How to Write Great Hooks For Social Media: A Complete Guide
You’re scrolling through your feed. Thumb moving. Eyes glazing. Post after post blurs together until—something makes you stop. That’s the power of a great hook, and how to write great hooks for social media will make or break your page’s performance.
On social media, you don’t have 8 seconds like you do on a website. You have 3 seconds, maybe less. In that blink of time, your hook needs to stop the scroll, capture attention, and compel someone to actually read what you’ve written.
But social media hooks aren’t just shorter versions of headlines. They operate in a completely different environment. They’re fighting against an algorithm designed to keep people scrolling.
They’re competing with friends, family, memes, news, and a thousand other creators—all at once. They need to work on tiny mobile screens where attention is fractured and patience is non-existent.
The good news? Writing hooks that consistently stop the scroll is a learnable skill. Once you understand the psychology behind what makes people pause, the proven formulas that work across platforms, and the specific nuances of each social network, you can dramatically increase your engagement and grow your audience.
In this guide, you’ll discover how to write great hooks for social media:
- The anatomy of high-performing social media hooks
- 6 hook formulas you can use immediately
- Platform-specific strategies for some of the top social media platforms
- Real examples of viral hooks broken down so you can understand exactly why they worked.
Whether you’re a content creator trying to grow your following, a marketer trying to increase engagement, or a business owner who wants their posts to actually get seen AND liked, mastering the art of the social media hook will transform your results.
And by the way, I’ve single-handedly grown my business and personal social media accounts to a loyal following, and the majority of the clients I book through Storytella Studios© have come through social media so… there are my credentials.
Let’s get into how to write great hooks for social media.
Social Media Hooks vs. Traditional Headlines
Traditional headlines are on traditional mediums like print media, websites, landing pages, and are designed to compel an action, like clicking a button or scanning a QR code. They rely not only on relevance but also on technical things like search engine optimization and design of the asset.
A social media hook is a short and engaging attention grabber designed to get a viewer to consume the content in its entirety, and it could be text-based, an audio hook, a visual hook, or a verbal hook!
Since people are inundated with so much information every day, and have more places to feed their need for instant gratification, your social media hooks need to work harder and faster.
Take a platform like LinkedIn, which boasts a user-based of professionals who love a long-story-long. The hook is the first sentence of the post, which will make or break whether or not the scroller will stop long enough to read more.
Compared to a platform like TikTok, which thrives off hook stacking (verbal + audio + visual) and short-form video, you have to get a lot more creative to keep the viewer from swiping up and on to the next post.
Even with platforms that started as text-only or text-focused—like Twitter and LinkedIn—visuals have become such a game changer for the success of your content. Visual posts get more views, comments, and shares, increasing their visibility and ability to connect with a wider audience, so algorithms will often favour those kinds of posts!
The Anatomy of a High-Performing Social Media Hook
When I think of how to write great hooks for social media, I think about a few things.
Pattern interruption
By breaking up the monotony of the social media feed, you get the scroller to stop long enough to satisfy their curiosity and, maybe, consume that piece of content in its entirety. That could be a visual hook, like three landscape videos stacked on top of each other in a vertical-frame TikTok. Or a short-and-enticing verbal hook like “They’re lying to you about showering”.
Immediate relevance
Our individual feeds are tailored to our likes and preferences, so your social media hook needs to instantly relate to what your target audience wants to see. You don’t want your hook to talk about working smarter when your target audience considers themselves lazy business owners. But an opening line like “7 Easy-to-Use Tools in My Lazy Business Girlie Tech Stack” will instantly hook your viewers attention.
Emotional trigger
We think with the emotional side of our brains before we make decisions using logic. So you want to trigger an emotion right off the bat so your viewer makes the decision to keep reading or watching. That’s why controversial social media posts do so well, because it can trigger anger, pride, curiosity—and THAT can trigger more views, longer watch times, comments and shares.
Curiosity gap
Some of the best headlines open a loop but don’t close it so the reader has no choice but to read on to satisfy their curiosity. You can apply this same copywriting technique to your social media hooks! Considering who your viewer is and the context of your post, you can have a verbal hook that gets them to watch past the first 3 seconds. But you can’t count on them having their audio on, so having subtitles and some kind of visual hook—like toasting your sandwich with a flat iron—can also keep your viewer around longer to answer the question “What the hell is going on???”
Social proof
There are a lot of scammers out there, so you need proof that whatever you’re saying is credible. If you’re a business owner, that could be by saying how long you’ve been in business, notable brands you’ve worked with, or showing before/after transformations. Even if you’re literally just a girl who has a Pinterest organized down to the sub-board, showing that as your “credentials” gives more credibility than not having any social proof.
Length
The first 5 words of your hook are EVERYTHING. For a video, it can make or break whether someone will keep watching all the way to the end. For your social media caption, it can dictate whether they’ll click the ‘read more’ button and read all the way to the bottom. So consider your viewer and ask yourself:
- Would I stop to read/watch this?
- Can I make this easier and more fun to read with line breaks, emojis, or interesting punctuation?
6 Social Media Hook Formulas
The Bold Statement
Saying something with your chest and standing ten toes down on what you said is a bold statement. It could be a statement, a question, or simply a facial expression with on-screen text—but being unapologetic about your perspective can hook people. But I don’t want you to confuse this with having a hot take, which can be controversial and challenge common beliefs. A bold statement can be a widely accepted belief, but said in a different way. Dare I say, BOLD.
Examples:
- “What if it’s actually easier than you imagine?”
- “James Gunn is the best thing to happen to the DC Universe this century so far, and we have David Corenswet’s Superman as a case study”
- “The “rule” everyone follows but nobody questions…”
The Question Hook
Asking your viewer a question makes your post interactive rather than one-sided, sparks curiosity, and entices them to keep consuming your post all the way to the end.
Examples:
- “Is it just me, or…?”
- “Do you ever feel like…?”
- “Who else hates when…?”
- “What would happen if…?”
- “Why is everyone ignoring…?”
- “Are you making this mistake…?”
- “Hey, so quick question to everyone who…?”
The Hot Take
Similar to a bold statement, a hot take challenges common beliefs (safely!) but doesn’t do it just for controversy’s sake. A lot of the best hot takes come from people who are unicorns in their space, and don’t follow the crowd like others. They have unapologetic perspectives and personalities, and this comes through in their hook and throughout their content.
Examples:
- “Most ‘gurus’ won’t admit this but…”
- “You might hate me for saying this but…”
- “I don’t care what anyone says—”
- “I said what I said…”
- “This is NOT the flex you think it is”
The Story Starter
Storytelling is one of the most powerful psychological hacks you can use, so starting your social media post with a micro-narrative can instantly engage your viewer and immerse them in your post.
Examples:
- “Put a finger down if you…”
- “I’ll never forget the time that I…”
- “I swore I’d never tell this story but…”
- “This still makes me emotional when I think about it…”
- “I’m not supposed to show you this, but…”
- “What really happens behind the scenes of…”
The Data Drop
Our brains love numbers, so if you can use a surprising statistic or make numbers relatable, it can scratch that satisfying itch in people’s brains.
- “In 30 days, my client lost 55 pounds with this intensive fitness & nutrition plan, and I’m going to share it with you”
- “80% of people are too lazy to read more than a headline…”
The Pain Point Call-Out
Identifying your target audience’s struggles immediately is a great emotional trigger and is instantly relevant to them.
Examples:
- “Stop doing xyz”
- “I used to be [struggle identity], and now I’m [new identity]”
- “If you’re still dealing with [problem], let me tell what I did to fix my [problem]”
Platform-Specific Hook Strategies
Twitter/Threads Hooks
Both Twitter and Threads (the same platforms in different fonts, if you ask me) have character constraints and favour content that comes from the shared human experience. In other words, if you’re a business owner that posts about your business, chances are it won’t do as well as that random breakdown of your favourite anime shows.
If you’re doing a single-post Tweet/Thread, your first sentence needs to be short and instantly hook scrollers. You can also have a thread of posts, and start your first post with just a one-sentence hook that encourages readers to read the other posts in that thread.
I find bold statements, hot takes, and storytelling works well for posts on these platforms.
Instagram Hooks
I’ve been using Instagram for A LONG time, and I’ve definitely carved a space on that platform with a loyal following of colleagues and ideal clients alike who say I’m great at content. So much so that the majority of my bookings come straight from social media so… there are my credentials 😜.
Carousel posts do really well on social media, so your hook for a post like this would be the headline on your first slide and the first line of your caption before it gets truncated. Bold statements, data drops, and calling out pain points tend to do well in carousel posts, as well as traditional headlines with SEO keywords.
Then there are reels which, like TikTok videos, rely heavily on the first 3 seconds of your video. So your verbal and visual hook have to be ON POINT here. All the hooks I mentioned before would do well for you, it just depends on your audience and the context of your post.
LinkedIn Hooks
Many of the aforementioned strategies apply to LinkedIn:
- Prioritize the first sentence of your caption (before truncation) to hook the scroller
- Use videos and images in your posts to appease the algorithm
- Stack your hooks (visual, verbal, audio)
And because LinkedIn is the platform for professionals—but professionals are, remember people first—you want to find the happy medium between an authentic and professional tone.
Approach your posts as a “thought leader”—every post, whether it be educational or promotional or entertaining, should position you as a credible authority in your industry while also showing the human behind the work.
That’s why people love “A day in my life” and “Peek over my shoulder” and “Career lesson” posts—because it’s providing value from an authentic, personal perspective.
TikTok Hooks
A rising star in the social media platform world, TikTok dominated most of our attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, and kept it (which is not an easy feat). And the hack to staying on people’s feeds?
- Hooking attention in the first 3 seconds
- Using text overlay hooks AND subtitles
- Combining audio and visual hooks for maximum engagement (and on that note…)
Visual Hooks
What even is a visual hook? Babe, there are SO MANY. You can use:
- Dynamic text overlays and formatting text to keep attention
- Emojis in the video and the caption (don’t overdo it, I’d say ever 2-3 lines is enough)
- Break up text for emphasis and readability
- Doing an action, like holding your lip pencil like a pencil or doing your makeup
- Only filming your hands in the air and snapping your fingers at the beginning of the video to grab attention
- Plopping into a chair, the list goes on
Common Hook Mistakes to Avoid
There are definitely clickbait-y social media posts that feel cringe, so to know how to write great hooks for social media that avoid that:
- Be as specific and valuable as possible. Being too vague or mysterious just makes you seem less credible and trustworthy
- Don’t overuse trending phrases, it’ll make you feel like you’re trying too hard
- Don’t assume your audience is stupid. They’re probably more sophisticated than you think, and will have high expectations from you to entertain and satisfy them
- Make sure your hook and content are on the same level of quality. Again, people have high expectations and short attention spans, so you want to give them a reason to KEEP watching or reading
- Be wise to the platform and it’s features, or your posts won’t do well
Test and Optimize Your Hooks
Knowing how to write great hooks for social media is half the battle—being able to do it continuously is the next step. I’m sure you’ve heard that you should “repurpose your content” and I agree that you should! But rather than posting an old post the exact same way, try an A/B test to see which hook performs better.
Build a swipe file of successful hooks—from your social media, and from others—to try and model your hooks after.
Analyze engagement metrics like saves, shares, comments, and watch time. Learn from your best-performing posts to see what you can recreate. And don’t forget to consider any holidays or seasonal happenings, this can affect your engagement.
Wrapping It Up
So that’s how to write great hooks for social media! The difference between content that gets ignored and content that gets shared AND remembered often comes down to those first few words. Your hook is the most important part of any social media post you’ll ever write.
But authenticity always beats formula. The templates and frameworks in this guide are training wheels, not permanent solutions. Use them to build your skills and confidence, but don’t let them cage your creativity or unique voice. The hooks that resonate most deeply are the ones that sound like a real human being talking to another real human being, not a marketing robot optimizing for engagement metrics.
What To Do Next
Now that you know how to write great hooks for social media, the best way to improve your skills is by practicing. Study the hooks that make you stop scrolling. Analyze what top creators in your niche are doing. Write multiple options before choosing one. Test different approaches and pay attention to what your specific audience responds to. Over time, you’ll become a natural.
Remember that great hooks are just the beginning. They open the door, but your content needs to deliver on the promise your hook makes. Always ensure that what follows your hook provides genuine value, entertainment, or insight.
Social media is noisy, crowded, and getting more competitive every day. But that doesn’t mean you can’t break through.
Start small. This week, challenge yourself to write 10 different hooks for your next post before choosing one. Apply one of the 6 formulas . Test a new platform-specific strategy. Study a viral post in your niche and reverse-engineer what made its hook work. Small, consistent improvements compound into dramatically better results.
Then, book a free 20-minute Pick My Brain session to get a hook audit so it’s optimized to engage your followers.
Your audience is out there, scrolling right now, waiting for something worth stopping for. Give them a hook they can’t ignore.
