119: How I Use AI to Reverse Engineer Viral Hooks (Part 3)
Today I'm pulling back the curtain on how I'm using AI in my business to reverse engineer viral hook formulas, generate stronger content ideas, and speed up my content creation process without losing personality or authenticity in my marketing. This is part three of our hooks and messaging mini series, and it might just be the most practical episode of the bunch.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
01:43 Why this hook series has been about so much more than just text on screen
02:07 How I run two businesses simultaneously — The Wedding Dance Coach in Denver and my Instagram marketing brand
04:20 The #1 mistake business owners make when using AI for content creation
05:16 What a Master AI Brand Book is and why building one changes everything about your AI outputs
06:43 The simple strategy I use to reverse engineer viral hook formulas with AI
07:40 How to study Instagram content like a marketer, not a consumer
08:34 Exactly what to say to ChatGPT or Claude when you upload a viral hook screenshot
09:55 How to prompt AI to generate 10 hook variations using your brand voice
11:16 Why AI is your strategic thought partner not your replacement
13:36 Hot Reels client results: from 2,000 to 70,000 followers, and six figures added in revenue
15:20 Next week: Austin Armstrong on AI, marketing, and growing to almost 1 million Instagram followers
THE AI HOOK REVERSE ENGINEERING PROCESS:
Step 1: Study what stops your scroll
Go on Instagram with research intent. Notice what content makes you stop in your niche and in adjacent niches. Great hooks are everywhere.
Step 2: Screenshot the hook
When you see a piece of content that's clearly performing (high views, comments, shares), screenshot just the hook.
Step 3: Upload to ChatGPT or Claude and prompt it
Give the AI context. Tell it the content went viral, then ask one of these questions:
- "Why is this hook psychologically effective?"
- "What emotional triggers are being used here?"
- "Break down the messaging structure behind this viral hook."
Step 4: Reverse engineer for your brand
Once the AI breaks down the psychology, prompt it with: "Knowing everything you know about my brand, my audience and my offers, help me reverse engineer this same hook formula for my business. Generate 10 variations with different emotional angles."
Step 5: Refine and make it specific
Review the 10 options. One will stand out. Take it back and forth with the AI until it's specific, on-brand, and in your voice. Remember generic hooks are out.
Links Mentioned:
Hot Reels — my 12-month Instagram content lab. DM me the word HOT on @elizabethmarberry
Free DM Automation Guide + 1 Month of ManyChat Free — DM me the word LEADS on @elizabethmarberry
Part 1 → Ep117: The Secret to Stronger Instagram Hooks
Part 2 → Ep118: The 4-Part Hook Formula Behind Viral Reels
A Truth You Need to Hear:
"The smartest marketers in the world study patterns — psychology, messaging, attention. That's exactly what this process is. It's not copying. It's pattern recognition."
S3 Ep119 Transcript - How I Use AI to Reverse Engineer Viral Hooks (Part 3)
00:00
Today I'm pulling back the curtain on how I'm using AI in my business to reverse engineer viral hook formulas, generate stronger content ideas and speed up my content creation process without losing personality or authenticity in my marketing. This is not about replacing your creativity. It's about learning how to strategically collaborate with AI, ChatGPT, Claude, whatever platform you choose to use.
00:28
as a modern business owner. I am super pumped you're here. Let's go.
00:36
Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies. I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your host and Instagram marketing coach. I help small business owners get seen on Instagram and monetize their offers so they can make more money doing their sole lead work. If you're tired of spinning your wheels on Instagram and you're seeking simple, proven Instagram marketing strategies that actually work, you're in the right place.
01:05
Let's dive in.
01:15
Welcome back to the show. You've landed on part three of a mini series we are doing on hooks, messaging, and creating content that actually gets your ideal clients or customers to stop scrolling on Instagram and pay attention because we all know that is the key to your content actually moving the needle for your business is first we've got to capture their attention. And that's why we have been spending so much time on.
01:43
hooks and how to leverage hooks to get seen and get paid. Today we're talking about how I'm strategically using AI to reverse engineer viral hook formulas for both of my businesses. As you may or may not know, I own two businesses. I own a brick and mortar service based business in Denver, Colorado called the Wedding Dance Coach.
02:07
We offer private dance lessons for couples who want to avoid that awkward sway and rock their first dance with confidence. We've been in business for 16 years, if you can imagine. So we are the OGs of the wedding dance trends, and it's been a really fun business to own. I now get to operate in that CEO visionary seat. I have a small team of incredible instructors that teach all the lessons, and I have a leadership team and all of that. It's fun to be in that CEO visionary seat.
02:36
And that allows me the space and time to focus most of my attention on my personal brand, which is my online business where I teach Instagram marketing and business growth to small business owners and creative entrepreneurs. And really that business is three pillars. I have my coaching offers, my speaking, I'm a professional speaker. And of course this podcast, which is such a
03:02
huge driver of visibility for me and my brand, but also long-form content is just a great way to establish yourself as a thought leader in your space and really build that know, like, and trust with your ideal clients or customers. So that is how I approach my Instagram content, right? Is how is all of this content that I'm creating going to support the...
03:28
actual growth of my businesses because I'm not here to be an influencer and get free products or any of that, which I have received as a part of me growing my visibility and following, but that's not why I'm here. I'm here to really move the needle in my businesses so I can achieve my bold vision and goals. And I suspect that that's why you're here too. This podcast is really for you if that's...
03:55
your goal as well is to have your Instagram content and your social media content get you seen by your ideal clients or customers so they can know that you exist and really how we can leverage our content to nurture that relationship and eventually drive conversions for your business. And I've done a full series and episodes on how I am leveraging chat GPT or AI to support me in my business.
04:20
But today's episode is really focused on this really simple strategy and how I'm leveraging AI when it comes to reverse engineering viral hook formats. And one of the biggest mistakes I see business owners continue to make when they jump into ChatGPT or Claude or whatever platform they're using is expecting it to magically spit out brilliant marketing without actually training on their brand first.
04:48
If you've ever felt kind of turned off by the output of the AI, honestly, that's usually why that's happening. That's why the content feels very generic or robotic or completely disconnected from your brand voice or your unique positioning in the market. So before you ever start asking AI to help you create hooks or content ideas,
05:16
there's foundational work that needs to happen first. And for me personally, I have what I call a master AI brand book. And inside of this document, I have lots of different categories. Some examples are my brand voice, my mission, values, my target audience, my offer suite, products and services, price points, all the deliverables.
05:45
who I serve, who I do not serve, voice of customer research, messaging, positioning, content pillars, brand personality, all of it, okay? Because the more context AI has about your business, the more strategic and aligned the outputs become. And honestly, this alone is one of the biggest mindset shifts people need to understand with AI, is that AI works best as a collaborative strategic tool.
06:14
but not as a replacement for your human brain, right? So if you've not yet done that foundational work, I highly recommend it. And actually, I'm going to be teaching a workshop on this soon because this has become such a huge part of how I'm running my business and marketing my business. And if that's something you want details on, how to build your master AI brand book, send me a direct message on Instagram. Just let me know that you're interested in the workshop.
06:43
and I will share those details with you when they are live. I'm really excited about putting this workshop together because I know it's going to really dramatically improve the outputs that you're going to get from leveraging the AI in your business. So once the AI understands your brand, here's a really simple strategy I'm using to reverse engineer viral hook formulas. And this has been.
07:10
such a game changer for content ideation. And what I do is very simple. I actually study content that stops my scroll. Okay, so when I go onto Instagram for research, I am not going on because I just wanna zone out and I've had a really long day. I'm going on to see what is working, okay? And I notice what content stops my scroll.
07:40
And I don't just look for other creators in my niche. I also look at adjacent niches. It could be something totally different because great hooks are everywhere. I don't need to only look at other Instagram coaches hooks. In fact, when I do that, sometimes it throws me into a spin cycle and it's actually not effective for me. So I like to notice what stops my scroll in general.
08:05
And when I see a piece of content that is clearly performing really well, like lots of engagement, lots of comments, lots of shares, lots of views, I don't just consume it mindlessly anymore, I analyze it, okay? And here's what I do, and this is the strategy I want you to steal, is I literally will screenshot the hook and upload the screenshot of the creator's hook into chat GBT or Claude. Now I don't.
08:34
I don't plagiarize or anything like that, right? But my goal is to understand it and then reverse engineer it for my business or brand. So I'll say something to the AI like this. And by the way, I said say something because I rarely ever type into chat, GBT or Claude. I use the microphone function and that just speaking to it saves me hours each week. So if you're not already doing that, that's a pro tip for you.
09:01
So I might say something like, I've uploaded the screenshot, I'll give it some context. Like this hook went massively viral with hundreds of thousands of likes and comments. Please analyze why this hook is psychologically effective. Or why would this hook stop the scroll? Or what emotional triggers are being used here? Or break down the messaging structure behind this viral hook.
09:29
So essentially what I'm trying to do here is understand why did this work? Like what was the psychology behind this hook being so effective? And when you do that, it's really cool because the AI helps you break down the actual psychology behind the hook. And that is so interesting, right? Like that's when things get really powerful because then you can say something like, okay, this is the next prompt.
09:55
Knowing everything you know about my brand, my audience, my offers, right? Because it already has your master AI brand book, so it knows all that about you. Help me reverse engineer the same hook formula specifically for my business or specifically for my target audience. And then I'll ask it to generate 10 hook variations with different emotional angles or different.
10:20
niche specific applications or multiple ways I could adopt the same structure. And honestly, the first draft is not usually perfect, but it does give me enough ideas where I'm like, oh my gosh, now I can, you know, wrap my brain around how this hook is gonna work for my business. So I still refine, I still edit it, I still make some tweaks, but.
10:46
Oftentimes one of those 10 hooks will really massively stand out to me. And then I can kind of go back and forth injecting my personality or my lived experience or a very specific example, or we've talked a lot about in this series about how generic hooks are out and specific hooks are in. Sometimes even when it has all of my brand information, it's still too generic. And so I'll kind of go back and forth with it about that. So that's where, again, I am the strategic thought leader.
11:16
AI is my strategic thought partner. But what this does is it massively speeds up the ideation process because instead of staring at a blank screen trying to invent brilliance from scratch, you're essentially strategically building from proven patterns that are already working, right? And I think that is such an important mindset shift for small business owners and creative entrepreneurs is that you do not need
11:45
to reinvent the wheel every single time you create content. And if you're doing that, of course you're not gonna be consistent. Of course you're gonna feel a lot of resistance and resentment even toward Instagram, right? But remember the smartest marketers in the world study patterns, okay? They study psychology, they study messaging, they study attention. And that's really what this process is, okay?
12:15
copying someone else, it's pattern recognition. Success leaves those breadcrumbs and it's like following the breadcrumbs. And honestly, one of the things I love most about AI is it can help you just think faster and more strategically when you use it really well, right? That's the key. So the goal is really to use AI to strengthen your messaging and your creativity.
12:40
And that is something that we're constantly talking about and exploring inside of Hot Reels, my 12 month Instagram content lab. So it's not just the conversation isn't just simply, you know, what's working on Instagram right now, but I'm always bringing in how do we leverage artificial intelligence and these modern marketing tools to work smarter, more efficiently and more strategically as a business owner.
13:07
because AI is absolutely becoming an integral part of marketing. And I believe the business owners who learn how to collaborate with these tools without losing their humanity and their authenticity are going to have a massive competitive advantage moving forward. So if you want support refining your messaging, creating stronger hooks and leveraging AI strategically, so you can build a content strategy that
13:36
actually connects and converts. I want you to send me a direct message on Instagram. Make sure you're already following me at Elizabeth Marberry, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y, and DM me the keyword hot for all of the fun details about Hot Reels, my 12 month Instagram content lab. This program is just incredible. One of my clients started at 2,000 followers and she graduated the program with over 70,000. Danny, who is
14:05
Another one of my clients started at just under 2,000 followers. She graduated with over 25,000 followers and added an additional six figures of revenue to her business from the Instagram and business strategy that she learned inside of Hot Reels. It is via in our group and you definitely want to be a part of it. So you can go on over to Instagram and DM me the keyword hot and you will get the information over there or
14:31
If you are a website person, definitely hop on over to my website. You can stalk me at ElizabethMarberry.com slash hot. That's Elizabeth Marberry, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y.com slash hot. For full program details, the investments on there, everything that is included, it is absolutely the place to be if you are done with like purchasing courses.
14:57
and forgetting to do them and never implementing. This is a live group coaching program with me. Every month I get to really know you, your business, your goals, completely life-changing, game-changing program for small business owners and I'd love to see you inside. If you have any questions for me, feel free to direct message me. My DMs are always open. I love hearing from you.
15:20
And if you love today's episode, you got something out of it, do me a solid, share it with a business bestie or a colleague who's also trying to understand this beast that is Instagram. Next week, I am bringing on Austin Armstrong. He is absolutely a leader in the artificial intelligence space, specifically within the marketing realm. And this man has almost 1 million followers on Instagram.
15:47
He is coming in next week to teach us all the things about how he is leveraging AI and his marketing and business efforts. You are not gonna wanna miss it. So make sure you are following and subscribed to the show. And I can't wait to strut it with you next week. Thank you for listening to strut it. If you're ready to start leveraging Instagram to grow your business, then you're gonna wanna grab my free monetize your IG guides.
16:15
where you'll learn seven simple and proven ways to finally make money on Instagram. You can grab your guide at ElizabethMarberry.com slash freebies. That's ElizabethMarberry.com slash freebies to get my monetize your IG guide. If you got some incredible value from today's episode, be sure to leave a review and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
16:43
and I cannot wait to start it with you again next week.
