Ever open your phone to write a post and suddenly forget how to form sentences?

Same.

You’ve got ideas. You know what you want to say. But then, somehow, you’re stuck staring at the blinking cursor, thinking, “Does this sound like ChatGPT wrote it?”

Let us introduce you to one of our favourite little writing hacks: the 1:3:1 method, which will not only help you to get words onto the screen, but it'll also make them easier for your audience to read (and enjoy)

What is the 1:3:1 method?

It’s a simple yet effective way to improve the flow of your writing, and more importantly, make it more engaging to read.

Here’s how it works:

• Start with a short, punchy sentence (typically this is your hook)
• Follow it up with a longer paragraph of 3 sentences.
• Finish with another short sentence.
• Repeat

That’s it. One. Three. One.

It works because variety is what keeps your reader’s brain engaged. When everything’s the same length, it becomes monotone and boring to read. But when you switch things up, it naturally pulls people in.

Want to see it in action?

This email was written about the 1:3:1 framework, using the 1:3:1 method (meta much?)

I was reminded of a brilliant writing framework this week.
It's a way to speed up writing. Keep it interesting. And make it easier to read.
See what happened there?
One sentence to start. Then three short ones in a paragraph. That rhythm gives it a nice pace and keeps the reader moving down the screen.
Then we did it again when explaining what it is. And again when pointing it out. And again when showing how it works on social too.
(You’re spotting it now, aren’t you?)

Why it’s perfect for social media managers

Let’s be honest, most people are scrolling social media to fill small snippets of time. And there's a lot to look at, photos, videos, carousels…

If your post doesn’t look easy to read, they won’t.

The 1:3:1 format gives your posts a natural scannability. No dense walls of text. No long paragraphs that are hard to read.

Just easy to consume content.

You can use this for captions, emails, blog intros, LinkedIn posts. We’ve used it in this blog!

Want to try it?

For your next post, try writing in this structure:

1. One short sentence to grab attention.
2. A 3-sentence paragraph to explain or expand.
3. Another short sentence to round it off.
4. Repeat through the whole post.

See how it feels. Notice how much faster you write. Hear how much better it sounds when you read it out loud.

And if it works for you, we’d love to know!

P.S. There's a whole bunch of one-liner hooks to get you started here.