The 101s Of Creating Great Content
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Author: Lucy Hunter, Social Media Coordinator at UMM
70% of viewers decide to stay or scroll within 3 seconds, attention is either captured or lost almost immediately.
UMM, a social media agency breaks down what you should actually be posting: strong hooks, a distinct brand voice, and consistent output, all driven by a clear strategy for what to post, where, and when to show up.
I’m going to hold your hand when I say this: your content isn’t underperforming because of budget or editing — it’s failing because it’s not giving people a reason to stop. As a social media agency, we see this constantly. With short-form delivering the highest ROI right now, “good enough” isn’t enough anymore.
I know. A hard pill to swallow, but stay with me.
Think about the last time you stopped scrolling. It wasn’t super polished visuals or perfect copy — it was something in the first three seconds that made you pause. A hook, a question, a moment that made you think “wait, what?”
That’s what great content comes down to: winning that split-second decision between scrolling past or sticking around.
HOOK, LIKE AND SINKER
You’ve got three seconds. That’s it. Research confirms that in over 70% of cases viewers decide whether to keep watching or scroll in that time — and content that holds attention here can more than double its reach.
“Am I the a$#hole for telling my mother-in-law she won’t be seeing my baby after throwing herself a baby shower?”
@unspecifiedinfluencer No because i would NEVER let her near my child after this #aitastorytime #aita #aitastory #aitastories #redditstorytime #familydrama #milstories #mildrama ♬ original sound – unspecifiedinfluencer
What a sentence. I bet you probably paused. Or at least formed an opinion.
That’s the point. It works because it’s provocative, personal, and incomplete, your brain is begging for the rest. That’s what strong hooks do: they interrupt, spark curiosity, and force a stop before the scroll continues.
Take for example our latest Slim Solar+ Campaign for Logitech, we’ve used a provocative “hook” as our campaign. Creators reacted to the “outrage” of a charger not being included — but that’s actually the point. It doesn’t need one.
@gabbiwhipps HELLO this is my dream because I always forget to charge everything. I needed a new Keyboard for my iPad and this one is perfffff @Logitech ♬ original sound – gabbi whipps
We used this distinct moment — those three seconds of disbelief — not just to hook audiences, but to sell the product instantly: you will never need a charger, because it charges itself.
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Whatever hook you pick, the rule is the same: you’ve got the first line, the first frame, and only three seconds, so make it count, because after that, the real work begins.
DON’T SOUND LIKE EVERYONE ELSE
You can have the best hook in the world, but, like I said before, once those three seconds are over, that’s on you. You need to create a voice that keeps the audience watching and coming back for more.
Companies with strong brand voices see customers correctly identify their content 3.5x more often than brands with generic messaging. That’s the difference between building an audience and just accumulating views.
Take Nitro Bar, for example. Small businesses often feel like their content has to talk about their products all day—but Nitro Bar does the opposite.
Instead of posting the usual “come try our coffee,” they open with questions like “What’s your controversial take on coffee?”. Punchy and provocative, they focus on staff opinions over the product. “Lemonade should have espresso in it” stops people — and starts a conversation.
@thenitrobar lemonade with espresso. ok ok ok. 👀🫣 #coffeetok #supportsmallbusiness #providenceri #newportri #rhodeisland #nitrocoldbrew #rhodeisland #lemonade #icedcoffee #coffeelover ♬ original sound – The Nitro Bar
Similarly, our work for Raw C leaned into a distinctly Australian larrikin voice, grounded, nostalgic and unmistakably local. We stepped away from the usual “jump higher, reach further” positioning and into something far more relatable, everyday Aussie attitude that reflects the brand at its core.
@naturalrawc These are words to live by… 😩 We’ve got you, @jamiemarinos_. 🫶 #Rawsome #MAFS ♬ original sound – Married At First Sight
The goal isn’t to sound like everyone else in this saturated market. It’s to sound so specifically like yourself that your audience could pick your content out of a lineup. That’s what a strong voice does, and exactly what we as a social media agency love to build.
But voice alone isn’t enough. You need to understand your audience and use analytics and metrics to guide what works. It’s not simple enough to boil down to a couple of sentences, but it’s where real improvement happens, and usually worth a proper chat with us.
CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY
Just like a skincare routine or the gym, great content is not built on one viral moment. It is built on consistency.
Brands that post 2–5 times per week on TikTok can see up to 17% more views per post, while those posting 10+ times weekly on Instagram can reach follower growth rates of around 0.66%. It is not just hooks or voice alone. It is commitment. Showing up consistently and sticking with it.
@sociallyspeakingmedia How often should you post on Instagram?👀 #instagramgrowth #instagramgrowthtips #instagramgrowthtip #instagramgrowthhacks #instagramgrowthhack ♬ original sound – Socially Speaking Media
Nitro Bar and Raw C did not win with one post. They won by repeating what works. And while that sounds simple, it rarely is. That is where a social media agency comes in.
SO WHERE TO FROM HERE?
Well, that’s really the 101 of creating great content. But if you were hoping that was everything there is to know, we wish it were that simple. Content moves fast. Hooks change, trends evolve, platforms shift. What doesn’t change is the importance of strong fundamentals. Get those right, and you’re already ahead of the others. And if you’d rather not learn the hard way, chat to us as we’re always here to help.
