15+ Proven UGC Ad Hooks That Are Working Right Now | Savannah Sanchez

0:00Hey, so excited to be here. Thanks for all the love. Going to go ahead and share my screen. We have no time to waste. We're going to get right into the hooks. Awesome. So, if you're here for the hooks boot camp, you are in the right place. And I wanted to say, if you do want this deck, please go to my website after, sign up for the newsletter at the bottom, and I will be sending out the

0:24deck and the replay later this week. All righty. So, for some of you who may not know me, my name is Savannah Sanchez. My agency is The Social Savannah. One of the most sought-after creative producers for Meta and TikTok ads. I've been doing this since 2020 and I've built up a team of 40 internal creators and 10 editors that I've been teaching and um and crafting over the last 6 years into uh what they are today. So, the way that my agency is structured is a bit different. Like I'm not going out and finding new creators for different clients or different projects, but really I'm working with the same group

1:04of girls and guys every single week. And we shoot new content every week for my group of about 50 clients. So, since 2020, I've been working with tons of brands, including some that you might recognize like Fabletics, Bumble, Athletic Greens, just to name a few. So, how it works when you work with me, like I said, I shoot new content every single week to create up to 12 new ads for clients. I also believe that creator white-listing is a huge strategy that's working well still in 2026. I would say even better now in 2026 doing white-listing and partnership ads. So, getting my clients access to the

1:41creators' pages so that they can run the ad not only through their brand page, but through the creator page is a big part of the strategy. And then, of course, I create my reports on Motion so that I can share with my clients what's working and figure out myself what's working for my clients and how to get inspiration. So, just to take you a bit into how I find hook inspiration, that's probably the question I get all the time. It's like, "Hey, you're working with 50 clients a week, making up to 12 ads per week per client. How do you stay inspired?" So, the number one thing in

2:14my workflow is going to motion to look at all the different clients that I have to see what's working. Not only the ads that I'm making, but clients will often use ads that they're sourcing from creators themselves. They'll maybe be working with multiple agencies at the same time, which I think is a bit of a secret weapon, cuz then I can go into 50 different ad accounts, see what they're doing, not only just the stuff that I'm running, but see what's working across the board. And if I find winners, then I can take that to another client that I'm working with and we try to recreate it

2:44there. So, I I don't like to reinvent the wheel. I just like to see what's working and follow the data. Uh another thing that I like to do is ad creative research through looking at Facebook ad libraries of competitor brands or just big brands in the space. I use 4C Play for ad creative research, which makes it really easy to save ad inspirations and to research new ads. I also like looking through the TikTok Creative Center. It's their section called Explore Top Ads on TikTok, and it makes it really easy to filter by industry, uh top impressions. Even if you're not planning to advertise on TikTok, especially if you want to get

3:23that more like organic UGC Yapper style inspiration, looking at the TikTok Creative Center at their top ads library is a really, really good place to start. Harry also mentioned in his last presentation about TikTok trends, seeing what's trending organically on the platform, what's getting um people to engage in the comments on TikTok. That's a great place to look for ad inspiration. Something that I've been doing this year that's actually been incredibly helpful, is I've hired a couple Tik Tok interns and essentially what that means that these are some younger folks in their college years, chronically online, if you may call them that, and I task them with finding ad

4:06inspirations I think are going to be relevant to specific clients, but just based off of what they're seeing organically trend on Tik Tok. Just because I don't have the time to be on Tik Tok 24/7, but they do. And so I say, "Hey, save the top beauty ones that you see. Save really good talking to the camera examples. Just show me what's working right now organically and what's stopping you from scrolling." And so getting that research from them every single week has been really helpful at keeping me in with what the what the what the kids are doing. So, and then of course DTC Twitter, direct-to-consumer

4:40Twitter, I follow all different types of agencies and and people on there and they always are sharing good inspirations. And then LinkedIn has been a place where people are also sharing ad inspirations. I frequently share my ad examples on Twitter and LinkedIn. So, if you're not following me there on ready already, uh make sure to uh follow me

4:59there at The Social Savannah. So, let's go through how to actually keep organized with your hooks and how to find what to do each week. So, first of all, if you're working with many clients or if you're working on one brand, it's so important to keep a database of what you've already tested in terms of hooks. So, as you can see on the left, I'm writing for my client Supply, this is what we're testing for a hook each week, and then I'm actually linking out to the ad example. So, that if I ever need to go back and see what that hook was, I can go and watch the

5:33ad. So, keeping organized is really important. And then I also have been creating a master list of every hook I've pretty much ever tested for every client. Um so, that's what you're seeing on the right me scroll through. So, if ever I'm just needing an ad idea, it's really great just to be able to go back to a

5:51database of what have I already tested. Especially if I'm working with a new client, I can go to my list of specifically top performers. On the right, I'm showing like my master list of all my hooks, but I also have a secret but awesome shorter list of hooks that have been proven time and time again to work well. And I'm actually going to share a lot of those examples

6:12with you in just a few minutes. Um and then I also wanted to say about giving scripts to creators cuz that's something that I get a lot of questions about. Because the people on my team, many of them I've been working with for 5 years, these creators. So, they really understand like the type of style I'm

6:30looking for, how to talk to the camera. I do like to provide them with a script so that they can see the general uh direction that we're going for. I like to provide them with the ad inspiration. But, I think what really makes the ad feel authentic and special is also them giving their own personal touch to it. So, I'll also say something in the brief like "Ad-lib about this and that." Which basically means I want them to talk from their own words about what they like about the product or what they would say. So, I think a mix of scripting and letting the creators' authenticity shine through is the

7:03winning key to success. But, you have to have those established creator relationships first to make that work. So, like I said, all the creators on my team I work with every week. Many of them for many, many years. So, I have trust in them that if I give them more free reign to say what they want, that it's going to turn out the way that I want it. I would never do that if I was reaching out to a creator and having them film for the first time. I would

7:26definitely provide a script. So, let's go through what hooks are working right now. And I literally mean right now. I pulled these ad examples yesterday based off of the top ads that are performing for my clients. And I also wanted to share examples that are performing across many clients. So, not just ones that have worked for one. These are ones where I found that it's worked well for one. I've tested it for

7:49others and it worked well for others. So, that's why I'm sharing it with you. These are proven top hooks as of June 2026, late June 2026. So, first one I wanted to mention is the Yapper. So, Yapper ads are all the rage right now. I wouldn't say it's necessarily a new format. I think it's really just UGC being like rebranded in a different way. I would say the main thing is that it is more talking to the camera style, less mixing in B-roll, less editing effects. So, it is kind of going back to that more organic style where it doesn't exactly feel like an ad. It feels more like a friend giving a

8:28recommendation. So, one thing that's been working well is trying different Yappers in different settings. And one of them that's worked really well is a running Yapper. So, our creator Kelly Ann here, she's a superstar. I mean, I don't think I could read a script while going on a run as well as she could, but she crushed it. So, she's sharing her authentic experience of why she started running and then the shoes that have

8:51helped her on her running journey. Next, we have another fun hook. This one we're calling, "Oh my god, what is that?" And they're essentially grabbing the product out of the bush and then showcasing it. So, just something interesting that you that you do in the first 3 seconds to get people's attention and doesn't look like a typical ad. Uh she's literally just grabbing it out of the bush, someone else filming her, and then she's showing the sunglasses. And in the second example, we did the same thing for another client, except they're pulling the perfume out of the bush. And I will mention, I don't want to just show these

9:29ads presentation short, but I will email out this deck if you subscribe to my newsletter so that you can watch these ads with volume on and and be able to analyze the whole thing.

9:52Just found out about X. So, just found out about the product or service. And essentially, the one creator is playing both characters in the script. That's why it's called a self-skit. They're talking to themselves. Finding a product that they like and how it's benefiting them. Next, we have the spin the bottle. So, essentially, what the creator is doing here is we're showing a few different

10:20options of what she can do with her day. We're obviously advertising a watercolor product. So, when she spins the bottle, she ends up on the watercolor. She actually knocks it purposefully so that it lands on the watercolor and then grabs her watercoloring kit and starts her day. So, this has been a really fun hook that I've tested across clients and has

10:40worked really well so far. This one is fun. This is an editing effect where we say, "Mission find the perfect whatever product complete." And so, we have the magnifying glass in the hook where we're looking for the purse and then it shines on the purse and then the light goes for the whole screen. And then we just go through the typical unboxing and B-roll of showing the nice

11:05purse. Next, we have all things in life are better in moderation except X. So, in this we're saying except coffee. And I also wanted to highlight in the hook, it's also really important to to grab attention with your editing effects when possible. So, as you can see, she actually grabs the coffee from space into the frame which is just a some editing magic that we mixed in. So, anytime that you can do something interesting with the editing along with having a great written hook like the one that we have here, that's going to be a

11:39winning combination. This one's really fun. It's the happiness entering my body after insert product here. So, I'll go ahead and pause on on the hook frame so that you can see what it looks like. She's like glowing and happy after her first Feals gummy. For this one, the happiness entering her body after enjoying a show with no lagging because we're saying that she improved her Wi-Fi. So, this has been a very effective hook across a

12:09lot of clients. Next, we have some fun text effect hooks. So, anytime we can do bold text in in the beginning, so having something as large as this, showing the product, and just grabbing attention that way is going to be a really effective strategy. Same for here, we have her running. And then also, we we still see writing out things physically whether it's on a Post-it note or on a piece of paper like we have in the second example, that's

12:41something that really grabs attention. So, anytime you can do something a little bit different, little bit more eye-catching with your text in the hook, that's going to go a very long way. Next, we have the quick outfit changes. So, on the first one, if you caught that, we're clapping and then he's changing his outfit in the hook. So, anytime that we can utilize transitions in the hook to grab attention, it's a really great strategy. Same for this one, the second example, we're swiping through different outfits and then we go into the testimonial of why she loves it. So, I think something that most brands miss out on or maybe like a

13:21mistake I see the most often is that they have their creators just go straight into the testimonial without having a very interesting hook. It's really important in those first 3 seconds to do something interesting, whether it's an interesting editing effect or saying something that captures attention, and then go into the testimonial afterwards. But, the first 3 seconds really needs to be as

13:43eye-catching as possible. Another format that's been working well is text exchanges and chat rooms. So, if I go back to the text exchange in this first example, she's saying, "Hello, I think you were my dream last night. Was I sipping my new lemon ice protein? No. Okay, then it wasn't me." So, just it was this was actually something that we took from a TikTok trend. So, that's why I said like finding stuff that's trending on TikTok and then trying to find ways to use it for ads is a really great strategy, especially when it's evergreen like this. You don't want to do a TikTok trend that's very specific

14:19to the moment. But, if it's something like, "Hey, you were my dream last night." text exchange, that's something that is evergreen and isn't going to die with a TikTok trend. In the second example, we have Tropika creatine enter the chat, and then bulking and bloating left the chat, always exhausted left the chat. Uh so, just playing off off things like this can be a really great way to capture

14:42attention in the first 3 seconds. Next, we have a story time. So, this kind of goes off the theme of Yapper ads. And one of the story times that are working really well right now for my clients is "As I've gotten older, I've realized." So, this just really effective at getting attention and getting people to watch. I think also there's something about talking in the car that captures attention really well. So, she's talking about her favorite perfume and how much she spent on fragrances over the years and how she's refined her fragrance preference uh through Noteworthy. And then for the second one, she's saying how as she's gotten older,

15:25she's realized that having elevated basics just as important as having statement pieces. So, just that authentic talking to the camera uh story time type ad is doing really well. Next, we have I exercised my use of free will a few days ago, and then the doorbell rings and they say, "Oh, it's here." And it's the package of the product that they ordered with their free will of a few days ago. So, I'll go back to the beginning of these examples so you can see uh we're testing the same hooks across two different clients showing that the doorbell's ringing, how excited she is that the product is here,

16:03and then going into the problem solution and the value props of that specific product. Car chats, like I mentioned before, just anything in the car seems to be crushing right now. I think it just goes along with the whole yapper style ad that's just doing well across the board. So, having an authentic chat in the car about the products you like, I would say don't be afraid to mix in other B-roll, too. So, as you can see, we're starting out the ad in the car, but to keep it interesting, we're still showing other scenes of them trying on the sunglasses at home. So, this is another example,

16:43too, of a great AB test you can do and something that I do frequently with clients. We take the same type of format, so let's call this a car chat yapper, and one that mixes in B-roll of outfit try-on in the house, and we're testing which creator is going to resonate best with this client while keeping the variable of the format and

17:06the hook and editing style very similar. It's really impossible when it comes to paid social to narrow your variables as narrowly as saying like we're just this one intro or this one thing, you're just going to end up having to do way too many variations. But what I like to do is I I like to do the same concept and just change the creator to see if this is a winning concept, can we get more scale out of it if we have another creator do it and get more spend, or can we find that one

17:36creator performs better than the other. So, that's something that I like to do, especially when we find a concept that works, is try something very similar but with a different creator. Another fun editing effect you can do in your hook is swiping through product options and then using some editing magic to take the product off the screen

17:56once you've swiped through some options. Okay, let's go into some of my creative testing framework of how I think about uh testing different hooks and working it into your weekly process. So, for my clients on my smallest monthly package, usually what I like to recommend for clients to do is that each week we want to produce two overarching ad inspirations. What I mean by that, any of the ad examples that I shared previously that can be considered an overarching ad inspiration, but then of course the algorithm needs variations in order to optimize in for in order for you to have enough ads in your ad account to get enough scale. So, with

18:41any ad inspiration, I think it's really important to test two different written hook variations. So, in that first 3 seconds, the actual text on screen, what's written on the screen with should be different in version one versus version two. And I think it's important to do this because you can find a really great ad inspiration, but maybe just the written hook wasn't perfect. And as creative strategists, we we can't predict the future, unfortunately. If we could, we'd be billionaires, but we can't. But what we can do is make educated decisions based off of what we're seeing work for other clients and ad inspirations we find. But then to

19:18give it the best chance of success, don't just limit yourself to one variation. You could test two different hook variations to see what's going to work. Of course, if you have more budget, you could test five or 10 or however many hook variations you want with a specific concept. But I would usually recommend for brands that are spending less than $100,000 a month that they can get away with just every week produce two overarching ad inspirations and in that have two different written hook variations and also two different visual hook variations. So whatever visuals are on screen for that first 3 seconds, you can change to see if that's

19:54the variable that will drive performance. Another thing that's really important, especially with all these Andromeda updates, is hook buyer persona testing. So I wanted to provide this example for my client Wandering Bear Coffee. Essentially, what our goal is in our hook testing is to test less specific hooks versus more specific openers. So this can be as simple as an AB test of a more broad universal opener versus one that calls out a clear functional benefit or buyer persona in the hook. So that means leading into different angles like coffee snobs, coffee shop replacement, novelty seekers in the case of this because it comes in the box

20:35format. So in this first example, the hook that we tested is "I really am craving a whole cold brew right now. I thought we were saving money and not talking about going to the coffee shop. Let me show you." That would be considered a more broad universal opener. Where on the second one, we're saying, "You can't make a good cold brew at home, challenge accepted." So this is specifically targeting someone who already likes cold brew and wants to see if they can make it better than their

21:04local coffee shop. All righty, well those are all of the examples for today. I wanted to leave a few minutes at the end if there is any Q&A and of course, if you want to get in touch, here are all the ways to contact me.

21:29Is Evan on mute? [laughter] You know I did that thing where it's like you're muted and you talk and you you say all the words and no one can hear you? Yes. [laughter] But everybody, go go subscribe to Savannah's newsletter for sure if you're going to do anything because all these examples will be in your inbox. So you

21:46don't want to miss out, okay everybody? Um Savannah, that was incredible as always. Come up with the real real real examples. Q&A's talked here, but I'm wondering if you have any like final words you want us to leave with your audience today. Ooh, final words. I would say just don't be afraid to test. Like even if you find something more outlandish on TikTok, something unproven, I think that's where the real advantage is, especially in 2026. I've spoken about being more anti-AI. I've seen a lot of ads just kind of look rinse and repeat in terms of their scripting and formats cuz probably ChatGPT is just telling them

22:23test these 10 formats cuz they're done over and over again. But what I like to do is I like to think what hasn't been tested? What isn't ChatGPT recommending? What's the next big thing? So I would say don't be afraid to get a little bit out of your comfort zone and that's something my clients are even specifically recommending. They're saying, we want to do something that hasn't been done before, which can be

22:43difficult as it hasn't been done before. But I would just recommend anyone just to get creative, use their brain and don't be afraid test something that's more unproven. Savannah, you are the best. Everybody show love to Savannah. Thank you. See you guys next time.