- Social Files by Tommy Clark
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- 🗃 LinkedIn hooks = dead?
Hey!
Welcome to Social Files—your no-BS guide to generating demand for your B2B product using social & content.
Spent my weekend chipping away at The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts. 600 pages in now. So, so good.
Now, for some marketing. I’ve got some thoughts on the current state of LinkedIn hooks.
Text only is no longer enough. You must be considering media, and today I’ll show you how (with examples, of course).
Shall we?
🔎 DEEP DIVE
Creative as the ‘second hook.’
The new rules of LinkedIn, and how to adapt.
You’ve heard me talk at length on the importance of the hook—the first 1-3 lines in your LinkedIn post, before the ‘see more’ button.
Still important, but no longer enough. At least not in this new era of LinkedIn.
Now, more than ever, you must consider media with each post.
Do not publish a post without first asking yourself whether there is an image, video, or graphic that might add to the post. Creative is your 2nd hook. Don't waste it.
On average, Compound client posts over the past month had 27% more impressions when paired with a photo versus text-only.
A few reasons why:
(a) Media takes up more screen real estate. Especially on mobile.
Consider the comparison here:
b) Creative is a 2nd hook. Done right, it opens a ‘curiosity loop that drives the reader to your text hook, and then to the ‘see more’ button.
Take this post from Ludvig Swanstrom at Vesence, for example.
The image creates curiosity: What’s with all those Thinkpads lined up on the couch?
It’s nothing insane, but enough for a sizable percentage of scrollers to stop and read the entire post (to the tune of 76 comments; not bad!).
It’s impossible to say for sure, but I’d wager engagement would have been a fraction of that had Ludvig omitted the IRL photo.
Here’s another example of his. This time, a post predicting the repurposing of phone booths to ‘prompt booths.’
The same idea applies. Had Ludvig opted for text only, he’d be missing out on an opportunity for a compound hook (text + image).
(c) IRL photos are ‘proof of human.’ LinkedIn users are becoming blind to AI slop. At the first scent of it, they will scroll.
Much of the ‘game’ on the platform now is standing out amid the ocean of Claudeslop.
One easy way to do this (aside from simply not outsourcing your personality to AI) is to include more IRL photos with posts.
Sharing your Origin Story? → Add a photo from the ‘early days.’
Announcing a new hire? → Add a photo with said new hire.
Move into a new office? → Add a team photo in the new digs.
One point that I cannot stress enough. Do NOT overthink this. Take this post from Tanay at Wispr, for example. It’s a milestone post celebrating 5 years. The creative is dead simple: a picture of him and his co-founder, likely taken months ago and sitting in a Drive folder.
(d) Media increases dwell time. And social platforms love dwell time.
Yes, LinkedIn’s organic algorithm is volatile right now—or, as Adam Robinson so eloquently wrote last week, “the LinkedIn algo is schizophrenic.”
Still, we can assume with reasonable confidence that platforms reward content that increases dwell time (how long a user spends on your content).
Why?
When users spend more time on the platform, they can get served more ads. When that happens, platforms make more money.
Certain media formats are conducive to increased dwell time. Two that are in fashion right now:
Tweet screenshots.
Dense infographics.
Both of these formats get the user to stop scrolling, click into the image, and spend time reading. Thus, they rack up dwell time.
Next steps:
If I were running your founder’s LinkedIn, here’s what I’d do:
Create a system for collecting IRL photos and B-roll.
The owner should be someone on Marketing.
Do not publish a post without first asking if there’s media to fit.
Text 1x infographic and/or a tweet screenshot per week, if relevant.
Infographic → savable process or workflow
Tweet Screenshot → reaction to industry news/commentary
I know this doesn’t sound super flashy.
It’s not, but it is effective.
Hope this helps.
TOMMY’S BOOKSHELF 📚
Current read: The Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts. I’m going to be reading this series for quite some time. There are 11 books, all ~800+ pages long. The good news: the books slap. I am 600 pages into Book 1 and loving it. If you're a fan of epic fantasy, I’d highly recommend it.
Evergreen reminder: if you haven’t yet, do yourself a favor and read Red Rising. This is the gateway drug to fiction reading as an adult.
If you want more book content, I’ve built a little audience on Instagram where I post about fiction and writing.
BEFORE YOU GO…
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Talk soon,
Tommy Clark