14 creative video hooks

A non-gimmicky guide to those first few seconds.

Last week, I traveled to New York to speak at an internal social media summit for Penguin Random House employees. During a panel with Cameron Gidari, VP of Social Media & Innovation at Major League Baseball, he mentioned something that I can’t stop thinking about:

"People say that Gen Z has a short attention span on social media. They don't. They have a short consideration span.”

He went on to say that Gen Z will watch a five minute video if it's good, but they'll skip right past it if the first three seconds don't give them a reason to stay. It’s a quote Cameron originally heard from Justin Karp, VP of Social Media at NBC Sports and previous Link in Bio interviewee.

In a landscape of discovery-based algorithms, a great hook is vital. The longer someone watches a video, the stronger of a signal it will give the algorithm to keep showing it to new audiences. Optimizing a hook can be the difference between 50,000 views and 500,000 views.

While the concept of an engaging intro is not new, the majority of resources out there tend to focus on creators. Craighill and Little Joy, two brands that have achieved enormous social growth this year, both referenced studying Colin and Samir and Ryan Trahan in their interviews with me.

Below you’ll find a big guide to short-form video hooks, specifically tailored to brand accounts.

Here’s what’s inside:

• 14 creative hook formats with brand examples

• Morning Brew’s video intro philosophy

• Common mistakes I see brands make in the first few seconds

• Metrics for tracking hook effectiveness