How Campaigns Work on CollabDesk: The Complete Creator Guide

CollabDesk campaigns follow a structured path from invite to payment — one that protects your time, your content, and your money. This guide walks through every step so you know exactly what to expect before you accept your first deal.

Step 1: Receiving a Campaign Invite

When a brand on CollabDesk wants to work with you, they send you a campaign invite directly from their campaign dashboard. You'll get a notification with the campaign title, the deliverables they want (e.g. "2 Reels, 3 Stories"), and your estimated payment for those deliverables — calculated automatically from the rate card you set up in your profile.

Every invite has an expiry window — typically 48 hours, though brands can set this between 24 and 96 hours. You'll see the exact deadline in the invite so you know how long you have to decide.

Step 2: Reviewing and Responding to the Invite

Before you respond, you can read the campaign brief, view the full deliverables list, download any requirement files the brand has attached, and message the brand in the campaign chat — all from the campaign detail page.

Once you're ready, you accept or decline the invite. There's no pressure — declining an invite has no negative impact on your profile. If you don't respond before the expiry window, the invite automatically expires.

• •Tap "View Campaign" in the notification to open the campaign detail page
• •Read the brief and deliverables carefully before accepting
• •Use the campaign chat to ask the brand questions before committing
• •Tap "Accept" or "Decline" — your response is logged immediately

Step 3: Campaign Launch — Deliverables Get Locked

After you accept, the brand may wait to hear from other invited creators before launching. When the brand is ready to move forward, they launch the campaign. This is the moment everything gets locked in:

• •Your exact deliverables are locked (e.g. "2 Reels, 3 Stories") — the brand can't add to them post-launch
• •Your locked payment amount is confirmed (this is the amount you'll receive on completion)
• •Funds are moved into escrow — the brand's money is held by CollabDesk until deliverables are approved
• •Your submission deadline is set (usually 3 days before the campaign's end date)

You'll receive a notification when the campaign launches. From this point, the content creation phase begins.

Step 4: Submitting a Draft for Approval

Before you post anything on Instagram, CollabDesk requires you to submit a draft for the brand to review. This protects both sides — you don't post content the brand might reject, and the brand gets to review before it goes live.

For each deliverable, you submit:

• •The media file — image or video for the Reel, post, or carousel
• •Your proposed caption
• •Any collaborating Instagram handles (collab accounts)
• •Notes to the brand (optional — useful for context or creative decisions you made)

The brand then reviews your draft and either approves it or requests a revision. You can go through up to 2 revision rounds per deliverable. If the draft is approved, the caption is locked — you'll need to post with that exact caption (or very close to it).

What Happens During a Revision Request

If the brand asks for a revision, you'll receive their feedback in the campaign detail page. You can resubmit an updated draft — the version number increments so both sides can track the history. After 2 revision rounds, the brand cannot formally request further changes through the draft system; any further discussion goes to the campaign chat.

Step 5: Posting on Instagram and Submitting the Link

Once your draft is approved, you're cleared to post. After publishing the content on Instagram, you return to CollabDesk and submit the final deliverable by entering your Instagram post URL.

CollabDesk then automatically verifies the submission in the background:

1. 1Ownership check: Confirms the post belongs to your registered Instagram account — not someone else's
2. 2Caption match: Compares your posted caption against the approved draft. A 70% or higher similarity is required
3. 3Analytics fetch: Pulls real-time post metrics (likes, comments, views) from Instagram for the brand to see

If the ownership check fails (e.g. the post was submitted from the wrong account) or the caption deviates too much from what was approved, the submission is flagged and you're notified to resubmit. This is an automated check, not a manual one — it runs within minutes of submission.

Important: You must submit before your submission deadline. Late submissions are not accepted.

Step 6: Brand Reviews Your Final Deliverable

Once the submission passes verification, it enters the brand's review queue. They can approve it or request a revision. You can go through up to 3 revision rounds per deliverable at this stage. Each revision typically means reposting with corrections and re-submitting the new Instagram link.

When the brand approves your submission, your approval count goes up. Once all your deliverables are approved, you're done with the creative work for this campaign.

Step 7: Campaign Completion and Payment Release

Payment is only released when the campaign is completed. Here's how that works:

• •Once all deliverables from all participating creators are approved, the brand receives a "Complete Campaign" prompt
• •The brand completes the campaign manually, or it auto-completes after 7 days if they don't act
• •On completion, funds are released from escrow directly into your CollabDesk earnings wallet
• •You receive the exact locked_price that was agreed when the campaign launched — 100% of it, no deductions from your side

If you submitted deliverables and some were approved but some were not, you still get paid for the campaign (since at least one approved submission qualifies you). Creators who have zero approved deliverables at completion time are not paid.

How CollabDesk Escrow Protects Your Payment

The escrow system is the most important creator protection on CollabDesk. Here's the key thing to understand: the brand's money is locked at launch, not at completion.

When a brand launches a campaign, CollabDesk immediately debits their wallet for the total payment (your fee + a 15% platform fee). This money sits in a held escrow account. The brand cannot spend it, withdraw it, or cancel without consequences. If the brand cancels after launch, you are notified and the funds are refunded to the brand — but the campaign is formally cancelled, which means you're free to move on with evidence the deal was live.

This means that from the moment a campaign launches, your payment exists and is reserved. You're not chasing a brand to pay after the work is done — the money was already moved before you started creating.

Step 8: Withdrawing Your Earnings

Your earnings from completed campaigns accumulate in your CollabDesk earnings wallet. You can withdraw any time you have a balance above ₹100.

1. 1Go to your Wallet page in the CollabDesk app
2. 2Add your bank account (UPI ID or bank account + IFSC code)
3. 3Enter the amount you want to withdraw and select your bank account
4. 4Submit the withdrawal request
5. 5The amount is debited from your wallet balance immediately and your request enters processing
6. 6CollabDesk processes the transfer via Razorpay X — this typically completes within 1–2 business days
7. 7If the transfer fails for any reason, the amount is credited back to your wallet automatically

You can see all your past campaigns, earnings events, and withdrawal history from the Wallet page.

The Complete Campaign Timeline at a Glance