Stop starting your reels with 'Hey guys'

Three seconds. That's all you get.

That's the window between someone seeing your reel and deciding whether to keep watching or scroll past you forever. And most of you are torching that window with "Hey guys, welcome back" or "So today I wanted to talk about..."

You just told the algorithm to bury you.

A good hook does ONE of these things: stops the scroll with curiosity, makes a bold claim, gives a specific result, or names a problem your audience already has. That's it. Don't start with "I". Don't start with context. Don't be polite.

Bad: "5 tips to grow on Instagram"

Good: "I used to make my wife drop me off at Mexican restaurants so I could learn Spanish for Special Forces training"

One sounds like a Pinterest infographic. The other sounds like a person you actually want to listen to.

Go pull up your last 10 reels right now. Read the first 3 seconds out loud. If you wouldn't stop scrolling for it — rewrite it. Today. Not Monday. Not after you "research more." Today.

Drop your niche below and I'll give you 3 hook templates that actually work for it.

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