What is the goal? To Entertain, Inform, Persuade or Inspire?

Having a clear goal keeps you on track with what you are trying to say.

What is the Conclusion?

Figuring out the thing you want to convey or your resolution first makes figuring out the journey to getting there that much easier.

What is the beginning, middle, and end?

In other words..what is the problem, what are the obstacles to achieving resolution, what is the resolution? In a Social Media context, what is your audience’s problem, what are the consequences of that problem if it isn’t solved, what is the resolution to the problem?

What is the emotion I’m trying to get people to feel

Emotions drive behavior. Behavior to share, to follow, to save, to like etc..

Is the audience seeing a movie in their mind?

Are you telling your story “visually?” Even if your video is just you talking to camera, saying “I was broke” isn’t as powerful as saying, “My idea of a nice meal at the time was adding an egg to my package of ramen noodles."

What can be trimmed or cut?

Edit mercilessly. If the heart of your video isn’t until the 25 seconds mark, but people are clicking off within 5 seconds, it’s all for naught. What can be cut without losing the meaning behind what you’re saying.

What’s the universal story behind the idea?

In other words, what’s relatable? A video about buying moisturizer seems stupid unless you tell it through the lens of how you’re struggling with the idea of getting older.

Stories Simplified: What’s Interesting?

The back bone of your story is that is has to be interesting. What is it that is interesting about your story?

What is the hook?

This is last because it’s a lot easier to figure out a good hook when you can see your story as a whole. A hook simplified is: a desirable result achieved, by a pain point or problem solved.