Posting Content? You Need to Be Spending More Time On This

For a lot of entrepreneurs, the one thing they hate more than marketing is the algorithm. At least with marketing, you have some control. The algorithm feels like cruel and unusual punishment.

You spend time crafting a thoughtful post, you edit it, you hit publish. And somehow, it performs worse than the thing you wrote in three minutes while half-distracted. It sucks.

But not for some creators.

For them, posting content to Instagram or LinkedIn feels like a breeze, because they know exactly how to make it work.

They never think twice about what’s in their content, and they get it done quickly so they can move on with their day.

And they trust it’s going to get high engagement and connect them with lots of prospective leads who are the perfect fit for their unique services.

Do they know something everyone else doesn’t know? Yes, they definitely do.

First of all, they’re not reinventing the wheel each time. They’re using a messaging strategy that already works.

Which means instead of obsessing over the entire post, they spend most of their energy on one thing: The hook.

Yes, the hook. Those 2 little lines at the very beginning.

Chances are, you’ve been treating your hook like an intro sentence. A title. A lead-in.

That’s the difference between you and the entrepreneurs pulling in hundreds of likes, comments, and conversations with prospects and leads.

You see the hook as an introduction. They treat it like a decision point.

It’s a delicate art, nailing the hook. Here are the biggest shifts to rethink how you approach hooks, so your content has a real chance to be seen, read, and acted on.

1.) Your hook reveals your messaging strategy (or lack of one)

I can tell almost instantly how strategic someone’s messaging is by reading their hook.

Most hooks fall into one of 3 buckets:

• A personal thought, formatted to sound profound

• Something that reads like the title of an ebook

• A deliberate, strategic line of copy

An alarming number of posts fall into the first 2 buckets. Which usually means the poster isn’t thinking like a conversion-focused communicator. They’re thinking like a journaler or a teacher, rather than someone guiding a reader toward an action.

So your first step is making sure you have a messaging strategy for moving readers along your awareness funnel. And identifying where on the journey this content lives.

2.) People remember the beginning more than the middle

I’ve heard a statistic about how people are more likely to remember the first part of a conversation over everything that follows it. You can google it yourself, I’m not trying to be scientific here, just make a point. And anecdotally, I know it’s true.

I mean, think about how you always remember the pilot of a series more clearly than the middle episodes. Or how vividly you remember the start of a sales call vs. what happened 5 minutes in.

The point is, the opening sets the emotional tone. It determines if someone stays present or checks out.

Your hook is in charge of doing that exact job. So make sure it’s working hard.

3.) Specifics make hooks memorable

Early in my career, I was working at a low-grade content website where clicks were everything. Our CEO was obsessed with headlines and site traffic. To teach us what worked, he dragged us to the nearest magazine stand in Santa Monica and barked out some of the standout subheads:

“Lose 5 pounds in just 10 weeks, no crunches necessary!”

“Your at-home celebrity makeover with only 3 products!”

You get the idea. Now, I’m not telling you to make exaggerated claims and clickbaity promises. I’m saying you need to use real-world language that applies to someone’s life.

Vague language doesn’t stick. But specifics give people something to grasp. Think: numbers, timeframes, situations, clear outcomes, and recognizable behaviors.

Specifics beat clever. Specifics beat motivational. And specifics certainly beat poetic.

4.) No one cares about your thoughts (unless they see themselves in them)

This isn’t personal, it’s just how attention works.

Unless you are a known influencer whose name already carries weight and expertise, your internal ruminations are not interesting to strangers on the internet.

People care about relevance. What it means for them.

So if your hook starts with a thought you had, you have about 2 seconds to answer the unspoken question: “Why does this matter to me?”

Because if you don’t, they’re already scrolling.

You need to translate your idea into their life. How it relates to their frustration, or confusion, or goals.

And that needs to happen right away.

5.) When you’re stuck, lean on proven hook types

No, we’re not using fill-in-the-blanks formulas here. Those are tired and transparent and forgettable.

What I mean is a proven approach for writing the hook. Here are a few good ones:

• Truth hooks: Bold, slightly uncomfortable statements that feel undeniable, making someone stop and think

• Tension hooks: Calling out what isn’t working or some advice that’s misleading, highlighting the villain of the situation

• Relatability hooks: Naming what your reader is already thinking but hasn’t said out loud yet

• Pattern interrupts: Challenging a common assumption or standard with authority

Don’t look at these as shortcuts. They’re frameworks for thinking.

6.) Your hook has to stand on its own

You have to remember that when someone is scrolling, they aren’t committing to your entire post off the bat. They’re committing based on one line. They won’t give you the benefit of the doubt (unless it’s your mom).

So your hook needs to make sense in isolation. It needs to create interest on its own, and feel relevant to someone who doesn’t trust you yet.

Here’s a good way to pressure-test your hook:

After you finish writing a post, read only the hook by itself.

Does it work by itself? Would it make a stranger pause? Would you stop scrolling for it?

If not, that’s where you should spend the majority of your editing time.

A few other reminders…

A hook isn’t there to impress. It’s there to signal your authority, relevance, and understanding.

Hooks aren’t invented out of thin air. The best ones come straight from your DMs, comments, client questions, and audience language.

Short is better, aiming for 10 words per sentence in your hook.

The best hooks promise usefulness, and signal the content ahead will deliver a complete idea or solution, not just vibes.

If you’re struggling to write the rest of your post…

Having ChatGPT know how to sound exactly like you speeds up the entire process. Instead of going back and forth with edits, you can just give it ideas and immediately get content that moves people to act.

I created a free GPT that creates personalized voice instructions to do exactly that. Check out Voice Stamp here.