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The campaign workflow organizes creators by where they are in the collaboration process from first contact through campaign completion. As creators complete tasks or receive approvals, they move between stages either automatically or with your manual input.
The default workflow includes 12 stages covering the full campaign journey. You can enable or disable stages to match your process, and add custom stages for unique steps.
Workflow Phases
Stages are grouped into four phases that reflect a creator's overall campaign status. Phases determine when content binding, incentive fulfillment, and deliverable editing are available.
Candidates Phase
Creators in this phase have been added to the campaign but haven't yet been selected to participate. Content binding and incentive fulfillment are disabled. Deliverables can still be edited.
| Stage | These creators... | How they move forward | Required? |
| Candidates | Have been added but not yet invited to apply to a campaign | You promote them to Invited or directly to Confirmation | No |
| Invited | Have been invited but haven't applied yet | They submit an application (automatic) | No |
| Applied | Have submitted an application | You accept them and move them to Confirmation | No |
| Deliverables | Need specific deliverables assigned before starting | You assign deliverables and promote manually | No |
When to use Candidates
Use when you want to review a pool of creators before deciding who to invite.
When to use Invited + Applied
Use when running an open application campaign or sharing a public application link. These stages are linked. You must enable or disable them together.
When to use Deliverables
Use when creators need customized deliverable assignments before they begin participating.
Participants Phase
Creators in this phase have opted in and are actively working on the campaign. Content binding and incentive fulfillment are fully enabled.
| Stage | These creators... | How they move forward | Required? |
| Confirmation | Have been accepted and are waiting to confirm participation | They confirm via the link in the Member Accepted email (automatic) or you promote manually | No, but strongly recommended |
| Pre-Payment | Are ready to receive incentives before posting | All Pre-Payment incentives are fulfilled via integration (automatic), or you promote manually | No |
| Draft | Are preparing draft content for review | They submit all drafts (automatic) | No |
| Draft Review | Have submitted drafts awaiting your review | You approve all drafts (manual) | No |
| Content Creation | Are actively producing and publishing content | All required deliverables are tracked (automatic), or you promote manually | Yes |
When to use Confirmation
Use any time you need commitment from creators before sending product or payment. Creators who opt out are automatically moved to Dropped.
When to use Pre-Payment
Use when compensating creators before they post — such as shipping product or paying an upfront fee.
When to use Draft + Draft Review
Use when you need brand, legal, or compliance review before any content goes live. These stages are linked and must be enabled or disabled together.
Complete Phase
Creators in this phase have fulfilled all requirements.
| Stage | These creators... | How they move forward | Required? |
| Post Review | Have created and published content awaiting your review | You review and approve manually | No |
| Post-Payment | Are ready to receive post-publication incentives | All Post-Payment incentives are fulfilled via integration (automatic), or you promote manually | No |
| Complete | Have finished all deliverables and received all incentives | — | Yes |
When to use Post Review
Use when you want to check live content before releasing final payment or closing the campaign.
When to use Post-Payment
Use when compensating creators after content goes live.
Dropped Phase
| Stage | These creators... | How they move forward | Required? |
| Dropped | Opted out, were removed, or are no longer participating | — | Yes |
Creators can be moved to Dropped at any point. This stage doesn't end their relationship with your program — it only marks them as inactive in this campaign. See Removing an Influencer for more detail.
Managing Stages
You can adjust which stages are active before or during a campaign.
In a Draft campaign: All stages can be enabled, disabled, or reordered. Custom stages can be added.
In a Live campaign: You can only disable stages that currently have no creators in them. You can't add, reorder, or rename stages once the campaign is Live.
To adjust stages:
- In Later Influence, open your campaign and select the Setup tab.
- Select Workflow Stages from the sidebar.
- Use the toggles to enable or disable stages as needed.
Automatic vs. Manual Promotion
Some stages move creators automatically when certain conditions are met. Others require your manual action.
Automatic promotions:
- Into Applied: Creator submits an application
- Out of Confirmation: Creator confirms participation (opts out → Dropped)
- Out of Pre-Payment or Post-Payment: All associated incentives are fulfilled via Stripe or Tango Card
- Into Draft Review: Creator submits all required drafts
- Out of Content Creation: All required content deliverables are tracked
Manual promotions: Candidates, Invited, Deliverables, Draft Review, Post Review, and any custom stages always require your input to move creators forward.
You can assign or edit content deliverables at any workflow stage directly from their campaign details.
Communication with Message Templates
Each workflow stage can be paired with a message template. Templates can send automatically when a creator enters a stage, automatically on a set date, or manually when you choose to trigger them. See Workflow Automation for setup instructions.
Custom Stages
You can add custom stages to fit processes that the default stages don't cover — for example, Product Shipped, Legal Review, or Event Participation. Custom stages can trigger message templates but always require manual promotion. See Workflow Customization for instructions.