As a creator participating in a campaign through Later, it’s important to understand how your content is connected to campaigns and how its performance data is gathered.

This process, known as content binding, allows brands to collect and analyze the posts you create for campaigns efficiently. This article covers how content binding works, frequently asked questions about campaign content, and how to troubleshoot if a post isn’t being pulled in correctly.

What is Content Binding?

Content binding is the process through which your posts are collected and displayed in Later. This allows the brand you’re working with to see your content, along with any associated performance and engagement data including likes, comments, shares, and views.

Content from platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter can be automatically bound through integrations with these social platforms. Content from TikTok can be automatically bound using the Creator Marketplace API.

Ensuring Content Binds Automatically

To ensure your content is automatically connected to a campaign:

Connect Your Social Profiles 

Make sure your social profiles are connected to Later. The connections to your social profiles must remain active throughout the campaign. You’ll be prompted to connect any required accounts during the application process, and you can also check the status of your social profile connections from your Later account settings.

Use the Binding Hashtag

Always use the campaign-specific hashtag, known as the binding hashtag, in your posts for a campaign. The campaign’s binding hashtag will be provided by the brand. You can also find it in the Required Hashtag section of the campaign manager. 

Post Before the Due Date

Make sure your content is published before the campaign’s due date to ensure metrics can be bound and collected automatically.

Information Collected Through Content Binding

When your content is bound to the platform, the following information is available to the brand:

Image & Video Files

Later captures your media at the same resolution as it appears on the social platform.

For higher-quality files, you might be asked to self-report original files directly to Later. For details, see Self-Report Campaign Content Manually →

Performance Data

Metrics including likes, comments, shares, views, and impressions are tracked. These will vary depending on the social platform and content type.

Frequently Asked Questions About Content Binding

How often is content bound?

Later checks continuously for new content from participating creators. Generally, content is bound within 2 hours of posting, and performance metrics are updated automatically; however, it might take up to 24 hours for your post to appear in Later.

Later will continue to update the performance data of your content for at least 1 week after it has been bound. The time frames for different post types are listed below:

• Instagram Post: 1 week
• Instagram Reel: 1 week
• Instagram Story: 1 day (since all Instagram Stories expire after 24 hours)
• Pinterest: 90 days
• TikTok: 3 weeks

Do metrics include organic and paid performance?

Metrics for your content may include both organic and paid performance data, depending on the social platform’s API. For Instagram, only organic metrics are available. For TikTok, both organic and paid metrics are provided.

How is engagement rate calculated?

Later calculates engagement rate using two methods:

• For search-based reports, Later calculates the engagement rate based on the number of engagements relative to a creator's follower count on recent posts (similar to public social platform metrics).
• When you authenticate your account for a campaign, Later reports engagement rates for the brand based on engagements divided by impressions, which is a more accurate metric.
  
  Note: Impression data is only available once your account is authenticated.

Can I manually self-report campaign content?

Yes, if automatic content binding isn’t available for a specific type of post or platform, or if content is failing to be bound automatically, you can manually self-report your content instead. This involves manually uploading your content and entering its performance metrics in Later. For detailed instructions on self-reporting, see Self-Report Campaign Content Manually →

My post isn’t being pulled in—why isn’t my content binding?

The most common reasons that your post isn’t being pulled into your campaign (that is, Later isn’t binding to it) are that it’s already bound to another campaign, or something is wrong with Later’s connection to the social platform to which it was posted.

Here are some troubleshooting steps:

• Ensure you used the campaigns unique binding hashtag in your post—this would have been provided to you by the brand
• Check the connection status for your social profiles via your Later account settings
  • If your connection is expired, you’ll need to refresh it for automatic content binding to resume
• If you’re having trouble with Instagram content, you can also try resetting your Instagram connection to ensure Later has the necessary permissions

If you’re still having trouble with content binding automatically, you can manually self-report your content and its metrics instead.