🪝 The hook
The hook is the video's first line or image — the first 3 seconds. It’s what makes people stop scrolling through the feed. Without a hook, no one sees the rest, no matter how good the product is.
🔑 Types of hooks that work
- •Promise/secret: "I’ll show you my trick for..."
- •Question: "Did you know that...?"
- •Surprising result right at the beginning.
⏩ The pacing
Pacing is the speed at which scenes and dialogue follow one another. Frequent cuts keep viewers engaged; dead time makes people lose interest. The beginning needs to be especially fast-paced.
💡 Tip
Count the seconds between cuts in the top-performing ads. You'll notice they almost never stay on the same image for more than 2-3 seconds.
🔊 Audio
The speaker’s voice and the background music. In UGC, the voice conveys the most trust — or ruins it. Remember this golden rule: people forgive bad visuals, but they never forgive bad audio.
✓ A voice that sells
- ✓Natural and conversational, with human pauses.
- ✓Current, understated music in the background.
✗ A Voice That Drives People Away
- ✗Robotic, emotionless, "announcer" style.
- ✗Muffled or distorted sound.
📖 The Narrative
The narrative is the order of the story. Ads that sell almost always follow the same logic, naturally leading people to want to buy.
📣 The CTA (call to action)
CTA is the “buy now,” “order today,” “click the link.” And it matters where it appears. Without a clear call to action, people like the video but don’t act.
📊 CTA best practices
- Direct: one clear action.
- Repeated: appears in the middle and is reinforced at the end.
- No beating around the bush: "order now using the link."
🗒️ Take notes across the 5 dimensions
Create a simple card and note the 5 dimensions for each ad. Taking notes turns "guesswork" into a pattern — after several cards, what repeats becomes your formula.
✅ Module Summary
Next Module:
3.2 — Frame-by-frame analysis and transcription