# YouTube content planning Human Guide

## What This Is For
Plan new YouTube videos with optimized titles, thumbnails, and hooks. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for content production: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the YouTube content planning agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for YouTube content planning.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the YouTube content planning guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- **Hook Creation** — Design or review the opening 5–30 seconds for maximum retention
- **Video Planning** — Orchestrate title, thumbnail, and hook into a complete production-ready plan
- Planning a new YouTube video (title, thumbnail, hook, outline)
- Writing or reviewing an opening hook for retention
- Generating multiple title/thumbnail options for a user to choose from
- Creating a complete video plan after research is done
- ❌ Title: "5 Photography Mistakes" → Opening: "Today I'm showing you 5 photography mistakes"
- Why: The viewer already has this info. Repetition drains attention.
- ❌ "Hi guys, welcome back to the channel! Thanks for being here..."
- Why: Friendly but not engaging. Doesn't build on title/thumbnail momentum.
- Exception: Greetings are fine AFTER the hook (after first 15 seconds).
- ❌ Title: "Cat Tricks Tutorial" → Opening: 90-second story about a new car

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Workspace Context, Operating Contract, When to Use, Mode 1: Hook Creation, Core Principle, Forbidden Patterns (Instant Failure), Proven Hook Patterns, Timing Requirements, Hook Checklist, Content Type Guidance.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- The opening MUST extend the curiosity from the title/thumbnail — never repeat it.
- The viewer already clicked based on the promise. The opening must add new intrigue and make them MORE interested, not restate what they know.
- These cause immediate abandonment and must never appear before the hook:
- Hook must land within **5–15 seconds** (optimal: 3–8s)
- Main promised content must begin **within 30 seconds**
- [ ] No Welcome First: Avoids greetings before the hook
- **Educational/How-To:** Open with result preview or immediate demonstration. Never "In this tutorial I'm going to teach you..."
- **MANDATORY prerequisite:** Research must be completed first. Either:

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the YouTube content planning human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the manojbajaj95/claude-gtm-plugin skill entry for `youtube-content`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# YouTube Content Planning

## Workspace Context

Read bootstrap context before asking questions: `strategy/brand.md` for brand, audience, offer, channels, tools, constraints, and metrics; `about/me.md` for personal voice; `content/ideas.md` and `content/calendar.md` for content planning. Use legacy product-marketing context files only as fallback. Save generated drafts to `content/<platform>/drafts/YYYY-MM-DD_short-topic-slug.md`, and route durable learnings back to `strategy/brand.md`, `about/me.md`, or `content/ideas.md`.

## Operating Contract

This skill is self-contained for its frontmatter scope: use its local instructions, references, scripts, and assets as the playbook; ask only for missing task-specific inputs; hand off to adjacent skills instead of expanding scope; and return an actionable artifact, decision, plan, draft, or diagnostic.


Two modes in one skill:

1. **Hook Creation** — Design or review the opening 5–30 seconds for maximum retention
2. **Video Planning** — Orchestrate title, thumbnail, and hook into a complete production-ready plan

---

## When to Use

- Planning a new YouTube video (title, thumbnail, hook, outline)
- Writing or reviewing an opening hook for retention
- Generating multiple title/thumbnail options for a user to choose from
- Creating a complete video plan after research is done

---

## Mode 1: Hook Creation

The opening seconds are the highest-leverage part of any YouTube video. Design them with precision.

### Core Principle

**The opening MUST extend the curiosity from the title/thumbnail — never repeat it.**

The viewer already clicked based on the promise. The opening must add new intrigue and make them MORE interested, not restate what they know.

### Forbidden Patterns (Instant Failure)

These cause immediate abandonment and must never appear before the hook:

**1. Repeating the title**
- ❌ Title: "5 Photography Mistakes" → Opening: "Today I'm showing you 5 photography mistakes"
- Why: The viewer already has this info. Repetition drains attention.

**2. Welcoming the viewer first**
- ❌ "Hi guys, welcome back to the channel! Thanks for being here..."
- Why: Friendly but not engaging. Doesn't build on title/thumbnail momentum.
- Exception: Greetings are fine AFTER the hook (after first 15 seconds).

**3. Starting with unrelated content**
- ❌ Title: "Cat Tricks Tutorial" → Opening: 90-second story about a new car
- Why: Viewer confusion → abandonment → YouTube suppresses the video.

### Proven Hook Patterns

**Pattern A: Preview/Teaser** — Show a brief glimpse of the payoff
> Quick montage of the 5 cat tricks in action → "I need to know how to do that!"

**Pattern B: Intrigue Escalation** — Add surprising context that makes the promise MORE compelling
> "What I'm about to show you took professionals years to discover, but you'll learn it in 60 seconds"

**Pattern C: Problem Amplification** — Immediately validate why the viewer needs this
> "If you're still doing X, you're losing Y every single day"

**Pattern D: Immediate Value Demonstration** — Jump straight into delivering on the promise
> No preamble, just start teaching/showing results

### Timing Requirements

- Hook must land within **5–15 seconds** (optimal: 3–8s)
- After hook: brief intro acceptable (5–10s max)
- Main promised content must begin **within 30 seconds**

### Hook Checklist

Before finalizing any opening hook:

- [ ] Non-Repetition: Does NOT repeat the title
- [ ] Curiosity Extension: Makes viewers MORE curious than the title alone