social-post-craft git:20260901.b973f20A

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---
name: social-post-craft
description: Writes, structures, and evaluates social posts end to end — hooks, body, formatting for how each platform renders, and a quality check before publishing. Use this to draft a post, rewrite one that underperformed, turn a longer piece into social content, sharpen an opening, or judge whether a draft is worth publishing.
---

# Social post craft

## The hook decides everything

Most posts are lost in the first line, before any of the substance is reached. The opening has one
job: make continuing feel more attractive than scrolling.

Openings that work:

- **A specific claim with a number** — concrete beats clever.
- **A stated tension** — two things the reader believes that cannot both be true.
- **A named mistake** — especially one the reader is probably making.
- **An outcome, before the method** — the result first, the how afterward.

Openings that do not: a question the reader can answer "no" to, a definition, throat-clearing about
why the topic matters, and anything beginning "In today's world."

Write the hook last, after you know what the post actually says. Written first, it commits you to a
post you have not thought through.

## Structure

One idea. A post carrying two ideas gets remembered for neither.

Then: hook, the turn (why the obvious view is incomplete), the substance (specific, ideally
first-hand), and the landing — a conclusion, not a request for engagement.

Cut the first two lines of your draft. They are almost always warm-up.

## Formatting is not cosmetic

Line breaks control pace and determine what is visible before the "see more" fold. On every major
platform, the visible portion is one to three lines — everything about whether the post is read is
decided there.

Short paragraphs. One thought per line for emphasis. No walls. Emphasis carried by structure, since
most platforms strip formatting.

## Check before publishing

- Is the first line strong enough alone, with no context?
- Does it survive the fold — is the visible part a complete enough thought to earn expansion?
- One idea, or two?
- Is anything in it specific to you? A post anyone in your field could have written performs like
  it.
- Would you send this to one person you respect? If not, do not send it to everyone.

A draft that fails these gets rewritten, not published with a caveat.

## Never

- Publish a post whose first line only works after the reader expands it.
- Reuse one format across platforms unchanged. Line breaks and truncation differ, and the post breaks in ways the composer does not show you.
- Post a link without deciding whether the platform suppresses them.