117: The Secret to Stronger Instagram Hooks (part 1)
If your brain feels a little overloaded right now, you are absolutely not alone. So many business owners are trying to keep up with content, trends, and algorithms while also running their actual business, life, and family. And I think a lot of us are over-complicating Instagram.
This is part one of a mini series on hooks, messaging, and what's working on Instagram right now.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
01:46 How speaking at Social Media Marketing World in Anaheim and the Wedding Show Producers International Conference came directly from consistent Instagram content
04:31 Why hooks are the #1 thing entrepreneurs are struggling with right now
05:26 What a hook actually is and why it's not manipulation or clickbait
06:48 The biggest hook mistake business owners are making in 2026: being too vague
07:17 A real before-and-after hook example: from generic to scroll-stopping
08:44 The four things strong hooks do: create curiosity, speak to pain points, challenge beliefs, and create emotional resonance
10:35 The questions you're asking about your content that are actually distractions
11:02 Why messaging (not camera quality or editing) is what changes your results
11:30 Hot Reels client Cathy: how one hook-driven reel hit 20,000 views in 24 hours
13:13 A teaser for next week: the four places you need to be hooking your audience (it's not just the text on screen)
14:38 Your homework: audit your last 9 posts for hook specificity
Key Takeaways:
- Vague hooks are dead in 2026. "Three fitness tips for busy moms" doesn't stop anyone. Specific, visual, emotionally resonant hooks do. The more specific you are, the more your ideal person feels like you're speaking directly to them.
- Strong hooks do one of four things: create curiosity, speak to a pain point, challenge a belief, or create emotional resonance. If your hook isn't doing at least one of these, it needs a rewrite.
- Messaging is the variable, not production quality. Better camera settings, fancier editing, and more posting frequency are distractions. The question to ask is: are the words I'm choosing activating my ideal client?
- Write for a cold audience. If a total stranger can read your hook and immediately know who it's for and what problem it solves — you've nailed it. If they can't, it's too vague.
- Content that works creates opportunities. Elizabeth landed the Social Media Marketing World main stage and the Wedding Show Producers International Conference — not by pitching, but by consistently showing up with strategic content on Instagram.
- Messaging compounds over time. Hot Reels client Cathy helped sober moms reclaim their strength, posted one hook-driven reel using a trending content idea from the group, and hit 20,000 views in under 24 hours.
Links Mentioned:
- Free DM Automation Guide + 1 Month of ManyChat Free:DM me the word LEADS on Instagram @elizabethmarberry
- Hot Reels (my 12-month Instagram content lab)
FAQs
What is an Instagram hook? A hook is the first few seconds of your reel — or the first slide of your carousel — designed to stop someone from scrolling and make them want to keep watching or reading. It's not clickbait. It's strategic messaging that helps the right person immediately recognize that your content is for them.
Why are vague hooks a problem in 2026? Instagram users are scrolling through content competing with news, memes, entertainment, and celebrity posts. A vague hook like "three fitness tips for busy moms" gives no reason to stop. A specific hook like "steal my 20-minute morning workout I do before my three kids wake up" creates curiosity, paints a picture, and speaks to an exact pain point — in under five seconds.
What makes a hook specific? Specificity comes from clear identifiers — the who, the what, the when, the how long. Instead of "a workout for moms," say "a 20-minute workout for moms of three." Instead of "tips for growing on Instagram," say "how I went from 500 to 5,000 followers in 90 days without paid ads." The details are what make people feel seen.
How do I know if my hooks are working? Go look at your last nine posts. Ask yourself: if a total stranger who has never heard of me saw this hook, would they instantly know who it's for and what problem it solves? If the answer is no — your hook is too vague.
What are the four things strong hooks do? Strong hooks do at least one of the following: create curiosity, speak directly to a pain point, challenge a belief or assumption, or create emotional resonance that makes someone feel deeply seen.
What is Hot Reels? Hot Reels is Elizabeth Marberry's 12-month Instagram content lab for small business owners. Inside the program, Elizabeth shares a trending content idea every single week with exact hook formulas so you can implement it immediately for your unique business.
A Truth You Need to Hear:
"Hooks are not about manipulation. They're about helping the right people stop scrolling long enough to realize your content is for them."
S3 Ep117 Transcript - The Secret to Stronger Instagram Hooks (part 1)
00:00
Before we jump into today's episode, I just wanna say if your brain feels a little overloaded right now, you're absolutely not alone. I feel like so many business owners are trying to keep up with content, trends, algorithms, while also running their actual business, life, family, all of it. And that's why I wanted to make this episode is I think a lot of us are over-complicating Instagram right now.
00:25
And sometimes the thing that makes the biggest difference when it comes to your Instagram content is not constantly turning out more content and posting more. It's improving the first few seconds of what you're already creating. And that is your hooks, right? Your ability to make the right person, your ideal client or customer stop scrolling and actually care. So this is the beginning of a short little mini series on hooks, messaging and what's working.
00:53
On Instagram right now, I think it's gonna help you to create stronger content without feeling like you need to completely reinvent your strategy. And I'm so excited to share this with you. Let's go. Welcome to Strut It, a podcast about creating bold visibility on social media with zero apologies.
01:14
I'm Elizabeth Marberry, your host and Instagram marketing coach. I help small business owners get seen on Instagram and monetize their offers so they can make more money doing their sole lead work. If you're tired of spinning your wheels on Instagram and you're seeking simple, proven Instagram marketing strategies that actually work, you're in the right place. Let's dive in.
01:46
Welcome back to the show. Thank you as always for joining me. I am a fresh off the airplane after two weeks of travel. I spent a week in Anaheim, California, speaking at social media marketing world on the main stage. What an incredible honor and experience to be on a stage and teach a room full of experienced marketers. Like, wow, that was definitely a career moment for me. And I'm so grateful to.
02:13
social media examiner and Michael Stelzner for trusting me with their stage. And what's really cool about that story is that they found me, they recruited me to be a speaker on Michael Stelzner's podcast and then eventually be invited to his conference. And it was all about my content doing the hard work for me. And I didn't have to pitch anyone, right? I landed the opportunity because I've been so consistent, because I've been showing up week after week, month after month.
02:42
really serving my audience. It's just incredible what you can really create and manifest in your life and your business when you are strategic about showing up consistently and really staying in your lane and your niche and becoming a thought leader and an expert in your space, right? And I know it's kind of weird to kind of call yourself an expert in a way. Like a lot of us are like, well, I'm not an expert, but it really is that thing of just like owning the lane that you're in, owning.
03:09
that lived experience, your story, your offering, how you can help your ideal people. And it's all thanks to Instagram. It's all thanks to the content that I've been able to produce that has really led me to these big opportunities in my business and my life. So if I can do it, you can do it too. After I returned home from California, I was home for a couple of days with my kids, which was amazing. Shout out to my husband for just being the best hubby ever and partner.
03:36
holding down the fort when I was gone. I hopped back on a plane and spent a week in the Bahamas. I know, don't feel sorry for me. I was in Nassau and I was speaking at the Wedding Show Producers International Conference. That was a totally incredible experience, totally different vibe. I went from like rooms of thousands of people at Social Media Marketing World to a room of 30 intimate people at this conference, which was actually super nice. So grateful to Manifest.
04:05
these dream gigs. mean, just three or four years ago, I was dreaming of speaking on big stages and here I am. So again, if I can do this, you can do it too in terms of what is that vision? What is that dream on your heart? If you see it, it's for you. Just keeping those small actions and I'll be rooting for you. So today I'm kicking off a little mini series about hooks because honestly, this is one of the biggest things I see.
04:31
business centers, entrepreneurs, creators struggling with right now on Instagram. And that is that they're maybe posting consistently, somewhat consistently. They're trying really hard in their content. They're putting time into it, but the content just isn't landing. And I know that that can just feel so defeating and you're just like, when you look at your analytics and the views are low and engagement feels flat and no one's commenting or sending you DMs.
04:58
I have been there so many times, so I know exactly that feeling. When I've been in that place or when my clients get into that place, one of the things we always go back to is really looking at their hooks, looking at those first three seconds of their reel, right, of that short form video, or if it's a carousel post, what is on that first slide? How are we hooking the attention of people?
05:26
because it's so important. And before we get into really what hooks are working on Instagram right now, I want to say something that, you know, when we think about a hook, it's not about manipulation or like clickbait. Sometimes I feel like people have resistance around hooks in terms of it just feels like ingenuine for them, like not authentic. But remember, hooks are about helping the right people to stop.
05:56
scrolling long enough to realize that your content is for them, right? That's it. And the reality is we are living in an attention economy, you know, and your content is not just competing against other business owners or people in your niche. It's competing against, you know, memes and news and entertainment and celebrity content and like...
06:20
Right, like literally just endless scrolling. You people come on these apps to be entertained. They come on these apps to unplug or feel that sense of belonging, right? At Social Media Marketing World, my friend and colleague, Shannon McKinstry, did her keynote and she was talking about that we're in this loneliness pandemic. And it's true. It's like, it's still a thing. Like people are coming onto these apps to connect. And so your content has seconds to make someone care, right? And it has
06:48
mere seconds to make that person on the other side of the phone feel seen and understood. One of the biggest mistakes I see business owners making right now is creating hooks that are way too vague. So an example of a vague hook might be three fitness tips for busy moms. So that kind of hook is very dead right now on Instagram. That is not going
07:17
to stop the scroll, it's not gonna capture attention, it's gonna get lost in the mix. And then all of that effort you put into creating your video or your carousel, it sucks, right? No one sees it and you're left feeling frustrated. So instead of a general hook like that, a general message, an example of a hook that would be more compelling would be steal my 20 minute morning workout I do before my three kids wake up.
07:45
So you can hear in that hook how much more specific it is, right? I say, steal my, are the first two words. Right there, those two words are kind of a pattern interrupt. Like, wait, steal, like I'm not supposed to steal, right? And then I say, my 20 minute morning workout. Okay, so think about how specific that is. I'm not just saying a fitness tip. I'm saying this is a 20 minute morning workout. So I know the amount of time, I know the amount of the length of the workout. I know when I'm gonna do it.
08:15
And I painted a clearer picture of I do before my three kids wake up. So now you're imagining a mom who is so busy. She has three kids. She wants to work out. She doesn't know how she's going to fit it in. And this person saying, hey, I already put together this 20 minute workout. I'm giving it to you here in this content. That is content that you're going to save. That's content that you are going to follow that person for because you got something in return as the consumer. So you can hear.
08:44
If you were a fitness coach for moms, how much more specific that hook is than three fitness tips for busy moms. So when I say, I want you to be really specific in your messaging, that is what I'm talking about. So when you're designing your hook, I want you to think of a few things. Strong hooks usually do one of a few things. Number one, they create curiosity, right? So that example I just gave like,
09:12
Oh my gosh, what is a 20 minute workout? I can fit in. I'm curious. Well, what does that even look like? They speak directly to a pain point. So in that hook example, the pain point is I have three kids. I don't know when I'm gonna have time to work out. Another thing that hooks do is they challenge a belief, right? Maybe the belief is I have three kids, I'm busy. I don't have time to work out. They create emotional resonance.
09:39
Right? Or they make someone feel deeply seen. So it kind of depends on the hook and the content type, of course, but because people are scrolling so quickly, they will stop when they emotionally connect to something. So the emotional or entertaining piece are really those two things that are really driving resonance on the platform right now. And it allows your...
10:05
ideal follower to really connect with you and wanna give you that follow. So my support to you today is when you feel like you are over complicating your content or you're overthinking, you're kind of stuck in that place of overthinking, remember it comes back to asking yourself the right question. And the right question is not, Elizabeth, do I need a better camera? Or what are the settings in my iPhone to ensure I have better camera quality?
10:35
A lot of those questions are just distractions, right? Or Elizabeth, why, you I'm posting but I'm not getting more followers. Like, why am I not getting followers? Or how do I do this really fancy editing technique? Because if I did this editing technique, then my content would perform better. Nine out of 10 times those questions are distractions and they're not the right question. The question you should be asking yourself is,
11:02
is my messaging, the words I'm choosing, are they activating my target audience, my ideal client or customer? That's what hooks are. Effective hooks are messaging that really magnetizes your ideal people. Inside of Hot Reels, my 12-month Instagram content lab, which is my group coaching program, this is something we work on constantly because messaging changes everything.
11:30
And literally just yesterday, one of my Hot Reels clients, Cathy, she helps sober moms who think that, okay, I just got sober. I'm going to feel amazing. I'm going to have all this energy and I'm going to feel vibrant again. And she shares that that wasn't her experience when she became sober.
11:51
She was exhausted. She just felt very disconnected from herself. She didn't feel strong in her body. And so she now helps sober moms really reclaim their strength in their body and in the foods that they're feeding themselves and supporting them through that transition so they can really live their best life. Right. And so Kathy took a content idea that I shared inside of our Hot Rails group literally yesterday.
12:19
She posted it and within 24 hours, her reel is already at over 20,000 views. And it's really the first reel she's had take off like this. And it was so fun to celebrate this because every week in our group, I share a specific trending content idea and I teach my people like exactly how to use it, how to adjust it for your unique messaging and your business.
12:43
And it's the first reel she's had pop off. it wasn't because she suddenly became an expert video editor overnight, right? It was messaging. It was positioning. was understanding hooks and how to leverage trends in a way that it aligns with your business and your visibility goals. And that's why this matters so much. Another thing that I think a lot of business owners misunderstand about this idea of hooks is that when we think of hooks, you think of only the text
13:13
at the beginning of a reel that's on the screen. And that's actually not true, right? That is one form of a hook. But there's actually four different places that I am actively hooking people when it comes to the content that I'm posting. And next week, I'm going to break down all four of these places where you need to be hooking your audience with your content.
13:40
and it's going to blow your mind. So yes, this is a little teaser for next week, but once you understand how all four of these elements work together, your content becomes dramatically more engaging and memorable. I'm also going to be sharing more about how I'm using AI or Tadgbt or Claude to strategically reverse engineer and improve hooks without losing my brand personality and without it sounding like
14:09
you know, AI fluff that's just, you know, sounds like everyone else's. Because AI can absolutely support your content creation process, but only when you really know how to use it strategically and use it as a thought partner while you are still in the thought leader seat. So I want you to take a look at your content, look at the last nine pieces of content you've posted on your feed and ask yourself, are these hooks general or are they specific?
14:38
If I don't know you, if I'm a total cold audience, can I read that hook and know exactly who it's for or a pain point that I'm specifically struggling with and really use those clear identifiers? Like in that hook example I shared earlier, I said, steal my 20 minute morning workout I do before my three kids wake up. So there's some keywords in there, right? Morning workout.
15:06
three kids, so all of a sudden, let's say it's a video of a mom working out, you're connecting these dots of this is for moms who want to work out, they have kids, they're trying to fit this in, right? So I don't need to know you, I don't need to know anything about your business, all of that messaging in the video is crystal clear to me, so within two, three seconds, I know exactly who it's for and who it's not for, right?
15:31
That is what I want you to do with your content. Go look at your last nine posts and see if a total cold audience could resonate with your content. And if you're looking at your hooks and you realize, okay, this is a huge issue for me. I'm still trying to refine my messaging, get really specific, really paint those pictures and put in clear identifiers. I'm just not sure how to do it. I invite you to check out Hot Reels, my 12 month Instagram content lab. Really the point of that program is,
15:58
to teach you how to become masterful at creating short-form video that will absolutely stop the scrolls. You can grow your following, your audience, but also drive actual leads and sales to your business. You can find out more about Hot Reels by going to ElizabethMarberry.com. That's M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y.com slash hot, or you can DM me on Instagram. Make sure you're following me over there at ElizabethMarberry, M-A-R-B-E-R-R-Y.
16:27
Give me a follow so I get the message. But if you DM me the keyword hot, H-O-T, my gorgeous robot assistant will send you over the link to learn about this program. But there's lots of different elements. There's live coaching in there with me every single month so you can ask me questions about your specific business. And I share a trending content idea in our group every week. And I've had so many of my clients have reels pop off after just running with and implementing.
16:56
the content I share with them every week. So I would love to see you inside of the program. And if you have questions, remember my DMs are always open. I'm here to support you in doing your soul led work. Like that's why I'm here. I want you to build the business and life of your dreams. I'm rooting for you always. And make sure you've subscribed to the show. You're following the show so you can know when I drop that episode next week of the four different hooks that you need to be leveraging in your content. It's gonna be so good.
17:24
and I cannot wait to strut it with you next week. Thank you for listening to strut it. If you're ready to start leveraging Instagram to grow your business, then you're gonna wanna grab my free monetize your IG guide, where you'll learn seven simple and proven ways to finally make money on Instagram. You can grab your guide at elizabethmarberry.com slash freebies. That's elizabethmarberry.com.
17:53
to get my monetize your IG guide. If you got some incredible value from today's episode, be sure to leave a review and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. And I cannot wait to start it with you again next week.
