Find creators and use Smart Matching

There are two complementary ways to find the right people for a campaign:

• use Creators to explore profiles yourself and share a relevant campaign;
• enable Smart Matching while creating a campaign so Ripple can surface compatible profiles to you and give the campaign more visibility to compatible creators.

Neither route bypasses creator choice. Sharing a campaign sends a notification; it does not add the creator to the campaign. A creator can decide whether to apply, and your studio still reviews applications before accepting them.

Before you start

Have a clear picture of the campaign you are staffing: game, content format, target audience, languages, territories, and the kind of coverage you need. Smart Matching is only as useful as the targeting you give it.

If the campaign does not exist yet, create it first or keep a draft open in another tab. You will need an eligible campaign to share it from a creator profile.

Explore the creator directory

1. In the studio sidebar, select Creators.
2. Use Search creators when you already know a creator’s name or handle.
3. Select Filters to narrow the directory.
4. Choose the criteria that matter for this search:
   • Platform for the creator’s connected channel;
   • Niche for the games or genres they cover;
   • Language for the language used in their content;
   • Total Followers Range (Minimum and Maximum) to set an audience-size range.
5. Select Apply filters.

Your active criteria appear as filter chips above the results. Remove an individual chip to broaden the results, or select Clear all to start again.

Read a profile before sharing a campaign

Follower count is useful context, but it is not a decision on its own. Select View profile and review the information that is available there, including connected platforms, content focus, audience signals, and recent content.

Use this review to check practical fit:

• does the creator publish on a platform supported by the campaign?
• do their games, formats, and audience fit the campaign brief?
• can they create content in the language and territory you need?
• does their recent work look compatible with the tone and disclosure requirements of the campaign?

Do not treat a public profile as a promise of availability, interest, or performance. The creator makes the final decision to apply.

Share a campaign with a creator

From a creator’s studio-facing profile:

1. Select Share Campaign.
2. Choose the campaign you want to share.
3. Review the selection and confirm the share.

Ripple notifies the creator that the campaign was shared with them. They can then review the campaign and either apply or decide it is not a fit. Sharing is not an invitation that automatically accepts them, reserves budget, assigns a key, or gives them access to restricted campaign material.

After the creator applies, review the application from the campaign’s Creators tab. See Review applications and manage creator access for the acceptance flow.

Turn on Smart Matching for a campaign

Smart Matching is configured per campaign. During campaign creation:

1. In Step 2 (Setup), select the campaign’s Content format (Short-form or Video) and target Language (if left empty, no language requirement is displayed on the campaign).
2. Go to Step 5 (Matching) and turn on Smart matching.
3. Complete the criteria unlocked by Smart Matching:
   • Creator criteria — Steam genres: select the Steam genres that match your game;
   • Audience filters — Geographic zones: choose target regions (North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Russia, Global);
   • Audience filters — Minimum followers: set the minimum follower count on connected platforms.
4. Review the summary before you save or launch the campaign.

When Smart Matching is off, the campaign remains open to creators who browse discovery and apply, while your studio handles selection manually. When it is on, Ripple uses the campaign’s targeting together with matching signals to rank compatible profiles and give compatible creators earlier visibility of the campaign in their feed.

For guidance on why genre-focused niche creators often convert better than large generalist channels, read Niche vs generalist creators: who to select.

How Smart Matching learns from your studio

For your first three campaigns, Smart Matching uses the campaign’s own targeting and general ranking signals. Once your studio has run at least three campaigns, Ripple can also learn from your studio’s past patterns and preferences.

This helps it improve recommendations over time; it does not replace your judgment. Review suggested profiles, share campaigns deliberately, and use the application-review process for every creator.

Smart Matching considers relevant signals such as campaign targeting, Steam genre affinity, views, engagement, retention, growth, availability, past studio ratings, and creator-size diversity. It does not promise a fixed score, a particular creator, or a particular performance result.

What creators see and control

Creators whose profiles are visible for matching may see compatible Smart Matching campaigns earlier in their creator experience. They still choose whether to open a campaign and submit an application.

Creators can turn off their visibility in matching from their account settings. When visibility is off, their profile should not be surfaced by Smart Matching. This does not change campaigns they have already applied to or been accepted into.

A practical workflow

For a new campaign, use both methods:

1. Set precise campaign targeting and enable Smart Matching if you want Ripple to help distribute and rank the opportunity.
2. Search Creators for profiles you already know or want to evaluate manually.
3. Share the campaign with genuinely relevant creators.
4. Let creators decide whether to apply.
5. Review every application against the brief, availability, and campaign needs.

Next, learn how to review applications and manage creator access.