In usual storytelling, we have a classic setup where we have a hook at the start, then we have anticipation, and we have the bang, the payoff at the end.
But short-form content is a different beast.
What is happening here is that your content is put in front of someone without any context, and they readily have an option to switch to the next thing in an instant, with really low effort.
And with their usage pattern, they are trained to move on to the next thing as rapidly as possible if they don’t find it engaging.
Thus we are in a paradigm where people keep scrolling, videos die quick, and the algorithm pushes based on engagement.
This creates a win condition where the sooner your video gathers some engagement from the user in the form of a like, comment, share, save, or whatever, the better your video will perform.
We want to shorten the distance between the moment the user hits like and the moment the video was shown to him.
You can imagine it like a cash cycle: the shorter, the better.
Thus we need to alter the usual anatomy to fit this.
And that means having something front-loaded.
You need to give these viewers value as soon as possible so that you can cast a bigger net.
As the video progresses, we drop off more and more people.
So the sooner we deliver value, the more people see that value or payoff, and thus more people are likely to engage, essentially widening the funnel.
The structure becomes: You > Value > Justify.
Where the payload in each phase is : Relevance : Engagement bait > Proof
Right at the beginning, we engage by using “you” language: we are literally talking about them.
This invokes relevance: “Hey, this thing is important either because it is a representation of you or because of the implications or stakes of this thing for you.”
And from our previous article, we know that name-dropping and world-building is really important because it gives texture to a story so that it grips the mind of our viewer.
Thus the point here is at the start of the video, you use “you” language and name a proper real person or event to hook them in.
Name-dropping and world-building is really important because we need to have our audience not be clueless.
If you just keep yapping without giving something to latch onto, they will be lost and they will just scroll away.
If you give them something to connect to, they will be like, “OK, this guy is kind of like me. He is not very far away from me. We know the same things, we talk about the same things. I know what he is talking about. He is kind of my twin. I need to know what else he is thinking.”
Then comes the value part.
People have already started to drop off from your video by the time they arrive at this phase, so you need to drop words, visuals, or sound effects so good that they start engaging with your content.
The sooner this happens, the better.
And during this phase, you are supposed to plug yourself and your actions as the source for this value.
Like if you are giving out some tip, you can say, “Hey, I tell my clients this and that,” or something like that.
You have to plug yourself because you kind of want to establish yourself, or your personality, or your brand here.
And then finally we have the justify part.
Here you show examples or proof of whatever value you provided, and the more examples or names you pull from the world, the better.
If it was some fitness tip as value, then show some popular fitness influences using it.
You have to also plug yourself here.
And also, almost everyone will start dropping off here.
But the purpose of this part is to nurture those who really resonated with whatever value you provided.
So you’re selling them more on the idea.
But from this article and many articles I have written before, you might have understood that making something relevant to the user and also name-dropping and world-building is essential so that they don’t feel lost.
You want to engage them and give them as much context as possible without exploding their brain with information overload.
This line of work (content creation) is very subservient to the viewers: it is all about them.
You have to realize that you have to do things important to them.
And you have to take care that they are not lost and take all measures to avoid that.
Even when you become an established personality, they are listening to you or your personal things specifically because they are interested in you.
The power dynamic of attention is still in their hands.
It is “what is important to them” that rules this whole game.
It’s almost like being a politician, but at a very low stakes level.
OK analogy time.
In the chainsaw man, when the characters are fighting the darkness devil.
Those people wanted to live as soon as possible.
The first thing he does is take away their hands, because when we are in dark, we reach out with our hands so that we can sense what’s around us.
And to make their fear worse, he took away their hands.
He made them clueless.
When we are clueless, we feel unsafe or bored.
We just want to get the fuck out of there.
That’s why you need to keep name dropping and World building so that your audience is never clueless.
A clueless audience is an exiting audience.
Never let your audience feel clueless.
When people don’t know what’s happening or why they should care, they instinctively escape.
tldr
Front-load value, maintain constant context, and treat every second like it’s the last one before the swipe
Anticipation and suspense is for movies and long form content, immediacy and quick release for short form content.
Cant tease the uninitiated and uninterested lol