I am facing one big problem: I have been posting consistently daily, but all my results are coming from only two of my videos out of the 120 I’ve posted. Well, that was supposed to be obvious. Even I have been talking about how everything works on pareto distribution and a few create outlier results, and that contributes to most of your total. So, have a lot of attempts so that you can keep collecting those outliers. But still, there’s something about those two videos. They account for 90% of the views and 95% of all the followers I have gained. How do I analyze these videos so that I can keep replicating that?
I developed a philosophy for products that hey, you need to create something that has such low time-to-value and effort-to-value that it almost feels like instant gratification. That’s how Uber, DoorDash, Google, TikTok, or any other big platform got big because they scratched an recurring itch instantly
And then I remembered my own article from months ago where I said it’s all humans. Every connection, every communication, and every product is about humans. Thus, that means whatever lessons are learned about products can be applicable for communication also. Thus, if humans crave instant gratification in products, they crave that in content also. How do I make my product such that they recognize a need for themselves? They identify each other and see the video as something that will scratch it off. That the video is something that will give them instant gratification.
I should start seeing each video in itself as a product which is supposed to provide instant gratification to the user and a reason for them to follow me in the journey.People follow motion, so I have to display that. “Hey, I am a moving object. I am heading towards something big, that’s why you should care about coming along on this journey with me.”
But how do you convey that this video is something that is going to scratch your itch and then scratch that itch and also show motion and convince them to follow you. All of this in like a 40-50 second video which fits in like 10 to 12 sentences at max. We are playing with the anatomy of language here and how we can structure sentences and how we can move their around to maximise favourable reactions from audience
Of the two highly performing videos I mentioned, one talks about me right off the bat, and another talks about them. I observed that other videos of mine are talking about some concept at first, so I think, being humans, we care deeply enough only if it is either about us or some other human. We don’t get that invested for some object or some concept, so your hooks gotta be either about you or them and have very personal and human nature.
Then comes my intro where I tell them that, “Hey, I am Atharv Ketkar, I am 23 and studying at IIM Shillong, and I am building Rohkun.” This gives them context and a reference point that, “Okay, this is a young guy, this is what might come out of his mouth given that he is studying at this place and he’s trying to build a start-up.”
Hopefully you have constructed the video till now in such a way that it has made them aware about their own itch. Now you slowly start scratching it off. This way, people who didn’t skip at the start will stick around for more time. This is the part where you show them that you got some motion going on. The experience you are sharing is coming from an interesting place. Maybe It is coming from your own experience that is very vividly told by a story or maybe from some case study that is really interesting or mentions very notable figures or people or incidents. You show the value of it either by:
- Displaying your taste and your curation skills that you got it from a really interesting place or person
- Showing that you got it from your own lived experience and thus you are worthy of following for that reason
People will follow you either for the experiences you have or the media you curate and your taste.
Thus, at the end, when you have proven your value by showing that “Hey, I can identify your itches”, “Hey, I have introduced myself well so that you can judge if I am worthy of listening or not”, then slowly scratched away their itch, built up some suspense at the end, then you get the right to ask them to follow you.
Maybe talking about problems that are recurring helps people recognize the value in your content instantly. “Hey, I have been facing this problem.” Maybe they have been able to verbalize it or not, maybe they have noticed it or not. If you are the one who is talking about it out loud, your video becomes something that might scratch their itch.
So products are about solving recurring problems that people have, and content is about highlighting and talking about those problem. Humans form alliances and bond over problems. We also bond over experiences and curation ability of others, you might bond with someone because they have the same music taste as you, or they are also working in the same niche. So your content will have better time if it is talking about recurring problems, your experiences and the content you curate which people might find appealing.
The hooks on the surface level are grabbing attention, but their actual purpose is to trigger dopamine prediction or anomaly detection or threat prediction and it better be high af.
from claude:
Humans > Abstract Concepts. We evolved to care about agents (things that can help or hurt us), not ideas. Ideas only matter when attached to agents.
The 4-Beat Structure:
- Human-Centric Hook (0-3 sec) – Start with “you” or “I/me”, never a concept
- “You’re doing X wrong” or “I just realized X after 120 videos”
- Not: “The Pareto principle explains…”
- Credibility Context (3-8 sec) – Your intro creates a mental model
- “I’m Atharv, 23, IIM Shillong, building Rohkun”
- This lets them decide if your perspective matters to their situation
- Itch Recognition → Scratching (8-40 sec) – The value delivery
- Show motion through either:
- Lived experience (story/vulnerability) OR
- Curation (interesting source/case study/notable figure)
- Key: They need to feel the itch before you scratch it
- Show motion through either:
- Earned Ask (40-50 sec) – Only after proving value
- “Follow me for more” lands because you’ve demonstrated you can identify their itches AND deliver