Open LinkedIn on your phone right now. Look at any post in your feed. How much do you actually see before you have to tap "see more"?

Two lines. Maybe three.

That's it. That's the entire window you get to convince someone to keep reading. On mobile, where 72% of LinkedIn activity happens, the first 2-3 lines of your post are the only thing standing between your content and the infinite scroll.

We call it the 7-second rule. That's roughly how long someone spends deciding whether to tap "see more" or keep scrolling. Seven seconds. About the time it takes to read 15-20 words.

To put that in perspective: you spent more time choosing what to eat for lunch today than your audience will spend deciding whether your post deserves their attention. That's not a criticism of your audience. That's just how mobile feeds work. Everyone is one lazy thumb-flick away from someone else's content.

Your hook either earns the click or it doesn't. Everything else you wrote doesn't matter if nobody reads past line two. You could have the most insightful post ever written below the fold. Doesn't matter. The fold is the gatekeeper.

We analyzed the hooks of 221 viral posts (out of 10,222 total) to figure out what actually works. Not what "feels" like it would work. Not what a social media guru told you. What the numbers actually say. Here's what we found.

What the Best Hooks Have in Common

Before we get into specific types, there's a pattern across all high-performing hooks. They do at least one of these three things:

Create an information gap. The reader knows enough to be curious, but not enough to feel satisfied. They have to tap "see more" to close the loop. This is the same mechanism that makes cliffhangers in TV shows work. Your brain literally cannot rest until it gets the resolution.
Trigger an emotion in under 5 words. Surprise, disagreement, excitement, recognition. Something that produces a gut reaction. Not a "hmm, interesting" reaction. A "wait, what?" reaction.
Signal specificity. Specific numbers, names or situations tell the reader this isn't generic advice. It's something real. Specificity is the fastest trust signal in written content. Anyone can say "I learned a lesson." Only someone who lived it can say "I lost a $50,000 client because of a typo."

The worst hooks do the opposite: they're vague, they front-load context ("In today's business environment...") or they telegraph exactly what the post will say, removing any reason to keep reading.

Pro tip: Read your hook out loud. If it sounds like something a LinkedIn bot could have generated, rewrite it. If it sounds like something you'd actually say to a colleague over coffee (a slightly dramatic colleague, but still), you're getting closer.

Now, the types.

Hook Type 1: The Bold Prediction

Example from our data: "I'm calling it right now." (5,465 likes)

This hook works because it combines confidence with mystery. The reader doesn't know what's being called. A market shift? A company failure? A technology trend? The information gap is immediate.

Bold predictions work especially well on LinkedIn because the platform rewards industry commentary. People want to know what insiders think is coming. There's also a secondary pull: people want to see if they agree or disagree. Either way, they need to read the full post to find out.

The psychology here is interesting. A prediction invites the reader to play a mental game: "Is this person right? Do I think this will happen too?" That internal debate is what drives both the click and the comment. People who agree want to say "called it!" later. People who disagree want the receipts for when you're wrong.

How to use it:

"I'm calling it: [industry] will look completely different by [timeframe]."
"[Specific trend] is about to hit a wall. Here's why."
"Mark this post. In 12 months, you'll see I was right about [specific thing]."
"Most of you will disagree with this prediction. That's fine. Bookmark it anyway."

The key is committing to the prediction. Hedging ("I think maybe possibly...") kills the tension. If you're going to predict, predict. Own it. The best predictors on LinkedIn are the ones who are occasionally spectacularly wrong, because that proves they were actually making real predictions and not just restating the obvious.

Pro tip: Set a reminder for 6-12 months after your prediction post. If you were right, the follow-up "I told you so" post will perform even better than the original. If you were wrong, the self-aware "Here's what I got wrong" post will perform better than both. Honesty about missed predictions builds more credibility than quietly pretending you never made them.

Hook Type 2: The Personal Reveal

Example from our data: "This one feels surreal." (6,781 likes)

Four words. No context. No explanation. Just raw emotion.

This was the opening of a personal milestone post. It generated nearly 7,000 likes because it made people curious about what felt surreal. A new job? A personal loss? A big win? The ambiguity is deliberate.

Personal reveals work because LinkedIn is full of polished, professional content. Everyone is performing their best "I have my life together" impression. When someone opens with genuine vulnerability or emotion, it stands out like a human at a robot convention. Personal Development content averages 1,222 likes in our dataset, the highest of any category. People are starving for authenticity, even on a platform that mostly rewards posturing.

There's a reason reality TV is a billion-dollar industry while corporate training videos are not. People connect with real human moments. Your LinkedIn audience is no different.

More examples that hit:

"My sister walked into her final exams..." (family story hooks consistently perform)
"I wasn't going to post this."
"I've been holding this back for months."
"I cried at work yesterday." (Yes, even on LinkedIn. Especially on LinkedIn.)

How to use it:

Start with the emotion, not the context
Be vague enough to create curiosity but specific enough to feel real
One or two sentences maximum. Don't explain the emotion. Let the reader click for that.
Make sure the reveal actually delivers. If you open with "This one feels surreal" and the post is about getting a new office chair, you've broken the trust contract with your reader.

Pro tip: The personal reveal is the most powerful hook type in our data, but it's also the easiest to misuse. Use it for moments that genuinely matter: career milestones, real struggles, significant lessons. If you use it for something mundane, your audience learns to ignore your hooks. It's the "boy who cried surreal" problem.

Hook Type 3: The Insider Secret

Example from our data: "I'm ex-LinkedIn, this is the reason why..." (2,144 likes, 688 comments)

This hook generated 688 comments because it promises information from someone who was on the inside. The authority claim ("I'm ex-LinkedIn") plus the tease ("the reason why...") creates a powerful combination of credibility and curiosity.

People love feeling like they're getting access to information they shouldn't have. It's the same reason "leaked" documents go viral or "off the record" conversations are irresistible. There's something deeply satisfying about getting backstage access. It makes the reader feel like they're in the inner circle, even if "the inner circle" is just a public LinkedIn post with 2,000 likes.

The comment count here is the real signal. This hook type doesn't just get passive likes. It generates active discussion. People ask follow-up questions. They share their own insider knowledge. They tag colleagues who "need to see this." That kind of engagement is gold for the algorithm.

How to use it:

"I spent [X years] at [Company]. Here's what they'll never tell you publicly."
"I've reviewed 500+ [applications/pitches/campaigns]. The #1 mistake is something nobody talks about."
"Most people in [industry] don't know this, but..."
"I was in the room when [company/team] made this decision. The real story is different from what you've heard."

Important: You need real credibility for this to work. If you've never worked at a notable company, reframe around your experience: "I've worked with 50+ startups on their pricing. Here's the pattern nobody sees." The insider doesn't have to be a famous insider. They just need to have access to information the average reader doesn't.

Pro tip: You don't need to have worked at Google or McKinsey to play the insider card. Have you reviewed a lot of resumes? Pitched to dozens of VCs? Onboarded hundreds of customers? Any experience where you've seen enough patterns to notice things others miss qualifies as insider knowledge. The threshold is lower than you think.

Hook Type 4: The Specific Number

Example from our data: "I gave a talk yesterday. Tickets were $1,300." (2,239 likes, 2,369 comments)

This post generated the most comments of any post in our entire dataset: 2,369. And the hook is just two short sentences with a very specific number.

$1,300 does a lot of work here. It signals status (this was a premium event), it creates curiosity (what kind of talk justifies that price?) and it provides a concrete anchor that makes the story feel real. Your brain processes "$1,300" fundamentally differently than "expensive." The specific number forces you to form an opinion: "Is that a lot? Would I pay that? What could possibly be worth that much?"

Specific numbers outperform round numbers every time. "$1,300" is more believable than "$1,000." "147 rejections" hits harder than "hundreds of rejections." "Grew revenue by 23.7%" is more credible than "grew revenue significantly." There's even research on this: specific numbers activate the analytical part of the brain, which increases perceived credibility.

The reason this works is simple but worth stating: specificity implies truth. Nobody makes up $1,300. People make up "over a thousand dollars." When a number is specific, readers unconsciously assume it must be real because why would you bother being precise about something fake?

How to use it:

"[Specific number] [specific outcome]. Here's what happened."
"I spent $[amount] on [thing]. The result surprised me."
"[Number] people applied. We hired [smaller number]. The difference was [tease]."
"In [specific timeframe], I went from [specific number] to [specific number]."
"I tracked every [thing] for [specific timeframe]. Here's the data."

Pro tip: If you're writing about a result, go find the actual number before you post. Don't say "significantly increased revenue." Go pull the report and say "increased revenue by 34% in Q3." The 30 seconds it takes to look up the real number will be the highest-ROI 30 seconds of your content creation process.

Hook Type 5: The Counterintuitive Take

This one doesn't have a single viral example to point to because it works across categories. Counterintuitive hooks challenge something the reader believes, which forces them to engage.

The formula: [Thing everyone believes] is wrong. Or at minimum: [Thing everyone does] is actually hurting them.

Why this works so well on LinkedIn specifically: the platform is an echo chamber of conventional wisdom. Everyone agrees that networking is important, that morning routines are life-changing, that you should "add value." When someone says the opposite, it's like someone standing up in a church and questioning the sermon. People cannot resist engaging.

Counterintuitive hooks also work because of a cognitive bias called the "reactance effect." When someone tells you a belief you hold is wrong, your immediate instinct is to push back. But to push back, you need to read the full argument. The hook has done its job before you've even decided whether you agree.

How to use it:

"Stop networking. Seriously. It's the worst thing you can do for your career right now."
"The best marketing strategy for 2026? Spend less on marketing."
"Your morning routine isn't making you productive. It's making you fragile."
"Raising money was the worst decision I ever made for my startup."
"The advice 'follow your passion' has ruined more careers than bad bosses."

The trick is that your post actually needs to back up the counterintuitive claim. If the hook promises a hot take and the post delivers generic advice, you lose trust. Hot takes with substance generate high comment counts: Entrepreneurship content in our data averages 123 comments per post because it invites disagreement and discussion.

Pro tip: The best counterintuitive takes aren't actually contrarian. They're nuanced. "Networking is bad" is just provocative. "Networking is bad when you do it before you have something to offer" is both provocative AND true. The second version generates better discussion because the people who disagree have something specific to push back on, and the people who agree have something specific to add.

Hook Type 6: The Ultra-Short

Example from our data: "Classic" with a laughing emoji. (2,965 likes)

Another example: "I can retire now" (2,415 likes, just 16 characters)

Sometimes the best hook is barely a hook at all. Ultra-short openings work because they're so different from the typical LinkedIn post that they create a pattern interrupt. Your brain expects a paragraph. It gets two words. That contrast alone is enough to earn the click.

There's also a confidence signal baked into ultra-short hooks. Writing less suggests you believe what follows is so good it doesn't need a setup. It's the writing equivalent of walking into a room without introducing yourself. Bold? Yes. Risky? Slightly. Effective? The data says so.

Think about it from the scroller's perspective. They're moving through their feed at speed: paragraph, paragraph, paragraph, image, paragraph. Then suddenly: two words. The visual pattern break alone is enough to make their thumb pause. That pause is all you need.

This only works under two conditions:

The short text creates genuine curiosity (what's "classic"? Why can they retire?)
What follows the "see more" actually delivers something worth the click

If you use an ultra-short hook and the content behind it is mediocre, you've essentially wasted a pattern interrupt. It's like yelling "fire!" to get attention and then trying to sell someone insurance. People will remember, but not fondly.

How to use it:

Works best for image posts where the image provides context
Keep it under 10 words
Emotion or mystery, never context (don't say "Quick thought on leadership")
Use sparingly. If every one of your posts starts with two words, it stops being a pattern interrupt and starts being your pattern.

Pro tip: Ultra-short hooks work best when you've already established a content style. If your audience is used to seeing 3-4 line hooks from you, a two-word hook hits different. It's the element of surprise. If you're a new creator, this type is harder to pull off because the contrast only works if there's an established pattern to break.

Hook Type 7: The Pattern Interrupt

Sometimes the most effective hook is something that simply doesn't belong on LinkedIn. A line from a movie. A question about pizza. A random observation about your cat.

Pattern interrupts work because LinkedIn has a "voice." Professional, serious, business-y. Everyone talks about "synergies" and "leveraging key learnings." The entire feed sounds like it was written by the same person who writes airline safety cards. When something breaks that pattern, it catches attention precisely because it feels out of place.

The psychology is straightforward: your brain has a "pattern recognition" system that filters out expected stimuli. When you're scrolling LinkedIn, your brain is in "professional content" mode, automatically filtering and sorting. A hook about pizza or your dog or a weird thing that happened at the grocery store bypasses that filter because it doesn't match the expected pattern.

This is also why the best LinkedIn humor tends to be about LinkedIn itself. Nothing interrupts the pattern of taking LinkedIn seriously quite like making fun of LinkedIn while on LinkedIn. Meta-humor about the platform's culture ("Just had a transformative experience in the line at Starbucks that taught me everything about leadership") gets engagement because everyone recognizes the absurdity but nobody else is willing to say it.

How to use it:

"My dog just ate my sales proposal. Which is probably fine because the proposal was terrible."
"I ordered a $4 coffee today. The barista asked what I do. That one question changed how I think about positioning."
"My 6-year-old asked me what I do at work. I tried to explain B2B SaaS. She said 'that sounds made up.' She's not wrong."
Start with something personal or absurd, then connect it to a business insight

The connection between the interrupt and the business point needs to feel natural, not forced. If you're stretching to make the metaphor work, the reader will feel it. The coffee-to-positioning bridge works because positioning IS about how you explain what you do to someone who doesn't know. The dog eating your proposal works because sometimes our work actually isn't good. When the connection is organic, the humor lands AND the insight sticks.

Pro tip: Keep a notes file on your phone called "LinkedIn hooks." Every time something funny, weird or unexpected happens in your day, write it down. "Uber driver explained my industry better than I do." "My calendar invite said 'quick sync' and lasted 90 minutes." "Client asked for a 'simple one-pager' and the scope doc is 47 pages." Real life is the best source of pattern interrupts. You just have to notice them.

The 10 Worst Ways to Start a LinkedIn Post

These hooks kill engagement before your post even starts:

"I'm excited to announce..." (Unless you're announcing a billion-dollar acquisition, nobody cares about your excitement level. Also, "excited" is the most overused word on LinkedIn. You could replace it with literally any other emotion and the post would be more interesting.)
"I've been thinking a lot about..." (Vague. Passive. Gives no reason to keep reading. Congratulations on thinking. We're all thinking. What did the thinking produce?)
"In today's [anything]..." (This is how a textbook opens, not a post. The moment someone reads "In today's rapidly evolving digital economy," their brain files it under "content I can safely ignore.")
"Unpopular opinion:" (So overused that it's become the most popular way to start a post. The irony writes itself. If you're going to have an unpopular opinion, just state the opinion. Let the audience decide it's unpopular.)
"Just had an amazing conversation with..." (Name-dropping without a hook. Tell us what the conversation revealed. The name can come later.)
"Happy to share that..." (Your happiness is not a hook. Nobody has ever stopped scrolling because someone on LinkedIn was happy.)
"Here are my top [number] tips for..." (Skip the intro, start with tip #1. Or better yet, start with the most counterintuitive tip and make people want the other nine.)
"As a [job title], I..." (Lead with the insight, not the credentials. Your job title is relevant context, not a compelling opening.)
"Let me tell you a story..." (Just tell the story. This is the written equivalent of saying "so funny thing happened" before telling a joke. You've already weakened it.)
"Everyone's talking about [topic]..." (Then why should I read your take specifically? This hook actually argues against itself. If everyone's talking about it, you need to give me a reason your perspective is different.)

Every one of these buries the interesting part behind a throat-clearing intro. Cut the warm-up. Start with the punch.

Pro tip: Here's a quick editing trick. Write your post naturally, then delete the first 1-3 lines. In most cases, the real hook is hiding in paragraph two. Your brain wants to "set the stage" before making its point. That's great for speeches. It's death for LinkedIn posts. Whatever you wrote as setup, cut it. Start where the action is.

A Framework for Testing Your Hooks

Before you post, run your opening line through these three questions:

1. Would I tap "see more" if I saw this from a stranger?
Be honest. Not from your best friend. Not from that creator you already admire. From a complete stranger whose face you don't recognize. If the answer is no, rewrite it. If you wouldn't click it from someone you don't know, your audience won't either. Most of your reach goes to people who have never heard of you. Your hook needs to work without the benefit of an existing relationship.

2. Does it work without the rest of the post?
A great hook stands on its own. It creates a complete emotional response (curiosity, surprise, recognition) without needing context. If your hook only makes sense after reading the full post, it's not a hook. It's a sentence that happened to be first. There's a difference.

Try texting your hook to a friend with zero context. If they reply "what happened?" or "tell me more," you've got a hook. If they reply "ok" or don't reply at all, back to the drawing board.

3. Is there a specific detail?
Compare: "I learned a big lesson this week" vs. "I lost a $50,000 client this week because of a one-sentence email." Specificity is what separates a hook from a headline. The first version could be about anything. The second one makes you need to know what that email said.

Pro tip: Run all three questions, not just one. A hook can be specific but not curiosity-inducing ("I ate a 7-ounce steak on Tuesday"). It can be emotional but not specific ("Something incredible happened"). The best hooks pass all three tests simultaneously. That's a high bar, which is exactly why most LinkedIn posts get ignored.

The Rewrite Exercise

Take your last five LinkedIn posts. Look at the opening line of each one. Now rewrite each hook using one of the seven types above.

Original: "I've been working in sales for 15 years and I've noticed a pattern."
Rewrite (Specific Number): "847 sales calls. That's how many it took before I figured out the one thing that actually closes deals."

Original: "Here are 5 tips for better LinkedIn content."
Rewrite (Counterintuitive): "Most LinkedIn advice is wrong. Especially these 5 tips everyone keeps repeating."

Original: "Had a great meeting today."
Rewrite (Ultra-Short + Personal): "I almost walked out of the meeting."

Original: "I want to share some thoughts on hiring."
Rewrite (Insider Secret): "I've interviewed 300+ candidates in the last two years. I can tell within 90 seconds who I'll hire."

Original: "Leadership is about more than just managing people."
Rewrite (Pattern Interrupt): "My 8-year-old runs a lemonade stand. She's a better leader than most VPs I've worked with. Here's why."

Same content. Completely different engagement. The post behind the hook can be identical. The hook is what determines whether anyone reads it.

Pro tip: Make this a habit. Before you hit "post," write three different hooks for the same content. Pick the one that makes you slightly uncomfortable. Not the one that feels safe. Not the one that's "professional enough." The one where you think "is this too much?" That one is usually right. Safe hooks are forgettable hooks.

Why Your Second Line Matters Too

Most hook advice focuses on the first line. Fair enough, that's the star of the show. But on mobile, your audience sees 2-3 lines before the "see more" cut. That means your second line is either supporting the hook or undermining it.

Bad second line: Immediately explains the hook. "I'm calling it right now. I think AI will change the way we work." You just closed the information gap. There's no reason to keep reading.

Good second line: Amplifies the mystery. "I'm calling it right now. And I know half of you will think I've lost it." Now the information gap is even wider. What's the prediction? Why is it controversial? Two hooks for the price of one.

Another good second line: Adds a contrasting detail. "I lost a $50,000 client this week. Best thing that happened to my business all year." Wait, what? The second line creates a new gap on top of the first one. That's called hook stacking, and the best LinkedIn creators do it instinctively.

Pro tip: Write your hook. Then pretend your reader's finger is hovering over the scroll. Your second line is the last chance to make them tap "see more" instead. What would stop their thumb? Write that.

The Hook Swipe File: Build Your Own

The best creators don't come up with hooks from scratch every time. They maintain a "swipe file," a collection of hooks they've seen work, organized by type. When they need to write, they browse the file for inspiration.

Here's how to build yours:

Screenshot hooks that stop YOU. Every time you pause on a LinkedIn post, screenshot the opening lines. You stopped scrolling. That's data.
Categorize by type. Put each hook in one of the seven categories above. Over time, you'll notice which types dominate your collection, and which you're underusing.
Note the engagement. Did the post have high likes? High comments? Both? Different hook types drive different kinds of engagement.
Adapt, don't copy. The point isn't to use someone else's hook word-for-word. It's to understand the structure and apply it to your own content.

After a month of collecting, you'll have 30-50 hooks organized by type. That's enough raw material to never stare at a blank first line again.

One More Thing About Mobile

Remember: 72% of LinkedIn is mobile. That means your hook is competing with Instagram, text messages, email notifications and a dozen other apps. Your hook isn't just competing with other LinkedIn posts. It's competing with literally everything else on someone's phone. That text from their partner. That DoorDash delivery notification. That email from their boss. You're up against all of it.

The "see more" button is your enemy. Everything above it is the only thing that matters for 72% of your audience. Write your hook first. Write it carefully. Then write the rest of the post.

Most creators do the opposite. They write the post, then tack on an opening line. That's backwards. Your hook is the most important words you'll write. It deserves more time and more thought than any other part of your content.

Here's a workflow that works: spend 5 minutes on the hook before you write a single word of the post. Get the hook right first. Then write the post that delivers on the hook's promise. If you can't write a compelling hook for the idea, that's useful information too. Maybe the idea isn't as interesting as you thought. Maybe you need a different angle. The hook is the idea's first test. If it can't pass that test, the post won't either.

If you want to see which hook types are performing best for creators in your niche right now, ViralBrain tracks what's actually working across thousands of posts, so you're not guessing.

Data sourced from ViralBrain's database of 10,222 LinkedIn posts across 494 creators.