What Getting 3 Billion Views Taught Me About Human Psychology

I've generated over three billion views for the most boring brands you could think of. Brands that sell instant ramen software tools and cell phone plans. And after doing this for years across dozen of clients, I've come to realize that making viral content has nothing to do with the content itself. It has everything to do with how the human brains work. Every scroll, every share,

brains work. Every scroll, every share, every follow is driven by psychological triggers happening in people's brain within the first half second of seeing your content. And once you understand those triggers, you can make almost anything go viral, even if it's something as simple as instant noodles. So, in this video, I'm going to walk you through the six psychological principles

through the six psychological principles I have used to generate three billion views. And it all start with why familiarity beats originality every single time. First, number one, your brain decide before you do. You see, people do not choose what to watch. Their brains choose it for them. And it happens under a second. When you're

happens under a second. When you're scrolling, your brain is running a rapid filters. It's asking three question before you're even conscious of it. First, have I seen something this before and enjoyed it? Second, is there something unexpected happening now? And third, and does this have anything to do with me or my life? If the answer to all three is no, you

the answer to all three is no, you scroll. Because your brain doesn't register the content as something you might be interested in. This is why original content fails so often. When your brand encounter a format that has never seen before, it does not get excited. It gets confused. And confusion is the fastest path to a scroll. But

is the fastest path to a scroll. But when you use a format that your brand's already recognized, a reaction video, a challenge, or a walk up to a stranger setup, the brain goes, "I know what this is. I've liked this before. Let me watch it. There's a name for this. It's called the mere exposure effects. The more you see something, the

effects. The more you see something, the more your brands start to it. This is the backbone of what I call the format steel. You never invent content. You find a format that's already pulling millions of views and you put your brand inside that structure. When I started working with Bodak, the Korean Instagram ramen brand, they had about 300,000 followers, but they were stuck. The

followers, but they were stuck. The content wasn't going viral anymore. The follower count just came to a complete halt. So what we did was simply pivot the content style from manufacturing an ingredient to things that we going viral. We found formats in the food space spicy challenge reaction videos and we plug Bulldock into

videos and we plug Bulldock into them. The account grew to 1.8 million followers on Tik Tok and over 900 million views in 12 months. Nothing about the product changed. The format that we steal did all the heavy lifting. But creating familiar content is just one piece of the puzzle. What is even more important is laying the curioity

more important is laying the curioity trap because that is truly what hooks the viewer. Second, the curiosity trap. I've analyzed hundreds of brands and the one thing they do wrong is that they always lead with the product in their hook. Every single time they do that, your brain immediately categorize it as an ad and you scroll away before a single thought even formed. But there's

single thought even formed. But there's a loophole called the curiosity trap. When your brain sense a gaps between what it currently knows and what it wants to know. That gaps create discomfort almost a mental itch. Your brains will not let you scroll away until that gaps get filled. That is why the best hook is never about the

the best hook is never about the product. They are triggering curiosity, disbelief, or identity recognition. When I made my first video for Stan, an all-in-one creator platform, I did not open with the software. I found a format that's already blowing up. The same video everyone already see. How much do you pay for rent? We did an office tour.