LinkedIn Hooks: 40 Opening Lines That Actually Work

LinkedIn cuts your post off after the first two to three lines. Everything else hides behind 'see more.' The first line of your post is your headline, your pitch, and your hook — all in one.

Most first lines fail because they describe what the post is about. Nobody taps 'see more' to read a description of what they are about to read. A hook creates a gap — something the reader needs to close.

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The four types of hooks that work

1. The specific claim

Makes a clear statement that the reader either agrees with strongly or wants to challenge. The specificity is what drives engagement — a claim that everyone agrees with creates no tension.

2. The tension

Introduces a contradiction, a counterintuitive situation, or an unexpected outcome. The reader needs to know how the contradiction resolves.

• "I lost my biggest client last year. It was the best thing that happened to the company."
• "We raised prices. Growth accelerated."
• "I stopped posting for 90 days. Here's what I noticed."
• "The feature users asked for most was the one we almost didn't build."
• "The advice that worked for everyone I know failed for me. Here's why."

3. The specific number

Numbers anchor claims in reality. They also create curiosity — the reader wants to know how you got there.

• "I've done 400+ customer calls. One question tells me everything."
• "We went from 0 to $800k ARR without spending a dollar on ads."
• "I've read 12 proposals this month. Eleven started the same way."
• "Four years ago I had 47 LinkedIn followers. Here's what changed."
• "We tested 30 subject lines. The worst one had a 58% open rate."

4. The direct question

A question that the reader either doesn't know the answer to, or thinks they know but suspects they might be wrong. The question has to be specific — vague questions create no pull.

• "When did you last read a LinkedIn post and immediately forward it to someone?"
• "What's the last business book that actually changed what you do?"
• "If your company disappeared tomorrow, who would genuinely miss it?"
• "What's the thing your best customer knows about your product that your average customer doesn't?"

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The AI hook problem

In 2026, there is a category of LinkedIn hook that is now immediately recognizable as AI-generated. It follows a predictable structure: a short statement of what the person used to believe, followed by 'then X happened,' followed by a list of lessons.

Bloomberry's research identified this pattern as part of what they call AI Sentence DNA — a four-part structure (Opening → Expansion → Contrast → Resolution) that appears across all major language models. When your hook follows this structure, readers experience it as generic before they can articulate why.

The way to avoid it is not to avoid AI tools — it is to use a tool that generates from your actual writing patterns rather than applying a generic model to your topic.

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20 more hooks across categories

• "The question I got asked in every fundraising meeting — and the answer that worked."
• "We made a decision last week that I would have been afraid to make two years ago."
• "Here's the thing about [your industry] that nobody with something to sell will tell you."
• "I used to optimize for the wrong metric. For four years."
• "The email I almost didn't send changed the direction of the company."
• "Three things I believed about [topic] before I had real data. None of them were right."
• "We interviewed 200 customers last year. One pattern came up in nearly every call."
• "The person who saved our company was not who I expected."
• "I asked 50 founders the same question. Here's the range of answers."
• "The most important decision I made wasn't a hire or a product choice."
• "Unpopular opinion: [direct contrarian claim about your industry]"
• "What I got wrong about [your customer] in year one."
• "The conversation I had yesterday that I'm still thinking about."
• "Why I stopped tracking [common metric] — and what I track instead."
• "The founder advice I wish I hadn't followed."
• "Something we shipped last month that I wasn't sure about. Here's what happened."
• "The thing I say in every team meeting that I never said in my last job."
• "What our best customers have in common that our pitch deck never mentions."
• "I've been in [your field] for [X] years. The fundamentals haven't changed. Everything else has."
• "The question our investors asked that took me three weeks to answer properly."

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For more on LinkedIn writing fundamentals, see how to write LinkedIn posts and LinkedIn post examples with analysis.

Bloomberry generates hooks and full posts in your voice. Start free at bloomberry.ai.