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You don't have your face on-screen, so it is incredibly important to get your audience to pay attention to your faceless Instagram reel in the first three seconds.
If you can hook them quickly, you will get the scroll-to-stop and they'll watch-all-the-way-through. But what is a great hook? How do you hook them without having your face in the video?
Well, today I have 10 hooks you can use in your faceless Instagram reels to boost your engagement and build your audience.
1. "5 Things You Must Do Before Posting Your Reel"
Why It Works: This hook makes the audience feel like they are falling behind on creating their reels. They want to know if they are missing out.
How to Do It: A ‘5 Things You Must Do Before Posting Your Reel’ title card or text overlay to start your reel; a tight list after this initial hook, or explain the post in the caption of your reel, almost acting as a mini blog post.
Example Answer:
Optimize your hashtags.
Choose the right cover image.
Add engaging captions.
Ensure the timing is between 3-7 seconds.
Post at the optimal time.
2. "Struggling with Low Reel Views? Do This!"
What It Does: This hook addresses a frequent pain point for creators – low views – and offers up an answer to this problem within the clip.
How to do it: Use bold text or a graphic to shine a light on the problem and provide direct, useful instruction on how to improve their Reel views.
Example Answer:
‘STUCK WITH LOW REEL VIEWS? GO TO YOUR FOLLOWERS’ POSTS AND INTERACT WITH THEM 15 MINUTES BEFORE AND AFTER POSTING YOUR REEL, YOUR ENGAGEMENT WILL BE MUCH HIGHER BY THE ALGORITHM’
3. "Top 3 Mistakes You're Making in Your Reels"
Why It Works: The hook taps a universal desire: getting good information to avoid screwing up.
How to do it: Make a list of the mistakes, write them relatively quickly, and then proceed to address them one by one, briefly with some graphic help: ie, either animation or a text overlay, or both.
Example Answer:
Using the wrong music and too long a clip.
Ignoring trending topics.
Not adding captions.
4. "How to Make Your Reel Go Viral in 30 Seconds"
Why it works: The hook combines two things – a promise of quick, easy advice on how to do something, and the idea that they can get big results with this information.
How to do it: Start with a punchy intro, then fire some tips in a list or step-by-step format in the caption.
Example Answer:
‘Tip for going viral! Use the hottest sounds, keep your Reels itty-bitty, and answer everything in the comments! ❤️’
5. "The Secret to Capturing Attention in the First 3 Seconds"
Why It Works: ‘If the first two seconds of your Reel doesn't hook them, no one will watch.’ This type of reel easily gets viewers ‘hooked’ - it makes them think are they missing something in their reels.
How to do it: Show them what a strong opening looks like, then give them a handful of techniques they can use. Provide examples of openings that do and don’t work, or use a split-screen format to compare the difference.
Example Answer:
Get viewers immediately with a head-turning statement, a question they can't ignore - make it personal - make it relatable, or a striking visual!
6. "Why Your Reels Aren't Getting Likes (And How to Fix It)"
Why It Works: Tapping into a widespread frustration – that people are not paying attention – and offering solutions makes this hook useful and relevant.
Here’s how to do it: Put the issue at the top; give practical tips beneath the text; make the info graphic and sidebar informative – creating a layered account of the issue to challenge and keep your reader on the page in the caption.
Example: ‘No likes? Up your content game and engage your audience with -
Use sounds that are popular or trending. This makes your reels more discoverable and favoured by the algorithm.
No one is watching your reels all the way through. Viewing length is one of the primary ranking factors. To increase this, create content with compelling hooks that pull viewers throughout the reel and keep them between 3-7 seconds.
You are posting reels that aren't that great. Use a good camera or an iPhone to record high-quality videos. The quality of your reels is crucial for engagement.
You have a small following If you have less than around 100 followers, Instagram might not initially show your Reel far and wide until it has a better grasp on what kind of content you’re putting out. This is done in an effort to keep spammers at bay. Build your following organically by posting frequently. Be patient, put out great content and it'll happen.
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7. "3 Easy Tricks to Boost Engagement on Your Reels"
Why It Works: This hook promises to provide easy things for a creator to do immediately to advance their following and engagement, which is understandably appealing.
How to Do It: As each step is illustrated on screen or provide them in the caption. Maintain a fast pace in order to engage the viewer.
Example:
Use interactive stickers.
Post consistently.
Collaborate with other creators.
8. "How I Gained 1,000 Followers with One Reel"
Why It Works: People love hearing success stories, especially when those stories claim to detail the secret to overcoming some kind of adversity. The hook promises vital, tried-and-true info based on experience and knowledge, viewers will be hooked by this.
How to do it: Summarise the main takeaway of your success story in a short pitch, and then break down the steps. Visualise or write text for each step so it is easy to follow or relay the information in the caption.
Example Answer:
Choose a trending audio or sound that is currently popular and going viral – that way, your reel will stand a better chance of being seen through an audio’s popularity.
Create a hook or surprise at the beginning of your reel that makes it hard for people to leave without watching to the end. An open ending or twist makes your reel more likely to be shared and liked.
Give something to your audience - something they can implement fast and use to their advantage. Think of small ‘quick wins’ you can advise your audience can put into action right away.
Make sure you optimise your reel for visibility with hashtags, text overlays and captions (people often watch without sound).
Post your reel at an optimal time, when your followers are likely to be on the app. Posting at a time with less content might help your reel gain some early momentum.
9. "The Best Time to Post Your Reel for Maximum Views"
Why It Works: Sometimes, timing is everything – this is a great hook for a content creator, because it provides a clear action that can likely improve their posting time.
How to do it: Highlight this hook with large text and then provide a 'mini blog post' within the caption to increase watch time on your reel.
Example Answer:
‘Post at peak engagement times: morning, lunchtime, evening. Track your analytics to work out the best times for your audience! Use Metricool or Instagram insights to keep track of your peak engagement times’
10. "5 Content Ideas for When You're Stuck"
What Makes It Work: The smallest things can become the biggest headache for a content creator. This hook solves their problem or block that they're having and is therefore highly relevant to their needs.
How To Use It: Brainstorm your content ideas on screen really fast, with text and video showing each idea in detail. Keep the energy high and motivate users to use these examples as well.
Example Answer:
Behind-the-scenes look at your process.
Quick 5 tips related to your niche that solves a problem for your audience.
Share a personal story or journey that is relatable to your audience.
Respond to a trending challenge.
Showcase user-generated content or feedback from your audience if selling digital products.
Conclusion
If your Instagram reels lately seem a little too faceless, and this is causing a problem with connecting to your audience - perhaps providing hooks such as ‘No followers, no problem - here's why.’ ‘Want to become a better creator? Here are the most useful tips I found online, all in one place!’, or ‘Want to learn how to be a full-time digital marketer?' These are hooks that can ignite your engagement when you're thinking of the pain points and problems for your audience and offering creative solutions.
Just remember, it’s not about how many reels you create, it’s how many people see and engage with them. Figure out what your hooks are, monitor your analytics, and be patient with your process and determine what works best to keep your audience happy. Good luck!
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