Social Media Hooks

The Prompt

Generate 10 scroll-stopping hooks for a social media post about: [TOPIC]

Platform: [Twitter/LinkedIn/Instagram/TikTok]
Audience: [WHO]
Goal: [awareness/engagement/clicks/saves]

For each hook, use one of these patterns:
1. Contrarian: Challenge a common belief
2. Curiosity gap: Tease without revealing
3. Specificity: A surprising specific number or fact
4. Story: Start mid-action ("I was about to quit when...")
5. Direct address: "If you [specific situation], read this"
6. Social proof: "After [impressive result], here's what I learned"
7. Time-bound: "In 2026, [unexpected truth]"
8. Question: Ask what they secretly wonder
9. Framework: "The [X] framework that [result]"
10. Mistake: "Stop doing [common practice]. Here's why."

For each hook also provide:
- Why it works psychologically
- Suggested post body direction (one sentence)

How To Use It

Specify your topic, platform, and audience. Pick the 2-3 hooks that feel most authentic to your voice, then build the rest of the post around them.

Why It Works

The first line determines whether anyone reads the rest. These patterns exploit cognitive biases (curiosity gap, loss aversion, social proof) that are platform-independent but can be tuned to each platform’s culture.

Variations

Thread opener:

Write the first tweet of a viral thread about [TOPIC]. It must: create curiosity, promise value, and make the "Show this thread" click irresistible.

LinkedIn narrative:

Write a LinkedIn post opening that tells a brief professional story leading to an insight about [TOPIC]. No cringe, no humble-bragging.

Short-form video hook:

Write 5 opening lines (under 3 seconds spoken) for a TikTok/Reel about [TOPIC]. They must work without visual context.