Credits management, troubleshooting, and setup checklist

Credits, and how not to waste them

• Check the estimate before you commit: The Monitor creators dialog carries an Estimated credits use panel — creators, channels and days, with a daily rate and a total — and it updates as you edit. Adjust the window or drop a channel there, rather than discovering the cost afterwards.
• Credits are shared across your whole account, not allocated per user. Anyone on the team spending them spends from the same pool.
• Credits reset at each billing cycle and do not roll over. Unused credits are lost at renewal.
• Additional credits can be added as a recurring add-on pack or as a one-time top-up. Speak to your CIMS contact for current pricing.

Three habits that save credits

1. Curate before you add: Trim your list to creators genuinely likely to post, rather than adding every handle on the invite list "just in case".
2. Reuse campaigns: If you run recurring activations with a similar creator set, build on an existing campaign rather than starting from scratch.
3. Plan around your cycle: If a large activation is coming, check your balance early in the cycle rather than discovering the shortfall the day before the event.

Troubleshooting

• A creator profile spins or will not load: Go to Creator Scouting and paste the full profile URL instead of searching the handle. This is the standard fix and resolves most cases.
• Monitoring options look limited or locked: Log out and log back in. This usually resolves plan-tier display issues. If it persists, your CIMS contact can check the account status.
• You cannot proceed past the setup screen: Check that every required field is completed: at least one profile added, at least one platform selected, at least one keyword, and both start and end dates. Then confirm your credit balance covers the profiles you are adding.
• No content is coming in: Verify the tracking window has actually started, that the profiles are public, and that your keywords match what creators are realistically writing. Then check the All posts view — the content may be there but untagged.
• A profile has not refreshed in a while: Give it up to around 20 minutes to re-index. If it is still stale after that, report it to your CIMS contact with the profile URL.
• Numbers differ from a creator's own screenshot: Some difference is expected. Platform-native insights and third-party data are measured and refreshed differently. Use CIMS figures consistently for comparison across creators, and treat creator screenshots as supplementary.

Quick checklist: Before you start monitoring

• Credit balance checked and sufficient
• Campaign created, with a clear dated name and the right execution type
• All relevant creator profiles added, per platform
• Private or unavailable profiles noted for manual collection
• Channels and formats selected — Stories included if it is an event
• Three to six keywords set, including brand name as plain text
• Tracking window starts before the activity and runs well past it
• Start monitoring chosen, and the campaign confirmed live
• Calendar reminder set to review the All posts view after the activity