Crafts high-impact opening lines for social media content designed to stop the scroll across LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Meta (FB+IG), and TikTok. Activates when the user wants a stronger hook, better opening line, or asks 'how should I start this post?' Covers proven hook formulas, curiosity gaps, and pattern-interrupt techniques for all platforms.
Crafts high-impact opening lines for social media content designed to stop the scroll across LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Meta (FB+IG), and TikTok. Activates when the user wants a stronger hook, better opening line, or asks 'how should I start this post?' Covers proven hook formulas, curiosity gaps, and pattern-interrupt techniques for all platforms.
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["commands/ideate/*.md"]
Hook Creation
Craft high-impact opening lines for social media content that stop the scroll, survive platform-specific fold points, and compel readers to engage with the full post. Used by: /founder-os:ideate:draft (full post generation) and /founder-os:ideate:variations (hook A/B testing and iteration).
Purpose and Context
The hook is the single highest-leverage element of any social media post. Every platform truncates or de-prioritizes content that fails to capture attention in the first few seconds. If the hook fails, the post fails -- regardless of the quality of the body content. Every hook must accomplish three things in its platform-specific window: interrupt the scroll pattern, create a curiosity gap or emotional response, and establish relevance to the target audience.
For detailed hook examples organized by formula type and audience segment, see skills/ideate/hook-creation/references/hook-templates.md.
Hook Length Rules
Enforce these constraints on every hook before finalizing:
Maximum length: 3 lines as displayed on LinkedIn (desktop and mobile).
Character budget: Keep the first visible portion under 210 characters including spaces. LinkedIn's fold point varies slightly by device, so treat 200 characters as the safe zone and 210 as the absolute ceiling.
Line break strategy: Use intentional line breaks to control pacing. A single punchy line followed by a blank line followed by a second line creates visual weight. Three consecutive lines without breaks read as a paragraph and lose impact.
Word count: Target 15-40 words for the complete hook. Under 15 feels incomplete; over 40 risks burying the tension point below the fold.
Test every hook by counting characters in the first visible block. If the curiosity gap, bold claim, or emotional trigger falls after character 210, restructure so it lands before the fold.
Platform-Specific Hook Constraints
LinkedIn
Maximum 210 characters above the "see more" fold
1-3 lines, curiosity gap must land before fold
(All existing LinkedIn rules apply -- see above)
X/Twitter
Entire first tweet IS the hook (280 chars max)
Under 50 characters ideal for maximum retweet potential
Pattern interrupt and contrarian formulas work best
No fold -- the hook must also deliver value standalone
Meta (Facebook)
First ~100 chars visible in feed before "See more"
Emotional resonance and identification triggers work best
Visual context hooks: reference the image/video that accompanies
Storytelling hooks outperform stat-led on FB
Meta (Instagram)
First line of caption (~125 chars) is all that shows
Hook must reference or complement the visual
Behind-the-scenes and authenticity hooks outperform corporate
Question hooks drive comment engagement
TikTok
First 3 words are decisive (scrolling speed)
Pattern interrupt is the dominant hook formula
Trend reference hooks: tie to current sounds/challenges
Direct address ("You need to stop...") outperforms third-person
Six Opening Line Formulas
Select the formula that best matches the post's content type, audience, and framework. Each formula creates a different psychological trigger.
1. Stat-Led
Lead with a surprising, specific number that challenges the reader's assumptions. The statistic must feel counterintuitive or alarming enough to demand explanation.
Use precise numbers, not rounded estimates. "87% of founders" outperforms "most founders."
The stat must connect directly to the post's core argument. Never bait with an unrelated number.
Cite or attribute the source within the post body (not required in the hook itself, but the stat must be defensible).
Pair naturally with Listicle, How-To, and Industry Insight frameworks.
2. Question
Pose a specific, provocative question that the reader cannot answer without reading further. The question must target a real tension point in the audience's work.
Structure: [What if / Have you ever / Why do] + [specific scenario the reader recognizes] + [?]
Rules:
Never use questions with obvious yes/no answers. The question must demand nuance.
Avoid rhetorical questions that feel like engagement bait ("Don't you hate when...?").
The question should make the reader feel slightly uncomfortable or deeply curious.
Pair naturally with Contrarian Take, Personal Lesson, and How-To frameworks.
3. Story
Open with a specific moment in time that drops the reader into a scene. The moment should be slightly vulnerable, surprising, or high-stakes.
Start in the middle of the action, not the setup. "Last Tuesday, I almost fired our best engineer" beats "I want to tell you a story about management."
Include at least one concrete detail: a day, a place, a name, a number.
The story hook must create an open loop -- the reader needs to know what happened next.
Pair naturally with Personal Lesson, Contrarian Take, and Story frameworks.
4. Contrarian
Challenge a widely accepted belief, practice, or piece of advice. The contrarian statement must be defensible -- not merely provocative for attention.
Structure: [Stop/Don't/Forget about] + [accepted practice] + [consequence or alternative]
Rules:
The challenged belief must be something the target audience actually holds. Contrarian takes against straw-man positions fall flat.
Follow the contrarian opener immediately with a hint of the alternative. "Stop doing X" alone is incomplete; "Stop doing X. It's killing your Y" creates the gap.
Never be contrarian about values or ethics -- challenge tactics, tools, and conventional wisdom.
Pair naturally with Contrarian Take, Industry Insight, and Personal Lesson frameworks.
5. Bold Claim
Make an authoritative statement that positions the author as someone with insider knowledge or pattern recognition. The claim should feel like access to a secret or hard-won insight.
Back the claim with observable patterns, not opinion. "The best founders I know" implies a sample set, so the post must deliver evidence.
Avoid superlatives that cannot be substantiated ("the single most important thing ever").
The claim must feel earned -- it should sound like it comes from direct experience, not armchair analysis.
Pair naturally with Listicle, How-To, Industry Insight, and Personal Lesson frameworks.
6. Pattern Interrupt
Issue an unexpected command, make a jarring declaration, or present an absurd juxtaposition that breaks the reader's mental model of what social media posts look like.
Structure: [Short unexpected command or statement] + [line break] + [context that reframes the command]
Rules:
Keep the interrupt to 2-6 words. Brevity is the mechanism. "Delete your to-do list." works because it is short and commands action.
The second line must immediately provide context or tension -- without it, the interrupt is just noise.
Never use all caps, excessive punctuation, or emoji clusters as the interrupt. The words themselves must be unexpected, not the formatting.
Pair naturally with Contrarian Take, Personal Lesson, and Question-Led frameworks.
Framework-Specific Hook Guidance
Match hook formula selection to the post framework for maximum coherence.
Framework
Primary Formulas
Key Rule
Story
Story, Pattern Interrupt
Open with a scene, not a setup. Create unresolved tension.
Listicle
Stat-Led, Bold Claim
Quantify the outcome, not just the count. Avoid "Here are 5 tips..."
Contrarian Take
Contrarian, Pattern Interrupt
Lead with the challenged belief, not the alternative.
How-To
Question, Stat-Led, Bold Claim
Frame around outcome, not process. Include a measurable result.
Personal Lesson
Story, Contrarian, Bold Claim
Vulnerability must be specific. Balance vulnerability with authority.
Industry Insight
Stat-Led, Bold Claim, Question
Lead with the data point, not the opinion. Signal timeliness.
Question-Led
Question, Pattern Interrupt
The question IS the hook. Follow with a one-sentence tension deepener.
Audience-Specific Hook Adjustments
Adjust hook language, examples, and value propositions based on the target audience. The same underlying insight often needs a completely different hook for each segment.
Founder-CEO Audience
Lead with outcomes they care about: revenue growth, time savings, team efficiency, competitive advantage, margins.
Reference their daily reality: hiring struggles, cash flow, board expectations, wearing multiple hats, scaling past the founder bottleneck.
Use metrics they track: MRR, burn rate, CAC, LTV, close rate, churn, NPS.
Hook language: direct, action-oriented, low patience for theory. Get to the point in the first line.
Effective triggers: "saved X hours/week", "grew revenue by Y%", "cut costs by Z", "stopped doing [common founder trap]."
Technical Audience
Lead with specificity: tool names, architecture decisions, performance metrics, code-level insights.
Reference their frustrations: technical debt, CI/CD pipeline pain, on-call rotations, legacy system migrations, vendor lock-in.
Use metrics they respect: latency (ms), uptime (nines), build times, deploy frequency, error rates.
Hook language: precise, evidence-based, skeptical of hype. Avoid marketing language entirely.
Effective triggers: "reduced deploy time from X to Y", "replaced [popular tool] with [unexpected alternative]", "the architecture mistake that cost us."
Marketer Audience
Lead with conversion, engagement, or growth numbers. Marketers think in funnel metrics.
Use metrics they report on: market share, revenue growth, profit margins, employee retention, customer satisfaction indices.
Hook language: authoritative, measured, backed by data or named examples. Avoid casual or overly conversational tone.
Effective triggers: "the strategic shift that [named company] made", "why [industry trend] changes everything about [business function]", "what boards are asking about [topic] right now."
Engagement Triggers
Embed at least one of these psychological triggers in every hook to drive the reader to tap "see more."
Curiosity Gap
Create a gap between what the reader knows and what they want to know. Present enough information to establish relevance but withhold the resolution. The gap must be closable within the post -- never create curiosity the post does not satisfy. One gap per hook is sufficient; multiple gaps feel manipulative.
Emotional Resonance
Trigger one specific emotion: surprise (unexpected stats), recognition ("that's exactly my experience"), mild anxiety about a blind spot, or aspiration toward an achievable outcome. Target one primary emotion per hook. Negative emotions (anxiety, frustration) require a clear promise of resolution within the post.
Identification
Make the reader see themselves in the hook. Describe a scenario so specific that the right reader thinks "this is about me." Be specific enough to filter -- hooks that try to speak to everyone resonate with no one. Identification works best combined with curiosity gap or emotional resonance.
Anti-Patterns
Reject these hook patterns during generation. If any appear in a draft, rewrite before outputting.
Generic Openers
"Excited to share..." / "Thrilled to announce..." / "I'm proud to..." -- Signals the post is about the author, not the reader. Corporate PR language kills engagement.
"Big news!" -- Empty calorie opener with no specificity.
I-Statement Leads (Non-Story)
"I believe that..." / "I think the future of..." / "I've been thinking about..." -- Beliefs and thought processes are not hooks. State the claim directly.
Exception: "I" is acceptable when opening a specific story ("I lost our biggest client last March" drops into a scene).
Greetings and Time Markers
"Happy Monday!" / "Good morning, LinkedIn!" / "Hope everyone is having a great week!" -- Social niceties that push real content below the fold.
Engagement Bait
"Like if you agree" / "Comment 'YES' if you..." -- Algorithmic manipulation that erodes trust.
"Unpopular opinion:" / "Nobody talks about this" -- Overused labels. If the take is contrarian, the content shows it.
Humblebrags
"I never expected this post to go viral, but..." / "Honored and humbled to..." -- The hook centers the author's status, not the reader's benefit. Reframe around the lesson.
Hook Quality Checklist
Before finalizing any hook, confirm:
Total hook length fits within the target platform's visible window (LinkedIn: 210 chars, X: 280 chars, FB: 100 chars, IG: 125 chars, TikTok: first 3 words decisive)
The curiosity gap, bold claim, or emotional trigger lands before the fold
At least one engagement trigger is present (curiosity gap, emotional resonance, or identification)
The hook matches the selected formula type and post framework
