Creating content online is tough. Marketing that content so it gets seen is even tougher. Traditionally things like video titles and thumbnails are seen as the required afterthought of the content creation process. Important to be sure, but to be made AFTER the video itself is finished. It’s an order of operations that one would think gives creators the best chance of success on social media platforms like YouTube. First make sure the content itself is good, then adjust your marketing efforts to fit whatever the video was about.
My contention is that this process should be reversed. Now, when it comes to creativity there is no one right way to do things. No miracle strategy that guarantees success, only incremental improvements to the way content is created in the hopes that the mystical all-powerful algorithms of social media platforms will recommend your content to new viewers.
I believe that the Hook and Story approach to content creation is that incremental leap in that process. After 15 years of content creation on YouTube, seven of which being full-time, the industry and platform has changed immensely. Through the creation of over 800 videos over that time frame I have come to realize that while the act of making content can be fun, I personally enjoy the challenge of marketing that content the most. With that in mind, I have developed a set of strategies and tactics for success that can best be summarized by the phrase “Have a good hook and tell an effective story”.
Have a Good Hook
Getting potential viewers to click on your content has always been the most challenging part of being a creator on YouTube. You may be confident that you have uploaded an interesting and engaging video, but the truth is that the quality of that content does not matter if it’s not viewed in the first place. Getting viewers through that proverbial door is a process that lies at the basis for my approach to content marketing on YouTube. The necessity of having a great Hook.
A Hook in this context is a message, a statement contained within your Thumbnail and Title that gives a potential viewer a Reason to watch your video. A simple concept sure, but where the conceptual formation of that hook falls in your video making process could make all the difference when it comes to it’s effectiveness. A fine line exists between a Title/Thumbnail combination that is ‘Clickable’ and one that is ‘Click Bait’. You never want to cross that line, potentially losing the trust of your viewer base, always deliver the content promised in the Hook.
Before editing software is booted up and commentary recorded, figuring out the Hook for a video should come first. This process generally comes with it’s own simple order of operations, that being figuring out the Title first and concept for the Thumbnail second. Having a compelling title in place will generally guide the creation of the thumbnail, and extend into the production of the video itself, where the content related to the title should receive extra emphasis.
Say you wish to make a video covering the latest movie news over three individual topics. Deciding before the video is made, which of those topics should act as the Hook in your thumbnail and title should come first. That decision will then guide the placement of those topics within the video itself to either present the strongest story first, of tease the viewer with the title story for the end.
Finding what specifically the content of that hook should be is generally something that comes with experience and success.
Experience in the form of your ability to accurately answer the question “if I was a viewer would I click this?”. A question that might be perceived as easy to answer, but in reality, requires a greater understanding of your audience and potential audience that can only come with time when posting within your niche.
Success on the platform will only help snowball your success in the future when it comes to creating an effective Hook. Breaking through, having just one video do well (whatever that may mean for you personally) will create a benchmark of success that any new hook can be compared to. A champion to A/B test the theoretical efficiency of a possible Title/Thumbnail combination before the video is even made when looked at in comparison to the successful video.
Tell An Effective Story
Professional marketers have long ago figured out that viewer response to the first 10-30 seconds of any piece of audio video content is the most important factor in determining whether that viewer will bother sticking around for the rest of it. On YouTube that maxim continues to hold true, no matter what genre or type of content is being uploaded. Being able to engage a viewer within that limited time frame is just as important as developing the Hook that gets them through the door in the first place.
In general, dated YouTube commonalities like flashy animated videos intro sequences and extended ‘be sure to like and subscribe’ calls to action should no longer reserve time within those first crucial few seconds. Instead that time should be spent either reintroducing or teasing the hook immediately leading to the first bit of actual content of the video. If the relationship between the viewer and the content creator can be described as a transactional one, it’s important to reward the leap of trust a viewer takes by clicking on an unfamiliar creator’s video, with a promise that the Hook will be delivered upon.
Combined Effectiveness
In general, the YouTube algorithm seems to favor two specific metrics over any others when determining whether to recommend your content, Impressions Click through Rate and Watch Time/Percentage. Having an effective Hook from early in the production process of your video seeks to positively impact the click-through rate of your content. By telling an effective story within the first 30 seconds of that video, viewers should be more likely to make it through the vale of immediate disinterest and watch your content for longer. Combined, the Hook & Story approach to content creation makes for a potent combination, one that I honestly recommend if you are making content now or are considering trying it in the future.
