@tomkorn·Nov 2Steal this one, it costs nothing:
Before you post your next reel, send it to one person in your DMs first and ask them to tell you when they would have stopped watching.
They will say a number. That number is your problem spot, and you will never find it yourself because you already know what happens next in your own video.
Try it this week. Tell me what they said.
@tomkorn·Oct 24🥥 9 WAYS TO GET COMMENTS WITHOUT BEGGING FOR THEM
No task today. Read, steal what fits.
1. Ask something with a one word answer. “Coffee or matcha.” People answer what is quick. Open ended questions get silence because they feel like homework.
2. Be slightly wrong on purpose. Not a lie, a strong opinion somebody will want to correct. Being corrected is the most reliable comment generator on the internet.
3. Leave something out. Mention a tool, a place, a product without naming it. “Ask me and I will tell you” is not a trick, it is giving people a reason to type.
4. Reply with a question. Someone writes “love this.” You write “which part.” That is two more comments and a conversation anyone scrolling can see.
5. First comment is yours. Pin it. Whatever you pin sets the tone for everything written underneath.
6. Answer in the same language they wrote in. Obvious, routinely ignored, and it doubles the chance of a reply.
7. Name people who comment often. Say their name in your reply. They come back. Five regulars under everything you post makes a profile look alive to strangers.
8. Do not delete negative comments unless they are abusive. A disagreement in your comments is engagement, and the people defending you in the replies are worth more than a clean comment section.
9. Comment on other accounts in your niche before you post. Twenty minutes, real comments, not emojis. Some of those people come look at you, and they arrive right as your new post goes up.
@tomkorn·Oct 158 PROFILE FIXES THAT TAKE UNDER A MINUTE EACH
No task today. Read, steal what fits.
1. Your name field is searchable, your username is not the only thing. Put your niche in the name field. “Lisa | travel on a budget” shows up in search. “Lisa” does not.
2. Three pinned posts, chosen on purpose. Your best performer, your clearest explanation of what you do, and one where your face is visible. Not your three newest.
3. Profile picture: face, close, bright background. It renders at the size of a fingernail. A full body shot on a beach is a coloured dot.
4. Delete every highlight nobody opens. Empty-looking highlights make a profile feel abandoned. Two good ones beat nine old ones.
5. One link, not a wall of them. A link page with eleven buttons converts worse than one button. Decide what you actually want people to do.
6. Your first six tiles are your real homepage. Nobody scrolls past them. If those six do not tell a stranger what you are about, nothing below them will.
7. Drop the emoji soup. 🌍✨🥥🌴 says nothing. One emoji, maybe. Five is decoration covering the fact that the line underneath is empty.
8. Read your own bio out loud. If you would not say that sentence to a person at a party, it is too stiff. Most bios are written in a voice nobody actually has.
Which one are you guilty of? Pick a number and drop it below. I will bet the room is mostly 1 and 7.
@tomkorn·Oct 13Here is what happens in the first three seconds of your reel: the viewer decides if it is worth their time. Not at second five. Not when you finally get to the point.
The most common mistake is the warm-up. "Hey guys, so today I wanted to talk about..." That line is dead weight. The viewer does not wait for you to arrive.
A strong hook does one of three things:
1. Opens a question the viewer needs answered.
2. Makes a promise that is specific, not vague.
3. Puts a stake on the table, so staying costs them nothing and leaving feels like missing out.
The 8 million view reel in our community started with "you can choose 2 free trips, which two?" on screen. No intro, no context. The viewer was already in the game before they could scroll.
Why it works: a hook is not a clever line. It is a reason to stay for the next three seconds. Then the next three.
Try this today: take your last reel, cut everything before the first real sentence, and write that sentence as on-screen text in the first frame. Post it as a Trial Reel and compare the skip rate.
Honest, not nice: if your first frame needs an explanation, it is not a hook yet. 🥥
@tomkorn·Oct 5☀️ THIS WEEK: THE FIRST LINE OF YOUR CAPTION
Two weeks on video. Now the part almost everyone treats as an afterthought.
Your caption has one job in the first line: give people a reason to stop scrolling that the video alone does not give them. Everything after that line is bonus, because most people never tap "more."
Your task: post 3 reels, each with a different first line type.
A question the video does not answer until the end
A confession ("I did this wrong for 8 months")
A flat claim with no hedging ("you do not need a ring light")
What not to do: do not describe your video. "Here are my tips for hooks 🥥✨" tells people what they are already watching. That line is dead weight.
Post in #wins when all three are up.
@tomkorn·Oct 2One profile, full teardown, in public.
This week I am looking specifically at retention, so bring your last 2 reels and I will tell you where I would have stopped watching and why.
Same deal as always. Honest, not nice. You will hear things about your content that sting for about ten minutes and then make you better. 🌴🥥
@tomkorn·Sep 12☀️ NEXT WEEK: HOOKS
Focus: the first three seconds. Not your editing, not your lighting, not your caption. The first three seconds.
Your task this week: post 3 reels, each with a different hook style.
A number ("3 things nobody tells you about...")
A contradiction ("everyone says X. I did the opposite.")
A mid-action open, no intro at all, you are already talking as the video starts
Why these three: they all remove the ramp-up. Most reels die because the first two seconds are the creator getting comfortable on camera. The viewer does not wait for you to arrive.
Post in #wins when all three are up. I read every one of them.
I find 1 works really well!!
@tomkorn·Sep 2What went right for you in the last seven days? Drop it below.
And before you scroll past because you think you do not have one, here is what counts as a win in this room:
🥥 You posted when you did not feel like it
🥥 Someone you do not know commented
🥥 One reel did better than your average
🥥 You finished a module
🥥 You changed your bio and it finally says what you actually do
The small ones are the ones somebody else in here needed to see today. Go.
On lock this week! 🫡 Got 3-4 trials up per day, one went a little “viral” with a brand collab 100k+ vies
@tomkorn·Aug 26Week question, takes 30 seconds:Drop your best performing reel of this week and one line on why you think it worked.The one line is the important part. Guessing at why something worked is how you stop posting randomly and start posting on purpose. 🥥🌴
It was funny and relatable while being relevant to current events (Labour day long weekend)
@tomkorn·Aug 23Until your wins land here, mine will do.
One reel. 8,109,318 views. 13,400 comments.
The hook: "you can choose 2 free trips, which two?" twelve combinations, labeled. the answer costs two letters.
that's the whole mechanic. make the answer impossible to give without a like.
nobody comments a paragraph. everyone comments "b and f".
caption did the second half of the work: "comment your 2 fav trips and maybe i'll take someone". now it's not a quiz anymore. it's an application.
post yours this week and drop the comment count in here on wednesday
Great way to drive engagement
