11 social media hooks for better engagement

3 min readAug 28, 2024

A social media hook is anything that grabs a person’s attention and stops them from scrolling past your content, in other words, ignoring it.

Ignored content is the death knell of any post.

If you can’t pull people in to view your content, no one is going to see it. The algorithms of social media platforms, in its most simplistic form, reward content that gets a certain amount of engagement by showing it to more people.

There are, of course, many other factors, that contribute to how visible your posts will be but at the core is the simple principle that if your post seems popular, the logic is to serve it to your followers and more likeminded people, since every platform wants to deliver quality content and keep its users on its channel for as long as possible.

Social media engagement

Social media engagement is made up of many types of actions a ‘scroller’ may take when seeing your content, except of course one action — scrolling past it.

So, if the scroller likes, comments, shares or stops to watch your video, these are all forms of engaging with the content and the platform interprets this as the content has now been digested by the viewer.

11 social media hooks for better engagement

You have about three seconds to grab your audience’s attention before they scroll past. It has been proven that social media spikes one’s dopamine which makes a person feel good.

So, spike your audience’s dopamine and they will respond.

1. How to

This tried and tested hook works as the human brain is programmed to learn to survive. Creating ‘how to’ content along with a benefit is a proven hook.

2. Did you know?

Who doesn’t love hearing a remarkable statistic, especially in the bite-sized form of a social media post? People love them and if you use exact numbers, even better.

3. STOP!

People are naturally curious and like to know that something they are doing is the ‘right way.’ Posting about something everyone does (with your own spin) works every time.

4. Be an expert

Positioning oneself as an expert and providing proof of what you post works… works!

E.g. “I (insert big achievement) in (insert time period) using these (inset #) steps”⁠

5. Life hacks

Social media is all about short, easy to digest content but aside from entertainment people simply love shortcuts to save time and efficiency.

E.g. “Here are 3 ways to (insert topic and methods).

6. Revealing a secret

Everyone loves to be in on a secret method or idea.

E.g. “Here is a secret about (insert topic)”⁠

7. Mistakes to avoid

Just like secrets or life hacks etc, nobody wants to make mistakes or look stupid, right?

E.g. “3 mistakes you should avoid if you are trying to (insert benefit)”⁠

8. “Want (insert benefit)? Do this”⁠

Call out their desires and wants with a simple shortcut to getting what they want.

9. Social proof

We are social animals and we look for affirmation which is why social media is a massive part of our lives.

E.g. “Here is how my client (insert name) (insert achievement) in (insert time)”⁠

10. Warnings

Negatives hooks tend to perform better than positive ones. Why? Because our survival instinct is our strongest emotion. People do not want to make mistakes.

E.g. “Avoid these (insert # of things) if you want (insert benefit)”⁠

11. Achievements

Listing or mentioning achievements positions one as an expert and people are drawn to the marvel of this. By summarising an experience and providing a simple process (beginner level) to achieve something similar, your audience will stop scrolling.

Bonus Tip…

12. Story first, product second

Audiences love great stories, so by using an intriguing or funny story as a social hook can stop people from scrolling and get them to start clicking.

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Written by Greg Viljoen