<p>The standard PAS formula—Problem, Agitate, Solve—is old. It feels manipulative now. It was built for newspaper ads and late-night infomercials. On social media, people scroll past your calculated tension. They see you trying to trick them into paying attention. This is why most of your content feels like noise.</p>
<p>You are a builder. You don't want to traffic in cheap psychological tricks. You want to show a clear solution to a real pain. You want systems that work, not fleeting viral tactics. The old PAS is linear. Social media is chaotic. We need a modern, builder-aligned version. We need to evolve the framework past mere agitation and into genuine resolution.</p>
<p>The Problem, Agitate, Solve structure needs a crucial, often-missing final step. We call it The PAS-to-Resolve Filter. It turns raw human pain into a predictable content strategy that drives action, not just awareness. This is how you stop building content that burns out and start building content that compounds.</p>
<p><em>If you are short on time, scroll to The Crisis-to-Clarity Builder section for a copy-paste tool.</em></p>
<h2>PAS social media marketing using the crisis-to-clarity filter for builders</h2>
<p>The standard PAS structure is too simple for a skeptical audience. When you stop at "Solve," you assume the user will take action. On social media, they won't. They just learned something interesting, which is not enough. You need to push them into a state of clarity and immediate application. This is the difference between a good tweet and a profitable business.</p>
<p>We are adding a fourth stage: <strong>Resolve (R)</strong>. The PAS-R Filter is a four-step sequence for every piece of content you ship: Problem, Agitate, Solve, Resolve.</p>
<h3>The P: Identify the hidden problem, not the obvious one</h3>
<p>Every founder talks about the surface-level pain. “Our software is too slow.” “Our team wastes time on spreadsheets.” This is boring. Everyone knows this. Your goal is to name the pain they haven’t articulated yet. The hidden cost. The emotional toll.</p>
<p>For example, if your product automates invoicing, the problem isn't “wasted time on billing.” The hidden problem is “the quiet fear that a missed invoice means you can't make payroll next month.” That is the hook. Builders respond to precision.</p>
<p><strong>Action:</strong> Go through your last 5 customer interviews. Look for the moment they sighed or cursed. That is the true Problem you should start with.</p>
<h3>The A: Agitate with inevitability, not exaggeration</h3>
<p>Traditional marketing tells you to make the problem sound worse than it is. This is cheap. Builders hate this. Agitation on social media is about showing the inevitable trajectory if they do nothing. It's gentle, quiet realism.</p>
<p>If you build an observability tool, don't say, “Your systems will crash.” Say, “The technical debt you ignore today will become a mandatory, all-hands Saturday deployment in six months. It's not a matter of if, but when.” This builds trust. You sound like you understand the system. You have permission to ignore the conventional advice that says you must be loud. Be precise instead.</p>
<p><strong>Action:</strong> Re-write your last three social posts. Replace hyperbolic adjectives (huge, massive, game-changing) with concrete timeframes or dollar amounts.</p>
<h3>The S: Solve with mechanical precision</h3>
<p>The Solve stage is where you introduce your solution—or the principle behind it. On social media, the solve must be satisfying. It needs to show the mechanism, not just the outcome. This is your chance to shine as a builder.</p>
<p>If you have an AI coding assistant, show the 3-line command that replaces 20 lines of boilerplate. Do not describe the “future of coding.” Show the friction disappearing. This is a small win they can achieve today. It proves you are competent. This principle is key to effective copywriting. You can read more about how to write marketing copy that converts <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-write-better-marketing-copy">here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Action:</strong> Find a 1-minute screencast of your product performing its core task. This video is the literal “Solve.” Use it everywhere for your <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/social-media-strategy-for-startups">social media strategy</a>.</p>
<h3>The R: Resolve with commitment and next steps</h3>
<p>This is the new stage. Resolution means tying the solution back to the user’s core motivation and giving them a single, clear next action. This prevents the “oh, that's neat” moment followed by a scroll away. The goal is to make them feel competent and capable again.</p>
<p>If your product helped a founder save 10 hours a week, the Resolve isn't “Sign up now.” It is: “Those 10 hours are now protected. You can use them to talk to three more customers this week. That is where growth comes from.” Then, the clear call to action: “Click the link below to protect your first 5 hours.” It reframes the sign-up as a personal commitment to their own growth <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/marketing-strategy-for-startups">strategy</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Action:</strong> Draft two versions of your call-to-action (CTA). One should be transactional (“Buy Now”). The second should be a commitment to a future state (“Commit to 10x Clarity”). Test the second one today.</p>
<h2>The Crisis-to-Clarity Builder</h2>
<p>The PAS-to-Resolve Filter turns a vague emotional appeal into a mechanical system for social media content. Use this prompt to outline the four parts of your next piece of content, ensuring you hit the critical Resolution step.</p>
<p><strong>Copy-Paste Prompt:</strong></p>
<p>Outline four social media posts using the PAS-to-Resolve (PAS-R) Framework for the product [YOUR PRODUCT].</p>
<p>The target audience is [YOUR TARGET CUSTOMER].</p>
<p>Focus on a specific pain point: [SPECIFIC PAIN POINT].</p>
<p>The output must detail P, A, S, and R for each post, keeping the voice sharp and concise.</p>
<p><strong>Example Output (Post 1):</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>P (Problem):</strong> Founders waste a full day every month compiling SaaS spend reports for their board.</li>
<li><strong>A (Agitate):</strong> That full day is not just lost money, it is lost momentum. It prevents you from asking the strategic “why.” You are stuck reporting the past instead of building the future.</li>
<li><strong>S (Solve):</strong> Our tool automatically categorizes and summarizes all SaaS subscriptions into a board-ready deck in 15 seconds.</li>
<li><strong>R (Resolve):</strong> Reclaim that mental bandwidth. Use the 8 hours you saved this month to find your next key hire. <a href="[Link]">Automate your board reports in under a minute.</a></li>
</ul>
<p>The Crisis-to-Clarity Builder is one of countless interconnected prompts in the LiftKit system, designed to give you strategic leverage immediately.</p>
<h2>FAQ</h2>
<h3>Q: How is the PAS-R Filter different from AIDA?</h3>
<p>A: AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) is focused on internal user psychology—how they feel. PAS-R is focused on external system failure and repair—what they must fix. On social media, where attention is scarce, AIDA takes too long. PAS-R gets straight to the pain and the fix. If you're comparing frameworks, PAS is generally better for shorter-form content, while AIDA can be adapted for longer landing page optimization strategies, as noted <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks/aida-social-media-marketing">here</a>.</p>
<h3>Q: Should I use this for all my social media content?</h3>
<p>A: Use it for anything designed to generate a lead or a conversion. Your daily status updates or “behind the scenes” posts can be lower friction. But if you are trying to change behavior, you need the Resolution stage. Content should either be purely educational or purely transactional, avoiding the murky middle. For more on allocating your content, see <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/content-marketing-strategy">Content Marketing Strategy: The MVC Loop</a>.</p>
<h3>Q: What if I don't want to focus on 'pain'? My product is a positive addition.</h3>
<p>A: All human action stems from avoidance or pursuit. If your product is a “positive addition,” the underlying pain is the “pain of missing out” or the “pain of current mediocrity.” For instance, if your product makes team meetings joyful, the pain is “the low-grade dread of status meetings that waste everyone's time.” The most powerful persuasion uses a touch of reality, which you can explore further in the <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/psychology-of-persuasion-in-marketing">Psychology of Persuasion</a>.</p>
<h3>Q: How do I ensure my 'Solve' isn't too salesy?</h3>
<p>A: The “Solve” should feel like an elegant technical implementation of the resolution you promised. It should be proof, not a pitch. A pitch is “Our tool is 10x better.” Proof is “Here is the single dashboard view that replaces 5 tools.” If your solution is specific, it feels less like selling and more like showing a working piece of machinery. This is fundamental to <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-build-a-marketing-strategy">building a marketing strategy</a> that works.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Start running operator-grade marketing in under an hour.</h2>
<p>LiftKit is the only strategy-first AI marketing system built for founders. It distills the same Fortune-500 frameworks used at Apple, Stripe, and McKinsey into a simple, actionable playbook you can run in under an hour.</p>
<p>Stop tinkering with tactics. Start operating with strategy.</p>
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<h2>Keep learning</h2>
<p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Frameworks</strong></a>: Learn proven mental models to diagnose, prioritise, and scale marketing outcomes.</p>
<p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/channels" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Channels</strong></a>: Understand which acquisition paths actually work and how to deploy them strategically.</p>
<p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/messaging" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Messaging</strong></a>: Build positioning, angle, and copy that converts without guesswork.</p>
<p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Strategy</strong></a>: Make smarter decisions using operator-grade prompts and structured thinking.</p>
<p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/tools" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Tools</strong></a>: Use AI, automation, and practical templates to move faster.</p>
<p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/research" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Research</strong></a>: Tap into market insights, psychology, and patterns that drive effective marketing.</p>
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