11 hooks 🪝that'll grab eyeballs on LinkedIn

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Headed for a big holiday. But there’s work to do. So, enjoy today’s Feature Story. 11 sharp hooks you can use to get noticed on LinkedIn. Swipe the examples and tweak ‘em.

After that, wrap your head around the following sections: 

• The Knowledge Base  

• Self Help (attention pays)

• Facts & Stats (conversion leaks)

• Get Hacking (double dose)

Appetizer: What AI image generators think of brands - ouch!

Ok, let’s high-step into today’s Feature Story…

Feature Story

Swipe File: Winning Hooks on LinkedIn

Have I changed my mind about LinkedIn being a hellscape?

Not really. But I’ve softened my stance.

I’m trying to see it sorta like waving to people IRL.

In my small hometown, people always waved at each other.

Even driving by each other on the road. You’d throw up your hand from the steering wheel.

Same with a head nod passing someone as you walk into the grocery store.

Simple, friendly gestures. That’s all.

Maybe that’s a healthier way to look at LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

The platforms are unhealthy, but worth using if you don’t chain yourself to them.

Anyway. In order for your “Friendly Wave” to work on LinkedIn, you need an eye-catching opening line… 

• Numbers in headlines still boost user engagement in 2025.

• Headlines that spike curiosity can increase engagement by up to 30%. 

• All you have is 200-210 characters before the "See more" button. Make it count.

The most successful hooks combine curiosity, controversy, personal connection, or unexpected data to snatch attention and compel readers to read your post.

So, I tracked down 11 of the best eye-poppers I could find. Check them out below if you’re aiming to get more people looking at your LinkedIn posts.

11 Attention-Grabbing Opening Lines for LinkedIn Posts

I copied and pasted these exactly as they were posted. If they had quotation marks, emojis, or misspellings, I left it in.

1) Three years ago, I was struggling with [relatable problem].

2) "LinkedIn feels like 2023 Twitter." 

3) 10 harsh freelancing truths that most people refuse to accept:

4) Most jobs are not rocket science.

5) She quit Audible after a decade. 

6) Why I left the 9-5 working world (after only 3 months) and went off on my own:

7) "Whose emails do you dread opening?"

8) 6 years and 40,000 posts later, I’m convinced:

9) 🤖 “The CEO of ChatGPT is surprised that people trust it.”

10) I need your help.

11) Netflix just burned $17 billion - and still lost the living room.

Key Things I Noticed

Scanning through over 200 LinkedIn posts, I noticed very few emojis used in the opening sentence of a post.

You shouldn’t aim for perfect grammar. Many prolific LinkedIn posters use punchy sentence fragments. LinkedIn ain’t Grammar School.

Questions make great subject lines for emails, but I did not notice a ton of hooks in the form of questions on LinkedIn.

Now. Out of all the 11 noteworthy hooks above, three that I personally love are…

The Big 3

⭐6 years and 40,000 posts later, I’m convinced:

Why it stands out: Plastered numbers all over it. Showed experience with 40k LinkedIn posts.

⭐ I need your help.

Why it stands out: Uses vulnerability (without being cringy). Takes the focus off the poster.

⭐Most jobs are not rocket science.

Why it stands out: Focuses on LinkedIn’s main thing - jobs. Makes light of the “serious” nature of careers. 

Hopefully, those hook examples and breakdowns help you get traction.

Just know. No “template” will make you popular on LinkedIn. 

I’m afraid you gotta experiment. Roll the dice. And be who you are. If being yourself won’t work on LinkedIn… it’s ok to go BE somewhere else.

Now we can crack open The Knowledge Base below…

The Future of AI in Marketing. Your Shortcut to Smarter, Faster Marketing.

Unlock a focused set of AI strategies built to streamline your work and maximize impact. This guide delivers the practical tactics and tools marketers need to start seeing results right away:

• 7 high-impact AI strategies to accelerate your marketing performance

• Practical use cases for content creation, lead gen, and personalization

• Expert insights into how top marketers are using AI today

• A framework to evaluate and implement AI tools efficiently

Stay ahead of the curve with these top strategies AI helped develop for marketers, built for real-world results.

Download the Free Report

Self-Help

Story coming up in Friday’s Inbox Hacking shows why paying attention matters to marketers. 

But paying attention pays off in more important ways.

• Many disasters could be squashed before they happen, with 10% more awareness.

• Our loved ones know when we’re not paying attention to them.

• Same goes for our pets.

Facts & Stats

Bonus: What is the funnel McDonald’s uses to generate a billion sales this year and 18 years from now? Answer at end of email.

Get Hacking

A specific strategy to implement today

Long-tail keywords may not be enough to get your brand into AI summaries. 

So, get way more specific. 

Example: Writing a post about hiking boots. You know “best boots” won’t cut it. But now, neither will “best boots for 10-mile hikes.” Get insanely granular with something like, “best hiking boots for 10-mile hikes in wet climates in early springtime.” 

Focus the content only on those factors. 

ALT Hack: Invest in PR efforts. Word is, PR is making a comeback now that Google isn’t that into blue links that provide you with traffic. This AI PR tool is worth a look with a free trial.

Thanks for reading Inbox Hacking. Please share it with your peeps - it’s sugar-free but stings a bit.

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

Bonus answer from Facts & Stats section: The Happy Meal. The “generational funnel” that hooks kids early and into adulthood. Roughly 14.6% of McDonald's customers order Happy Meals (1 billion sold worldwide annually).

"You can't use up creativity. The more you use the more you have." ~Maya Angelou