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 from which you can take inspiration.
Title framework: weird [entity/topic] hacks that ACTUALLY work
Why this works:
- curiosity — words like “weird“ and “actually work“ are used to create curiosity in people’s minds.
- thumbnail — the thumbnail is different from the highly polished and edited thumbnails we are used to seeing on YouTube. Even though it is not so pleasant to look at, it perfectly complements the video’s title. And this also gives a hint of what exactly one can expect in the video.
Examples of titles:
- weird credit card hacks that ACTUALLY work
- weird science hacks that ACTUALLY work
- weird productivity hacks that ACTUALLY work
- weird instagram hacks that ACTUALLY work
Title framework: [Entity/Place/Event] Is Everything Wrong With [Topic]
Why this works:
- negative — words like “wrong“ and “Hell“ create curiosity.
- beauty — showing beauty in the thumbnails can always get the click, here they used an image of a lady with somewhat revealing clothes
- counter-intuitive — the title was effective because Dubai is usually portrayed as the best society. But in this title, they seem to be comparing Dubai with something bad and negative (even comparing it with “HELL“ in the thumbnail). This is counter-intuitive and makes the viewer curious.
- social hacking — using topics that are trending now or the topics/entities that people are genuinely interested in (like living in Dubai) can help get more views because of the already existing interest around the topic.
Examples of titles:
- Bollywood Is Everything Wrong With Entertainment
- The Olympics Are Everything Wrong With Sports
- Bangalore Is Everything Wrong With IT Jobs
- IITs Are Everything Wrong With Engineering
How to get 2 million views without saying a word…
Here is an analysis of an Instagram reel that got my attention some weeks back. Do me a favor and watch the above video and come back to read further (please don’t get lost in scrolling I share some important tips below).
Hook Frame work: POV type visual hook
Why does this hook work?
There are 2 parts to the script: one is the text that appears on top and then his reaction to the text below it.
Both of these are strong visual hooks talking to a broad audience. The text points out their desire (to study) and a pain point (easily distracted) which get the people’s attention.
Here are some more reasons why this reel got almost 2 million views.
trend hacking — this is a “read the captions“ style video that is less than 15 seconds in length and tends to perform well on Instagram (can change with an algorithm update, maybe)
These kinds of videos are a trend right now, so you can create your own version of this and get more views.
But make sure you have the following things right:
dynamic video — the zoom on every clip as he reveals the various techniques makes the video more dynamic. He also uses different clips for every new technique he reveals and syncs it with the beat of the music.
music — this kind of video requires a special kind of music that starts slow and then gives consistent beats (where the major value of the video gets revealed).
Or, you can just copy his music if you like it 🙂
captions — may be the most important part of this video is the captions. If people read the captions the video will get played multiple times in the background increasing its overall watch time.
make sure the captions are well formatted and easy to skim through.
interest peak — after the hook, he took two seconds to give a confident smirk indicating that something better is coming in the next section of the video. This piques people’s interest.
That is it for this week, if you found this helpful, here is the previous letter.
Or check out all my letters from here. See you next Monday, God willing.
– Sayar