(ominous music)
(keyboard clacking)
(dramatic music)
- This video is unique,
not only because it's theoretical, but also practical.
And I'm going to use some of the psychological tricks
mentioned in this video or maybe all of them,
and so let's get straight into it.
Why do people watch your videos?
Most neuroscience professionals agree on this as fact.
Emotion is the essential defining and necessary ingredient
to making almost all decisions,
including watching videos.
And emotions play an important part in memory processes.
For starters, and I'm sure you'll all agree with this,
emotional memories are far more vivid and accurate
than neutral experiences
if you can even remember those.
You probably remember more details about your first kiss
or your first paycheck
than when you first brushed your teeth.
And so, if you want people to watch your videos,
get stuck in their brains.
That will get them coming back
to watch more of your content.
So let's think about the different forms of emotion
that you could elicit in your videos.
Curiosity is certainly one of them,
and we've talked a lot about that
in writing titles recently.
Amazement,
interest,
astonishment, uncertainty,
and, yes, admiration.
Otherwise known as flexing.
Now, of course, you can also use negative emotions
and they will work.
But, according to the Harvard Business Review,
most viral content centers around positive emotions.
That's why everybody likes cute puppies and stupid cats.
Yes, I admit it, I'm a dog lover.
You won't believe how long it took to settle this shot.
Next, you wanna hook your audience with...
an information gap.
When Facebook analyzed
their users' video consumption data in 2016,
they discovered that 45% of people
who watch the first three seconds of a video
will keep watching it for at least another 30 seconds.
Just consider how important that data is today
with TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
Now, what this data suggests is that you have to do
just more than spark somebody's curiosity.
Not only do you need to get people to click,
but you also need to keep them watching.
Now, I know that problem sounds pretty obvious.
Keep them watching, but the solution is the information gap.
You want to create a feeling in the viewer
that if they don't continue to watch,
they're gonna miss out on key information,
and then you entice them to look for that answer
within your video content.
So for example,
if you're trying to answer a question in a video,
you can start off by briefly answering that question
in the hook
and then spend the duration of the rest of the video
explaining it in more detail.
For tutorial videos,
it's often best to show the viewer
the final results at the beginning,
and then guide them through the process
in the rest of the video.
Or at the beginning of a video,
you can tease a couple of clips,
probably no more than five seconds
to tease what story might be being told in a video.
This is a very common trick in vlogging content.
And often, what you are doing here
for the benefit of a viewer is showing,
not telling.
Your brain can understand visual information in just...
(finger snaps)
13 milliseconds,
and your visual systems activate 50% of your brain.
So what you wanna be thinking about,
especially during editing phase
is how you can spice up your videos.
Keep the viewers engaged with unexpected visual cues.
For example, you could use something
as simple as a whiteboard to anchor the video
and give your viewers something
visually compelling to look at.
A green screen can be incredibly useful
to do a lot of showing
while the host does all of a telly.
The Beats' YouTube channel took a very visual approach
for sharing the engineering
and design process behind their products.
The videos also incorporate animations
to simplify some of the more complex or ambiguous ideas.
And as another example,
YouTube channel After Skool uses animations
to simplify complex ideas.
(bomb exploding)
But, don't forget to reset the focus of the viewer.
Have you ever noticed how people seem to go
into a trance-like state
whenever they're watching television?
My wife does this all of the time,
and I call it her TV-watching face.
I asked my wife to demonstrate this for the video,
but she flat-out refused.
So this is my best interpretation of that TV-watching face.
But why does this happen?
Well, have you ever noticed how often a TV screen changes?
Screens don't flicker because they're broken.
It's because the scene is constantly changing
and our brains are programmed to notice change.
And to prove it, over the next 30 seconds of a video,
count how many times something changes on screen.
Now, in this modern YouTube world,
we call this constant visual change pattern interrupts,
and you can do this through many different techniques,
including B-rolls, zooming in and out, segues, transitions.
These are all relatively simple things
that, yes, do take a little bit of time in editing,
but constantly grab the viewer's attention.
You have to remember
that as a viewer watches one of your videos,
they have an near-unlimited choice at their fingertips.
If you are not keeping their attention,
they'll quickly find something else.
And now, I'm gonna keep your attention with a random fact.
Did you know that Asmara is the capital of Eritrea?
Well, now you do.
Now, just imagine if you didn't know that.
And then, by sheer coincidence over the next week,
every Uber driver you meet is from Eritrea.
Now, this is a strange phenomenon related to memory.
It's called frequency illusion,
or the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.
If something is repeated, we become more familiar with it.
And, in turn, this unlocks a greater satisfaction
as we gain a greater understanding.
Now, when we talk about repetition,
we're not suggesting that you use exactly the same clips
and sound effects throughout.
We're talking about recurring themes, recurring...
characters,
and think about how you can complete the loop.
Whatever you say in your intro
should be reinforced in your conclusion,
and that is gonna make it more memorable.
And now, for some more fascinating facts,
and these are YouTube-related.
The YouTube ecosystem contributed $25 billion
to the US economy in 2021,
and that supported more than 425,000 full-time jobs.
And today, YouTube has created over 300 millionaires.
There are more than 45,000 channels
that have over 100,000 subscribers.
There's a lot of silver play buttons, is there?
And 5 1/2 thousand YouTube channels have one of these.
Now, all of these are fascinating
and very impressive statistics, right?
But, are you gonna fact-check them?
Now, in reality,
all but one of those statistics are true.
Let us know in the comments below
which one you think is false.
But ultimately, viewers love facts and figures.
So try to include as many impressive ones
in your content as possible.
Now, I trust you find this video
very entertaining and educational,
but that doesn't mean you have to like this video
or subscribe to our channel.
I don't just wanna get you to do something
that benefits only me.
Instead, I, as the creator,
want to continue to inspire you, as the audience.
YouTube has given me the creative and financial freedom
to pursue my passion,
and my goal on this channel is to enable as many of you
to realize that same dream.
We're all one big family of creators here,
and you are spending your very valuable time with us
here on the channel.
And you wanna foster those same feelings of happiness,
hope, and excitement with your community.
So my call to action here
is for you to inspire other creators.
The next time you watch a video on YouTube,
I want you to go into the comments
and just let them know
how much you appreciate their content.
After all, we're all on the same creator journey.
And so how many of the techniques I talked about today
have I used in this video?
Well, let us know.
And speaking of more psychological tactics,
if you wanna learn how to get people
to watch more of your content, essentially free views,
then watch this video over here.
And by doing that, you're giving me free views.
Thanks!
(playful music)