The hook is the most important part of any piece of content. That’s because if it doesn’t work, readers won’t even read the rest of the words.

When you write content, you basically have to do two things. First, you sell the value of reading the rest of it. Then, you deliver value in the body. When you don't nail that subtle sales pitch at the start, you lose readers. A lot of them.

I know a thing or two about hooks because I've build a following of 300,000 on all platforms combined, and I've amassed over 1,000,000 followers for my personal brand growth clients.

These are some hooks that I've seen work over and over again.

I'll give you 27 types with 4 examples of each. Let's get started...

1. Personal Results

Sharing personal results does three things. First, it attracts attention in general. If you lose X pounds or make X amount of money, that makes people get interested. Second, that interest is in you, not anybody else. Content about Jeff Bezos or other successful people often goes viral, and it can be a part of your content strategy, but if you never talk about yourself, your results will suffer. Finally, it makes people trust you, which leads to followers, customers, and clients.

Examples:

• I’ve lost 31 pounds in the last 250 days.
• My company just hit $100k MRR.
• I went from entry level to CEO in 5 years.
• I meditated an hour a day for 100 days straight.

2. Client/Customer/User Results

This is the same as the first one but instead of talking about your results, you talk about your clients, customers, users, etc. If you’re an email marketer, you could talk about a client’s Black Friday sale. If you run a social media marketing SaaS tool, you could talk about how many followers your users have gained.

Examples:

• I helped my client make $100k during BFCM.
• Our clients conversion rate rose 31% this month.
• Our customer added an inch to his biceps.
• Our user gained 10,000 followers last month.

3. Relevant Questions

People instinctively want to answer questions, and that’s especially true when the question is relevant to them and their desires. Asking one can be a solid hook.

Examples:

• Having trouble getting healthy?
• Do you want to sleep more at night?
• Are you a freelance copywriter?
• Want to grow your search traffic?

4. List Titles

Lists take up lots of space on the timeline, are easy to consume, and give readers a bunch of different ideas to agree with, disagree with, or get value from. They’re a staple of almost everybody’s content strategy. You can use their titles as hooks.

Examples:

• 8 AI tools that will help you write better.
• 7 tips that'll help you cook healthy meals daily.
• 6 ways to communicate better with your partner.
• 5 mistakes that will crush your freelancing career.

5. How-To Starters

If you create useful content (as opposed to just entertaining), your followers want to get some sort of outcome. That could be writing better, getting healthier, investing better, etc. How-to guides help them do that, and they have super simple hooks. You can play it straight with a basic title, or you can add a little style with a longer one that adds more benefit or addresses an objection.

Examples:

• How to start a business in under 7 days.
• How to build an affordable skincare routine.
• How to put on 20 pounds of muscle this year.
• How to turn your LinkedIn into a money printer.

6. Story Starters

People love story posts. You can hook them just by starting to tell the story. There are three ways to do that. First, you can start from the beginning (that’s the conventional method). Second, you can start from the middle or end (this is often more interesting than starting from the beginning). Third, you can summarize the story into one or two sentences. Whichever you choose, you can start from the beginning after that.

Examples:

• I took my SaaS from zero to $100k/mo in under a year.
• Shaq has made 10x more after he's retired than he did in his career.
• In 2009, a Stanford business professor gave her students $5 each.
• How I built a 6-figure social media following in 6 months.

7. If, Then

Starting with an “if” statement calls a certain kind of person out and makes them especially interested in the content. Then, the “then” statement leads them into the rest of the content.

Examples:

• If you sleep less than 7 hours a night, read this.
• If you want clearer skin, watch this.
• If you want to be a pro copywriter, stop scrolling.
• If you love Breaking Bad, check this out.

8. Steal This

People love the idea of “stealing” strategies, content, business models, etc. It makes them feel like they’re taking a shortcut, even if they’re really just getting inspiration from someone/something else.

Examples:

• Steal Jeff Bezos's 4 rules for meetings.
• You can steal another company's SEO traffic. Here's how.
• Steal Rihanna's skincare routine.
• Steal my top 27 types of hooks.

9. Statistics

People love statistics. I’m not totally sure why, but they just do. When you cite them, readers tend to pay attention. That’s especially true when the statistic is relevant to their interests.

Simple Example:

Examples:

• 87% of content creators struggle with imposter syndrome.
• 40% of Americans are pre-diabetic.
• 31% of people struggle with anxiety.
• 91% of stock traders lose money.

10. Quickies With Keywords

These are hooks that are just two or three words long and use an alluring keyword. Some examples are “unpopular”, “unconventional”, “weird”, and “underrated”. Though many of these are somewhat overused, they still have a spot in your toolkit. Just make sure you don’t use them too frequently, and when you do, make sure you deliver on the promise of that word (e.g. if you say “unpopular opinion”, make it actually unpopular). You can also skip the alluring keyword and just play it straight. For example, rather than “weird copywriting tip:”, you could just write “copywriting tip:”.

Examples:

• Underrated marketing advice.
• Unpopular opinion.
• Weird copywriting tip.
• Controversial SEO strategy.

11. Get X Without Y

This is a classic one in the sales copy world, but it works for content too. Promising to help someone get something (X) they desire is appealing. Promising to help them do that without having to do something (Y) they don’t want to do makes it even more appealing.

Examples:

• Lose weight without giving up your favorite foods.
• Get clear skin without spending $100+ a month on products.
• Learn copywriting without buying an expensive course.
• Learn business without paying $50k for a college degree.

12. I Did The Hard Work

People don’t just want what they want. They also usually want it quickly, easily, and affordably. That’s why this hook is powerful. You tell them that you did the unappealing part, and they get more interested because they want to get the reward without doing the work.

Examples:

• I spent $100k on an MBA so you don't have to.
• I read 100 business books this year.
• I lived with monks for 90 days straight.
• I took every big-name copywriting course on the market.

13. Simple Descriptions

Sometimes, all you need to do is plainly describe what's coming next. No fancy strategies required. This is a broad category that can apply to any types of niche.

Examples:

• Conversion rate optimization tip.
• The best exercise for building a wide back.
• The world's most nutritious food.
• High-ROI SEO strategy.

14. Arguments

Unless your sole goal is to entertain, most pieces of content are somewhat of an argument. You're presenting why someone should think or act in a certain way. For this type of hook, you're explicitly arguing your point.

Examples:

• Why you don't need a morning routine.
• Why high-volume training leads to the most muscle group.
• Why storytelling is the best skill a marketer can build.
• Why you shouldn't spend $10k on a Rolex.

15. Bold Claims

People love bold claims. They attract attention, create interest in the author, and make people want to read the rest of the content to see if you can back your bold claim up.

Examples:

• Artificial intelligence will put 30% of the popular out of work by 2030.
• SEO will be irrelevant within 5 years.
• Twitter is the worst major social media platform right now.
• Alex Hormozi gives terrible advice.

16. Surprise

Most people consume tons of content every day. They see similar posts, one after the other, day after day, for years. That’s why surprising hooks often work well. They provide a pattern interrupt and make people interested.

Examples:

• Vegetables aren't healthy. At all.
• I might delete my blog tomorrow.
• Everyone says trading stocks is hard. It's not.
• Going viral actually hurts your brand.

17. Pain

This is another classic sales copy one, but it works well for content too. If your brand is useful, you’re probably helping people solve a painful problem. Calling out that pain generates interest.

Examples:

• Waking up tired every day sucks.
• I know what it's like to struggle to pay rent.
• Having a bad boss destroys your mental health.
• I used to hate looking at mirrors because my acne was so bad.

18. Humor

We don’t need an explanation on this one. People like laughing, and if you can make them laugh, that makes for a great hook. I’ve seen these do especially well when they’re self-aware and somewhat of inside jokes with a certain niche.

No examples for this one. It's too hard to recreate humor, which is often more about tone than anything else.

19. Uniqueness

The best copywriters I know are obsessed with the term “USP”. That stands for “unique selling proposition”. Uniqueness attracts attention, followers, and customers. Do your best to find something unique about yourself and your offers, then use that uniqueness in hooks.

Examples:

• I'm a professional writer, but I haven't written a word in year.
• Copywriting isn't about writing. It's about thinking.
• If I write a post with viral potential, I delete it. Here's why.
• I could make $500k+ a year selling courses, but I never will.

20. Secrets

People like finding out secrets. I think the psychology is similar to “stealing” being appealing (we talked about that above). Hint at revealing a secret, and lots of people will pay attention.

Examples:

• 7 secrets from Hugh Jackman's pre-Wolverine routine.
• Personal trainers don't want you to know this secret.
• This SEO secret has gotten me 50k extra clicks this year.
• I want to tell you a copywriting secret. But you can't tell anyone else.

21. Give Me X & I’ll Give You Y

I see these all the time on Twitter and LinkedIn. The key is making the X small and the Y much bigger so people feel like they’re getting an awesome deal. You can make this a hook for a standard piece of content, or you can follow it up with some kind of giveaway.

Examples:

• Give me 3 minutes, and I'll show you how to get to sleep faster.
• Read this, and you'll instantly be a better writer.
• Like this post, and I'll DM you a free nutrition guide.
• Give me 1 minute, and I'll give you an insanely useful SEO tip.

22. The One Thing

The idea that one thing is holding someone back or one thing is the key to their success is appealing. When you promise some kind of useful one thing, people pay attention.

Examples:

• The one thing that's holding you back from building bigger biceps.
• This one food will supercharge your weight loss.
• The one SEO tactic that'll get you on the first page.
• This one copywriting principle will explode your conversion rate.

23. Hot Takes

Hot takes are similar to bold claims, but they cover every kind of semi-controversial thing you can say. These attract attention well, and they get people interested in the author, not just the content.

Examples:

• College is the world's biggest scam.
• 99% of courses are awful.
• Meditation is a waste of time.
• You should not be squatting or deadlifting.

24. Us Vs Them

People love drama, and "us vs them" persuasion creates it. Declare you and people like you as the in-group and others as the out-group. Then, lightly criticize them. This works well in copywriting and content writing.

Examples:

• 99% of copywriting gurus are lying to you.
• Most nutritionists know nothing about food.
• Vegans are wrong about red meat.
• {Political part} is wrong about {issue}.

25. Commands

People often don't like being told what to do, but if you approach this correctly, it can be an effective hook. It's usually best if your make it seem beneficial for them to follow the command rather than it sound like a behavior.

Examples:

• Don't make this SEO mistake.
• Don't write copy without doing this first.
• Watch this before your next gym sessions.
• Read this before you buy a moisturizer.

26. News

A big piece of news in your first line often grabs attention well. You can make that personal news (reaching a milestone, getting hired, etc) or industry news (a trend changing, a new tool coming out, etc).

Examples:‍

• I just got promoted to partner.
• I just sold my company for 7 figures.
• ChatGPT just dropped an insane update.
• Alex Hormozi is changing his content strategy.

27. Warnings

People hate when they're doing something wrong. They also hate falling into traps and wasting time/money. That's why warning them against mistakes generates attention so well.

Examples:

• My #1 warning to freelance copywriters.
• This mistake will make your skin break out.
• This toxic habit can ruin a relationship in seconds.
• Not understanding this will make weight loss impossible.

Bonus: Combinations

As you’ve probably seen from the examples above, you don’t have to choose just one of these. Often, the best hooks combine multiple hooking principles into one. For example, you might hook with a personal result, then lead your readers into the body of the content with a list title lead. The possibilities are endless, so I won’t try to go over all of them. I bet you’ll get good at blending these the more you write.

Conclusion

Even if you’re writing content and have no product or service to sell, you’re still selling, and you’re selling from the very first word you write. The beginning of your writing, also called the “hook”, grabs attention and sells the value of reading the rest of the post.

Use these 27 types to make that happen. They've generated over 100 million views for me and my clients. If it worked for us, it'll work for you too. Whether you're on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Instagram, or any other platform.