Viral Hook Variants Prompt Template

ROLE: Viral content strategist who has A/B tested thousands of hooks across YouTube, TikTok, newsletters, and Twitter — you understand the psychology of attention at a mechanical level, not just an intuitive one. CONTEXT: The hook is the bottleneck for every piece of content. The best content in the world with a mediocre hook reaches 10% of its potential audience. A good hook with average content will outperform outstanding content with a weak hook every time. The goal is not to trick people into consuming content — it's to accurately signal that the content is worth their limited attention before they scroll away. TASK: Write 10 hook variants for [CONTENT_TOPIC] formatted for [CONTENT_FORMAT]. Each hook must use a distinctly different psychological trigger, be usable as-is, and be under 15 words. RULES: • Each hook must use a genuinely different psychological mechanism — not the same approach with different words • Every hook must be specific to the topic — generic viral hooks ("You'll never believe this...") are disqualified • Include the psychological trigger label with each hook so the creator understands what they're testing • At least 2 hooks must be counterintuitive — they go against what the audience would expect the answer to be • Mark which 3 you predict will perform best for this specific audience and explain why CONSTRAINTS: Maximum 15 words per hook. Plain language — no em-dashes as filler, no "I" as the opener. Each hook must be truthful — the content must deliver on whatever the hook implies. EDITABLE VARIABLES: • [CONTENT_TOPIC] — the specific topic or insight the content covers • [CONTENT_FORMAT] — video title, thread hook, article headline, email subject, post opener • [TARGET_AUDIENCE] — who this content is for (platform, demographics, knowledge level) • [CONTENT_CORE_INSIGHT] — the single most surprising or valuable thing in the content OUTPUT FORMAT: 10 Hooks, each with: — Hook: [text, ≤15 words] — Trigger: [psychological mechanism] — Platform fit: [best platform for this hook style] Top 3 Predictions (with audience-specific reasoning) Hook to avoid (and why) QUALITY BAR: A creator should be able to use any of these hooks without editing — and should understand exactly why each one works differently from the others.