The top bar shows two things side by side — Marketing budget and a Buy Credits button — and it's easy to read them as one balance. They're not. Keeping them straight matters for knowing which one to check when something looks wrong.
How this connects across Socialscale
Two balances, two jobs
- Credits — fund tracking and every AI Workforce agent run: the Content Tagging Agent, Social Commerce Expert Agent, AI Content Scoring Agent, and Ad Agent each show their own Credit Cost per match on Settings → AI Workforce. Topped up via Buy Credits.
- Marketing budget — funds Campaigns and everything paid out to creators: collaboration spend, storefront commission, and performance-based payouts, with Socialscale disbursing as your Payer of Record.
Watch out
These run out independently. A healthy Marketing budget doesn't mean you're covered on Credits, and vice versa — a Content Tagging Agent that stops processing new content and a creator's Wallet payout stalling are two different balances to check, not one.
Checking usage
Settings → Credit Usage breaks down what's drawing on your Credits balance specifically — useful when it's dropping faster than expected and you want to know which AI Workforce agent is responsible.
Pro tip
If you're about to turn on an agent against a large unscored backlog (see Configure Your AI Workforce), check Credit Usage first — Credits, not Marketing budget, is what a large backlog draws down.
Topping up
Buy Credits in the top bar adds to your Credits balance for AI Workforce and tracking usage. Marketing budget is funded separately, since it's a different kind of spend — an operating budget for campaigns and creator payouts rather than metered platform usage.
Why this is worth checking regularly
An AI Workforce agent that runs out of Credits to draw against doesn't fail loudly — it simply stops processing new content. A Marketing budget that runs low can interrupt creator payouts that are actively accruing, especially on a performance-based collaboration. If scores or tags stop appearing, check Credits; if a creator reports a payout that hasn't landed, check Marketing budget (see How Content and Ad Performance Data Stays Up to Date for the other places to look).