Workflow Stages: Concept & Concept Review

Creator Concepts lets you collect and approve a creator’s proposed creative direction before they begin producing campaign content.

With Concepts, creators can describe what they plan to create, attach supporting media, and include links to resources such as Google Docs or Canva designs. Your team can then review the concept, provide feedback, request revisions, or approve it before the creator moves on to drafts or live content.

Concepts can be submitted by creators through Later Social or uploaded on their behalf in Later Influence.

What Is a Creator Concept?

A Concept outlines how a creator plans to approach the campaign before producing their content. It might include:

• The proposed content idea
• Key talking points
• The planned format or execution
• A script, hook, or shot list
• Links to reference content or supporting documents
• Supporting images or videos

In the initial version of this feature, concepts are managed at the campaign level rather than separately for each deliverable.

Enable Concept Review

Concept and Concept Review are paired workflow stages. Enabling the Concept workflow stage adds both stages to the campaign:

• Concept: The creator prepares and submits their concept.
• Concept Review: Your team reviews the submission and decides whether the creator can move forward. 

To enable concepts:

1. Open the campaign in Later Influence
2. Select Setup
3. Select Workflow Stages

4. Enable Concept 

   

5. Save your changes

Once enabled, creators must receive concept approval before they can submit drafts or live campaign content.

How Creators Move Through Concept Review

The concept workflow follows this process:

1. The creator enters the Concept stage.
2. The creator submits a concept through Later Social, or your team uploads one on their behalf.
3. The creator automatically moves into Concept Review.
4. Your team reviews the concept and selects an outcome.
5. The creator either revises the concept or moves on to the next applicable campaign stage.

Creators remain in Concept Review when a concept is marked Needs Work. They move forward once the concept is Approved or Approved with Corrections.

Find Concepts That Need Review

When a creator submits a concept, it appears in Later Influence for review.

To open a submitted concept:

1. Open the campaign
2. Select Workflow
3. Open the Concept Review stage
4. Select the creator you want to review

5. Open the creator’s Concepts section

   

Each submission includes its text, attachments, supporting links, submission date, version information, and upload source.

Review a Concept

Review the concept against the campaign brief and any requirements supplied to the creator. 

To preview the Campaign Brief, click the three-dot menu (...) in the top-right corner of the page.

 Depending on your campaign, you may want to check:

• Whether the idea aligns with the campaign objectives
• Whether required messages or product details are included
• Whether the proposed format fits the assigned deliverables
• Whether the creator has followed brand and legal requirements
• Whether the concept can realistically be produced as described

You can leave two types of comments:

• Feedback for the creator: Feedback the creator can view in Later Social.
• Internal comments: Notes for your team and other reviewers that are not visible to the creator.

Select a Review Outcome

Choose the outcome that best reflects the changes required:

• Approved: The concept is ready to move forward as submitted.
• Approved with Corrections: The creator can move forward but should review and apply the supplied corrections.
• Needs Work: The creator must revise the concept and submit a new version before moving forward.
• Needs Work (Don’t notify creator): Marks the concept as Needs Work for both you and the creator, but does not send the automated Needs Work message template, if one is set up.

When you select Needs Work, you can provide creator-facing feedback explaining what needs to change.

Once a concept is Approved or Approved with Corrections, the creator can proceed to drafts or live deliverables, depending on the campaign workflow.

Review Revised Concepts

When a creator submits a revision, Later Influence adds it as a new version. Previous versions remain available so your team can review the concept’s history and compare changes.

The upload source also shows whether each version was submitted by the creator or uploaded by a Later Influence user.

Upload a Concept on Behalf of a Creator

If a creator sends their concept outside Later (through email or a shared document, for example), you can upload it on their behalf.

1. Open the creator’s campaign details.
2. Open the Concepts section.
3. Select the option to add a concept.
4. Enter the concept text.
5. Add any supported attachments or links.
6. Submit the concept.

The submission is identified as having been uploaded by a Later Influence user and is also visible to the creator in Later Social.

Correct a Creator-Submitted Concept

You can’t directly edit a concept submitted by a creator. This preserves an accurate record of what the creator submitted and who submitted it.

If you do have permission to correct or reformat the concept before sharing it with a client:

1. Mark the creator’s version as Needs Work (Don’t notify creator) without notifying the creator.
2. Upload the corrected text as a new concept version.
3. When creating a shareable link, include only the version you want the client to review.

Concepts uploaded by your team can be edited by your team.

Share Concepts with External Reviewers

Concept Review Shareable Links let clients and other stakeholders review concepts without accessing your Later Influence account.

To create a link:

1. Open the relevant campaign
2. Select Shareable Links from the campaign header
3. Select Concept Review
4. Choose the creators and concept versions to include
5. Select whether reviewers can see internal comment history
6. Configure the link’s remaining settings
7. Copy and share the link with your reviewers

Reviewers can browse the included concepts and leave feedback. Feedback submitted through the link appears in Later Influence as internal feedback.

External reviewers can’t send an official review decision to the creator. Your team is responsible for consolidating stakeholder feedback, selecting the final status, and communicating with the creator.

Concept Attachments and Links

Concept submissions currently support image and video attachments.

Creators can also paste links into the concept text. These links remain clickable in Later Influence and in Concept Review Shareable Links.

PDF uploads are not currently supported. As a workaround, creators can link to a PDF or shared document. Make sure the document’s sharing permissions allow the intended reviewers to open it.

Manage Concept Notifications

Later Influence includes notifications and message templates for concept-related activity.

Your team can receive an email when a creator submits a new concept. To manage this notification:

1. Open the Campaigns page
2. Select the three-dot menu (...) beside the campaign
3. Select Manage Notifications
4. Configure the new concept submission notification

Campaign message templates are also available for events such as:

• Concept due soon
• Concept reminder
• Concept late

Concept-related merge tags can be used to include details such as the concept name and due date.

Related Articles

• Workflow Stages: Draft & Draft Review
• Review Creator Drafts
• Shareable Review Links: Draft Review
• Workflow Customization
• Overview of Campaign Workflow Stages & Logic