I recently ran the numbers on my last six months of newsletters and LinkedIn posts. The highest performers had one thing in common.
They all led with a spicy, opinionated hook:
I’m sorry but that’s NOT a social media “strategy” (email subject line)
Not everything needs to be a VIDEO (LinkedIn carousel)
Dear non-creatives: “Make it pop” is not helpful feedback (LinkedIn graphic)
There’s power in being direct and firm in your views.
But it’s common for purpose-driven orgs, and their leaders, to get in the habit of playing it safe.
And I get it. The stakes can be a lot higher than they might be for, say, a boutique agency owner. You wouldn’t want to risk your org’s credibility in competing for shock value, or God forbid — oversimplifying something that gets taken out of context and kicks up a controversy.
Those concerns are valid. They should be taken seriously.
But with more voices, information, and data coming at us than our brains have evolved to handle, we’ve gotten really good at filtering out anything remotely vague, generic or promotional in nanoseconds.
At this point, an overly demure opening guarantees your message will never reach the people who need it.
So if you’ve been avoiding hot takes or contrarian hooks because you don’t want to post clickbait, there’s another way.
Take my hand. We’ll go there together.
Why spicy hooks work
Hooks have always mattered, but in 2026 they’re make-or-break.
Under the new AI-powered algorithms, follower counts hold very little weight. Every post has to win attention on its own merits — which is why we often see huge legacy accounts now struggling to get views while newbies explode out of nowhere.
Enter: the spicy hook.
It’s not the only kind of hook. But like any good opener, it gets past our filters by tapping into what we’re naturally wired to pay attention to. Psychological triggers like:
Cognitive Dissonance — Conflicting beliefs are uncomfortable. We crave resolution. This is why you see a lot of social ads with hooks like, “You’re not too busy to cook. You’re too busy planning what to cook.”
Information Gaps — According to Lowenstein’s theory of curiosity, our brains see a gap as a problem to solve — e.g., “That’s not a social media strategy.” WHAT’s not? The right audience will just have to know.
Authenticity Signals — We’re always trying to gauge what’s trustworthy and genuine; AI just put that into overdrive. Specificity and vulnerability are hard to fake, so we perk up.
Negativity Bias — Our brains are constantly scanning for threats, so negations like “not,” “never,” and “don’t” grab attention. One study analyzing over 15K posts found they increased engagement by 17.6%.
Unsurprisingly, almost every one of my top-performing hooks used a negation.
But that doesn’t mean they were manipulative clickbait. Or even that the actual message was negative!
So what’s the difference?
Clickbait vs. Hooks
Clickbait is a manufactured curiosity gap where the content can’t or doesn’t deliver on the promise. It exploits psychological triggers without providing enough specificity or context for the audience to gauge relevance (which is why it doesn’t always work that well anymore — our BS meters are too finely tuned).
A hook is an honest invitation to consider a fresh perspective. It’s not a summary. It doesn’t try to explain everything in one line. The goal is simply to answer the question, “What’s the one true thing we can say that makes the right person lean forward?”
As I’ve jokingly told clients, “It’s not clickbait if you deliver the goods.” But it’s not always that simple.
Emotional language needs to respect the audience.
“This story will make you cry” is vague emotional bait. “The story of one nurse’s impossible choice brought our office to tears,” establishes an authentic POV and lets people know exactly what they’re getting into.
No matter how respectful you are, though, you’ll never be able to please everyone.
For a lot of people, “clickbait” is now shorthand for “something I don’t like.” And if your intention is to make an impact, you have to be comfortable with occasionally ruffling a few feathers.
When a contrarian point of view is a public service
I promise we’re not optimizing for shock value here.
When you draw a line in the sand, you’re expressing a point of view you’ve earned through study, experience, and trial and error. Really, it’s a form of leadership. Saying the true thing people are afraid to say out loud makes the right audience feel seen, understood, less alone.
That can be liberating. It can inspire change!
For example, “Not everything has to be a video” gives permission. “I’m sorry, but that’s NOT a strategy” clears up a damaging misconception. “Make it pop is NOT helpful feedback” validates frustration, then offers solutions.
Those are my genuine perspectives, rooted in experience and expertise — and followed up with advice, examples, and useful frameworks. They were shared in the spirit of creating positive change.
They might’ve made you click, but they weren’t clickbait.
And without the spicy hooks, those posts probably wouldn’t have reached anyone. So how helpful would they really have been?
There’s no swipe file for authenticity
Playing it safe (or even being reckless!) with your hooks is usually a symptom of a deeper issue: your brand strategy needs a fresh look.
Templates and swipe files can be useful, but audiences can feel when something’s inauthentic. A borrowed hook only works when you reverse-engineer the mechanics, then apply them to your material, your voice, your audience.
Because the best mechanics won’t save you if your brand isn’t solid on what it believes:
What do you stand for that louder voices don’t?
Where do you secretly disagree?
What do you whole-heartedly feel your audience, or your community, or your competitors, should be doing differently?
Answering these questions isn’t a task to be delegated to your social media manager (or AI).
If you want a compelling brand strategy with longevity, leadership has to be involved. I’ve wrangled enough CEOs through this to know: it’s challenging, deep work. Unpacking beliefs, finding sharp words that ring true, and getting buy-in — so bold ideas can survive the approvals process.
But once it’s done, saying the quiet part out loud gets easier and easier.
And those spicy hooks practically write themselves.
(But if you still need a more in-depth how-to, stay tuned for the next edition of Strategy-First Social in two weeks!)
Until next time,
P.S. If you need help dragging that spicy point of view out of your C-suite so your brand can finally stand out and grow on social media, I’m your girl. Book a call or hit reply to this email and let’s talk.
