Everyone steals ideas.
That shot you saw in the movie, that idea you heard somewhere, that product that solves a problem, even this newsletter.
Most creators draw inspiration from which they create something new.
There is no shame in that.
So, here are some Viral YouTube titles, thumbnails, and Instagram reels that you can take inspiration from.
Title framework: X simple rules to [desired result] in [time frame]
Why this works:
- desire — everyone wants to get rich and make crores of rupees.
The title suggests simple rules to make the desired result look easier to achieve, hence getting the click.
2. list — list posts tend to perform well if done properly.
believable — the creator doesn’t sell a get-rich-quick scheme in this video. He uses a larger timeframe of 3 years which makes the video more authentic and believable.
3. thumbnail — the thumbnail reaffirms the promise of the video in the title.
I see people copy and paste their title on their thumbnail which is not a good strategy. The thumbnail and title are different Youtube real estate which should work together to give you the click.
Examples of titles:
- 5 Simple rules to lose 10 kg in 3 months
- 5 Simple rules to build a business in 2 weeks
- 5 Simple rules to draw a realistic eye in 10 mins
- 5 Simple rules to get 1 million views in 2024
Title framework: Sad reality of [an activity or event]
Why this works:
- desire — everyone wants to live in the country’s tech capital (Bangalore) and get a good job there.
- emotion — the title suggests something sad about that, which is a major reason the video performs better than others on the channel.
Examples of titles:
- Sad reality of running a business
- Sad reality of India’s World Cup victory
- Sad reality of wearing makeup
- Sad reality of pure vegetarian diet
How to go viral without speaking to a camera
Now let’s analyse a short video and why it performed well. This time I am picking a video from YouTube Shorts.
Check this video: click here.
Here are the reasons I think it performed well.
- a crazy hook: showing something satisfying and crazy at the start like hitting all those balls at great speed.
- ASMR: there is only sound and no voiceovers, if you don’t have a language on your videos that means that video can reach more people.
- progression: the video is a trick shot so we assume that he is gonna make the short correctly at last. The title also says “three tries”, so we will wait for that.
how to make it better: the creator could have used a text at the start of the video to make the viewers understand what the video is, which could have made the hook more powerful. For eg: 8 ball pool trickshot – try 1, try 2, etc.
That is it for this week, if you found this helpful, here is the previous letter.
-Sayar