How to Run a Paid Media (Whitelisting/Boosting) Brief on Cohley

If you want to put paid spend behind a creator's post — whether that's a Reel on Instagram or a video on TikTok — you'll do that through an Influencer Brief with the paid media boosting toggle enabled. Here's how to set it up.

What This Brief Type Is For

An Influencer Partnership brief lets you source influencer content with the explicit understanding that the creator is posting on their feed.

With an additional toggle in the brief wizard, they will be granting you rights to boost or whitelist their post. That means:

• The content lives on the creator's account, not yours
• You control the targeting, spend, and optimization behind the scenes
• The ad appears to come from the creator's handle, giving it the authenticity and trust of an organic post

This is different from standard UGC, where you're only licensed to use the content in your own ads. With a Influencer brief that is then boosted, you're running paid media through the creator's account.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up the Brief

1. Select "Influencer Partnership" as your brief type

This is the correct brief type for any campaign where you need creators to post publicly to their feed.

2. Choose your platform

Select the platform you want creators to post on. The most common options for paid media are:

• Instagram — request a Reel
• TikTok 

3. Set your deliverables

Specify the deliverable quantity and type for Instagram (Reel or post). 

4. Enable the paid media boosting toggle

Within the brief setup, turn on the paid media/boosting toggle. This does two things:

• Notifies creators upfront that this campaign includes granting boosting/whitelisting rights as part of the deliverable
• Sets the expectation that compensation reflects those additional rights

5. Set compensation

Because creators are granting paid media rights in addition to creating content, compensation should reflect that. Factor in both content creation and usage rights when setting your rate.

6. Define deadlines

Include a posting window so creators know the timeframe in which content can go live.

7. Receive codes

Via TikTok One's API, Cohley will automatically retrieve your ad code. It is available to be copy/pasted individually or exported from the completed tab. 

Instagram is still a manual process. Creators will see a field after posting in which to provide their ad code. You will see it available to copy/paste or export after it has been provided. 

8. Move Creators to completed

It is recommended to move Creators to completed after they have posted and the ad code is received. At this time you can send payment and run paid media behind their content through your Meta Ads Manager or TikTok Ads Manager. This is especially powerful for posts that are already performing well organically — boosting high-engagement content typically drives stronger paid performance.

Tips

• You don't have to boost every post. Many brands use this brief type to build a library of boost-ready content and selectively amplify what's performing.
• If you need content that runs only as an ad and never appears on the creator's feed, that's a dark post — a slightly different setup. Reach out to your CSM for guidance on that workflow.

Have questions? Contact support@cohley.com