Creator glossary

The terms that come up most when you run a creator business, explained without jargon.

Last updated: 11 July 2026

Media Kit

What it is: A short document or page that presents a creator to brands: audience size, platforms, past collaborations and contact details.
When it is used: Sent (or linked) when a brand reaches out about a paid collaboration, or attached to outbound pitches.
When it matters: A clear media kit speeds up the first reply from a brand and sets the tone for the negotiation that follows.

What it is: The share of an audience that likes, comments, shares or saves a post, usually expressed as a percentage of followers or views.
When it is used: Used to judge how active an audience is, independent of raw follower count.
When it matters: Brands weigh it alongside audience size. A smaller, highly engaged audience often negotiates better rates than a larger, passive one.

What it is: The price an advertiser pays per 1,000 views or impressions of an ad or sponsored post.
When it is used: Used to price ad placements and to compare offers across platforms or creators.
When it matters: Knowing your realistic CPM range stops you from underpricing a sponsorship or losing a deal by overpricing it.

What it is: Content made by a creator or customer that a brand licenses or reposts, often without it running on the creator’s own channel.
When it is used: Used by brands that want authentic-feeling content for their own ads or feed, separate from a traditional sponsored post.
When it matters: UGC deals are usually priced per piece of content, not per view, which changes how a creator should negotiate.

What it is: Earning a commission for sales generated through a personal tracking link or discount code.
When it is used: Used for ongoing promotion of a product, as an alternative or addition to a flat sponsorship fee.
When it matters: Affiliate income scales with real conversions, so it rewards an engaged, purchase-ready audience more than a large but passive one.

What it is: A paid collaboration between a creator and a brand, ranging from a single sponsored post to a long-term partnership.
When it is used: Negotiated whenever a brand pays for placement, mention or dedicated content.
When it matters: The terms (usage rights, exclusivity, deadlines) usually matter more to long-term income than the headline fee.

What it is: The broader market of independent creators earning income directly from their audience, through ads, sponsorships, products and subscriptions.
When it is used: Used as a category label when comparing tools, platforms or income strategies aimed at independent creators.
When it matters: It frames why creators increasingly run their business like a small company, with the operational load that implies.

What it is: Using software to run a repeatable business task (sorting an inbox, screening comments, replying to DMs) without a person doing it manually each time.
When it is used: Used once a workflow is repetitive enough and well-defined enough to hand to a system instead of a person.
When it matters: This is the category Grix operates in: automating the operational side of running a creator business, not the creative side.

What it is: Connecting to a platform (Instagram, TikTok) through its published developer API with OAuth authorization, instead of automating a login or scraping the interface.
When it is used: Used by any legitimate automation tool that reads or sends messages, comments or posts on your behalf.
When it matters: It is the difference between a tool that respects a platform’s terms of service and one that risks getting an account flagged or banned.

What it is: Automatically reframing horizontal (16:9) video into vertical (9:16) format by tracking the subject, instead of a fixed center crop.
When it is used: Used when repurposing long-form video (YouTube, podcast) into short-form clips for TikTok, Reels or Shorts.
When it matters: A fixed crop often cuts off faces or lets platform UI cover captions. Tracking the subject keeps what matters inside the safe zone.

What it is: Filtering, hiding or flagging comments (spam, hate, off-topic) on a post automatically, based on rules or AI classification.
When it is used: Used on posts or accounts with enough volume that manually reading every comment is no longer practical.
When it matters: It protects both the creator’s time and the tone of the comment section, which brands and viewers both notice.

What it is: The share of subscribers, members or paying followers who cancel or stop engaging over a given period.
When it is used: Used to measure how well a creator is retaining a paid community (memberships, subscriptions, courses), not just growing it.
When it matters: A high churn rate means growth spend is refilling a leaking bucket. Retention is usually cheaper to fix than acquisition is to scale.

Grix is a flat-subscription automation tool that filters a creator's inbox and auto-handles Instagram DMs and comments.

Grix is in beta. Join and I will show you exactly how these concepts show up in your own workflow.