Overview
If a brand sets up draft reviews, they will have the ability to review content drafts associated with each contract before content goes live, so that the creator will produce a video that matches the brand’s specifications. This guide covers all the aspects of reviewing content.
Content review is available in Tasks under the Content Product tab. From there you’ll see a list of contracts similar to the view below:
A sample content review module with an IG Reel video draft submitted.
Contracts that have concepts or video drafts that need review will be automatically expanded to show a preview of the submitted content. From here you’ll have the ability to write feedback for the creator. You’ll have two options to submit feedback:
Approve [to go to the next stage]. This means that a creator can move on to the next stage (concept ⇒ video draft ⇒ final draft ⇒ post). Use this if you have no feedback or very light feedback for the creator that’s easily addressable.
Request Revision. This means that you want to see a revision from the creator before you move them on to the next stage. So if a creator has submitted a video draft, clicking “Request Revision” means that they will have to submit another video draft before moving on to the next stage.
Finally, it’ll be fairly common for you to see duplicate concepts and drafts from the same creator for different deliverables (e.g. a creator submits the same video for both a TikTok video an IG Reel). This is known as cross posting, and is generally a good deal for brands. In these cases, we’ll still ask that the brand submit a review for the cross posted content. Either copy and paste your feedback or just refer to your feedback in an existing creative (”Same feedback as I gave on your IG Reel!”).
UI Overview
There’s a lot of information that we packed into each contract view. Here’s an explanation of what each element means
Creator Name and Contract Link. The creator's name and a link to the creator's contract. In the creator's contract, you'll be able to view information such as prior stages (like Concept Review) as well as other contract information such as the price of the agreement and whether there are usage rights associated with the content.
Task Stage Indicator. An indicator that describes the current Task associated with the module.
Action Item Indicator. Will indicate whether this contract requires action from the brand (red indicator) or from the creator (yellow indicator). The action type will also be displayed.
Messages. Shows the message history for a creative at the current production stage, including messages from the creator, messages left by the brand, and messages from 1stCollab.
Due date and Task creation date. Shows the deadline for completing a Task along with the date the task was created. After the deadline has passed for the Task, 1stCollab reserves the right to take actions on the brand's behalf.
Feedback Textbox. A textbox for brands to share feedback for the deliverable with the creator. Feedback shared by the brand will shared directly with the creator.
Action Buttons. Buttons that enable the the brand to request another revision or allow the creator to move on to the next stage. Pressing one of these buttons will submit the feedback to the creator.
Related Tasks. Other Tasks in the same contract. Often helpful if you want to focus on completing multiple Tasks within a single contract (like copying feedback from content that's cross posted to multiple platforms).
Walkthrough of Content Review
Concept Review
If you've turned on Review Concepts in you Campaign Configurations, creators will first submit a short concept that describes the video they're producing. It’s a quick way for brands and creators to align on high level content ideas before creators put in the work to actually create the video.
When creators submit a concept, brands will see a module like the following:
In the above view, the brand is leaving a bit of feedback for the creator. They would leave their feedback in the textbox, and click "Request Revision". If the concept looks good and you're ready for creators to start working on producing media, you can select "Approve Concept".
Content Review
Once a concept has been approved or if the contract has no concept review stage, creators will have the ability to submit a video draft:
This creator submitted a video draft and the brand is ready to approve the video to go live. The brand entered their message in the text box, and will click Approve to Go Live with Feedback.
In the event that the brand wants to request further revisions, they'll submit their feedback and click the Request Revision button, and go through a similar workflow as requesting revisions during Concept Review.
Once a brand has approved the video to go live, the creator is ready to post the video and we move to Live Verification.
Messages
Creators might ask clarifying questions about feedback. You'll be able to see these messages in the "Messages" tab within Tasks.
Brand Restrictions
In order to ensure to ensure that creators also have a good experience on the platform, there are certain restrictions that we place on the brand when doing content review. Brands violating these restrictions will give 1stCollab the right to automatically approve creator content.
Brands are limited 1 round of major revisions and 1 round of minor revisions. This means that brands can ask creators to reshoot or redo portions of their videos just once.
Brands are required to provide feedback in a timely manner. Expected turnaround times and auto-approve are defined here. This is to ensure that creators can complete their contract in a timely manner and plan their content calendars accordingly.
Brands cannot require creators to introduce new talking points or themes in their content that is not present in the creative brief. For instance, brands cannot receive a video draft and then ask brands to add a completely new talking point that wasn’t already in the creative brief.
Brands are not allowed to make major changes their creative briefs once a campaign is live. This is to avoid creators beginning to work on their creative based on one creative brief, and then seeing a revised creative brief after they’ve already made content based on a prior brief. In order to have creators make content for an updated brief, brands should create a new ad group with a new brief.
Final draft feedback cannot introduce new feedback points. When brands submit final feedback, the feedback is only allowed to reference prior feedback given by the brand and cannot introduce new feedback points. In other words, final feedback is used only to identify feedback that was missed by the creator.
All content feedback must be submitted through the 1stCollab content review tool. 1stCollab will only enforce feedback submitted through the tool.
Best Practices and Tips
Below are some areas to look out for when reviewing creator content.
Call to Action (CTA). If you have a CTA in your creative brief, make sure that creators follow all the guidelines of your CTA. This can include things like:
Make sure they display the promo code correctly.
Remind their audience about their link in bio.
Describe the deal properly. Such as getting X% off using their link.
Making content engaging. Top asks for this usually include:
Opening with a catchy hook / making it so that users will stop scrolling and pay attention.
Making the content shorter, snappier, punchier and speeding up certain sections.
Adding background music.
Consistency with prior content. You’ll want creators to make content that follows the style of their previously successful content so that it feels more organic. The best feedback will even reference specific videos that the creator previously made and ask creators to follow aspects of the prior video.
Incorporating feedback into the creative brief. While major changes are not allowed to the creative brief after briefs have been shared with creators, brands can still:
Add minor feedback like adding Dos and Don’ts. Oftentimes when brands see that creators are consistently getting something wrong, for instance, they will add a new item in the Don’ts preemptive having to give creators the feedback in the future.
Start a new ad group or campaign with a revised creative brief.
Other Tips
Make sure creators submit detailed concept. Some times creators only submit a vague sentence or two about what they want to create and brands approve the high level concept. We've seen this lead to disagreements in the content review stage which is often much more difficult to resolve. If creators submit a vague concept, we encourage you to request a revision and ask creators to provide more details.
Only "Approve with Feedback" if you're OK with the creator not incorporating the feedback. Unfortunately, when some creators get notified that they've been approved to go live, they'll immediately get to posting without doing a deep dive into the additional feedback. To avoid these cases, we encourage you to request a revision instead of approving when there's required feedback the creator incorporates.
FAQs
What do I do if a creator posts the same video across multiple platforms?
What do I do if a creator posts the same video across multiple platforms?
Very commonly we’ll ask creators to cross post across multiple platforms (e.g. post a short video as an IG Reels, TikTok video, and YouTube Short) in order to reach a broader audience. In cases like this, because creators are producing multiple deliverables, you’ll see multiple deliverables in the contract / content review view. In cases like this, even though you’ll leave the same feedback for each deliverable, please just copy and paste the feedback to each deliverable, so that everyone will have a clean trail of feedback for each deliverable.