# Creator probe

URL: /workflows/plays/creator-probe · Id: `play:creator-probe`

> Creator probe pays five to ten small creators $50 to $500 each for one post, each post a pre-registered arm of one Experiment.

Creator probe pays five to ten small creators $50 to $500 each for one post. Each post is a pre-registered arm of one [Experiment](/business/nouns/experiment), so one probe ranks hooks and audiences at once.

## Ratings
| Dimension | Rating | Reads |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scalability | 3 of 5 | medium: higher grows further with spend or automation |
| Cost | 3 of 5 | medium: lower costs less per Customer |
| Latency | 1 of 5 | very low: lower answers sooner |

## Budget
| Property | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tier | $1k |
| Minimum effective budget | $250 a month |

| Monthly spend | Yields |
| --- | --- |
| $0 | Creators on referral terms only, paid on attributed collected revenue. |
| $250 | Five flat-fee posts from creators with high ask density. |
| $1,000 | Ten arms, enough to rank angles and audiences. |

## How it runs
Creators are chosen by specific asks per thousand comments, not by follower count. Each post carries its own coded link, and each payment waits its delay window. Winning creators move up the partnership ladder, and winning hooks move to paid promotion.

## Processes
Runs as [Experimentation](/workflows/processes/experimentation), accountable to the [Marketing Team](/agents/marketing).

## Fits
| Fits | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Family | demand |
| Shelf | Seed: finds the first Customers (Launch) |
| Moves | [Play-sourced Customers](/agents/marketing#play-sourced-customers) |
| Motions | [b2c](/business/motions/b2c), [b2b](/business/motions/b2b), [b2d](/business/motions/b2d) |
| Venues | [Instagram](/workflows/plays#instagram), [TikTok](/workflows/plays#tiktok), [YouTube](/workflows/plays#youtube) |
| States | [Building](/business/lifecycle/states/building), [Live](/business/lifecycle/states/live) |

## Loop
| Step | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Hypothesis | Five to ten small creators paid for one post each bring Customers at a lower cost than one large creator. |
| Measure | [Play-sourced Customers](/agents/marketing#play-sourced-customers) over 30d, at least 50 observations |
| Learn | The learn step reads the Readout, records Evidence and a Decision, and drafts the next Variant. |

## Example
A [Startup](/business/nouns/startup) selling a baby-sleep course pays eight parenting creators $120 each. Two posts, both opening on night waking, bring 70 percent of signups. Those two creators get referral terms, and their hook becomes the ad.