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Twice weekly show providing social media updates, trend alerts, original content ideas, strategy session, industry guests, tutorials and more!
Welcome back to the Muthership Creator Strategy. I've missed you. I hope you had a good week. I cannot believe we are at the January. How did that happen so fast?
Helen:And I'm wondering if you participated in the thirty day challenge, did you do it? Did you make all thirty days count? Do you put content out every single day? I think that I did. I don't think I missed a day, but I pretty much have been doing that consistently for years now.
Helen:So I hope that I was able to help you create that habit. And if not, don't fret because next month, oh boy, we are buckling up for a new challenge which is going to be really focused on special effects if you haven't heard already. And we're gonna be working on lots of different things, different types of special effects you can do in your videos. Simple, not really complicated. I'm not one for complicated special effects.
Helen:I like to keep it quick so you can actually execute the content and not be stressed. Okay? That is the goal. It's no creator left behind. Now before I kick off today's topic, I do have to do my unsponsored by sixty second blurb.
Helen:And today I'm featuring Olive and June, specifically the Nail Polish Remover Pot. I would demonstrate it except I'm not going to mess up my fresh manicure. Let me just show you it quickly though. When you buy this, if you choose, and you should try it because it's actually probably one of my favorite things that I've discovered that I didn't even know existed, it's got a little, what do you call that in there? A sponge.
Helen:It's called a sponge. And when you put your finger in the center of the sponge and just twist and turn or you can turn the pot or you can turn your finger, literally the nail polish comes off like magic. I demonstrated it a while back on a video because I was in disbelief. I didn't think it was going work that good. I tried it on camera for the first time and I was like, Because dark colored nail polish that I wear came right off.
Helen:So if you're interested, this is a go to. Nail polish is really nice too. But I also like Essie nail polish, so I'm not going to say I'm all in for the nail polish fully, but I do have a lot of colors I like from this brand. I like the brand a lot and I think the nail polish stays on for a long time. Okay.
Helen:Boom. I think that was longer than sixty seconds, but I said I'm going to keep these short now until I start getting some real sponsorships. So today's topic is I hate the word hook. Okay? I don't like it.
Helen:I'm not a fan. Why? Because I think it's like you're trying to trick your audience. When I think of hook, I'm like, oh, we're trying to hook people in with like a clickbait. And it gives me a weird kind of an feeling to say the word.
Helen:You have to have a good hook. You have to have a. So I don't use the word hook. I actually, when I do audits and I tell people to change their opening, engaging lines, and I always call it your engaging opening. You need a more engaging opening.
Helen:And that is the term that I prefer to use because I think hook sounds like trickery. And I think an engaging opening sounds like you're trying to share the topic of your video more efficiently to make sure it finds the right audience. And to me there is a difference because it will help you think about it if you're not thinking what's the hook? Because that sounds like a trick. And I know I might be alone in this one, but I am going make, I think I might make a TikTok about this.
Helen:I just don't like the word. I've never liked it and I've never used it. Maybe once or twice I've used it just by accident, but I don't like it as a term. So we're going to talk about how to engage your audience more quickly at the beginning of your videos so that you have better analytics, so that people stay to watch your content and it has an opportunity. One of the things I've noticed on a lot of the audits I've been doing recently is no matter how many times I talk about this, don't say hello.
Helen:Don't say good morning. Don't say I'm here and I'm this person. You need to immediately start with the context of your video and why it is for the listener, why it is for the viewer. So I'm going to give you five tips, is going to give you an overview and if you write these five things down, you can also subscribe to the newsletter because they're in there. But if you write these five things down, you will always think about it before you start and say, did this do it?
Helen:Did this do the job? That the five tips say to do. Alright? I wanna first okay. I guess I'll start.
Helen:I'll dive in for the first one, but I did wanna say just for those people who don't understand what a hook is, the word that I hate, or what an engaging opening is, it literally is your first three to five seconds of your video, your opportunity to have your audience stay for the long haul and watch your video. Alright? So you are going to provide the reason that they are going to stay and watch the rest of it. And that is so important because you only have three seconds at the most for someone to stick around. And if you're wasting it on breathing because you didn't edit off the beginning or you're wasting it on a lovely, hello, everyone.
Helen:How's the day going? Adios. I'm out. I don't even stick around for those videos. Okay.
Helen:So that's what a hook is. It's an engaging opening that creates the potential for your video to do well. Now, let's talk about the five tips to what makes a good engaging opening. The first thing is to keep it short and also direct. And there's gonna be more to this, but the first thing is to keep it short.
Helen:Think of it as a pitch. So if someone was interested in this video, what might they type in the search bar to look for it? So if I'm doing a tutorial about something, I will make sure to clearly state upfront, this tutorial is to show you this. Like, so that if someone's actually gonna search for that, my video might likely come up. So you wanna think about what the context of your video is and use that in your engaging opening line.
Helen:That's gonna keep your viewer staying. And you have to also it's helpful to provide the context of the whole video, just not just the start, if you can. So if you're I'll just give you an example. If you are doing something like, you're gonna show somebody how to make a really good cold brew. Instead of say instead of starting it like if you're a coffee lover, watch this video.
Helen:You might want to start, if you love cold brew, I m going to show you a really efficient way to make a cold brew or something like that. So it actually shows, it says who it s for, but it also says what it s about, like what they re going to get. So it's a pitch. And essentially, it is a pitch. The second tip is to edit out the dead air at the beginning.
Helen:You should edit out the dead air in the middle of your video too. But most importantly, if you are spending a minute of, I call it a minute, it feels like a minute to me. If you're spending a second or two pressing that because you pressed the record button and you didn't cut it off, or you're just getting situated for two seconds, your audience has left. I'm sorry to tell you. So it's a very simple, simple thing on any edit platform.
Helen:Even if you don't want to edit the video, you can just trim off the beginning. But edit the video. But anyway, if you've at a bare minimum, please just trim off the beginning so that when that video starts, a word is coming out of your mouth. Something is happening immediately. Okay.
Helen:That's the second thing. So keep it short and contextualized. Edit out the dead air at the beginning. A third helpful tip for your engaging opening is to potentially use numbers as a list to actually tell people what you're gonna share one, two, and three. Now this is a popular quote hook that a lot of people advise, like five tips to do this and three things to do that and three places to visit if you like this.
Helen:And It's it is more cliche, but it works. There's a reason why so many people do it is because you are providing bullet points and people can process bullet points very quickly. So even if you think, wow, that sounds like a canned hook. I don't like it. Maybe there's a way you can say it, but then provide that you're gonna share three things.
Helen:So maybe the the beginning engaging opening is I'll go back to the coffee lover. If you're if you love cold brew, I'm gonna show you three things that are gonna make your cold brew better. So now you're using the three thing, but you're you're suggesting who the video is for and telling them what they're gonna get. Alright? So short, edit out dead air, and use potentially numbers or a list, bullet points.
Helen:The fourth thing is to tap into the emotion. And it's so true that people like to feel something when they watch a video. Okay. Feel like they're going to learn. Feel like they're going to be inspired.
Helen:Feel that they are going to laugh. Feel that they are going to find something relatable in the video. It's a feeling. It's an emotion. So in a way, if you can think about an emotion when you're making your video, what's the emotion that you're calling up in your video?
Helen:Is it funny? Is it inspirational? Is it educational? What is that? And then use that to draw your viewers in.
Helen:So I am gonna give you an example for actually for this one. Okay? If you've ever struggled to be a morning person, here's what helped me. So now you're tapping into a feeling someone has about hating to get up in the morning. Raising my hand.
Helen:I'm a night person. I like to go all night and then I just like to sleep in and get up when I feel like it, but I know that's not reality. So I make sure to get seven hours. Don't you worry. But anyway, the point is you are looking to tap into that feeling of a certain audience of people who don't like to wake up in the morning, for example.
Helen:Okay? So that's the fourth thing. I'm gonna recap them all every single time. Okay? So we've done four.
Helen:First one was keep it short. Second one was edit out the dead air at the beginning. Third one is to use numbers like I'm doing right now. And the fourth one is to tap into emotion. And last but not least, this is also encompassed in what we have said the whole time is target your audience.
Helen:So your hook should somehow identify and resonate with the person you want to find. So I've I know that's part of the previous things tapping into the emotion of the person that you're trying to target. Using numbers to entice the person you're trying to target. Using a a pitch to make sure like, using a a line at the beginning to contextualize your video for the person that you are trying to target. But I want to mention it as a separate point because if you get lost in the shuffle and you're making your engaging opening lines and you forget to talk to the person you're looking for, you're just gonna miss something.
Helen:So at the top, it's almost like that one should be at the top and then everything else works within it. So you're gonna so I put it last because it's the most important like, and number five. But number five is almost number one now. Okay? First thing is think about that person.
Helen:Who are you looking for? What friends are you trying to make? What audience are you trying to attract with the content that you're going to share? And if you don't know, it's a little tricky because I think if I think about all the niches I've been through in my journey on social media, it was people who might like desserts because I was doing baking videos. And then I was doing some kind of, sometimes I do iPhone tips and I'm like, oh, people who don't know how to use a lot of features on their phone, maybe an older audience.
Helen:And then it was tutorials, people who want to learn how to use this app. So there always is an underlying target audience that you're looking for. And this is true for brands. Listen, I always tell you, I'm so transparent about my work. When I'm working with a brand, they always will say at the beginning, this is for, well, I'm gonna use, I love to use Blistex as an example because I adore them and they're such a sweet client.
Helen:But they'll be they're like, we're gonna this time we're searching we're trying to seek moisture seekers for lip moisture, people who want moisture seek are seeking moisture for their lips versus people who suffer from chapped lips. Okay? So that's a different audience in a way. There's moisture seekers are people who don't necessarily suffer from chapped lips, but they like to have moist lips. Do you see the difference in that subtle, subtle difference that my client is actually thinking about?
Helen:So in some cases, the campaign they're looking to create and the messaging they're looking to put out there is related to that specific problem that an audience member has. When it was a cold sore medicine, it's people who experience cold sores. That's who they're looking for for the new cold sore treatment, which is so exciting that they went into the cold sore space. I'm excited for them. But anyway, you get it.
Helen:So I the reason I feel very qualified to show to talk on these points and and share these things is because I'm doing it professionally. This is something that is so in my my professional work that it makes sense. And I see why. It's like I'm learning from on a higher level, not even just psychology wise, but just, what brands are actually doing to find the people who need their products. So you can do the same strategy on just a more simple level.
Helen:Just talk to that person who is that friend. And I know now this is not tips for engaging opening lines. This is just tips in general. When you are speaking to your camera, there is a lot of people I am auditing lately who think that they are presenting on stage. They are giving an aura of professionalism I might say, which I love professionalism.
Helen:I hope that you consider me professional on some level. But I'm also personal. I'm explaining to you how this is going to make your content better. I'm not on stage going I can't even do it because I it's not in my DNA to to do that when I'm in this type of space. When I'm on stage, I'm happy to present in a way that's more projection I'm projecting my voice more.
Helen:I'm I'm being more, I won't even say bigger and over the top because I'm still the same person. It's hard to explain the difference, but it is different. And I think you know what I'm talking about. If you had to get up on stage right now, if I had to get up on stage right now and talk about this, I would have a much different tone of voice. I would be more, larger in my gestures potentially.
Helen:I might be more I'd be looking at it from person to person to engage with individuals but as a group. So speaking to a group is different. And a lot of people are on social media and they put their camera up there and they think there's like 20 people in the audience. And I never think that way. It's so weird.
Helen:I can't even it's hard for me to even think that way right now. The first thing I'd do if I thought that way, I'd go, okay, boys and girls. I think of it like a classroom anyway. But I still think that works against you if you start seeing your camera lens as an audience, larger than one, your tone will change. So you really have to keep your tone personal.
Helen:That was a little bonus ending. Okay. Now before I exit, I want to just recap the points to make sure that we are all aligned that we are not tricking our audience. When we come up with an engaging opening, this is not to fool people. This is not to trick people.
Helen:This is to find the right people. There is a difference. That way you can get rid of the idea of like I have to hook them in. No, it's not a game. It's not a trick.
Helen:It's not a secret lie that you're gonna tell them to get them in. Okay? It's just an engaging opening that's gonna get them interested if they are the right person to be listening. And there is always a right person out there for you. And even if you haven't found it yet and you're posting day after day and it's like 200 views, 200 views, you think that's terrible.
Helen:200 is still a lot of people. You are reaching someone. You are making an impact even though you don't think you are. And the more you do it because of the love of doing it, the better you're going to be at continuing to do it without having the stress of counting numbers on your phone. Don't do that.
Helen:Don't get caught up in that. Alright, let's recap the five things, shall we, before I leave you. Number one, for our engaging hook, we are going to keep it short and provide context for the entire video as much as possible. Number two, we're gonna edit out the dead air at the beginning. Don't waste two seconds.
Helen:Don't waste one second. Don't waste anything. I will edit. If my mouth is closed, I make sure that the first frame of the video, my mouth is open because then I know a word's gonna come out. I don't even start with my mouth closed.
Helen:Crazy tip right there. Edit out the dead air. Number three, use numbers. Number three, like I'm doing right now. Use numbers to get people organized in their head of what they're going to see so they can kind of follow along, keep track, etcetera.
Helen:Keeps them engaged. Use numbers. Number four, tap into emotion. So you're going to use humor, inspirational, educational, you want to elicit a feeling from your audience to find what that feeling is and make sure you encompass it in the beginning of the video. So you are not going to have by the way, you can use music to elicit emotion which is really helpful.
Helen:A lot of times if you're trying to do a video that you want some you want people to feel something deeply, like when I when my dad passed away, I was like, oh my god. I have to pick the right song for this. And I cried through the entire editing of the video because the song kept playing and I kept putting shots on there. Talk about a listening emotion, like the music made it more emotional. If I had turned off the music, I could watch the clips.
Helen:It wasn't as I think tear jerking for me. Just, you know, probably was always tear jerking for me. That's a bad topic to pick. But when you just put photos of landscape or animals or an event or something like that, you can bring the emotion into it with music. So that's the one area where I say lean into music if you're trying to elicit a certain emotion from your videos.
Helen:Little bonus tip inside number four. And number five is target your audience. Figure out who you're talking to. Figure out how to have them identify with the video so that they know it's for them. Okey dokey.
Helen:That felt very thorough to me. I hope it felt thorough to you. And if you do write the five things down and when you plan your video, if you just got you know, think of your opening lines. I know we don't a lot of us don't plan I don't plan anything more than the opening line of my video. Once the opening line is said, then I kind of roll with it.
Helen:But in thinking about the opening line and planning it, just say, does it tick off all the boxes? It doesn't have to tick off the numbers box. That's an optional box if you wanna use that strategy. But it should tick off all the other boxes. It should tap into some kind of emotion.
Helen:It should target the audience. It should not have any dead air at the beginning when you edit it, and it should be short and concise. So all of the things matter. You can subtract the one with numbers if your video is not gonna have, include like a laundry list or a bullet point. Okay?
Helen:Just let that one go. But for the most part, try and tap into the other things. Okay? I hope this helped. I think it helped me.
Helen:I love when that happens where I start to really think about my own content and how I can change some of the things that I'm doing and make them instead of just, if you wanna learn how to do this, blah blah blah. I did it recently on one video. I said instead of doing, I'm gonna show you how to do this, whatever it was, the red light effect of that that silhouette effect. I was like, today is the day that I'm going show you how this is done. Because to me, I was not that I was putting it off, but I was a little bit like, oh, I'm stepping out my comfort zone to do this one.
Helen:So it felt like a big task and I I thought that that was a fun way to start the video off. I will say it didn't do as well as a lot of my videos, so possibly that wasn't a big a good strategy. You know what I mean? Maybe I should have just been like, you wanna do this sexy ass pose thing, I should have started with that. I might have hooked in more people.
Helen:That would have been a hook, a trick, a little bit of thirst trap and hook. Anyway, I didn't do it. I didn't do it. And I probably should have recorded an alternate opening to test it out again with a new opening. I could still do that, I suppose.
Helen:Alright. Well, thank you for listening. I, rambled a little bit longer, and I hope that it was clear. And if you're new to number one, the podcast, please subscribe. I do try and get my studio members to be aware that I do this every Friday because it complements the content and the things we're doing in the studio.
Helen:So this provides extra context. So if you're in the studio and this is your first one, please like tune, you know, I'll try and remember to post them in the studio all the time, but please remember to tune back in on Fridays because I do share and support a lot of the things that we're doing together in the studio. And I am so excited for special effects month. So if you are up for it and ready for a challenge, this is gonna be short and efficient to learn how to do some really cool special effects. There s details in the lower caption and I hope to see you in the studio soon.
Helen:Thanks for listening.