LinkedIn, X, Instagram—also TikTok, YouTube, new media channels.
People who call themselves creators have made a science of creating the perfect ‘hook’.
A sentence that reels you in.
Evolution tells you: Pay attention!
And you’ll pay up.
Every time.
‘Hook’ is a chic word for clickbait.
And that we’ve seen before.
We know the examples:
Newspapers that use clickbait.
Websites that use clickbait.
Ads that use clickbait.
We don’t trust them.
You can wrap shit with a ribbon, but it won’t make the shit stink any less.
My lesson is: You can make great hooks all you want.
But nothing beats making something useful for the people you serve.
It’s not so much about grabbing the attention.
It’s about doing the right thing with the attention someone paid you.