Last week I got carried away with a little thought, one that spiraled down a rabbit hole for the ultimate question, âwhy?â
And like the genuine 21st-century philosopher I am (Iâm really not), I engaged my expertise (of which I have none) to analyze some of the most popular YouTube thumbnails and uncover how they get us to click.
And it all started with this bad boy:
Itâs a show stopper, and like Seth Godin says in This is Marketing â it creates tension â it makes us ask questions.
What happens when we put salt in coffee?
Do people actually do this?
Why do people do this?
Surely it canât be better than sugar?
I donât even put sugar in my coffee, will adding salt improve it?
How is it magical?
The only way to release the tension is to click on the video and find out â so thatâs precisely what we do.
But itâs not all psychology - look how clean and readable everything looks up there.
The video title is the same as the text in the thumbnail.
The text covers less than 20% of the image.
There are only six words and 27 characters â itâs SEO city up in here.
The text itself has a 100/100 Flesch-Kincaid Readability Score â itâs super easy to read.
And this was only the tip of the iceberg with figuring out the reasons why people clicked on one thumbnail over another.
I wrote a big article about it in Better Marketing, and if youâre interested in this type of thing, I highly recommend it.
What Does a Leep of Faith Look Like to You?
Iâm positive youâve heard many different takes on âthe leap of faith.â
You might have met a guru preaching the âThe Dark Knight Risesâ route to leaping.
The one where you canât have any fallback. The one that says, if youâve got a safety net, you will never succeed â thereâs a famous saying for it too.
Burn the boats!
Captain HernĂĄn CortĂ©s landed ashore to begin his conquest and ordered his men to burn the ships. The only option after that had to be success, because literal death was a fantastic motivator â and so they conquered.
The modern equivalent might be quitting your job to start a business with no savings or a plan, but now your only option is to succeed â and man, if you donât, there are massive consequences.
Another route for âthe leap of faithâ is more calculated.
Richard Branson is an advocate and master of this one. Hell, the first plane he ever bought, he got with the contingency that he was able to return it if the business didnât work out.
He took a leap of faith; he started an airline when the competition had a monopoly, and yet it wasnât all in â it was a calculated move.
Capping the risks and then going for it, not bad. Not bad at all.
And yet thereâs another way to take âthe leap of faithâ â the risk-averse way.
The way where youâre not putting anything you already have on the line, youâre putting the future potential on the line.
An example:
Youâve got plenty of savings, investments, and a high paying job; youâre well off, but you quit your job because you want to leap into a travelerâs lifestyle.
Youâre not risking anything except future employment income and a potential mistake â you keep the investments, most of the savings, and your years of experience.
And yet, itâs still a leap of faith.
A leap into a new business, lifestyle, relationship, or another scary endeavor will look different for everyone. Still, one thingâs for sure: Itâs always better to take the leap than to stay in your comfort zone.
Here are five reasons why you absolutely should - I hope they put your mind at ease and help you take a chance on yourself.
I hope you got some value out of those two pieces; you can let me know what you think @sahkilic on all the socials. If you enjoyed it, please consider sharing!
I hope you have the best week!
Thanks,
Sah