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3.3Distribution and content plan
You should plan how the work travels. The timing, the paid support, and the territory creators will work in. This is also where you split the budget.
Timing by behaviour
| The shape | Why | |
|---|---|---|
| Scroll | A burst of creators within 24 to 48 hours, then top-ups every week or two. | Stacked early activity looks like a real moment. Each new wave wakes the algorithm up again. |
| Stream | Staggered is fine. Extend by cutting Shorts from the long-form. | Long-form has a long tail. YouTube videos also keep getting found through YouTube and Google search, so plan every long-form video to do Search’s job too. |
| Search | A steady, always-on cadence, repeating the same facts. | You’re building a body of content that keeps getting found. Long-form Stream content is often the strongest part of it. |
| Shop | Timed to buying moments, or to visible intent: when people are searching, visiting or adding to cart. | The urge has to meet stock, payday and a checkout that works. |
Splitting the budget
- Plan creator fees and paid media as one budget.Together, not one after the other.
- Sales-driven programmes: 50% to 70% to paid media.The content factory feeds the engine. Paid media is the engine.
- Across a client's year: roughly 60/40, brand building to sales activation.Short-term sales shouldn’t eat the long-term brand.
- Hold back 20% to 30% of creator fees for variable incentives.Bonuses for creators who beat their benchmark. See Fair pay and reward (3.4).
The content territory
The plan must set the territory, not the script. Creators should bring the execution. Your job is to give them a moment worth working with, and the facts they must get right.
Start with the moment
A product benefit gives a creator nothing to work with. On a feed it has to become a moment: a craving, a reset, a confidence boost, a problem solved. And the best territory is rarely the one everyone’s already using. In UK beauty, stress relief was used least and worked best. Looking polished was used most and worked worst.
| The moment | What the creator shows | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Stress relief | The product as a moment of switching off | Evening routines, end-of-day resets, hair-wash day |
| Feel confident | The product changing how someone feels, right then | Get ready with me, before and after, date night |
| Feel fresh | The product making someone feel clean and ready | Morning resets, daily routines, scent |
| Care for myself | The product as looking after yourself | Slow routines, self-care, wellness |
Give every creator the same three most important facts
Price, who it’s for, where to buy, or whatever matters most in the category. When thirty creators say the same true thing, answer engines see agreement. That’s how a brand gets named in an AI answer.
Plan a family, not a single ad
For performance content, plan three to five versions of one idea, with the same brand cues in each. Campaigns with variety held up better under heavy repetition, scoring 8.0 out of 10 against 7.0 without it.
Checklist
- The moment named
- The three most important facts, for every creator
- A territory, not a script
- A family of versions for performance content