Best Practices

LinkedIn hook best practices

LinkedIn hides everything after your first two lines. Here's how to write an opening that earns the expand click.

Why the cutoff matters

~140 chars before "see more"

LinkedIn shows roughly your first two lines, then hides everything behind "see more." Those two lines have exactly one job: earn the click. Not explain your post. Not set up context. Earn the click. Most people waste them on throat clearing.

What actually works

Open a loop. Say something that demands an explanation, then make them expand to get it.
Keep the first sentence short. Under ten words is a good gut check.
Kill "I’m excited to announce" and "I’m humbled to share." Everyone scrolls past those on autopilot.
Write to one person, not an audience. "You" beats "professionals everywhere" every time.
A bold, specific claim beats a safe, general one. Safe is invisible on LinkedIn.

I'm excited to share some thoughts on productivity in the modern workplace. I deleted 6 apps from my phone and got 2 hours of my day back. Here's what stayed.

The mistakes to avoid

The classic LinkedIn mistake is treating the hook like an introduction. It isn't. It's a trailer. Nobody expands a post to hear context they already believe. They expand to close a gap you opened. The other mistake is hedging. Adding "in my opinion" and "it depends" to your first line drains all the tension out of it, and tension is the whole point.

Reading about hooks is good. Testing yours is better.

Score My Hook Free