Facebook ad hooks: how to write six kinds of first line

Say you sell a cast iron frying pan and you have to open its Facebook ad. Here are three first lines for it, each of a different kind. They are examples we wrote for this pan, not lines from any real ad.

• Example, a question: "How many frying pans have you thrown out?"
• Example, a price: "One frying pan for $45. No set of five."
• Example, a plain fact: "Heavy enough to hold its heat when the steak goes in."

Advertisers call that first line the hook: the first thing a person meets in your ad, and the reason to read on instead of scrolling past. In a video the hook is the first seconds.

We found no measured result for any kind of hook, so the kinds below come with no promise. You can check which ones last in your market by reading the ads that have run for months.

Facebook ad hook examples, six kinds

A Facebook ad hook is the picture and the first line of the primary text in a still ad, or the first seconds of a video. Six kinds of first line follow, with examples written for the same pan.

• A question. The first example above. Take it from your inbox and reviews, so it is one your buyers already ask.
• A price or an offer. The second example above. Lead with it only when the price is the reason people buy.
• A plain fact. The third example above. Use one fact a buyer can check on your product page.
• The problem in the buyer's words. Example: "A pan that warps on the hob is a pan you pay for twice." Find the words in reviews and support emails, as writing copy from what buyers say explains.
• A line from a review. Open on a sentence a buyer wrote, word for word, in quotation marks. This post invents no review, so it shows none. Ask the buyer first.
• A figure you can prove. Example: "Hob to oven to table in one 26 cm pan." Use a number only if your product page or orders back it.

Meta's help page on text generation lists, among its examples of effective text, a price, a figure, a quote from a review, a question and a feature of the product. They are examples, not results. Five of our six kinds appear there, and the problem in the buyer's words is our addition.

Where the hook sits in a Meta ad

Meta's help page on text in ads says primary text is the main copy above the picture or video, and the headline is the bold copy below it. A still ad is read as text, picture, headline, so the hook is the first line of the text and the picture.

A video adds the first seconds. Meta's tailored campaigns guidance says videos should capture attention and include key messaging or branding within the first 3 seconds.

The first line can be cut. Meta says text over the recommended length may be truncated, and recommends 125 characters of primary text on most placements. Put the hook before the cut, using the counts in the post on where the cut falls.

What is Facebook ad hook rate

Facebook ad hook rate is 3-second video plays divided by impressions, shown as a percentage. It is a convention among advertisers: the Meta pages we read that list video metrics contain no metric called hook rate, so you build it yourself. Guides also call it thumbstop rate.

Meta defines both halves. 3-second video plays counts the times a video played for at least 3 seconds, or 97 per cent of its length if it is shorter, and leaves out replays within one impression. Impressions count the times an ad was on screen, and Meta says a video does not have to start for an impression to count. The ratio therefore includes people for whom it never started.

A still ad has no hook rate, because a still has no plays to count.

To build it, Meta's page on custom metrics says you can create a metric in Ads Reporting from existing metrics and an operator such as division, in a Percentage format.

Guides print targets for a good hook rate and they differ. The Meta pages we read give none, so this post prints none.

Facebook ad headline examples

A Facebook ad headline is the bold line below the picture, a separate field from the primary text above it. Meta recommends 40 characters for it on most placements, and its ads guide lists 27 for Facebook Feed and 40 for Instagram Feed.

Four headlines for the same pan, each under 27 characters:

• Example, product and price: "Cast iron pan, $45"
• Example, the one promise: "Heavy enough to hold heat"
• Example, a question: "Still replacing pans?"
• Example, what the click does: "Shop the cast iron pan"

Our advice is not to repeat the first line in the headline. Meta's text generation page asks only that the primary text, headline and description work together and do not contradict each other.

How to check which hooks last in your market

Read the ads your competitors have kept running. The post on how to see competitors' Meta ads covers where the library is and how to tell how long each ad has run.

Meta's developer documentation describes an Ad Library ad's delivery start time as the date and time when an advertiser wants to start delivering it. An old date shows an ad set to begin long ago, not that it has run every day since.

Write each long-running ad's first line next to its kind. If most open on a price and none on a review line, you have found a habit of your market and a kind nobody uses. It shows habit, not results, because nobody outside the advertiser can see which ad sells.

Then test kinds against each other, not rewordings. Meta's page for small businesses says creative that is too similar may not be recognised as different and could reach the same audiences. The post on why Meta asks for different ads has more. When an ad that ran well starts costing more, check it for creative fatigue before you blame the hook.

Where hooks stop helping

A hook earns the next second. It does not repair an offer, a price or a page that disappoints. Write only lines you could prove if a buyer asked.

The six kinds are our sorting, not Meta's categories, and nobody has measured them here. A high hook rate means people watched three seconds, not that anyone bought.

Where Nomi picks the angle

Nomi settles the angle before it draws anything. Ask the strategist for a campaign and it reads your brand and the ads running in your market, then shows a card with the idea, the angle and the hook, and a prompt you can edit.