TikTok Hook Ideas for Slideshows: 10 Patterns From 120 First Slides

The hook of a TikTok slideshow is the line on the first slide. In a photo post, that slide comes before all the others, so it decides whether people swipe on.

For the first 12 pages of our slideshow ideas by niche, we wrote 10 first-slide hooks per niche, 120 in all. This post sorts that bank into patterns, shows which patterns came up most, and gives examples you can adapt. It is a bank of ideas, not a ranking: we have no view counts that prove one pattern beats another.

Key Takeaways

• Ten patterns cover 83 of the 120 hooks: list, save prompt, comparison, story, mistake, how-to, checklist, myth versus fact, plan and routine.
• The hooks run from 2 to 10 words, and the median is 6.
• A hook is a promise. Pick the pattern that matches what your slides deliver.
• Keep the hook inside the safe area, away from TikTok's buttons and caption.

Why the First Slide Carries the Post

TikTok's help page on making a post says a photo post can hold up to 35 photos (checked on 2026-11-02). Every slide after the first one is seen only by people the first one convinced.

We found no TikTok page with hook guidance for photo posts. Its creative best practices for video ads come closest. That page says to introduce your proposition in the first 3 seconds and to put the hook in the first 6. For on-screen text, it recommends 5 to 10 words per second. At that pace a 6-word hook takes about a second to read, and a 20-word hook takes two to four seconds.

Those numbers are written for ads, so treat them as a guide for slides, not a rule.

What 120 Hooks Look Like

We tagged each hook in the bank with the pattern it uses. The bank has 35 patterns in total, but ten of them hold most of the hooks:

The other 37 hooks use rarer patterns, such as a before and after, a glossary or a tour. Ten hooks are in German, for the German deals page.

10 Hook Patterns With Examples

Each pattern below has examples from the bank and the reason we wrote them that way. Swap the niche words for your own.

1. List

• "3 gym habits that beat motivation" (fitness)
• "3 sauces that change a plain bowl" (food)
• "3 signs your onboarding is too long" (SaaS)

A number tells the reader how long the post is. Keep the number small and true: if the hook says 3, the post has 3.

2. Save prompt

• "Save this before your next gym session"
• "Save this for payday"
• "Save this for your next viewing"

The hook names a moment the reader will reach later. It only works when the slides are something people use at that moment, such as a checklist or a plan.

3. Comparison

• "Rest day vs lazy day: the difference"
• "Fresh pasta vs dried: when to use which"
• "Spreadsheet vs a tool: when to switch"

Two close options side by side make people place themselves. Give each option one slide, then a slide that says how to choose.

4. Story

• "What I would do if I started lifting again"
• "Mistakes we made on our first launch"
• "What I wish I knew before my first night train"

Advice from your own past sounds honest, not preachy. Only use it for something that really happened to you.

5. Mistake

• "Stop rinsing your pasta"
• "Stop skipping this step before foundation"
• "First-time buyer mistakes to avoid"

A warning makes the reader check their own habit. The second slide must give the reason, or the hook feels like a trick.

6. How-to

• "How to make lipstick last longer"
• "How to read your payslip"
• "How to export a report in 3 clicks"

Name one small, exact task. "How to cook better" is too wide; "how to make a salad that keeps you full" is a slideshow.

7. Checklist

• "Questions to ask before you sign a lease"
• "Before you buy a sofa"
• "Carry-on checklist"

A checklist is something to use at a decision, which gives people a reason to save it. Write each check as a question the reader can answer yes or no.

8. Myth versus fact

• "Gym myths beginners still believe"
• "Money myths to stop believing"
• "Skincare myths to drop"

People swipe to see whether they believe one of them. Put the myth and the fact on the same slide, and only use facts you can back up.

9. Plan

• "My 20-minute workout for busy days"
• "Split your pay into 3 pots"
• "Meal prep in 4 steps"

A time or a step count makes a big job look possible. The slides then follow the plan in order, one step per slide.

10. Routine

• "My 5-minute morning routine"
• "The warm-up I do before every session"
• "The question I ask before every big decision"

A routine is easy to copy because the reader can repeat it tomorrow. Show the steps in the order you really do them.

How to Pick and Write Your Hook

1. Write the slides first. You can only promise what the slides deliver.
2. Match the pattern to the slides. Three tips call for a list hook; one fix calls for a mistake or how-to hook.
3. Name your reader or their moment. "Money habits for your 20s" and "Save this for payday" both say who the post is for.
4. Cut to about 6 words. Remove words until the line still makes sense; the bank's longest hooks are 10 words.
5. Check the safe area. TikTok's creative guidance asks you to keep content "within the UI safe zone". That zone keeps the hook clear of the buttons and caption TikTok draws over the post. The TikTok slideshow size guide has the numbers, and the TikTok safe zone checker shows them on your own slide.

The carousel hooks guide covers the same idea for Instagram, with more on why a vague hook loses to a specific one. For whole post plans, not only first slides, see TikTok slideshow ideas. To turn these patterns into lines for your own topic, type it into the free TikTok hook generator. It fills common hook patterns with your topic and lists the hand-written hooks from every niche page, with no AI call.

Hooks to Avoid

• A promise the slides do not keep. If the hook says 5 and the post has 3, people notice.
• Claims you cannot back up. Avoid "the only", "guaranteed" and made-up numbers.
• Questions with an obvious answer. "Want to save money?" gives no reason to swipe.
• Long lines. A hook that wraps to four lines is hard to read in the time people give a slide.

Getting More Than One Hook to Choose From

Writing three versions of a hook and picking the best is a good habit, and it takes time. Wavegrain does this step as part of writing the slides. When you do not type your own hook, it writes up to two alternatives from different angles (a number, curiosity or a bold claim), sized to fit the cover. You switch between them on the first slide in the editor, or type your own. In a recurring automation, each new run is told the cover hooks of up to 12 of the series' most recent runs and asked for a fresh angle.