How do you write the first line of a LinkedIn post?

Fill-in patterns, grouped by type. Click to copy.

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23 results
  • Before and after

    [Time] ago, [bad situation]. Today, [good situation]. What changed wasn't [the obvious thing].

  • What I believed

    For [time] I thought [belief]. I was wrong.

  • Two paths

    [Person A] did [X]. [Person B] did [Y]. Only one of them is still in the industry.

  • Expensive vs cheap

    I paid [amount] for [expensive thing]. What actually worked cost [little or nothing].

  • Concrete result

    [Number] in [period]. Without [what everyone assumes you need]. Here's how:

  • Countdown

    [N] things I'd do differently if I started [activity] today. Number [N] is the one that cost me [consequence].

  • The surprising number

    [Percentage] of [group] [do something]. Almost none of them know that [consequence].

  • Real cost

    [Common mistake] cost me [concrete number]. Not in money. In [something else].

  • The screw-up

    I told [someone] that [thing]. They replied [reply]. They were right.

  • What nobody tells you

    Nobody talks about [the ugly part of X]. I lived it [when]. Here's how it went.

  • The advice I ignored

    [Person] warned me about [thing]. I ignored them. [Time] later, [consequence].

  • Confession

    I'm going to say something that doesn't play well on LinkedIn: [uncomfortable but true statement].

  • Against common advice

    Everyone says [popular advice]. I've been doing the opposite for [time]. It works better.

  • The myth

    [Widespread belief] is false. Not an opinion: [the data that breaks it].

  • Unpopular but true

    Unpopular take: [statement]. And most [group] know it, even if they won't say it.

  • Stop doing it

    Stop [common practice]. It doesn't work. And you've been losing [resource] on it for [time].

  • Uncomfortable question

    How long have you been [doing something] without asking yourself [the real question]?

  • The test

    Answer fast: [question]. If you hesitated, this post is for you.

  • The one nobody asks

    In [N] years in [industry], nobody has ever asked me [question]. It's the one that matters most.

  • In medias res

    [Time]. [Place]. [What's happening]. And I'm thinking: [thought].

  • The message I got

    Yesterday I got this message: "[message]" It made me think about [topic].

  • The line that stuck

    "[line]". [Who] told me that [time] ago and I've never forgotten it.

  • The small detail

    I noticed [tiny detail]. Seems trivial. It explains [big thing].

How to use it

  1. Pick the hook typeContrast, number, own mistake, contrarian, question or scene. Each suits a different kind of post.
  2. Copy the patternThe brackets mark what you replace with your own case.
  3. Check it before publishingPaste the post into the preview tool and make sure the whole hook fits above "…see more".

Why the first line decides the whole post

LinkedIn collapses posts in the feed. Desktop shows around five lines; mobile, around three. The rest sits behind "…see more".

Which means the vast majority of people who pass your post read only the opening. If there's nothing there, there's no click, and everything below goes unread.

It isn't about tricks or the algorithm: it's that the rest is literally not visible.

Why there's no AI here

A good hook depends on your specific case: your number, your mistake, your scene. An AI that knows nothing about you can only return something generic, and generic hooks nobody.

So this is patterns with gaps, not finished text. The work that can't be automated is exactly filling those brackets with something of yours and true.

If what you want is AI writing in your voice from your past posts, that's a different thing and it's what the product does.

What ruins a hook

Opening with context. "After thinking about it for a long time, I wanted to share a reflection on…" has spent half a line saying nothing.

Opening with an emoji. That space is worth too much for decoration.

Promising more than you deliver. A hook that announces a revelation and then hands over textbook advice teaches people not to click again.

And the most common one: writing the hook first. It nearly always works better to write the whole post, find the strongest sentence, and move it to the top.

How to tell if it works

The metric that matters isn't likes, it's how many people expand. LinkedIn's stats don't show it directly, but you can infer it: high impressions with low engagement usually means it's being seen and not landing.

A home test that works: read only the first two lines out loud. If you wouldn't want to keep reading, change them.

Frequently asked questions

How many characters should the hook take?
Under 140 if you want it fully visible on mobile. Desktop gives you about 210, but most traffic is mobile.
Can I use these hooks as they are?
The patterns yes, the content no: you have to fill the brackets with your own case. An unfilled pattern says nothing.
Does repeating the same hook type get stale?
Yes. If every post opens with a number, the effect wears off. Alternating types keeps it alive.
Do line breaks cost me space?
Yes. Each break consumes a line of visible space, so a hook of three short lines can take more room than one of two full sentences.
Does this generate hooks with AI?
No, it's a pattern bank. The AI that writes in your voice from your posts is in the paid product.
Do I need an account?
No. Everything runs in your browser, with no limit.

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