
5:13to help you actually build a road map,
5:16tell you exactly what's holding your
5:17content back from going viral, you can
5:19apply to join earn it using the top link
5:21in the description. But now, it's time
5:22to put this hook knowledge to the test
5:24on shorts that I've never seen before.
5:25So, let's have a look at this.
5:29>> Okay, not bad to be fair. I mean, this
5:31video has 35 million views. The hook is
5:34interesting. There's a child in need in
5:36what seems to be a pretty serious event.
5:38You know, people are probably singing
5:40like the an anthem or whatever the
5:41athletes are doing here. And you got the
5:44kind of description here. I don't know
5:45the guy Walter Jenkins, probably some
5:48good athlete, I guess, reacts quickly to
5:50help a kid. So, there's a strong reason
5:53to watch, right? I want to see him
5:54actually help the kid. We can see the
5:56kid is like fainting or getting some
5:58heart attack, which is pretty crazy, by
6:00the way. So instantly you actually, you
6:02know, it's pretty clear what's going on.
6:04There's a reason to watch and it's
6:06interesting. The topic's decent. So this
6:08is a good hook. Uh despite it not
6:10looking like aesthetically pleasing,
6:11there's no need to have that like text
6:13at the top and at the bottom, I suppose,
6:15but the hook does its job. And clearly
6:18you can see that in the views. Next one.
6:21Okay, first place. So this immediately
6:25isn't great. Uh, first place isn't
6:27enough to really keep me watching, but
6:29of course the average viewer is
6:30scrolling, but they're probably giving
6:32like a second or two to every single
6:34video that they're watching. So, I'm
6:35going to do the same here.
6:38>> Okay, so there's some text. She wants a
6:41dramatic finish. Okay, so this is about
6:433 seconds in first place. She wants a
6:45dramatic finish, but you can see people
6:47are chasing up behind her, right? It's a
6:50pretty decent hook. I mean, the she
6:52wants a dramatic uh finish should have
6:54been implemented a lot sooner uh than us
6:57waiting like maybe 2 seconds for the
6:59first place thing, but this is
7:01interesting. There's a reason to watch
7:02this people chasing. I want to see if
7:04she's going to get the dramatic finish.
7:06It's pretty clear what's going on.
7:07Again, it's a race. She's in first
7:09place. She wants to finish. And is the
7:11topic actually interesting? Well, yeah.
7:13I want to see if she gets it, right?
7:15>> Created a Game Boy game that was nearly
7:16unplayable indoor.
7:18>> Okay, so 3 seconds there. So, first of
7:20all, this format is something that a lot
7:21of people know is derived from the
7:24Reddit stories that did really well for
7:26a long time. We've seen this pop with
7:28like Roblox France and a ton of
7:29different niches. But,
7:31>> hideokima
7:32>> Hideiokima, who the [ __ ] is he? I don't
7:35know. I'm not interested. Right. So,
7:37first of all, I would never introduce a
7:39person by their name until unless they
7:42are very broadly known or unless you're
7:45doing like a pretty niche channel. What
7:47I would have done instead is introduce
7:49him as the guy of like what he did. So
7:52like for example, this guy made the
7:55first ever unplayable game in the world
7:57or something along those lines, you
7:59know, then you can introduce the name of
8:01the person as we have context, enough
8:03context to actually care about to find
8:05out who they are, right? Don't just give
8:08their name cuz if people don't know,
8:11they can't relate and there's nothing
8:12interesting to keep them watching.
8:14There's no clear reason to keep watching
8:16within the first two seconds here and
8:19it's not really clear on what's going
8:20on. Uh so yeah, I would have just
8:22introduced it as like what he's known
8:24for. Uh which is
8:26>> Hideokima created a Game Boy game that
8:28was nearly unplayable indoors released
8:30in 2003. Bai
8:31>> and also like saying nearly unplayable
8:34doesn't cut it. Okay, it's either
8:36unplayable or it's not. We just don't
8:37give a [ __ ] Like it's got to be
8:39something dramatic. I don't like the
8:42nearies, you know? nearly just makes it
8:45sound like so it was playable. So it
8:47kind of defeats the full point of the
8:48video. There's nothing that I'm actually
8:50going to get from this video. You know,
8:52you should introduce it as like maybe he
8:54holds some sort of record for creating
8:56this game. Maybe he caught millions of
8:58people out. Maybe he made a bunch of
9:00people mad. These are like the angles
9:02that you can kind of tap into. Maybe
9:04it's the worst rated game ever.
9:06Something like that. And then you can
9:07introduce it as that, you know, this
9:09this is the worst game ever. This guy
9:10created the worst game ever. then get
9:12into the story. That has a much broader
9:14appeal, a much stronger reason to watch,
9:16and it's very clear about what we're
9:18actually going to watch. And it's also
9:19interesting. So, that's what I would
9:20have done here. Let's keep scrolling.
9:22>> High school senior Emily was diagnosed
9:24with leukemia [music] and started Daily
9:26Chemo, but she
9:27>> I got that quick.
9:28>> Fused to miss her team season opener as
9:30the football player.
9:31>> Okay, so I mean, it's a pretty emotional
9:34hook. One thing when it comes to
9:36emotional hooks as well, viewers tend to
9:38give you like a bit of a longer time to
9:40actually reel them in. Emotion can take
9:42like quite a long time to build. That's
9:44why like payoff is really important for
9:46these videos as well. I mean, it's not a
9:48bad hook. You know, it's pretty clear as
9:50to what the situation is and what the
9:52topic is, but we don't really know
9:53what's going to be going on until about
9:56the fifth second, which is quite long.
9:58Usually, you want everything summarized
10:01within like the first 2 3 seconds. I
10:04personally would have probably changed
10:06this hook to despite this high school
10:08senior being diagnosed with leukemia and
10:12then going into the topic because when
10:13you start the hook with despite or a
10:15word like that although for example it
10:18just keeps the viewer watching because
10:19there's something naturally that's going
10:21to follow up from that right whereas
10:23this just sounds like a complete
10:24sentence and more of a fact rather than
10:26like a beginning of a story. So, a
10:29little word twist there could have made
10:31a big change, but it's still a fairly
10:33decent hook in terms of the emotional
10:34weight of it. The topic is something
10:36that people care about. It's quite
10:38interesting, I suppose, especially like
10:40past the fifth second. So, it's not
10:42terrible, but there is a way that I
10:44would have improved it. All right, next
10:45one.
10:48Okay, this is phenomenal. Right, a guy
10:50is driving. There's two kids on the
10:51road. First of all, I'm thinking, what
10:53the [ __ ] are these children doing on the
10:54road without supervision, without the
10:56parents doing that? Right? Not an ideal
10:58situation. You got kid kid one, kid two,
11:01and you got a biker riding what looks to
11:03be nearly running them over.
11:06The kids are screaming. They want
11:08something. The guy stops. The kids say,
11:10"Wait." Okay, this checks all boxes.
11:13First of all, reason to watch. I want to
11:15see what we're waiting for, what the
11:16kids are going to try and try and do
11:18here. Uh, second of all, the topic is
11:21interesting. I mean, the kids are on the
11:22road by themselves. I want to see what
11:24they actually want. You know, I care for
11:26these kids. I want to see if they're
11:27going to be safe. I want to see what
11:29they have to offer. And third of all,
11:30it's super clear what's going on. The
11:32biker has stopped to see what the kids
11:34want. Uh, very clear. Very good hook.
11:36Phenomenal. Let's keep looking.
11:38>> Good morning. Good morning. Can I talk
11:41to someone about the windshock?
11:42>> Okay, there you go. So, good morning.
11:44Good morning. Who gives a [ __ ] Okay, so
11:46to be honest, after watching the clip,
11:47this clip is [ __ ] Like, it's just not
11:49good at all. Again, like if it's not a
11:52good clip or an idea, a hug can only do
11:54so much, right? But if I really was to
11:57create a better hook for this, I would
11:59have just started it with the officer
12:01already in the doorway. So it's straight
12:02away again into the drama, into the
12:04action. And then obviously within within
12:06the first second or two, the guy is
12:08going to say no. And that to me is going
12:09to have me interested cuz I'm going to
12:11want to see how the officer is going to
12:12react. That gives me a reason to watch
12:14as well. And it's pretty clear about the
12:16dynamic between the two and what the
12:18situation is actually about. But like I
12:20say, the hook can only do so much if the
12:22clip you're using is pretty bad. But now
12:24I want to go a bit deeper into like good
12:26visual and text hooks because the most
12:28important thing is the faster I
12:30understand what's happening, the faster
12:32I can decide whether I actually care
12:34enough to watch the rest of the video.
12:36So here's an example of an ultra runner
12:39desperate for water. We can instantly
12:41see that
12:45>> this and he's doing something crazy. He
12:47keeps like going on for more drinks,
12:50going on for more drinks. It's a very
12:52good visual hook because it instantly
12:54has me interested, right? Like this
12:56guy's dunking water all over himself. I
12:59personally think this still has room for
13:01improvement despite going really viral
13:04just textwise. Saying something like
13:06Ultrarunner, you know, maybe foreshadow
13:08what he's going to do next, not just
13:10saying what he's currently doing or why
13:13he's doing it would have provided a more
13:15clear reason and maybe had me interested
13:18to watch the rest of the video. for
13:20example, preparing for his enemy, knows
13:22the enemy is close. Something like that.
13:24I mean, that's just an example, right?
13:26But that itself would have kept me
13:28watching further. That would have ticked
13:30the video visually cuz it's very
13:32engaging off the bat and would have also
13:34checked the video textwise because then
13:37I know exactly what I'm looking forward
13:39to and it's very clear from there on
13:41that I'm actually interested in the
13:43topic. Right? There is enough to
13:45actually make me care because I can
13:46understand the video really fast. You
13:48know, viewers when they're scrolling
13:50through shorts, they go really fast. So,
13:53like a lot of people say, you know, you
13:54got 3 seconds to hook a viewer. And you
13:56do. Of course you do. But really, to get
13:58their interest, it can even be
14:00milliseconds genuinely. Like people,
14:02they scroll like that in the first few
14:05frames. I want to know exactly what I'm
14:07going to be watching and exactly what's
14:08going on. So that's why like the text
14:10and visual combination is super cuz
14:13sometimes like a voice over it can take
14:15longer to actually get the point across
14:17but [music] text just shows it really
14:19fast which is why we're seeing so many
14:20channels in this sort of format achieve
14:23crazy high view ceilings and really like
14:26large baselines for views. I mean
14:28there's a ton of channels right now
14:30doing like 9 figure views a month with
14:3210-second videos with just text and
14:34visual hooks and ones that just cut into
14:36the drama right away. So, that's
14:38something to consider there. And here's
14:40an example of what I mean by the visual
14:43and kind of text combination and how
14:45powerful it can be. In the first frame,
14:48we can see a person coming out onto like
14:51the [music] I guess path, you could call
14:53it the finish line, which still hasn't
14:55been ripped, and the person in first
14:57place, right? And within the second
15:01within the second second I guess you can
15:04see her her evil family was waiting.
15:07That instantly introduces a plot twist.
15:10The music is dramatic. The focus point
15:11is on the family and we know she wants
15:13first place and she'll be the first to
15:15actually go through the line. So this is
15:17the objective and we want to see what's
15:19going to happen. This is like a really
15:21nice combination and something you
15:22should always think about with your
15:24shorts to just make it super clear right
15:28from the beginning what the video is
15:29about. Provide the reason to watch and
15:31make the topic interesting. Make the
15:33story interesting. Now, of course, this
15:35doesn't mean that literally every single
15:37short you do has to follow this sort of
15:38format where you have a clip or whatever
15:41and you have text instead of a voice
15:43over. This can work with voice over as
15:45well. Just make it dramatic from the
15:47beginning. let us know what's going on.
15:49You don't need to play voice over at the
15:51start. You can, for example, just have a
15:53clip and text and then cut into the
15:54voice over 3 seconds in. That's what a
15:56lot of these channels do cuz this is
15:59what hooks them faster, right? But it
16:01can also work with voice over. You
16:02could, for example, start this with this
16:04woman thought she was going to get first
16:06place. However, right? Just a simple
16:08oneliner, something that can be consumed
16:10in under a second or a second cuz that's
16:14how much time you have with the majority
16:16of viewers. So, always remember to
16:19really prioritize this type of speed and
16:22clarity in your hooks. Otherwise, the
16:24rest of your efforts that you put on the
16:26other 90% of your video can essentially
16:29go to waste, and we don't want that. So,
16:31instead of giving you a bunch of hook
16:32templates to just copy, I'm going to
16:34show you exactly how I'd fix them
16:36myself. So, here's the first example.
16:38Man declared innocent after 39 years,
16:40longest wrongful imprisonment in US
16:42history. Do you know what's wrong with
16:43this? It's a fact, right? It's a fact.
16:46It's pretty crazy, don't get me wrong,
16:48but I don't know what I'm staying to
16:49watch for. For example, what would have
16:51been 10 times better in my opinion would
16:53be this mug shot of this person here.
16:55He's called Jackson and saying something
16:58like, "This is the unluckiest 18year-old
17:00in American history or in history,
17:02right?" And then you get into the story
17:04and then at the end you say that he got
17:07the longest wrongful imprisonment in US
17:09history. That would have just been
17:10crafted way better. a much broader
17:12appeal, something that has a very clear
17:14reason to watch, something that's
17:15interesting, and again, the topic is
17:17clear, right? We care to actually watch.
17:19And that would have just made it way
17:21better. That could have actually gone
17:22really viral cuz this story is mental.
17:24Here's the next one we're going to
17:26review. So, 23K views 4 days ago.
17:32Okay. Sabrina Carpenter and Josh. Who
17:35the [ __ ] is Josh, by the way? Sitting
17:37next to each other. You know, this isn't
17:38something I'm going to go and talk to my
17:40friends about and be like, "Yo, [music]
17:41did you see Sabrina Carpenter and Josh
17:44sitting next to each other? Let me let
17:46me keep watching."
17:49Okay, this is this is better. But of
17:51course, this isn't the hook anymore.
17:54Wanted to talk to him. Okay, so this
17:56midpoint here where there's action, this
17:58is where I would be starting it. Okay,
17:59so Sabrina Carpenter and then cut to his
18:02face saying something like has a crush
18:05on her or wants to start a conversation.
18:09Something like that just would have been
18:10better. You know, you've already had
18:11thinking how to start a conversation. It
18:13would have been way better to have that
18:15here. Or like knows his celebrity
18:17crushes next to him. That might be a bit
18:19long. Wants to flirt. Something like
18:21that. And then you cut to Sabrina wants
18:24to talk to him. Even your text is fine
18:26here, but just cutting into this a lot
18:27faster would have been better than
18:29showing them both and then saying
18:30they're sitting next to each other. Too
18:32many people use text just to describe
18:34what the viewer is already seeing. Use
18:37text as a way to tell the viewer
18:38something they can't tell yet. And one
18:40more example. Let's have a look here.
18:42Nice little 3D animated channel.
18:44>> Actually had nine lives like a cat. You
18:46might think you could survive any deadly
18:48accident and simply come. Okay, so first
18:50of all, so the first three seconds, nine
18:52lives like a cat survive any dead deadly
18:54accident. It's not a terrible hook, but
18:57it's just like the concept of it is
18:59wrong. If a cat gets hit by a car, that
19:01cat is dead, bro. Like I don't care how
19:04many lives it has. If it gets hit by a
19:06truck, it's done. You're not seeing it
19:08again. Okay? And I feel like everyone
19:10knows that. I don't think people just
19:12assume like you can launch a cat off a
19:13cliff and it's going to be fine. I feel
19:15like it would have been just more
19:16interesting the concept of how different
19:18would the world be if everyone had nine
19:20lives. Something like that would have
19:21genuinely been interesting. I'd be very
19:23curious about that. Strong reason to
19:24watch clear what we're going to watch.
19:26An interesting topic. So that would have
19:27been a very simple fix there. But you
19:28might have had to change like the
19:29animations around a bit. I just think
19:31the concept is a bit flawed here. But
19:33yeah, so that's how I would fix those
19:34three. So before your next short, forget
19:36all the hook templates and everything
19:38like that. I just want you to ask
19:40yourself four questions. Is the actual
19:42topic interesting? Do I immediately
19:45understand what is happening? Is what
19:47I'm seeing and what I'm hearing working
19:49together? And do I genuinely want to see
19:51what happens next? If the answer to any
19:53of those is no, then you know which part
19:55you need to work on. You don't need some
19:57magic combination of words. All you need
19:59is an interesting idea which is
20:01immediately easy to understand and give
20:03someone a reason to keep watching.
20:05That's a good hook.

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