The campaign workflow feature is an essential tool to manage influencers throughout your collaborations.

The default workflow stages span the entire process of collaborating with influencers, from searching for potential candidates to reporting on influencers who have completed the campaign. 

This article describes the capabilities and tasks associated with the Invited stage. Learn more about each one of the default workflow stages in the Workflow Stages section or the workflow overall in the article Campaign Workflow Basics.

In this article:

• Invited stage definition
• When to use the Invited stage
• Stage-specific capabilities and tasks
• Adding influencers to the Invited stage
• Promoting influencers past the Invited stage
• Workflow phase
• Related message template
• Appearance to influencers

Invited stage definition

The Invited stage is designed to hold influencers who have been invited to your campaign.

When to use

The Invited stage is recommended any time you want to curate the influencers you choose to participate in a campaign. Invite a wide group of influencers and narrow down your selections based on their applications.

The Applied stage is linked with Invited, meaning the two stages cannot be disabled or enabled on their own. 

If you're running an ambassador program with the same influencers for each campaign, and they are already using the platform, skipping the Invited and Applied stages can streamline the workflow.

Stage-specific capabilities and tasks

The performance forecasting module is a useful tool at the Invited stage, helping you visualize the performance potential of the influencers you have added. See Performance Forecasting for specific instructions and additional detail.

The campaign application is also closely related to the Invited stage, as the Invited and Applied stages must be used in tandem. See Campaign Application Flow for additional detail.

Adding influencers to the Invited stage

When you add new influencers to a campaign, they are always added to the first stage of the campaign's workflow.

If Invited is the first stage enabled in a campaign's workflow, new influencers are added directly to the Invited stage. If the Candidates stage is enabled, or a custom stage is added ahead of Invited, influencers must be manually promoted to the Invited stage.

There are several ways to add new influencers to a campaign, which will add them to the Invited stage when it is the first stage enabled in the workflow.

• Add influencers from search results in the Influencers tab

  1. Open the Influencers tab of the main menu.
  2. Apply relevant filters or keywords to find influencers who meet your criteria.
  3. Use the Select All checkbox or the individual checkboxes next to each profile to select the desired influencers.
  4. Select the relevant campaign in the Add to Campaign menu in the upper-right corner.
  5. Click OK.
• Add influencers using the Search tab within a campaign

  1. Open the Search tab within the relevant campaign.
  2. Apply relevant filters or keywords to find influencers who meet your criteria.
  3. Use the Select All checkbox or the individual checkboxes next to each profile to select the desired influencers.
  4. Click OK in the upper-right corner, next to the Add to Campaign menu item.
• Add a specific influencer from their lightbox profile

  1. From anywhere in the platform, click on an influencer's profile image to view their lightbox profile.
  2. Click the ⋮ icon to open the details panel.
  3. Open the Actions tab.
  4. Select the relevant campaign in the Add to Campaigns field and hit enter.

Promoting influencers past the Invited stage

The next stage after Invited is always Applied. Influencers are promoted to the Applied stage automatically when they complete the campaign application. 

Influencers can also be manually promoted past the Invited stage. Note that influencers from the Influencer Index who have not yet joined your Members database can be added to the Invited stage, but cannot be promoted past the Applied stage. If you are having trouble promoting influencers from the Invited stage further in the workflow, check if they have opted in to work with you.

Workflow phase

Stages are grouped into phases to reflect the status of influencers in the campaign at a higher level. The Invited stage is grouped in the Candidates phase.

When an influencer is in the Candidates phase of the workflow, no content can be bound to their profile and incentives cannot be fulfilled. Influencers who have not opted into your program cannot be promoted past the Candidates phase of any campaign. 

See Comprehensive Workflow Logic for additional detail on workflow phases.

Related message template

The Invitation message template is specifically designed to be sent to influencers at the Invited stage of the workflow. 

If you have enabled the Candidates stage, we recommend setting the Invitation message template to send automatically when influencers enter the Invited stage, allowing you to streamline the invitation process to the single step of promoting influencers past the Candidates stage.

If the Invited stage is the first stage enabled in the workflow of a campaign, we recommend sending the template manually to allow for additional review between when influencers are added to the campaign and sending the invitation message. Of course, you are welcome to set the template to send automatically as soon as you add influencers to the campaign, and will receive a confirmation message before any messages are sent. 

See the article Using Workflow Automation for additional detail.

Appearance to influencers

When an influencer is in the Invited stage of the campaign, that campaign is displayed in the list of All Campaigns visible to them from the influencer campaign manager (ICM), if they already have a link to the ICM from a previous campaign.

See Influencer Campaign Manager Overview for additional detail on the ICM.