# Compare creators on post performance before you pay them

> Pick creators from your saved list and see their best and worst Instagram posts side by side, so your brief is built on what actually lands.

- Workflow type: app
- Services: HypeAuditor, Google Docs, Slack
- Categories: Marketing
- Published: 2026-08-24

## What it does

- Keep a saved list of the Instagram creators you are considering, and open any one of them to see their best and worst performing posts side by side, with likes, comments and engagement rate on every post.
- Judge each post against that creator's own typical engagement rate, so you are measuring against their baseline instead of their follower count.
- Line up two or three creators on the same metrics to see which formats actually land for whom, with unusually old posts flagged so nobody briefs off stale content.
- Click Analyze content patterns to have a background assistant work out the hooks, formats and posting rhythms behind the wins, write them into a Google Docs creative brief linked inside the app, and share the headlines to Slack.

## What you'll need

- A HypeAuditor plan that includes API access, since creator data is a paid add-on
- A Google account, for creating the creative brief documents
- A Slack workspace, for sharing the headline findings with your team
- The Instagram handles of the creators you want to review. This app covers Instagram only.

## Prompt

I want an app for deciding what to brief a creator on before we pay them, built around post level data instead of follower counts. It is an Instagram only view, and I want that stated clearly in the interface, because the post level media data I am relying on does not cover TikTok. Do not imply multi platform coverage anywhere in the app.

The starting surface is a saved handle list. I add the Instagram handles of creators we are considering, the list persists between visits, and I can remove handles or leave a short note on each one. From that list I either select a single creator to open in detail, or select two or three to open compare mode.

The creator detail view calls HypeAuditor's Get Instagram Account Media, which returns post level likes, comments and engagement rate along with pre ranked top and bottom buckets. Show the top performing posts and the bottom performing posts side by side in two columns, one card per post, each card carrying likes, comments, engagement rate and the post date, with a link out to the post itself. The whole point is to see at a glance which formats land and which fall flat for that creator.

Every post needs a baseline to be measured against. Call HypeAuditor's Get Instagram Report for the creator and use the account level engagement rate from that report as the baseline. Show each post's engagement rate as a difference against that baseline, so a post reads as above or below what that creator normally does rather than as a bare number with no context.

Compare mode puts two or three selected creators next to each other on the same metrics, one column per creator, with the top and bottom buckets stacked inside each column. Each creator gets their own baseline from their own Get Instagram Report, so the comparison stays fair across accounts of very different sizes.

Flag posts that are unusually old. If a post in either bucket is much older than the rest of the sampled set, or older than a configurable age threshold, mark it with a visible stale badge and say why it is flagged, so nobody builds a brief off content that no longer represents what the creator is making today.

Add an Analyze content patterns button that starts a background agent over the currently selected creators. The agent reads the top and bottom buckets for each of them, works out which hooks, formats and posting cadences correlate with the wins and which correlate with the misses, and writes a creative brief. It creates the document with Google Docs Create Document, then fills it in with Batch Update Document, structured into sections such as what works, what to avoid, recommended formats, and posting cadence, citing the specific posts it drew each conclusion from. When the run finishes, store the document link back in the app so the creator or comparison it came from shows its briefs and links straight out to the doc. Show run status while the agent is working.

Add a Share button that posts the headline findings to Slack using Send a Message. Let the user pick the channel, and include the creators covered, the two or three strongest takeaways, and a link to the Google Doc brief.

Be careful with HypeAuditor usage. Report calls consume credits from the account's plan, so the app should save what it has already fetched and only refetch when the user explicitly hits refresh, rather than reloading creator data on every page view. Also handle the case where a report is still being generated and needs a retry after a short wait, and surface a clear message when an account is private or cannot be reported on.

## How to customize

- Set how old a post has to be before it gets flagged as stale, and how many creators can sit side by side in compare mode.
- Choose which Slack channel the Share button posts to, and how much detail the summary carries.
- Reshape the sections the creative brief is written into, for example hooks, formats, posting cadence, and things to avoid.

## FAQ

### Does this work for TikTok creators?

No, and that is deliberate. The post by post performance data this app is built on is available for Instagram only, so the app is scoped to Instagram and labelled that way throughout. TikTok creators have account level reports available, but not the post level breakdown this side by side view needs.

### Do I need a paid HypeAuditor plan?

Yes. API access to creator data is a paid add-on on top of a HypeAuditor plan, and pulling a creator's numbers draws on the credits in that plan. The app saves what it has already fetched and only refreshes when you ask it to, so browsing does not quietly burn through your allowance.

### Why compare posts to an engagement rate baseline instead of follower count?

Follower count tells you how many people could see a post, not whether anyone responded to it. Measuring each post against the creator's own typical engagement rate shows you which of their posts genuinely outperformed, and keeps the comparison fair between a creator with 20,000 followers and one with 2 million.

### How many creators can I compare at once?

Compare mode is built for two or three creators side by side, which is the point where the columns are still readable. Each creator is shown against their own baseline, so you are comparing how well each one performs relative to their own norm rather than raw totals.

### Where does the creative brief end up?

In a Google Doc in your own Drive, written and formatted by the background assistant. The app keeps a link to it next to the creator or comparison it came from, so the brief is one click away instead of lost in a folder, and the Share button can post the headlines plus that link to Slack.

Use this prompt in General Input: https://www.generalinput.com/prompts/compare-creators-on-post-performance-before-you-pay-them