Full transcript
0:03Hey, how's it going everyone? I'm just
0:05going to shoot this video to run through
0:07some of my thoughts on intros. It's
0:09going to be raw, just my unfiltered
0:11thoughts going through over the next 5
0:13to 10 minutes. I'm also going to just
0:15actually walk through how to transform a
0:17bad intro into a really good intro with
0:19a a real example. But starting out, I
0:21just want to walk through the formula I
0:23look for when I'm trying to make great
0:25intros. Anyone that knows me or has
0:27worked with me closely knows that I hate
0:28kind of the term system or exact formula
0:31for YouTube content because there's so
0:33much nuance. There's so much exceptions,
0:35but generally when I look at intros,
0:37here's what I want to see. I want to see
0:39us deliver on the promise. So, you make
0:41a promise every time you make a title
0:42thumbnail that is promising the viewer
0:44something they're going to get in the
0:46video. So, in the intro, I want to
0:48deliver on that in some fashion. Whether
0:49that is visually showing something along
0:51the lines of what they saw in the title
0:53thumbnail or even verbally just
0:55reaffirming that, hey, you're going to
0:57get this in the video. So many people
0:59just have this big promise in their
1:01title thumbnail. Their intro is
1:02completely disconnected, which is a big
1:04issue. Um, only share necessary context.
1:07You know, I always talk about trying to
1:09drip feed context throughout a video as
1:11opposed to just putting in a big lump at
1:12the start. So, only share what's
1:13necessary for the start of the video.
1:16Create intrigue. It's an obvious one.
1:18Establish a road map or mission. So many
1:20people fail here, but I always like to
1:22think that after your intro or after
1:24your first, let's say, 30 seconds, your
1:26viewers should have a good idea of what
1:27the mission is for the video and ideally
1:30also like a bit of a road map they can
1:32follow. So something they can follow and
1:34understand how this video is going to be
1:36structured. So many people just start
1:37videos with this kind of rambling
1:39unstructured style and the viewers are
1:41sort of sitting there saying, "What am I
1:43actually going to get here?" Like, "How
1:44is this video actually going to go
1:45down?" So that's why I like having a
1:47road map established in my intro. And
1:49then fifth, this is the simple one, but
1:51so important. Seamlessly flow into the
1:53first story line. I said something a few
1:55years ago where I said the best intro
1:57doesn't even feel like an intro. It just
1:58feels like the start of the video. The
2:00viewer shouldn't be able to point at
2:01your intro and say that's where it
2:02ended. It should just flow into the rest
2:05of the content. So when I say storyline,
2:07that could be your first piece of
2:08action. If you're an education YouTuber,
2:10it could be your first point or your
2:11first piece of value. Just getting into
2:13that first thing with a seamless flow.
2:14So there's no like, hey, that's my
2:16intro. And now let let's go start the
2:18video. We don't want it to be
2:19disconnected like
2:21that. So let's actually just walk
2:23through an example. I'm going to make
2:24myself a little bit smaller. Oh, that's
2:26too small. How about that? Um, let's
2:29walk through an example. So this is
2:30someone that I had in a previous cohort
2:32of my accelerator. And the video is
2:34titled what the 1% don't want you to
2:36know. So it's a finance video about
2:37ownership and about real estate. And
2:40let's just sort of look at what she had
2:43first.
2:44uh critique it and then actually rewrite
2:46it live in this video together and see
2:48what we can do. So, this is her intro.
2:52I'm just going to really quickly read it
2:53out. Hey everybody, my name is Kyla.
2:56Welcome to my channel where I talk about
2:57the stock market and the economy amongst
2:58other things. Today, I'm going to talk
3:00about the real ownership economy. This
3:02is something that I talked about in the
3:03piece last week and why the economy
3:05feels bad. And I think part of the
3:06reason is we just don't own stuff.
3:08There's a huge dispersion of wealth and
3:10I'm going to talk about all that and
3:11more. talk about real estate, talk about
3:13the stock market, and talk about equity
3:14in the companies that you work for. So,
3:17I'm sure already people are already
3:18noticing some issues here and some
3:20things that we can work on, but let's
3:22dig in a little bit and actually
3:23highlight those
3:24issues. So, starting out, hey everybody,
3:27my name is Kyle. Welcome to the channel.
3:29Like, this is just not needed. We don't
3:31need to start with this introduction. We
3:33don't need to introduce to the viewers
3:34who we are or what we do on the channel.
3:36It's all kind of dead space and it's
3:37very old school YouTube to kind of say,
3:39"Hey everybody, welcome to the channel.
3:41today we do they're doing this or this
3:42is what we cover here just not needed.
3:44So I would get rid of all that
3:46immediately. However, I do quite like
3:48how she makes a statement here. Today
3:50I'm going to talk about the real
3:51ownership economy. The real ownership
3:53economy is interesting language. So I'm
3:55giving that sort of the green light
3:56because I do like the statement that
3:58just sort of gets into the the meat of
3:59what the video is going to be
4:01about. But then we make another mistake
4:04which is a call back. This is something
4:05I talked about in the piece last week.
4:07Please, anyone watching this, just don't
4:09do call backs in your video unless
4:10you're like Mr. Beast and getting 100
4:12million views a video or something. Most
4:14people haven't seen your previous video.
4:15So, mentioning it in the start of your
4:17your current video they're watching is
4:18just basically saying, "Hey, you missed
4:20this or hey, you haven't seen this."
4:22It's just talking about context we don't
4:23have. And it's just a big a big issue in
4:26a lot of intros I
4:27see. However, I do like this. We just
4:30don't own stuff. Something about that
4:31language and that sentence like appealed
4:33to me quite a lot. So, I like that. But
4:36then all this is just so loose. Remember
4:38in my intro formula just a few minutes
4:39ago how I said I like to have a mission
4:42and a clear road map. This is just
4:44loose. Dispersion of wealth, real
4:46estate, stock market, equity. It just
4:48sounds like a big jumble of random bits
4:50and pieces together. So let's actually
4:52just take this and rewrite this intro
4:55because we don't have a clear mission
4:58for the video. It's too long and there's
4:59no title for mal connection. That's
5:00something else to think about as well is
5:02like we we had this title talking about
5:04the what the 1% don't want you to know.
5:07Just remember that what the 1% of people
5:09don't want you to know. Where in that
5:10intro do we mention the 1%? We actually
5:12don't mention it at all. So there's
5:14almost like no connection to the title
5:15thumbnail in that intro. So let's try to
5:18rewrite this
5:20together. Here's what I'm looking for as
5:22we rewrite this. I want better title and
5:25thumbnail connection. So I want to
5:26deliver on that promise better. I want
5:28it to feel authentic to the creator's
5:30style of delivery. So, the creator in
5:31question here, um, she's a really good
5:33creator. She has like a really good like
5:35style of delivery. So, I don't want it
5:36to be too like too salesy or too
5:40structured in a way. So, we need to keep
5:41it to that authentic style she has. Um,
5:44we need to give the video a clearer
5:45mission and we definitely need more
5:47intrigue mixed in there. So, this is the
5:51intro that I put together. Now, uh, for
5:53anyone that's going to critique me on
5:54this, I believe I put this together in
5:56under two minutes. This was literally
5:57just me looking at her thing and just
5:58rewriting it. But here's what I had. The
6:01economy can sometimes feel rigged.
6:04Wealth disparity grows larger with each
6:05passing year. Why? Well, a big part of
6:08that is down to a simple fact. We don't
6:10own stuff. So, in this video, we're
6:13going to talk about what the 1% don't
6:14want you to know about ownership by
6:16explaining number one, the real problem
6:18we're facing. Number two, the reason
6:20this problem exists. Number three, the
6:22potential solutions that we should be
6:24pushing for. So, starting off, that's my
6:27intro. Okay, so what did I do here? And
6:30why do I think it makes the intro
6:32considerably better? First of all, I
6:34really like this really strong statement
6:36that also poses a question. So, the
6:39economy can sometimes feel rigged.
6:41Rigged is like emotional language. It's
6:43very intense. Then leaving this question
6:45of like why immediately starts to plant
6:47a seed in the viewer's head. You why?
6:49Why does this happen? Why does it feel
6:51rigged?
6:52I kept this piece from the original
6:54because as I mentioned as I was going
6:55through that original I do like that we
6:57don't own stuff that's just an
6:59interesting line an interesting piece of
7:00language. So I kept
7:02that. Then I made sure let me just move
7:05myself over here temporarily. Um then I
7:08made sure that we had this title
7:11thumbnail connection. What the 1% don't
7:13want you to know about ownership. I also
7:15think this creates like a nice bit of
7:17intrigue. What they don't want you to
7:18know. Like what don't they want me to
7:20know? like I want to know now like what
7:22don't they want me to know? It creates
7:23intrigue. It also creates a bit of an
7:25enemy like what the 1% are holding
7:27against you which I think just naturally
7:29makes the video more intriguing and more
7:31you know gives me more curiosity about
7:32what we're going to cover. And the last
7:35two things are just so simple but they
7:36make such a big difference. So I give
7:38the video a road map 1 2 3 make it a bit
7:40of a listical give some structure. In
7:43her previous version there was just a
7:44lot of loose rambling. This gives clear
7:47structure to what we're going to cover.
7:48And finally, there's this sentence here,
7:50which is kind of a bridging sentence to
7:52give the intro a seamless flow. It
7:54wasn't. So that's what we're going to
7:55cover. And then intro real plays and
7:57then okay, now let's cover it. It's so
7:59starting off just that language starting
8:01with starting off that gets us into the
8:04first point really
8:05seamlessly. So really when you compare
8:07these side by side, let me move my big
8:10head over here. When you compare these
8:12side by side, like essentially I've said
8:13the same thing like we're making the
8:16same video. It's just a case of being
8:18very strategic with the language we use
8:19and how we structure it. We've gone from
8:21this quite loose, fluffy intro with no
8:23clear idea of what we're going to cover
8:25to something very pragmatic, to the
8:27point, clear. And sometimes people think
8:30this is too much effort. And I
8:32definitely have the benefit of having,
8:33you know, probably over the years I've
8:35wrote thousands of intros for clients.
8:37Ghost write a lot for different clients.
8:39So it gives me an advantage. But this
8:41took me two or three minutes to improve.
8:43And after watching this video, hopefully
8:44when you're writing your intros, like
8:46you can go and look at it and just in
8:48five or 10 minutes use some of these
8:49techniques, some of these tactics to
8:51just improve the video. So hopefully
8:54this was useful. Um, keeping it under
8:55the 10-minute mark because I know
8:56everyone's time is really valuable. And
8:58if you want to see me do more of these
9:00really quick rants and rambles to the
9:02camera to post on Twitter or other
9:04places, let me know. Um, and also if
9:06anyone is interested in joining my next
9:08accelerator, you you can expect a lot of
9:10stuff like this. It's just me talking
9:12about YouTube for honestly five, six
9:15hours every week. You get so much
9:16content. And our next cohort is going to
9:18be starting towards the end of uh July.
9:20So, I'll be posting that as a reply to
9:23this video. And also, just for the sake
9:25of it, anyone um who likes and retweets
9:29this to share the good word, to share
9:30the good information, we'll put you in a
9:33a randomizer and pick one person to give
9:35a scholarship to to the next cohort
9:37because the cohort costs thousands of
9:38dollars. It's very expensive. It's only
9:40for creators that can afford it. Uh, but
9:42we'll give a scholarship to someone who
9:43likes and retweets. So, hope this is
9:45useful. Have a good rest of your day,
9:46everyone.