Hook, Hook, Jab, Hook

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In 2006, Amazon conducted a study about load times and sales.

They found for every 100 milliseconds it takes to load a page, Amazon loses 1% of sales.

And this is the Grow 1% newsletter, not Lose 1%!

For a company that sells $18,000 in goods per second, that's a big deal.

And a super sad commentary on how we all use the internet.

In short, we are impatient on a subconscious level.

I've exhaustively discussed hooks in these newsletters, from making thumbnails and titles that demand to be clicked to starting each video with an interesting visual to quickly getting to your first 'hook', or the line that promises what the user is about to read/watch/see will be worth their while.

But if you're making a ten-minute video or even a 90-minute movie, one hook isn't enough.

You have to hook, hook, jab, hook.

Because if you linger on one promise leading to one payoff for too long, that subconscious impatience may rear its ugly head.

You have to set up new hooks while paying off other hooks to keep your audience sticking around.

Think of the first Star Wars movie.

Although I'd be happy to run through the entire plot, brevity is essential to this newsletter, so I'll cut to the point.

By the time we get to the climax we have at least five hooks that keep us from changing the channel:

1. Will the rebels blow up the Death Star?
2. Will Luke seek revenge against Lord Vader for killing Obi Wan?
3. Will Luke's friend Han overcome his greed and help the rebellion?
4. Can Luke master his control of the Force?
5. Grossly, there's a lot of 'will they won't they' with Luke and Leia too...

As the movie twists and turns, new hooks (e.g., blowing up the Death Star) are dropped while resolving others (e.g., Obi-Wan fighting Lord Vader) so that some plots end satisfyingly and viewers stay engaged.

Hook, hook, jab, hook.

My mission for you: look at any of your longer-form content (video, podcasts, blogs) and consider whether you're lingering on one 'hook' for too long.

If you linger for too long without introducing new hooks, you may want to consider adding some layers to your narrative.

That took 2 minutes. You have 8 minutes left. Keep the hooks coming and grow 1% right now!

Thank you to our sponsor SoCom!

SoCom is the first dedicated social commerce conference in the US.

Oh, and you can meet me there and hear me talk about the future of online video and ecommerce!

You'll join over 500 top attendees, including brands, retailers, top creators, ecommerce platforms, technology providers, and agencies to rub elbows and crack codes in this exciting multi-billion dollar market.

Get 50% off your early bird tickets here!

And if you're interested in becoming a sponsor, tell them Phil Ranta sent you!

About the Author

Phil Ranta, is the COO of Fixated, a content and gaming studio building IP around creators, a LinkedIn Top Voice in Innovation & Tech, and has been creating content for the internet and building internet businesses professionally for nearly 20 years, starting on MySpace and riding trends to the present. He was the Head of Gaming Creators, North America at Facebook, the first network lead at Fullscreen, the COO at Studio71, and spent 10 years as a working comedian (including 2 years on cruise ships). He's a husband, a dad of two littles, and an insufferable digital media wonk.

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