Social Media Writer

# Copywriting Frameworks

These are structural models that align copy with how the reader's mind processes a message: establish emotional contrast, expose a gap or dissonance, move from awareness to action. Pick by **funnel stage** and **awareness level** — do not default to one framework for everything.

## Contents

- Selection table (framework → funnel stage → cognitive lever)
- Foundational structures (AIDA, PAS, BAB, FAB)
- High-ticket / long-form structures (4Ps, AICPBSAWN, PASTOR, QUEST, ACCA)
- OATH: diagnosing awareness level first
- How to apply a framework to a post

---

## Selection table

| Framework         | Sequence                                                                                  | Primary cognitive lever                  | Best landing stage                                     |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| **AIDA**          | Attention → Interest → Desire → Action                                                    | Aspirational motivation & curiosity      | TOFU / discovery                                       |
| **PAS**           | Problem → Agitate → Solution                                                              | Loss aversion & threat escalation        | MOFU / problem-aware                                   |
| **BAB**           | Before → After → Bridge                                                                   | Contrast-driven visioning                | MOFU / solution-aware                                  |
| **FAB**           | Features → Advantages → Benefits                                                          | Utility & direct self-interest           | BOFU / product evaluation                              |
| **4Ps**           | Picture → Promise → Prove → Push                                                          | Authority, evidence, credibility         | BOFU / conversion                                      |
| **AICPBSAWN**     | Attention → Interest → Credibility → Proof → Benefits → Scarcity → Action → Warning → Now | Risk de-escalation + urgent scarcity     | BOFU / high-ticket                                     |
| **PASTOR**        | Problem → Amplify → Story/Solution → Testimonial → Offer → Response                       | Story + social proof before the ask      | Long-form sales                                        |
| **QUEST**         | Qualify → Understand → Educate → Stimulate → Transition                                   | Relationship-building + expert authority | Long sales pages / email sequences                     |
| **ACCA**          | Awareness → Comprehension → Conviction → Action                                           | Logical reasoning & conceptual alignment | B2B collateral                                         |
| **Story Circle**  | You → Need → Go → Search → Find → Take → Return → Change                                  | Complete character transformation arc    | Episode-length, transformation series, course launches |
| **Moral Premise** | [Vice] → Defeat / [Virtue] → Success                                                      | Thematic argument that earns the lesson  | Manifestos, brand mission content, series intros       |

---

## Foundational structures

### AIDA — Attention, Interest, Desire, Action

The classic direct-response blueprint; a linear psychological progression.

- **Attention** — a mechanism that disrupts the scroll (use a hook from `hooks.md`).
- **Interest** — fresh, contextual, relevant insight that answers the reader's curiosity or addresses their challenge.
- **Desire** — shift from features to _emotional benefits_: how the idea improves their life.
- **Action** — one clear, specific next step. Never multiple CTAs.

### PAS — Problem, Agitate, Solution

Leads with pain rather than aspiration; runs on loss aversion.

- **Problem** — name a specific, relatable problem.
- **Agitate** — intensify it: the compounding consequences and costs of leaving it unsolved.
- **Solution** — once tension peaks, present the solution as the single logical path to relief.

### BAB — Before, After, Bridge

Runs on cognitive contrast.

- **Before** — the reader's current frustrating reality.
- **After** — a vivid picture of life with the problem solved.
- **Bridge** — the product/idea as the path between the two states.

### FAB — Features, Advantages, Benefits

Answers "What's in it for me?" by converting technical characteristics into real-world advantages. Use when the reader is already evaluating a specific product.

---

## High-ticket / long-form structures

- **4Ps (Picture → Promise → Prove → Push):** paint the outcome, promise it, prove it with evidence/authority, then push to act. Strong for conversion content.
- **AICPBSAWN:** the maximalist direct-response stack for high-ticket sales — adds explicit Credibility, Proof, Scarcity, a Warning (cost of inaction), and Now (urgency). Use only when you have real proof and a real offer.
- **PASTOR:** expands PAS by embedding a Story and a Testimonial before the Offer and Response — social proof carries the sale.
- **QUEST:** filters for high-intent prospects (Qualify) and demonstrates empathy before the educational pitch — built for long pages and email sequences.
- **ACCA:** analytical sequence for B2B/institutional audiences that need logical proof (Comprehension → Conviction) before deciding.

### Dan Harmon's Story Circle (Dan Harmon, ~2009)

An 8-step compression of the monomyth, designed for tight, complete arcs. Maps to the movement between the "order" (conscious, comfortable) world and the "chaos" (unconscious, transformed) world and back.

```
1. YOU      — establish the protagonist and their status quo
2. NEED     — identify what they want (or unconsciously need)
3. GO       — they cross into unfamiliar territory
4. SEARCH   — they struggle and adapt
5. FIND     — they get what they were after
6. TAKE     — they pay the price for getting it
7. RETURN   — they bring it back to the old world
8. CHANGE   — they (and the world) are different
```

Best for: a series of videos where each episode is a complete arc (e.g. a Total 66 phase update, a HasBrainsAI "I tried X" format). Each episode should be able to stand alone AND serve the larger series arc.

Short-form compression: in a 60s video, compress steps 1–3 into the hook/hint (≤8s), 4–6 into the value section, 7–8 into the takeaway + CTA. The viewer experiences a complete emotional cycle.

### Moral Premise — Stan Williams

Not a sequence but a **thematic argument** that governs all character choices. The structural equation:

```
[Vice] leads to [Defeat], but [Virtue] leads to [Success].
```

Use when the content needs to earn its lesson — when the insight must _feel_ discovered rather than stated. The Vice must be presented as genuinely tempting and logical (the protagonist's Want). The Virtue must be hard-won (the protagonist's Need). The lesson only lands after the Vice has been tested and found wanting.

**Examples by channel:**

- HasBrainsAI: _Shipping fast without a spec leads to invisible debt, but defining before building leads to durable systems._
- Total 66: _Chasing the number leads to burnout, but trusting the process leads to transformation._

Use the Moral Premise as the invisible spine of a series or a manifesto-style video — never state it directly. Let the content _demonstrate_ it. If the premise is said aloud, it reads as preachy. If it's demonstrated through specific, concrete beats, it lands as insight.

---

## OATH — diagnose awareness before choosing tone

OATH (Oblivious → Apathetic → Thinking → Hurting) is not a copy structure but a **diagnostic** for where the audience sits, which then sets the framework and tone:

- **Oblivious** — doesn't know the problem exists → lead with education/curiosity (AIDA).
- **Apathetic** — knows but doesn't care → agitate the cost (PAS).
- **Thinking** — actively evaluating → contrast and prove (BAB, FAB, 4Ps).
- **Hurting** — feels the pain acutely, ready to act → direct offer with urgency (AICPBSAWN).

Run OATH first when the brief doesn't make the audience's awareness obvious.

---

## How to apply a framework to a post

1. Pick the framework from the funnel stage (table above).
2. Write the opening line as a **hook** (`hooks.md`) — the hook _is_ the Attention/Problem/Before step.
3. Build the body beat-by-beat through the framework's sequence, one idea per line for scannability.
4. End with a **single** clear CTA. For organic social, prefer a comment-keyword CTA over an external link (platforms penalize off-site links — see `creator-systems.md`).
5. In the EXPLANATION, name the framework + originator and state the funnel stage.

**Micro-example (PAS, LinkedIn, MOFU):**

- _Problem:_ "Your agents work in the demo and break in production."
- _Agitate:_ "Every silent failure is a 2am page and a customer who already left."
- _Solution:_ "Spec the failure modes before you write the agent. Here's the 3-part check I run."