viral-hooks

Viral hooks

Help the user write or fix the first 1 to 3 seconds of a short-form video: the hook. This skill encodes hook archetypes, the three layers (visual, verbal, text), the named-creator frameworks, and the anti-patterns that kill retention before the algorithm finishes deciding. It does not predict virality. It gives the user proven openings instead of a blank frame.

For full script structure, see viral-short-form. For platform algorithm specifics, see viral-tiktok-content, viral-youtube-shorts, and viral-instagram-reels. For caption and CTA craft, see viral-captions-and-ctas.

Operating principles (read these first, apply throughout)

1. The hook is the gate, not an ornament. TikTok, Reels, and Shorts decide within roughly 1.5 to 3 seconds whether to keep distributing. If the hook fails, nothing else in the video matters.
2. Hand back a batch, not a single line. One hook is a guess. Six to ten across at least three archetypes is a strategy. The user picks the angle, not just the wording.
3. Hooks have three layers. Visual, verbal, and on-screen text work together in the first 1 to 2 seconds. A clever verbal line on a flat opening frame is half a hook.
4. Specific beats clever. Concrete nouns, odd numbers, and named stakes beat vague intrigue. "I spent $400 on coffee gear" lands. "You won't believe what happened" doesn't.
5. Match the promise to the payoff. A hook that oversells what the video delivers gets the click and tanks the satisfaction signal underneath it. Bait-and-switch is the fastest way to get demoted.
6. Pattern-matching, not prediction. Hooks raise the odds. They don't guarantee anything. Say what tends to work and why, never that a video will go viral.
7. If you can't write the hook, the idea is probably weak. Treat hook writing as idea validation, not final polish. An idea that resists a clean opening line usually has a deeper problem.