What Is A “Hook”?
A “hook” in marketing is exactly what it sounds like: something that “hooks” attention and holds people on whatever your content is.
Sometimes it is as simple as…
…breaking up a sentence in the middle so you have to click a link to see more.
Or it could be something like putting something attention-grabbing at the top of an ad or a flier so people read the rest.
It could be a catchy email subject line.
Very commonly in today’s marketing world, a “hook” is referring to a “video hook” meaning something which happens in the first three seconds of a video so that people want to keep watching.
Video hooks can be something like a question or statement that people then want to watch to see more.
Or it can be something visual like someone sitting in a chair, or a box falling into the middle of the screen, or something else that makes people want to keep watching to see what is happening or hear what you’re going to say.
The main thing to keep in mind when doing a hook is not being too rote about it, or doing something which feels too spammy.
Some visual hook ideas:
Start with an empty chair and sit down and start talking.
Start with the camera filming the floor and raise it up to the person while saying “Hey {person’s name}” and then ask the question.
Drop a product into the frame.
Spin something in a circle (like a box or a package or a dish of food)
Find something that you can show that is a piece of what you do (dropping paint brushes, tossing ingredients on the counter, fanning out your tools, something visual that makes people go “What is that ?”)
For verbal hooks, they are basically the old clickbait headlines turned into verbal openings to a video. But if used naturally and intentionally they can work alright. Just make sure when you watch it back it isn’t something you would scroll past if you saw it.
“Here’s [x number of] things I wish I knew before I…..”
“Here’s a tip of the day!”
“Did you know…?”
“I can’t believe…”
“We’re doing what now?”
“Guess what this turned out to be?” (great for reveals where you start with what it looked like before).
Basically anything that asks a question or makes it where someone might stick around for a few more seconds to see what you’re talking about.
The most important thing to remember is that you have to have something after the hook as well.
Hooks may get attention, but you have to follow with something interesting for people to stick around!