social-content

name	social-content
description	Use when the user wants to create, plan, or improve social media content. Also use when the user mentions 'social content,' 'content calendar,' 'LinkedIn posts,' 'Twitter/X,' 'Instagram,' 'TikTok,' 'social strategy,' 'what to post,' or 'hook writing.'

Social Content

Expertise in building social content that grows audiences and converts them — not content that fills a calendar. Every post has a job (educate, prove, humanize, convert). Content without a job is noise.

Platform Selection by Audience

Not all platforms are worth the effort:

• Twitter/X: Founder voice, real-time commentary, B2B thought leadership. Threads > single tweets for reach. 1-2 hashtags max. 280 character limit per post.
• LinkedIn: B2B sales, hiring, investor visibility. The algorithm rewards dwell time. 210 chars above fold before "see more" — that's your hook. Up to 3,000 characters per post.
• Instagram: Visual products, lifestyle brands, B2C. Reels > static for reach. Hook in first 3 seconds. Caption up to 2,200 characters.
• TikTok/Reels: Educational entertainment. Hook in first 3 seconds. 60 seconds ideal length. Authentic beats produced.

Simple rule:

• B2B audience: LinkedIn + Twitter/X
• B2C audience: Instagram + TikTok/Reels
• Don't spread across all four without a full content team

Content Pillar Ratios (30-Day Calendar)

Build a 30-day calendar with these 5 pillars. The ratios prevent failure modes.

Pillar	Ratio	Posts	Purpose
Education	40%	12/month	Teach something useful. Build authority.
Proof	20%	6/month	Case studies, results, testimonials, before/after.
Culture	20%	6/month	Team, process, behind-the-scenes. Builds liking.
Engagement	10%	3/month	Questions, polls, opinion posts. Drives comments.
Promotion	10%	3/month	Direct product mention, offer, or CTA.

Over-promoting (> 10%) → audience disengages. Under-promoting (0%) → lots of engagement, no revenue. Too polished → low algorithmic reach. Culture content humanizes and boosts organic reach.

Hook Writing

Every post lives or dies on its first line. The hook determines whether anyone reads the rest.

Hook formulas:

Formula	Example
Curiosity	"Nobody talks about this, but [insight]"
List	"7 things I learned building [X] to [milestone]:"
Contrarian	"Hot take: [thing everyone does] is actually killing your [outcome]"
Story	"I made a $50K mistake last year. Here's what happened:"
Question	"What would you do if your best customer churned tomorrow?"
Outcome	"We went from [before] to [after] in [timeframe]. Here's how:"

Hooks that kill posts:

• "In today's post..." — visibility death
• "I wanted to share..." — nobody cares that you wanted to
• "Excited to announce..." — only your team cares
• Starting with "We" — company voice, not human voice

Platform-Specific Best Practices

LinkedIn

• First 210 characters must stand alone — the hook must work before "see more"
• Line breaks between every 2-3 sentences — walls of text get skipped
• End with a question to drive comments (comments boost algorithmic reach)
• Best time: Tuesday-Thursday, 7-9am or 12-1pm in your audience's timezone
• Native video outperforms YouTube links
• Carousel PDFs generate high saves and shares

Twitter/X

• Threads outperform single tweets for engagement and reach
• Thread format: Hook tweet → 5-10 insight tweets → CTA tweet (follow, link, or retweet)
• 1-2 hashtags max — more looks spammy
• Reply to comments within the first hour (signals algorithm value)
• Best time: weekdays 8-10am

Instagram

• Caption hook must match the visual hook — both must stop the scroll
• Carousel posts (swipe) get 3× more reach than static posts
• Reels algorithm favors content that gets rewatched (keep them under 30s for most audiences)
• Hashtags: 5-10 relevant ones, not 30 generic ones
• Stories maintain audience warmth; feed posts build audience

TikTok/Reels

• First 3 seconds must hook — use text overlay + movement
• Native-feel content beats produced content for cold audiences
• Pattern: hook → tension → payoff (educational or entertaining)
• Add text captions (60%+ of views are without sound)

Content Creation Templates

Education Post (LinkedIn/Twitter)

[Hook — contrarian claim or outcome statement]

Here's the framework I use:

1. [First insight — surprising or specific]
2. [Second insight — builds on first]
3. [Third insight — the key unlock]

The mistake most people make: [common wrong approach]

The fix: [your approach]

[Question to drive comments or CTA]

Social Proof Post

[Customer name or type] went from [specific before state] to [specific after state].

Here's what changed:

[The specific thing that made the difference]

[Quote from customer or specific metric]

[Low-friction CTA: "DM me if you want the full breakdown"]

Culture Post

[First-person story opener — something real that happened]

[What surprised you about it]

[The lesson you took from it]

[Question or invitation to share their experience]

Brand Voice on Social

Adapt your voice to platform norms while staying consistent:

• Formal brand on LinkedIn: OK to be less formal than emails — still professional but conversational
• Bold/contrarian brand: Use the contrarian hook formula freely, take positions
• Emotional/story-driven brand: Lead with a person or situation, not a stat

Social is where brand voice is most visible. Inconsistency between platforms is jarring.

Content Calendar Template

For each post, plan:

Field	Value
Date	Publish date
Platform	LinkedIn / Twitter / Instagram / TikTok
Pillar	Education / Proof / Culture / Engagement / Promotion
Hook	First line of the post
Format	Text / Image / Carousel / Video / Poll
CTA	What you want them to do (comment, click, share, DM)

Common Rationalizations

Rationalization	Reality
"We post when we have something to say"	Algorithms reward consistency. Irregular posting gets deprioritized.
"Our content gets engagement but no sales"	Engagement without conversion means missing the 10% promotion pillar. Add it.
"LinkedIn is too formal for our brand"	LinkedIn rewards authentic > formal. The most viral LinkedIn content reads like a personal story, not a press release.
"We need better design before we post"	Text posts on LinkedIn outperform graphics. Words > design on most platforms for B2B.
"We need to be on all platforms"	One platform done well beats four platforms done poorly. Start with one, dominate it, then expand.