How to Create Thumb-Stopping Social Media Hooks w/ Jack Appleby
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful session, Jack Appleby, an experienced social content strategist, emphasizes the importance of crafting compelling social hooks to capture audience attention in a content-saturated world. He shares practical strategies for creating effective hooks, such as leveraging emotional triggers and focusing on storytelling, and discusses the balance between entertainment and education in brand content. Appleby also touches on the adaptation of these techniques for different platforms and audience demographics, highlighting the universality of social hooks across generations and the value of experimentation in content creation.
Takeaways
- 🎯 The importance of social hooks in capturing audience attention is emphasized, with the time to hook now believed to be 1.7 seconds.
- 🚀 Jack Appleby's experience highlights the evolution of social media, from early Facebook campaigns to the current landscape of platforms like TikTok.
- 📈 Appleby stresses the significance of a strong hook in content creation, using examples like Mr. Beast's YouTube success and the impact of thumbnails.
- 🎥 The presentation discusses the shift from summarizing content to highlighting specific moments or emotions to create compelling social hooks.
- 📊 Appleby shares his insights on crafting social hooks by leveraging data, such as YouTube trending page analysis and brainstorming techniques.
- 💡 The concept of 'story first, product second' is introduced, urging brands to focus on storytelling to engage audiences and compete with entertainment platforms.
- 🌟 Appleby encourages looking at successful content creators for inspiration on social hook creation, rather than just observing other brands.
- 📝 The importance of volume brainstorming is underscored, with the idea that a large number of ideas should be generated to find the most effective hook.
- 🔍 Appleby advises on the use of clickbait, but with a caveat to ensure content delivery matches the hook to avoid negative reactions.
- 🎓 For B2B contexts, leveraging data and performance metrics in social hooks can be particularly effective due to the audience's interest in numbers.
- 🔗 The balance between education and entertainment in content should be tailored to the brand and audience, with a focus on providing value.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the discussion in the transcript?
-The main focus of the discussion is on creating effective social hooks for content to engage and attract audiences in a highly competitive and content-saturated environment.
How has the recommended duration for a social hook changed over time?
-The recommended duration for a social hook has shortened from three seconds to approximately 1.7 seconds due to the constant scrolling behavior of users on social media platforms like TikTok.
What is an example of a successful social hook used by Mr. Beast?
-An example of a successful social hook used by Mr. Beast is the title of his video where he takes a dollar yacht versus a million-dollar yacht, emphasizing the value and luxury aspect through the use of contrasting figures.
How does the speaker suggest brands should approach storytelling in their social content?
-The speaker suggests that brands should adopt a 'story first, product second' approach, focusing on creating engaging narratives that capture the audience's attention before integrating the product into the story.
What is the importance of volume brainstorming in creating social hooks?
-Volume brainstorming is crucial as it allows for the generation of numerous ideas and potential hooks. By exploring a wide range of possibilities, creators can identify the most effective and engaging hook for their content.
How does the speaker feel about the use of clickbait in social media content?
-The speaker encourages the use of clickbait tactics in brainstorming but emphasizes the importance of ensuring that the content delivers on the promise made by the hook to avoid annoyance and maintain audience trust.
What is the speaker's advice for brands targeting an older demographic with social hooks?
-The speaker advises that social hooks can work for all demographics, but they should be tailored to the specific interests and preferences of the target audience, whether it's a younger or older generation.
How does the speaker suggest balancing education and entertainment in social content?
-The speaker suggests that brands should primarily focus on providing educational content that adds value to the audience's lives. However, they should also experiment with incorporating humor and creativity where appropriate and in line with their brand voice.
What is the significance of understanding the emotional triggers in crafting social hooks?
-Understanding emotional triggers is key in crafting social hooks because it helps creators design content that evokes a specific reaction from the audience, such as humor, surprise, or curiosity, thereby increasing engagement.
How does the speaker recommend testing and optimizing social hooks?
-The speaker recommends testing different types of hooks and triggers, analyzing the audience's response, and using platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts to experiment and find the most effective hooks for the brand and its target audience.
What is the role of SEO in creating effective social hooks?
-SEO plays a role in creating effective social hooks by providing insights into what topics and keywords are trending and generating interest among the audience. This data can be used to craft hooks that are more likely to engage users.
Outlines
🎤 Introduction and Welcoming Remarks
The video begins with a warm welcome from the host, Cass, who introduces herself and expresses her excitement for the upcoming session. She mentions her role in the Content and Community team at Superside and acknowledges the collective effort in finding ways to stand out. Cass introduces the keynote speaker, Jack Appleby, highlighting his extensive experience in social content, influencer campaigns, and his work with major brands like Microsoft, Beats by Dre, Verizon's, Spotify, and Minecraft. She also notes his contributions to the industry, such as his articles in Morningbrew, his own business, and his efforts in mentoring his audience. Cass then hands over the presentation to Jack, who shares his enthusiasm for discussing social media and the evolution of the field.
📈 The Importance of Social Hooks
Jack Appleby delves into the critical concept of social hooks, emphasizing their role in drawing in an audience within the first few seconds of content. He explains that a social hook can be anything from a video clip to a tweet's copy that captures attention. Jack discusses the缩短 of the time span to capture attention due to content saturation and the influence of platforms like TikTok. He stresses the importance of creating compelling hooks that lead to great content, using examples from Mr. Beast's YouTube strategy and the impact of thumbnails. Jack also advises against summarizing content in captions or thumbnails, instead highlighting a key moment or emotion to entice viewers.
🎨 Crafting Strong Social Hooks
In this section, Jack provides insights into crafting effective social hooks. He advises against merely summarizing content and instead suggests focusing on a highlight from the social content being created. Jack uses examples from popular YouTube videos, such as those featuring Hasan Minhaj and the Hot Ones show, to illustrate how highlighting specific moments can drive views. He also discusses the strategy behind Mr. Beast's content and the importance of thumbnail design in attracting viewers. Jack encourages thinking in terms of YouTube titles and editorial headlines to create strong social hooks and shares his belief in prioritizing story over product in content creation.
🌟 Storytelling in Brand Content
Jack continues the discussion by emphasizing the importance of storytelling in brand content. He points out that brands are competing with a plethora of entertainment options, and thus, storytelling becomes a crucial tool to capture and retain the audience's attention. Jack presents examples of successful brand storytelling, such as Adobe's TikTok campaign redesigning signs in New York and a personal TikTok account documenting a journey to get back in shape. He highlights how these examples use storytelling effectively to showcase the brand's product without making it the central focus, which ultimately drives more views and engagement.
💡 Simplicity in Social Hooks and Brainstorming
Jack discusses the need for simplicity in crafting social hooks while also emphasizing the importance of extensive brainstorming. He advises against overly clever or complex copywriting, advocating for clear and concise language that resonates with the audience. Jack shares his experiences in video game marketing and how a straightforward approach outperformed a more elaborate one. He encourages embracing clickbait tactics in brainstorming but warns against not delivering on the promises made in the hook. Jack also suggests using Google to find popular content in your niche and adapting it into clickable social hooks.
🤔 Reflecting on Content Consumption
Jack encourages the audience to reflect on their own content consumption habits to better understand what makes them engage with certain content. He suggests that by analyzing why a piece of content caught their attention and kept them watching, they can apply those insights to their own content creation. Jack also shares personal experiences of building his social media presence by documenting his fitness journey and how he used storytelling to integrate a promotion for his friend's workout class. He highlights the success of this approach, which outperformed traditional advertising methods.
📊 Balancing Education and Entertainment in Content
Jack addresses the balance between educating and entertaining the audience in content creation. He suggests that while humor and entertainment can be effective, they should not be the primary goal unless it aligns with the brand's identity. Jack advises that most brands, especially B2B companies or lesser-known brands, should focus more on educating their audience. He emphasizes the importance of tailoring content to the target audience and platform, and encourages experimentation to find the right mix. Jack concludes the session by inviting the audience to connect with him on social media for further discussion.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Social Hooks
💡Content Creation
💡Audience Engagement
💡Brand Strategy
💡Storytelling
💡TikTok
💡YouTube
💡Mentorship
💡NBA
💡Social Media Trends
💡Content Over-saturation
Highlights
Jack Appleby's experience in social content creation and his work with major brands like Microsoft and Spotify.
The importance of social hooks in capturing audience attention within the first 1.7 seconds of content.
The evolution of social media and the shift from 3-second hooks to shorter attention spans due to platforms like TikTok.
Mr. Beast's strategy of prioritizing strong hooks over quantity of content, leading to his massive success on YouTube.
The concept of 'story first, product second' as a method for creating engaging brand content on social media.
Adobe's TikTok campaign that focuses on redesigning signs in New York, demonstrating the power of storytelling.
The idea of using 'what if' brainstorming to generate creative social content ideas that stand out.
The importance of simplicity and clarity in social hooks, avoiding overly clever or complex language.
The effectiveness of clickbait-style hooks when they are honest and deliver on the promise of the title.
The value of volume brainstorming and experimenting with different hooks to find the most effective one.
Jack's personal experiment with a 'basketball fan fiction' TikTok account and the success of his Space Jam 2 hook.
The idea of consuming and analyzing social content to understand why certain posts go viral and how to apply those lessons.
Balancing the use of trends (trend jacking) with staying true to the brand's message and objectives.
The challenge of including CTAs in content while maintaining authenticity and the importance of providing value through entertainment or education.
Adapting the concept of social hooks for B2B content, focusing on data and performance metrics to attract a professional audience.
The potential of repurposing content across different platforms like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels for increased reach.
The importance of tailoring social hooks to the specific audience, adjusting the style and content based on the target demographic.
Finding the right balance between education and entertainment in brand content, with a focus on providing value to the audience.
Transcripts
[Music]
thank you
hi welcome it's my third session super
excited
um I'm just gonna run through some stuff
I know everyone's waiting for you to
present but I'm Cass I'm on the content
and Community team here at superside
rest assured that even my own team is
looking for ways to stand out so we're
definitely all in this together today
I'm very excited by our keynote speaker
Jack Appleby Jack has over 10 years of
experience working in agencies with a
heavy emphasis on social content
influencers and campaigns he's LED
social aors for campaigns like Microsoft
Beats by Dre Verizon's Spotify Minecraft
the list goes on lots and lots of
awesome stuff I know I'm just gonna
embarrass you jack I'm gonna keep going
for another test I feel embarrassed yeah
let's let it set it um you might have
seen his articles in morningbrew
previously uh before starting his own
business he was a senior creative
strategist on Twitch he now runs future
social and if you don't subscribe to his
awesome Weekly Newsletter you should
we'll definitely make sure to link to
that
um Jack has also taken on so much to
help with Mentor his audience and really
just connect with people in the industry
which I really admire but aside from
that he is a big NBA fan I think I saw a
real shared by Mark Cuban
um which is pretty pretty cool yeah
yeah no big deal not a big deal at all
maybe you'll run through something
um but yeah thanks for being here today
Jack I'm super excited I can't I can't
wait to learn from you and uh with that
I think I'll just let you take over the
presentation and run with things
awesome yeah I mean thank you for having
me thank you for everybody that's here
right now I love talking about this
stuff like I've worked in Social for so
long at this point that I feel very
fortunate I like to teach it now there's
so many people interested in it uh it
was a lonely ship for a long time 10
years ago uh starting my first Facebook
campaigns before Facebook even had a
video so the space has evolved a lot um
so much has changed we're gonna get into
one of the most important parts of
social day which is how to write great
social hooks
yeah
so before we get into like all the
Tactical things there like let's let's
back up and Define what is this for
everybody again a social Hook is
whatever you're using in the first
couple of seconds of your contents to
draw in an audience that might be
something video that might be something
an audio queue that you have in the
first couple seconds you can even
consider a social hook the cap the copy
on a tweet for instance because you know
when someone's scrolling a feed they're
gonna see the copy as well as the
beginning of the video so a hook is
anything that pulls you into that
content the other day if you can't pull
someone in No One's Gonna See the
content okay
now I think for the last decade or so
we've all heard this idea that three
seconds is how long you'd have for a
hook um if you look at a lot of movie
marketing for instance you'll notice
that trailers over the last decade
suddenly have like a big Michael bayish
action sequence to start and then
actually go into the slow Build Trailer
that's because the convention was three
seconds
that has now shortened uh probably
because of tick tock and we all just
constantly scroll and thumb through the
next content we're being told that 1.7
seconds is how long you have to get some
of the tension now
um it sounds very very quick it's
actually a little longer than you
realize when you really look at what you
could accomplish 1.7 seconds but again
this is why it's so important that you
are really doing things to hook
someone's attention because we live in a
very content over saturated world at
this point
and you'll just keep seeing me beat this
like this beat this drunk continuously
go through this like the hook is all
that matters
um like Cassandra mentioned some of the
accounts that I've worked on previously
having worked on social for 10 years and
spending the last two years doing more
research and writing about the space
I've really come down to there's a
couple fundamentals that drive all of
your constant success and the most
important one is the social hook
one of my favorite examples of this uh
I'm sure we've all seen Mr Beast at this
point he is completely unavoidable one
of the biggest not YouTubers but
celebrities in the world at this phase
of his career
he has scrapped millions of dollars of
videos because he could not think of the
thumbnail to put on the YouTube channel
this is entirely true uh there's a
really great interview with his manager
Reed on the YouTube channel ran by Colin
and Samir when he talked about the inner
workings of the Mr Beast business he
will he's he will happily not post
content if he cannot come up with the
proper hook and I know for us who are on
either agency budgets or brand budgets
that seems ludicrous and I'm not telling
you to go scrap work what I am saying is
this is why it's so important to
remember the value of this and this is
why the biggest YouTuber in the world
has become so big because the hooks are
so vital
something I say to Young strategy Mentor
is I hear a lot of time like oh the
content was great but the algorithm
missed it like it's not good content if
you have a bad hook but if you get good
at creating hooks that does lead to
Great content uh because this exercise
is not just how to use some like
mechanic in the first couple seconds
that like one little Hook Line This
actually will show you how to build
stronger content as a result of hooks
so let's get into the meat of this whole
thing
we're going to go through are several
different ways for you to craft stronger
social Hooks and one of the easiest ones
right up front is to stop summarizing
when you're writing a caption or the
copy for a thumbnail what you want to do
is really hit on a highlight from the
social content that you're creating uh
when I was making this presentation the
other day one of the my favorite ways to
just check to see what people are using
for Trends and hooks is just go to the
YouTube trending page um and those
videos are getting up there for a reason
they're getting Clips they're getting
views they're getting engagements these
two examples are two of my favorites and
they're literally from the last week
uh Hassan Minaj very famous comedian
highly highly recommends he interviewed
President Obama and most of us like if
we had the chance to interview the
president we would be we would talk
about it as the President Obama
interviewer I interviewed President
Obama
at this phase
many many people have actually made that
content so the way the content was
labeled if you look at that YouTube
title Hassan's video is called I asked
President Obama if he's depressed
now I can feel you getting like is that
a little Cliff baby or is that a little
weird this is the reality of where we're
at as far as social hits goes that will
drive more views than Hassan interviews
President Obama uh you look below that a
very famous example from the last couple
of years is hot ones if you haven't seen
hot ones it's a YouTube Interview show
where celebrities eat hot wings as they
answer tough questions or even hotter
questions that they're tagline they
don't simply put the Jennifer Lawrence
interview they say Jennifer Lawrence
sobs in pain while eating spicy wings
they're trying to pull that emotion or
pull that individual highlights out of
that video because you will go in there
and watch the full video Once you know
you're looking for that highlight
okay you'll see me reference Mr Beast
quite a bit uh I mean I truly believe
that we can learn far more from creators
about creating great content for Brands
than looking sideways other brands point
and I've already mentioned like these
are the best I'm a huge fan of his work
and The Business
this is his video from the last week
which became the second fastest video to
the second highest performing video in
under 24 hours on YouTube it's something
like 50 million 70 million views in 24
hours
in the video he takes you through what
it looks like to get on a dollar yacht
which is apparently a thing a thousand
dollar yacht a hundred thousand dollar
yacht a 500 000 million three million
and then a billion dollar yacht which is
really just a cruise ship doesn't matter
for this
that video is 14 minutes long there are
multiple celebrity guests he shows you
individual tours of things but when he's
trying to hook you for his YouTube video
he's building a thumbnail that's got his
face because he's a celebrity he has
made the yacht look like it's made of
complete gold to emphasize the value of
a billion dollars and in his YouTube
title it's one dollar versus million
dollar yelt he's not trying to tell you
every single thing that happens in 14
minutes he's picking two very specific
highlights and then triggering a human
emotion by using the versus language
this is now I think it's at 170 million
views when I looked this morning it will
be one of his top performing videos of
all time
yeah
which you can kind of see I pull a lot
of information uh inspiration for social
content from YouTube titles and I
actually think one of the best ways you
can start to reframe your brain to think
of social hooks is to think in both
YouTube titles and editorial headlines
if you can come up with a YouTube title
for your content it's probably a good
idea um and this is where we get back to
even brainstorming styles for social
contents
I know we all have budgets to work in we
have limitations we know that legal
teams set into our right and just ready
to kill whatever weird idea we have but
this is where the what if type of
brainstorming really is so vital if you
want to make content that performs
because that what if gives you the crazy
ideas not irresponsibly crazy but just
interesting compelling content
if you can think of that YouTube title
for that idea it's probably going to be
content that performs and you should
really consider making that your post
copy itself
which kind of leads us into this other
concept that I use a lot is story first
product second
I'm sure many of us have wasted many
many hours per day scrolling Tick Tock
uh I don't even want to look at my
screen time at this point it's
disastrous
um but as we were now competing like
let's remember we all work for Brands we
all work for agencies and we're trying
to make content that competes with an
overwhelming scene of videos photos
essays books Netflix shows that are out
there right now
it's so so important that you're not
only trying to hook someone in through a
great like a great intro to a video but
people are looking for storytelling
content like every time some if you're
making organic content as a brand you're
fundamentally competing with Netflix and
HBO because people use these platforms
for entertainment and if you view your
own content as entertainment you're
going to start driving more views
especially in the new tip-tock world
that we're in
so two examples here
um one from a brand and then one is
oddly enough for my personal tick tock
on the left
pretty unassuming you can see from that
caption up top this is day two of
redesigning signs in New York and when
you look at the screenshot you might
think to yourself like oh it's probably
like a amateur Creator who's out there
making some fun videos this is from the
Adobe Tick Tock account and this is a
collaboration they did with a Creator
where instead of making an adobe Tick
Tock that was how to design a poster in
Adobe Photoshop they actually went out
and came up with a Content idea where
they're going around New York City
finding random size I don't know if it's
true or not how they do this but the way
it's uh framed within videos going
around New York City finding random
signs that are not great probably
someone in Microsoft paints or just word
creating something to hang up and
they're actually having this graphic
designer build them custom signs we
might have a video of it uh if I can
figure out how to this is day two of
redesigning signs in New York City
without anyone asking me to on the
community bulletin board here I
discovered man with Van just a
neighborhood man trying to turn his van
into a side hustle he's offering up his
help with Van related tasks in the
neighborhood I respect it however his
design feels a bit too straightforward
it's kind of cold and mysterious after
all he is a man in a van so to help him
come across as a bit more friendly and
trustworthy we're going to use playful
illustration and some design that feels
a bit more professional I took
inspiration from vintage label designs
and made simple bold choices that
transform man with Van into a brand
that's established look at how much more
inviting this man and his van are I
don't know who man with Van is but now
he's got a whole brand identity
so that that's one of my favorite pieces
of brand tip talking I've seen in a
while um frankly I don't think a lot of
Brands were killing it at tiktok because
they're not willing to make content like
that they start off with a great concept
I don't know if you noticed they didn't
use the word Photoshop in that video not
once I don't even think they mentioned
Adobe when they make content like this
it's clear if someone's scrolling what
account it's coming from now little
Adobe signs in the corner right there it
literally says Adobe they LED with story
first the results from this that's a
four million of you tip top that
significantly outperforms all of their
other concept so much so that this is
now a series on their Channel if you go
to the Adobe and I encourage you go to
the Adobe Tick Tock and if you look at
the top there's a playlist button that
says New York signs every time they do
one of these videos it significantly
outperforms other contents um I think
the third one in the series got about
680 000 views this is not expensive
content to produce it's something that
small teams could easily make and it's
really just about the idea of selling
this product in a way that's very
different and very entertaining that's
very Charming you're actually helping
people out in the community with your
product
on the right hand side uh this is a
little Tick Tock gag that I have going
for myself right now uh I'm pursuing so
as you can see from that screenshot
there I'm a 34 year old washed up
ex-college player who's trying to get it
back uh I'm currently trying to get back
in shape and playing some like
professional three on three basketball
and I decided to document the whole
journey and I was very realistic about
the story of who I am as a person at
this point Sorry a brand new tick tock
account fresh built 25 000 followers in
one month by Framing things through this
story lens this and this piece you're
looking at right here this is actually
an advertisement for my buddy's workout
class there's a workout class called
swish house where it combines like
basketball and hit workouts to it's way
more fun for me than running on a
treadmill
I made this piece of content about it it
actually outperforms their traditional
Instagram stories advertising so much so
that they asked me to White list it and
it's now constantly running Evergreen ad
for them it also went viral it's about
500 000 views when my account only had
ten thousand followers
again it would have been the traditional
approach would have been we've got a
basketball workout class and that
content definitely has a place within
your overall ecosystem of both paid and
organic but if you want to start to get
viewed by other audiences and have
chances of virality going with a story
first and then integrating your products
into human stories is really how you can
unlock huge new counts and larger shares
so I know we just talked a lot about
trying to be clever with our
storytelling
there's an important caveat within that
and that's why I want you to be very
simple about how you're trying to come
up with your social hooks
this is where I like to look at big
accounts like Marvel for instance you
can see this is the trailer for the uh
for the last Black Panther movie
they have a quote from the movie that's
a very famous quote that's a playoff of
a quote from the original movie then
they have very plain language watch the
brand new trailer for Marvel Studios
black panther only in theater November
11th and they have the ticket link
there is no creative copywriting here
um I come from a long list of social
agency backgrounds and we would have
social copywriters where their only job
was to write captions uh for contest
they do occasionally do some pranks one
of us as well but one of the biggest
frustrations for for me as a strategist
was
we had this focus on eloquence and
cleverness and trying to be overly smart
with our copy that honestly got in the
way a lot of the time that was actually
a structural challenge because these
people felt very responsible for being
clever within their copy with this is
the right approach what is the easiest
way to tell the information you need to
tell what is the most concise way to
tell the information you tell and
understanding what is most important to
those audiences
I worked on a uh so I come from a lot of
video game marketing I worked on a
campaign where our first trailer we used
like some sort of Home up top that had
inspired the title of the of the actual
game and on the second time I got my way
and I was able to use a new Gameplay
trailer insert game title here as the
copy it's significantly outperforms
because the audience doesn't want to
have to decipher what they're about to
see make it easy for them use as few
characters as possible like make it just
digestible and they will watch that
content
this one I could feel everyone's
hesitation since they say Embrace
clickbait on a screen
um
this is the reality of what we all do as
marketers is how are we driving clicks
to the content how are we getting you to
watch that and let's be clear I'm not
about to tell you to go make the
here's a list of Seven Things number six
will shock you type of content
um what I am encourage you though is
thinking hyperbole when you're writing
things think in the larger like how are
we driving things up
this is where I mean as I Was preparing
for this presentation as I do content
strategy book for myself and my
Consulting clients
more from tick talkers talk about how
they tip talk then I have thought
leadership from industry press and when
you Google Tick Tock hooks for instance
these are a couple results from the
first page of Google where these phrases
they probably if I know we all like to
fancy ourselves like these elevated
marketers and these probably seem like
oh why would I go like this tactical or
that language isn't really like too
different we're trying to accomplish
these kind of language triggers really
do work within social content and this
is where the amateur Creator can often
beat brand content not because brands
are boring but because the amateur
Creator is willing to make the content
that people want to see so just like a
couple screenshots from those articles
like here are blank tips to get rid of
Blank you need this product in your life
stop scrolling if you want to you can
still make the brand content that I know
you're all making but if you insert this
type of language up front it will not
only pull in your hook differently but
it'll color your story differently where
you'll build things that are more native
to the current social environments like
the why are why are there not more
people talking about blank you can frame
that around the human reaction that one
of your product features uh actually
produces for somebody there's all kinds
of things you can do with this and I
encourage you like do the basics like
obstacle like as long as I've been doing
this before I start every project I and
all Google reading out the fundamentals
over and over again because so much of
social success are those fundamentals
Google Tick Tock hooks you'd be amazed
what comes up and you should be trying
it within your brand content
uh this is an unfun one this is the one
that I think especially as you work in
Social uh is one we often forget about
which is be willing to do the work with
volume brainstorming
I I mean I'm as guilty as anybody uh we
want the dopamine hits of the from the
brands we work on we want to pump out as
much content as possible our first ideas
often make into the decks which is
partially a result of all of our
expertise what we've all learned across
the years but it's also because we're
not doing nearly as much work as we
should be to make sure that we're coming
up with the best ideas possible uh I'm
gonna reference Mr Beast one more time
and one of the interview Series where he
talks about the creation process they
spent two months in idea generation and
planning out the contents they spend
more time in idea generation than they
do filming these multi-million dollar
videos because again the ideas all that
matters and they don't have the right
idea they won't go to filming
I'm gonna pull another silly one for my
you'll find I have a lot of tick-tock
experiments and Adventures uh I started
this very silly account called alternate
reality at one point where I was doing I
call it like basketball fan fiction and
what ifs uh and back whenever Space Jam
2 came out I have my own idea for what
the plot of that movie should have been
uh so I filmed the tick tock for it very
silly uh man I look young there but uh
filmed this very silly concept for it
and I knew I needed an upfront hook that
was going to be really really strong to
make people watch this and I knew here's
what I think Space Jam 2 should be about
isn't that compelling
so I actually look at a Google
spreadsheet and I wrote 50 different
versions of the headline and I tried
everything and eventually what I landed
on was the one you see on the screen
here which again you can see there's no
production value to this I don't I have
the green screen kind of intentionally
set to be awkward and to the left I'm
using the native text tool just with red
well red background behind it
but you can see here the hook is LeBron
should be the villain in Space Jam 2.
reason I went with that after doing 50
different trials on what that headline
could have been I wanted to hit as many
emotional triggers as possible LeBron is
a celebrity getting his name in the
title by video wouldn't matter calling
saying that he should be the villain the
plot I wrote was about him as the bad
guy
that would immediately go like wait
that's different I don't know what to
expect from that I would want to watch
that and then obviously in the name of
the IP in there
this ended up going viral from I built
an account at like 30 40 000 at that
point uh this did a couple million views
the first time I posted it and then got
shared around by pretty much every
basketball shoe blog that exists it's
probably got a combine 10 million views
now uh and it wouldn't have mattered if
I didn't spend that time coming up with
The Upfront hooks this is where the
actual for you guys I realize this is a
Creator take as we look at how to do
this for brands
there's a Mad Men scene where God has to
go and do 25 tag lines as he's trying to
work his way back into advertising you
really need to spend the time looking
into what are the different ways to word
this what adjective should I be using
how can I shortly how can I lengthen it
what triggers am I looking for in this
you'd be amazed and if we're being
honest with ourselves it's something in
the it will be something in like the
tens and 20s of that brainstorming
exercise that you'll realize like oh
that's better than my first idea so I
know this isn't fun I know we're all
extremely busy but you will get better
results with all of your content if
you're willing to do the volume brain
falling work
uh that was a less small one let's talk
about the more fun side of understanding
how to build social hooks I am giving
you permission like I I Knight you
go consume content scroll your for you
page like spend time watching stuff and
while you're watching it really theorize
as to why it's made it into your feed
tick tock's the best I mean you're gonna
get from you're a personal for you Pages
you're gonna get a mixer up things that
have gone viral globally that's where if
we all Talk Amongst ourselves you know
we all have different preferences many
of us have seen the same video because
there are Global viral videos then we're
also all involved in certain niches like
I have friends who uh read a ton so
their Tick Tock feed it's almost all
book talk uh mine tends to be more of a
basketball and I come from a long line
of emo music so that that's talk for
another day my four year page is
different than yours it's different than
someone else different someone else's
but even though that's not marketing
content when I get that stuff served in
my feed I can spend a second thinking
about what was that hook what was the
first sentence they said what was the
text on screen why did they get me to
finish that video
so whenever you're scrolling your Tick
Tock feed whether you're scrolling
Twitter if you're on YouTube when you
finish a video go back to the beginning
and think to yourself like why did I
actually care to complete this content
this is how I built my own muscles the
only way I got I wasn't taught social
from traditional sense had some great
mentors working some great agencies but
we were all making it up like I started
in Social in 2010 2011. there were no
best practices this is how we all got
good at this just consuming as much
confidence as possible and theorizing
what worked looking at what videos went
viral look at what videos performed in
our Niche and making guesses and then
trying our own versions of those things
foreign
I'm super passionate about
um but it's so important like I hope you
took something excited to hear what what
questions you might have
yeah there's a lot of uh conversations
going on in chat we have a bunch of
questions to go through
um but first I was just curious there's
there's a couple things going on in chat
about clickbait I knew that when you
said that you're gonna get some comments
and I can feel like the brand and
content please coming for you
um but yeah is there like some sort of
threshold to avoid like knowing okay
clickbait works I want to lean into that
but I don't want to go too far where
maybe it's like giving the wrong brand
impression like how do you kind of
balance that as their you have tips for
you know making sure you don't pass that
threshold sure
yeah I think our reactions like when we
have like a negative reaction clickbait
it's usually because we think that the
content doesn't pay off the title so
when I say to embrace clickbait doing is
encourage you to do a bait and switch
that's never a good idea you're gonna
really annoy people if the content
doesn't rough up the title what I
encourage you to do is in your
brainstorming think in more clickable
more clickbait approaches of things and
then actually deliver that content so
the point I see like mentions in the
chat
if you can't deliver on your title like
you've already lost in the content World
anyway so make sure your click bait
matches the content but do brainstorms
where you think in clickbait um I mean
another way I'd encourage you to do this
stuff is with whatever product you work
on just start googling what articles are
written about your product and what
articles people in your Niche are
talking about
SEO can be inspiration for social all
over the place there's a reason people
have written those articles those are
data-based articles and then come
through with the clickbait version of
that for content
yeah okay that makes a lot of sense and
I think someone Chase uh was spitting
some truth into the comments I think he
said something similar so yeah I totally
agree there
um something I guess on the same kind of
thought would be around chat like Trend
jacking
um so you know a lot of platforms like
Tick Tock encourage this Behavior I've
talked to different content folks and
social media folks who may be like they
can see it as an easy way to get views
an easy way to get in front of people
um but like should it be the main thing
that you do on social like how do you
balance that especially when you're you
know maybe a social media manager who is
like measured on reach and engagement
it's tough
um so an exercise that I encourage
everyone in Social do and it's not a
popular exercise is do a month worth of
social content without doing any trends
zero Trends
um I think something I've seen we've
seen like since I started this industry
we've seen the space grow and grow and
grow there are more entry and mid-level
social media positions than there have
ever been
um and as a result of that like we're
all getting to experiment and we're
seeing such cool content come out of how
young our faith is I do think one of the
challenges that we have now is we get so
excited about Trends and parodies and
like trying to blend off of what's
happening in the social sphere that we
actually have lost most of the brands we
work for in the process
so
I think the reality of great like of one
version of great content
is if you can make something that ties
to a trend while showing off your
product in the way that you hope someone
understands your products that's a dream
situation
I think if we're being honest with
ourselves a lot of Trends social content
from Brands spends a lot more time on
the trend and has absolutely no hook to
the actual product that's from or if
there is a hook it's not one that would
ever actually drive awareness or follows
or sales of the products yeah yeah
completely and you know like I've I'm
doing a bit of social myself if you go
to our Channel you'll see some
embarrassing videos that I've been uh
creating but yeah like it's so easy to
get into that world of like wow I got so
much engagement oh my God I got like
more likes than my usual posts do but
like is it the right type of content for
the brand and so I think it is important
to reflect on that
um yeah doing that myself
um but kind of on this like similar
thought we have a question from brain
around like how to include ctas in our
content while still remaining genuine
and prioritizing that hook do you have
any advice
so I think the whole I think when
someone's watching your content
for the most part they either want to be
entertained or educated so if we're
talking figure out a social hookup front
build content that provides value to
their life in some way shape or form
if you hit both of those things
including a CTA within like if it's a
video content towards the end
they're happy to contribute to you as a
brand because you have entertained them
or educated them or provided some sort
of guide to their life uh I think within
copy it's slightly trickier like we know
every study ever has shown us that
content with links in it perform worse
than content without links and that's
not to say don't post a content with
link that's something else I see young
social media managers do and complain
about like no we all gotta drive
business at some point during this we
have to be part of the full funnel
um within video content
don't be afraid to include ctas at the
end follow for more click here to view
things um I do it within all of my
personal and the brand I consult with at
the end of those videos if it's
storytelling content follow me for more
like this click to go find this piece
um that stuff works and I would say on
like an Instagram if you're not doing
video content
um I wrote an article
uh if you Google Google my name and
dinosaur Comics I know that sounds
really random
um there's a habit in uh that I found in
the webcomic sphere of Instagram where
they post a lot of Carousel content and
the final Carousel image will be a CTA
to purchase merchandise usually based on
the comment we just watched so on
Instagram think about that last
character as a moment to also enter CPS
yeah one thing that um we're actually
changing up at superside is the
journeying like where we want to send
people next we've fallen into the Trap
of like creating a really awesome top of
the funnel YouTube video and then ending
with like and book a call and it's like
that doesn't make sense right like
someone's not gonna watch that video and
want to book a call so I think it's like
thinking about what naturally fits there
and maybe almost templatizing that in
some shape or forms you know like if
it's top of funnel maybe these are some
of your ctas or offerings to lead
someone to versus something more bottom
of funnel
um we have lots more questions so let me
dive into the next one
um Miriam's asking what does this type
of concept look like in a B2B context
and how can you adopt that entertainment
focus and like storytelling ideas for
you know very specific Industries
sure um so I'm functionally a B2B
Creator myself now like my newsletter
has written four marketers um I love if
you subscribe to Future social give it a
um so I'm having to do this on a daily
basis now with my own contents
um
this is where I think as you look at the
we talk about emotional triggers
I would say people consuming B2B content
they tend to be a little more interested
in numbers and data as hooks
um so like I wrote a thread I I need to
stop mentioning Mr Beast uh I wrote a
thread about his last video
um they got picked up by Time magazine
for an article where the hooks that I
used up front for that were about the
velocity of the content how quickly it
got to a certain view count because I
wanted marketers to recognize that it's
not just some like kid in a straw hat
it's driving real value there and that
Twitter thread ended up with two million
views so I would say in the B2B space
hit numbers a little harder like data
increases performance tend to work well
um I mean this is where like the
fundamentals of B2B become really really
important like what encourages someone
to buy your service if you're if pricing
is part of that you may need to include
some version of Roi in the type of stuff
for only x amount of dollars you can
drive this type of result
um and don't be wrong like it's always
going to be harder to go like viral for
B2B content and for most of us that
shouldn't be the goal like the goal
should be to hit our audience because if
you're a if you're a product that costs
ten thousand dollars a month to use like
you don't want everyone seeing that
because not everyone has the budget to
use that
totally
yeah I think that's like um that's
forever a challenge I I experienced that
in content where I mean especially when
you're in this this realm of social
media you do want to get in front of
more people but you want to get in front
of the right people and so you always
kind of have to shift your strategy
there but there might be room for some
of those more like I guess experimental
things that are a bit they might have
virality kind of baked into them you
obviously can't guarantee that but
um sure I mean like a big portion of my
content are Twitter threads that are
like social media case breakdowns and
I'm constantly looking at like what is
how long is my like this is the level of
detailed I get to when I write my first
tweet I will actually write up a 13
tweet thread and not write the intro and
I'll do an entirely different brainstorm
session to figure out what that intro is
um I wrote Michelob Ultra have this
amazing moment where a guy got
photographed uh during a key shot every
one of their phones out to film the
golfer except for this one guy who was
holding a Michelob Ultra and it became
like it went viral organ exactly they
got he got called Beer Guy and they
turned into an entire social campaign
the thread that I wrote about it like
I'm someone who's like I'm just I'm 34
years old not a big Emoji guy personally
but I was like okay you know what my
little bulleted list like let's play
with like little drop down arrow emoji
to show like when things decrease or
when things increased and that thread
performs 30 better than my other threads
is it because of that you tell me but
constantly experimenting with this those
different type of triggers is really
important totally yeah I love that let
me surface another question here there's
a couple around
um kind of like compliances and not
being able to use tick tock so there's a
couple industries that aren't able to
get on there do you think it's worth
diving into YouTube shorts and will good
hooks gain through Impressions on
YouTube shorts and you know reels and so
forth compared to tick tock
so I have friends that work at Tick Tock
YouTube and Instagram and they've all
explained to me how reals is so
different than Tick Tock and it's so
different than YouTube shorts and they
are all doing their job they're all
really really smart and fantastic I love
them all to death those things are all
exactly the same each platform
definitely has like some cultural Trends
to it but ninety percent of the content
that works on Tick Tock would also work
on Instagram would also work on YouTube
and that's true like split those up
however you want so even if you're not
on tick tock
I really believe you should be testing
your Instagram reels as a YouTube shows
um one of my good friends who I met at
laundry service was an agency I worked
at where I mean we ran piece by Dre we
ran the uh the Olympic bid social Jordan
brand many many like very cool uh
cultural brands
after working in strategy for a long
time his new partner has a dog that she
thought it could I think he could be
like Tick-Tock and Instagram famous they
built that dog to a half million
followers on Tech talk his name is Lord
Leo he's the the playing dead Pomeranian
it's worth a look it's adorable uh the
reason I mention it
he's like I should probably be testing
YouTube shouldn't I he built 30 000
followers in three days by posting the
exact same tick tocks and reels that
they use on that platform because right
now YouTube shorts has incredible
organic reach so I recognize I met you a
lot of Creator examples but your YouTube
for your brand is probably sitting there
with like whatever 60 you guys put on TV
two years ago like most brand YouTubes
are really underserved you've already
made this content go put it on there
especially for an agency wouldn't you
love to like go show like we got X
performance just by being smart and
putting this confidence somewhere else
and then reporting that as additional
views go toss the content everywhere
totally yeah we've just been
experimenting with this actually and
kind of like starting on Tick Tock and
trying to apply it across the different
platforms and we get the most amount of
views on and like reach on linked on
sorry not linked to Instagram but on
YouTube shorts like it's performing
really well and we've tried a variation
of cuts there like from our regular more
polished videos and by far like these
more organic looking tick tocks
outperform so I think that says
something about the platform and yeah
it's I think a really good spot for
people to test and grow there since it
isn't quite as active just yet yeah I I
think we're something I found over the
last decade is there's always one
platform that if you can only do one
thing build for that platform then
repurpose that content elsewhere like
when I started social like Facebook was
the only platform so we prioritized
when Instagram became big something was
like well make Instagram style content
and then even if it's not perfect for
what else it'll still perform pretty
good so post that everywhere now it
feels like that's Tick Tock like I
believe you can make more Tick Tock
style content and post it on most
platforms like I've seen tick tocks go
viral on Twitter just as like downloaded
videos
yeah I think because it's like it makes
it easier for you to create on the
platform it does kind of make sense to
start there sometimes
um but yeah we have more questions let
me run through I want to get to as many
as we can
um
so yeah we kind of answered that one I
guess like some yeah no that's similar I
was gonna say someone also asked there's
lots of questions about like approaching
the different platforms but I think we
touched on that a little bit
um
you mentioned triggers a few times can
you talk a bit more about the different
types of triggers
yeah we've culturally used that for
something else it just if what I've
always come up using um
when I say triggers what I'm doing what
I'm getting towards is like what is the
reaction that you're trying to get out
of Contour or making content and hooks
that inspires a reaction like when I
make my silly like trying to get in
shape contents me saying washed up like
it's like me admitting that like I'm
past my Prime and that gives you an
emotional reaction maybe it's funny
maybe it's relatable to you if you're
the same spot as me but it's it's
language like some strong character to
it that's where like if you like like I
heard someone mentioned B2B earlier this
is like how to
is a very important type of content and
use the how-to language in your caption
in your video make it as clean and clear
as possible because when someone's
searching out that content it's because
they're looking to learn something so
when I say trigger this is where as you
can move with Azure brainstorm content
just think about what reaction you're
trying to get out of someone and think
through what language would get you to
that reaction yeah yeah really good
point we have another question for
Monica around
um like do you think social hooks work
on an older generation say your company
is targeting
um more of an older generation would you
provide the same advice to those folks
creating for those audiences
so so your moms aren't sending you stuff
on Instagram because I get sent
something for my mom on Instagram no I I
think social looks work for everybody I
mean there's always a lot of debate on
which platforms people are hanging out
on based on which generation they are
um I would argue if you look at the big
five social networks every generation is
across all five of those including tick
tock tick tock because has plenty of
older users at this points
um but yes social hooks are important
for no matter who your target audience
is they'll just change depending on who
that audience is um that's where there's
a reason why I'm not giving you
something like this is the golden social
up and you can all try this stuff you
should all filter it through what your
product offers and like what your
audience is looking for from a product
um and if you're targeting like a 60
plus group it's gonna be very different
like it's gonna it's probably not gonna
be
this is where something something really
bothers me is when we say all brands
should speak like internet speak like
McDonald's or Wendy's like no that's
right for their demographics my parents
don't respond to that type of language
but there is language they do respond to
yeah I guess similarly
um we only have probably one minute left
but on a balance of like education and
entertainment like how do you think
brands should approach social and how do
they kind of figure out what that mix is
for them and for each yeah scenario
um so before I get to that I'm going to
plug real quick uh if you want to follow
me after this or ask me like ask me
questions like I am just on social
constantly uh look me up on Twitter at
Jack will be find me on LinkedIn it's my
name is Jack Appleby it's very
ridiculous and fictional googleable
um and my newsletter's future so far I
write about this stuff every week so if
you have additional questions after this
come find me on the internet happy to
answer more
um and I totally lost my train of
thought within that remind me remind me
that last question education
entertainment like how did that balance
um I know we're all very excited to be
entertaining and funny and creative as
possible
you better be really really really funny
if you're gonna pull it off and there
better be a reason that you should be
using humor as your grand Tone If I'm
being honest most brands shouldn't most
brand like most brands should find humor
to insert within their content but the
goal shouldn't be humor uh that's where
I mentioned like McDonald's or Wendy's
or Duolingo all incredible social media
strategies all appropriate for them for
a lot of full funnel marketing type of
business reasons most of us don't work
for Brands like that but also let's work
for B2B companies or smaller brands
people haven't heard of where we have no
brand recognition
yeah more often than not you should
probably be educating more than
entertaining and that's where you can do
some version of like if you're working
for a fitness client understanding like
the before and after or how you get to
like these places of Fitness that's not
entertaining that's educational content
if you're working for some sort of SAS
company what is the value you provide
that's going to take you a lot further
usually than entertainment but I will
always encourage you to experiment and
just look at the data see what performs
best try everything
absolutely and we're at time so I think
we have to hop off thanks so much Jack
it's been awesome I think we could talk
for like hours and so could the Audience
by the level of questions coming through
but I appreciate you joining us today
[Music]
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