Hooks · · 5 min read
How to write a good hook for your videos (with examples)
The hook is the first 3 seconds that decide whether people watch you or skip you. Here are formulas and examples to stop the scroll.
Iván
Builds Gancho and publishes what he learns doing it. Reads every message.
The first 3 seconds of your video decide everything. If you don't stop the scroll there, it doesn't matter how good the rest is: nobody will see it. Those 3 seconds are what we call the hook.
Why the hook is the most important thing
The platforms (TikTok, Reels, Shorts) measure how many people keep watching second by second. A strong hook lifts initial retention, and that tells the algorithm your video is worth showing to more people.
There's something else almost nobody says: your video doesn't compete against silence, it competes against the next one. The person isn't deciding “do I watch this or put the phone down?”. They're deciding “do I watch this or the next one?”, and they make that decision without thinking, thumb already resting. The hook doesn't have to be good in the abstract: it has to be better than the unknown thing one centimeter below.
What a hook is (and what it isn't)
A hook isn't the video's title, isn't the intro and isn't the topic. You write the title for the search engine; you say the hook —and show it— for the person who's already watching. And the intro is exactly what has to go: “today we're going to talk about…” is an announcement, not a hook.
A hook does three things at once, in three seconds: it stops the thumb, promises something concrete and makes clear who the video is for. If you're missing any of the three, it falls. If it stops but promises nothing, the person leaves at second five. If it promises but it's unclear who it's for, it stops the wrong people and lowers your retention all the same.
5 hook formulas that work
None is magic: they're proven structures so you don't start from scratch. Under each one goes when it fits and an example written the way you'd say it on camera.
01 · The result first
«This is the folder with the 40 ideas I use all month. Let me show you how I built it.»
For when you have something finished that can be shown. It works because the proof comes before the explanation.
02 · The counter-intuition
«Stop posting every day. Seriously.»
For when your advice goes against what everyone repeats. Careful: only use it if you really believe it and can defend it. A counter-intuition you don't back up afterwards is clickbait by another name.
03 · The mistake WITH a name
«If you start your videos with a greeting, you lose half the people before you say the topic.»
Not “the mistake everyone makes”, but which one. The named mistake gives information from second one; the mystery mistake only generates annoyance.
04 · The concrete, bounded promise
«In 30 seconds I'll give you the script for a sales Reel.»
Concrete is a deliverable, not an adjective. “I'll teach you to edit better” isn't concrete; “I'll teach you the cut that makes a 40-second video feel like 15” is.
05 · The other person's objection
«I know, another account telling you to make content. Give me ten seconds.»
You start by saying out loud what the person is thinking. It stops because it disarms the defense before it goes up.
The mistakes that repeat most (and how to fix them)
When a hook doesn't work it's almost always for one of these four reasons. I put them with the fix next to them because the diagnosis alone is useless.
- Starting with context. “So, last week something happened to me and I wanted to tell you…” Fix: start with what happened, not with the notice that you're going to tell it. “I lost a client over a WhatsApp message.”
- Promising something huge and vague. “This is going to change the way you sell.” Nobody believes you and on top of that they don't know what you'll give them. Fix: bring it down to a single deliverable thing. “Here's the line I use to go from a comment to a WhatsApp.”
- Using a worn-out template. “The secret nobody tells you”, “you won't believe what happened”. People have them flagged and skip them on reflex. Fix: say the secret. If the content survives you telling it in second one, the hook is done.
- A hook that has nothing to do with the video. It stops, yes, but retention collapses when the person realizes. Fix: write the hook AFTER you're clear on what you'll deliver, and check that what's promised actually shows up.
Test the hook before shooting
Three quick tests that save you a reshoot. First: read it out loud with a stopwatch. If it doesn't fit in three seconds, it's not a hook, it's an intro. Second, the “so what?” test: read it and answer yourself “so what's in it for me?”. If you have no answer, it's missing the promise. Third: read it to someone who doesn't know your topic. If they ask “what's it about?”, the hook isn't framing and you have to say who it's for.
The hook promises: the video pays
A strong hook with a weak body is worse than a lukewarm hook. You stop more people, those people leave earlier, and the retention curve tells the algorithm your video doesn't deliver. That's why it pays to think of it backwards from how it's usually done: define first what the person takes away, and only then write the line that promises it.
A practical way to chain it: the hook opens something, and the second sentence confirms you'll close it. “I lost a client over a WhatsApp message. Let me show you which one and what I write now instead.” In two sentences the person already knows what they gain by staying, and you've already committed to delivering it.
A simple trick to improve any hook
Cut the first two sentences. Most videos start with a greeting or context that isn't needed. Start straight with the most interesting thing: the conflict, the result or the promise. It's uncomfortable the first time —it feels like walking in shouting— but seen from outside it doesn't sound abrupt: it sounds like you know what you're about to say.
And don't marry the first one you think of. Write five versions of the same hook and choose. The first is almost always the most obvious, which is another way of saying the one most like everyone else's.
Generate hooks in seconds
If thinking up hooks stalls you, that's exactly the part Gancho solves: you tell it the topic and it gives you several options ready to test. Then you pick the one that fits best and go shoot.