Free 4-page guide

The Hook Formula

Ran 36 top-performing Instagram Reels through Hookem across 9 creators. Here's what the data shows about why some hooks hit millions — and most don't.

Free 4-Page Guide

Ran 36 top-performing Instagram Reels through Hookem across 9 creators. Here's what the data shows about why some hooks hit millions — and most don't.

What's inside

The score threshold every 1M+ view video hits in the first 3 seconds
The 6 hook formulas that dominate high-view content — with real examples
The 5 dimensions Hookem uses to score any hook before you post
The 6 top-performing videos from the dataset with hooks broken down

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01
What You Get
The score threshold every 1M+ view video hits in the first 3 seconds
The 6 hook formulas that dominate high-view content — with real examples
The 5 dimensions Hookem uses to score any hook before you post
The 6 top-performing videos from the dataset with hooks broken down
02
The Details

What's inside

36 videos. 9 creators. View counts from 135K to 12.6M. Every post was transcribed, scored, and broken down by Hookem across five hook dimensions.

One pattern appeared in every video that crossed 1 million views. This guide documents what that pattern is, the formulas that produce it, and how to apply it before you film.

You also get the 6 top-performing videos from the dataset with their hooks broken down — and links to watch them.

Who this is for

Developers 2–5 years in who haven't shipped for themselves yet
Builders who have ideas and skills but want to understand what makes content land
Engineers who follow indie builders and think — why not me

About the author

Jonathan is a software engineer at Amazon, building Hookem — an AI tool that analyses what makes content go viral — alongside his day job.

Every product decision is documented in public. These guides are the written version of that process.

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