Most compensation structures need someone to review results and approve a payment. Performance-based campaigns don't — Socialscale tracks the underlying metric itself and pays creators automatically as they earn it. This is the workflow for setting one up and trusting it to run.
How this connects across Socialscale
Before you start
Setup checklist
0/3 done
Step 1: Make sure the budget can support it
Performance-based payouts draw from your Marketing budget continuously as creators earn — not in one predictable lump sum like a flat-fee collaboration. Before launch, top up with headroom rather than the exact amount you expect to spend; see Credits and marketing budget: two separate balances for how this is a distinct balance from the Credits that fund AI Workforce usage.
Watch out
If the balance runs out mid-campaign, it doesn't just pause quietly like an AI Workforce agent would — it can interrupt payouts creators are actively earning. Treat a performance-based campaign's budget headroom as non-negotiable, not a nice-to-have.
Step 2: Create the collaboration
From Campaigns → Create new collaboration, work through the three steps:
- Platform selection — your own creator network, Socialscale's, or Managed Services
- Collaboration type — Social Media or Storefront Impressions pair most naturally with performance-based pay, since both are built around an ongoing, measurable creator action (see Choosing a Collaboration Type)
- Compensation structure — select performance-based and set your rate
Step 3: Let it run
Once live, Socialscale tracks the metric — views on a post, for example — on an ongoing basis, checked daily, and credits each creator's Wallet automatically as it accrues. There's no dashboard where someone approves "yes, pay this creator €12 for yesterday's views" — the tracking and the payout are the same loop.
Pro tip
Tell creators this upfront during briefing: performance-based pay means they'll see their Wallet update on a rolling basis rather than waiting for a lump-sum payment at campaign end. It's a selling point when recruiting — faster, more visible pay — worth stating plainly rather than leaving them to discover it.
Step 4: Watch it with Revenue, Cost, and ROAS
The spend accruing automatically is exactly what feeds Collaboration Cost in the blended Revenue/Cost/ROAS calculation (see Understanding Revenue, Cost, and ROAS). Check this per creator, not just campaign-wide — a performance-based structure can quietly reward high-view, low-relevance content just as readily as high-view, high-relevance content, since it's paying for the metric, not for fit.
Note
Pair the view-based payout with the AI Content Scoring Agent's Product Fit score. High views with low Product Fit is a signal to revisit the brief, not necessarily to pay less — the rate is what it is, but future briefs can steer toward content that earns views and relevance.
Step 5: Check payments on your side
Every payout is visible in your Socialscale Dashboard as it happens — you don't need to wait for a campaign to end to see what's gone out, and Socialscale remains the Payer of Record for all of it, including tax handling (see Creator Payments).
What good looks like
A healthy performance-based campaign needs almost no day-to-day management once it's live — your only regular touchpoints are the Marketing budget balance and a periodic Revenue/Cost/ROAS check per creator, not manual payout approvals. If you're still reviewing and approving individual payments, the compensation structure probably isn't actually set to performance-based.