7 Levels That Make or Break Viral Videos (Most Creators Skip These)

Most creators are asking the wrong question. They ask, how do I make better videos? But the real question is, how do I guide my viewer through a complete journey? Because every viral video follows the same exact path. It's not just a creative angle, it's a cognitive angle. From the first glance to the final action, it mirrors how the human brain processes, prioritizes, and responds to information. Today I'm breaking down exactly what that journey is from start to finish, and it's 7 steps that I've incorporated in my business over the last 7 years for all of my clients, generating hundreds of millions— and tens of millions of dollars for all of our clients. This is a proven hierarchy of how your videos need to flow in order for you to have the most success. And ironically, notice how I've already started creating tension by suggesting most creators are asking the wrong question. That's level 3 with the open loop already at work. But let me not jump ahead. Let's start from the very beginning. Level 1 is the pre-attention. Basically, before they know you even exist, we start before the viewer can even make a conscious decision because attention doesn't begin with awareness. It begins with pattern interruption. Reason being is because the brain receives over 11 million sensory inputs per second. And I didn't just make that up. In fact, Dr. Timothy, who was a Harvard psychologist, came up with this. But we can only process about 40 of them. That's why your title and thumbnail aren't content, they're cognitive filters. That's where most people get it wrong. They don't see their content as a cognitive decision. They see it as, how can I make it more graphically pleasing or more catchy? In fact, you need to start thinking, how can I make this more cognitive inclined for somebody to be provoked? Let me give you an analogy. Think of your thumbnail and title like a storefront window at your most famous avenue in your city. The design doesn't sell the product, it just stops you long enough for you to make the decision and notice that there's a store. For instance, let me explain how it's already starting to happen to you right now. You clicked on this video because the title promised to reveal why most creators fail before the video even starts. That's literally level 1 doing exactly what I explained. It opened up with tension and you had to close. And here's an actionable tactic you could use to steal this. Every title should raise a question. Every thumbnail should make that question visual, and together they should imply a transformation or a secret. Something I teach all of my clients is the thumbnail must insinuate what the title is saying. And if you do that well enough, you've mastered level 1, which is arguably one of the most important parts, also known as the click. But why does this even work? Because our brains are wired to seek resolution, especially when there's implications that something valuable is being hidden. This triggers a dopaminergic anticipation which draws the viewer in before the logic starts to kick in. And now we're at level 2, which is the micro-commitment, probably the stage in which you're at in this video. You're trying to decide whether you should stick around and commit to the rest of the video, trying to determine whether the stuff I'm giving you here is valuable enough to carry you throughout all of the levels in which you could steal to make your videos better. Hopefully you don't have commitment issues. The reason why people are so hesitant is because they're still in a threat assess mode, deciding whether you're even worth their time. This is where Cameron Simon's neuroscience of focus transfer comes in. The viewer's brain is asking, is this worth my cognitive energy, in the most elegant way to put it, which I've already kind of used in this video. So if you're paying close attention, may be able to rewind and see when I did that. In fact, I opened this video by flipping the core question creators ask. That cognitive dissonance triggers your attention and earns the next few seconds. And if we can earn the next few seconds enough time, before you know it, someone's already in deep, has made the decision to commit. That's level 2 happening right now. Let me give you an analogy that's super applicable to myself and maybe even you. I listen to tons of audiobooks, and the first thing I do to make a decision whether I want to commit that energy to this book is I listen to the preview. So when you have Audible, you can click a title and then click preview. It'll read you the first minute. After that first minute, I will make a decision to buy or pass and look for another title that may be more worth my time given to the book. That's the same thing that's happening in all of your videos. Now I'm going to give you some tactics that you can steal to help you implement it into your videos a lot better. And if you just use one of these three, then you will do exponentially better, at least one-third better than your previous videos. And it's basically just some patterns. So in your first line, you need to challenge an assumption, tease a transformation, or what I did, share a relatable frustration. Now, why does this even work? Because the reticular activating system— and to put very simple— that is basically just the brain's attention filter. And what it's designed to do is notice surprises and/or threats to one's beliefs. When you break the pattern of what a viewer expects, they tune in to resolve the disruption. And this brings us to level 3, which is the most important thing, and this is the open loop, basically the first 15 seconds. And here's where you earn the next 60 seconds. And if you continue to do that, you will tie the entire video into a completed video, which ultimately returns in higher retention rates, which we know YouTube's algorithm rewards the most. Now, a lot of people online think that they're smart by saying, oh, your videos are so important only because your hooks are good. Hooks are everything. Everybody's talking about hooks. They don't even know why a good hook works. The reason is because you can create an open loop which brings them through the next 60 seconds, and you could actually do that repeatedly throughout your video, dragging the viewer across a large portion another video, which attributes to the retention and of course your watch time. These open loops demand closure, and this is a concept backed by the Zeigarnik effect. And if you haven't seen my video on the Zeigarnik effect, I suggest you go check it out. But to put short, unfinished thoughts stick longer in memory than completed ones. Let me give you an analogy. It's why you can't stop thinking about that one text you didn't give a reply to, or better yet, that one text that came in said, we had to talk, and now you're completely wrapped around what is it that we can talk about. That's creating open loops and demands attention from a viewer. For instance, remember when I said most creators fail in the first second, and I haven't told you how they fail. That discomfort or curiosity you feel is the open loop in action. But let me give you a tactic that you can use so you could steal this strategy. If you open a loop, you can close it later. For example, I'll show you the exact formula that tripled my retention in just 1 minute. But there's one part of this structure that 90% of creators forget, and I'll show you what it is. And again, just to reinforce why this works, it's because unresolved curiosity keeps people watching. Your brain will naturally experience tension just from that gap, and that tension creates forward momentum through your video until the answer is revealed. Now, level 4 is cognitive pacing, which means the viewer is watching, but their attention still isn't infinite. In fact, studies show that human focus naturally dips after 20 to 30 seconds. And again, I didn't make that up. Landsberg in 2009 spoke on this. So your job becomes stimulating the brain with intentional novelty, making it feel like there's something always new. Let me give you an analogy. Think of attention like a heartbeat. It needs rhythm, it needs variation and small spikes and dips to keep it pumping. Let's see if you caught it in this video. So far, I've shifted from analogies to change of tone and pacing in my voice and offered clear examples almost every 30 seconds or so. And of course, that's not coincidence. That's level 4, which is basically managing your attention through pacing. Here's a tactic so you could steal this. Use micro resets every 20 to 30 seconds using a quote or some type of actionable things that people could take and use. For instance, like this tactical piece of advice that I'm giving you at this moment. And of course, shift your tone or pacing in the way that you're speaking and delivering the information and always tease what's coming up next. But why does this even work? Once again, because dopamine is tied to change, not to consistency. When the brain senses a pattern shift, it allocates more resources to your focus. That makes every new piece of content feel fresh, even if it's part of a long explanation. Level 5 is emotional resonance. At this point, logic isn't enough to retain a viewer and earn their trust. You need emotional mirroring. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of it, but there's something called the dual process theory. Of course, I made a video on it. You should probably check it out after this one. There's a great book also known as Thinking Fast and Slow, which basically shows we have two mechanisms in which our brain operates. The first system is the fast and emotional brain. The second system is the slow and logical brain. And you want to know how to use both of those throughout your video. And for instance, throughout this exact video, I've made this personal. I've acknowledged your struggles as a creator and mirrored what you might be thinking and showed you emotional pain of guessing. That's level 5, speaking not just to your brain but to your identity. To give you an analogy, think of logic as a GPS, but the emotion is the gas pedal. And here's a tip so you could steal exactly how to do this inside of your own videos. Use emotional resonance frames. For instance, saying something like, you're probably thinking, or I've been there too, or another famous one. Here's the hard truth. All of these things are making the viewer relate with you, which gives them a sense of relatable currency. And I'm not making this up. Here's why it works. Because people don't remember facts. They remember how something made them feel. And when your voice becomes their inner voice, you earn trust, not just views. And now it's level 6, which is basically cognitive closure. It's time to close up all those loops that we made. Remember the open questions that we planted? Now we resolve them. That creates a dopamine satisfaction, which the brain craves. Let me show you how I've used it in this video. Right now I'm giving you a the full structure I teased in the beginning. Your brain is starting to get the clarity it's been chasing. That's level 6: closure through structure. To give you an analogy, if storytelling is a maze, cognitive closure is an exit sign. Without it, viewers feel lost, and chances are they won't return. Recap the original tension, show how it was resolved, reaffirm the transformation the viewer just made. And of course, why does that even work? Because closure completes the dopamine cycle. It gives the brain a sense of of reward, which reinforces the behavior of watching the rest of your video. This increases the likelihood they'll return for your future content and potentially even share it. Because what do people love doing that experience lots of dopamine? Share it with others. And the last, arguably the most important, the identity call to action. This is when the viewer isn't just consuming, but they're becoming. So don't just ask for a like, call them to step into a new version of themselves. Let me give you an example. If you're the kind of a creator who wants to build with intention and not guesswork, subscribe to this channel. No, literally, like, subscribe to this channel. You saw how I called forth your new identity, a creator who wants to build with intention. Make your call to action not about you, but about them, which in this case is the kind of creator you see yourself as now. And that would be experiencing the full hierarchy of a video. That's level 7 in action. I locked in your identity by calling you forth as the creator you wanted to be, and then I told you to subscribe. And if you use this format, you'll do that in your videos. An easy way to do that is saying something like this. If you aspiring identity, then action that aligns. And how I did it in this, I basically said, if you're the creator that doesn't want to work off of guesswork and wants to use intention, then subscribe now. Rewind the clip and show them when it happened. If you're the kind of a creator who wants to build with intention and not guesswork, subscribe to this channel. No, literally, like, subscribe to this channel. That's the identity call to action, and that is the best way to have a call to action. We know all revolutions were started with an identity. And why does this works so well because people are wired to act in alignment with who they are and who they believe they're becoming. When you speak to identity, you anchor your channel to their transformation, and that creates lifelong loyalty, not a one-time click. Now, to put this all together super clean for you to grab it, let's recap the hierarchy. You have pre-attention, which you earn at the first glance. You have the micro-commitment, which is in the first 3 seconds. You have open loops, which creates curiosity, and you have cognitive pacing, emotional resonance, cognitive closure— that's the moment in which you complete the reward for them sticking around long enough— and then the last one, which we just did, which is an identity call to action. It turns viewers into believers. And this entire video was built using every single one of those levels in real time. You didn't just watch a video, you experienced a blueprint that I've been using for 7 years for some of the largest channels. Now the question is, which of these levels have you been skipping, and how will you apply them in your upload. Rewatch this video and comment the timestamp where each level happened. I'll pin to the best one and break it down in the next video. Because if you stack these layers the right way, you don't just grow views, you cultivate fans.