Every creator question, answered straight.
Disclosure, deadlines, tiers, paid campaigns, referrals: the full rulebook for SIGNL creators, in plain language, before you sign up.
before you claim it.
Joining is free. SIGNL is all local: local businesses and local creators, not national campaigns. The comp is the pay on standard visits. Post honestly to the 48-hour standard and disclose that the visit was comped. Nobody can ever make you post something positive. Founding status is set by sign-up order and never expires. Everything below is the long version, in plain language.
The deep FAQ
What is SIGNL?
Influencer marketing, but local. SIGNL is a local creator marketing platform: local businesses comp local creators a free meal, service or experience, or pay the creator's own rate, and the creator posts honestly about the visit on social media within 48 hours. Every creator on the roster lives in the city they post about, every visit is tracked, and SIGNL is free for creators. Always.
Does it cost anything to join SIGNL as a creator?
No. SIGNL is free for creators. Always. Businesses pay the platform. You never pay to join, to list, or to get booked. Your compensation on standard visits is the comp itself: the meal, service or experience the business provides.
What does SIGNL charge on paid bookings?
Joining SIGNL and comped visits are always free for creators. On paid bookings the platform fee is 6 percent total, split evenly, so creators keep 97 percent of their rate. Paid bookings are held by SIGNL until the post is live.
How do creators get paid on SIGNL?
On standard visits, the comp is the pay: a free meal, service or experience in exchange for an honest post. Headliners (15,000+ followers) are also eligible for featured paid campaigns when businesses run them, paid in cash on top of comps. Any creator, at any tier, can also set a paid rate on their profile. When a business books you directly at your rate, you keep 97 percent of it, because SIGNL takes only 3 percent of the creator's rate.
When do I actually get paid?
When your post goes live. On a paid booking the business pays up front and SIGNL holds the money until your post is live, then releases it to you. No invoices, no chasing, and no Net 30, 60 or 90 day terms. If the visit or the post never lands, the business is refunded in full instead.
Can a business make me revise my post again and again?
No. Every visit has one defined deliverable, agreed before you claim: 1 post or reel plus 1 story that shares the post, in your own voice. The brief is written up front, so what is expected is never a surprise, and no business can script your words or demand endless edits.
What are the disclosure rules?
Every post about a comped visit must clearly disclose that the visit was comped, as FTC guidelines require: say it in the caption or on screen, and a tag like #gifted is the common shorthand. Disclosure is not optional and it is not fine print; it is what makes your post trustworthy to your followers and safe for you.
What is the 48-hour rule, exactly?
48 hours is the standard: from the moment your visit happens, your Standard Visit should be live within 48 hours: 1 post or reel plus 1 story that shares the post on your own account, with disclosure. The post stays live for at least 30 days. Life happens, so the outside limit is one week: a post inside the week still counts as delivered, just late, while posting inside 48 hours is what earns Momentum. The standard matters because a business comping a visit on Friday needs the post while the weekend is still being planned, not next month.
What happens if I miss the 48 hours, or do not post?
A post inside the week still counts as delivered, so post it as soon as you can: late beats silent every time. What costs you is the week passing with no post and no word from you: then the business gets a replacement visit that does not count against its plan, and your roster standing takes the hit. Repeat no-shows are removed from the roster. If something real goes wrong, message us before the week closes; standing is about reliability, and reliability includes communicating.
What if a business cancels on me, or is not there when I arrive?
You never owe a post for a visit that did not happen. Tell us in the app and the visit will not count against your standing. On paid bookings, payment is held by SIGNL until the post is live, so a visit that never lands is refunded in full, and you are never left chasing a business for money.
Do I have to post something positive?
Never. Honest posts only, in your own voice. A business cannot require a positive post or review, cannot ask you to soften an honest one, and cannot retaliate when a post is fair and true. A business that pressures a creator is removed from the platform.
Can a business ask me to delete or change my post?
A business can flag a post it believes is factually false, and SIGNL reviews those with both sides. It cannot ask you to change an honest opinion, and honest opinions are never removed for being unflattering.
How do tiers work, and can I move up?
Your tier is set by follower count: Neighbors (500 to 2,000), Locals (2,000 to 15,000) and Headliners (15,000+). SIGNL sets your band automatically from your total audience across platforms, so nobody picks their own band, and your tier moves up as your following grows. Every tier gets comps and paid bookings at your own rate; Headliners are first in line for featured paid campaigns and first pick of grand openings and launches.
I have fewer than 500 followers. Can I still apply?
Yes, anyone can apply at any follower count. Your tier is set by your follower count and rises as you grow. A small, genuinely local audience beats a big, scattered one, because businesses on SIGNL shop by audience location, not raw count.
What is my local audience percentage, and who sees it?
It is the share of your followers who live in your SIGNL market, and it is the number businesses weigh most when choosing creators. Profiles label where the figure comes from: verified from your own Instagram audience data when you connect it, or self-reported until then. A 1,400-person audience that is 70 percent local beats a 200,000-person audience scattered across a country, and SIGNL is built to prove it.
How do referrals and Momentum points work?
Momentum points are your priority score, and you earn them two ways. By delivering: an on-time post is +20, and completed visits, streaks and ratings add more. And by building the roster: your profile carries a personal invite link, and every creator who joins through it is credited to you, +3 when they join and +10 when they are approved. Points are part of the order businesses see when they choose creators, so the people who deliver and build the roster get seen first.
My city is not in the founding markets. Can I still join?
Yes. Apply in the app with your real home city. If your city is not one of the 38 founding markets, your sign-up starts its list: cities are picked by signup counts, and when your city opens, its early applicants become its founding roster, in order.
Is SIGNL a UGC creator program?
Partly, with a difference. In a typical UGC program you produce content and hand it to a brand to post on its own channels. On SIGNL you post to your own audience as a local creator, which is why local businesses value it: your followers trust you. Delivered posts are also saved to the business's content library. On a comp visit the business can share your post natively and nothing more; repost rights and ad use come only with paid visits, and ads run for 90 days at most, under the standard license in the booking. You always own your content.
How long does review take?
Every founding application gets a decision or a clear status within 2 business days. Applications are reviewed by a person, in sign-up order. If a decision needs more time, you still get a clear status inside that window.
Two money questions, answered in full: Are comped meals and free services taxable income? · How do I make sure I actually get paid?
Claim your founding spot
Sign up now to be a founding creator, right in the SIGNL app. Founding profiles are reviewed in sign-up order across the 38 founding markets, your founding priority never expires, and markets open as each roster completes.
Sign-ups live in the SIGNL app
Create your account and build your founding profile in a few minutes: your market and home city, your handles, your tier band and what you post about. It is free, and it always will be for creators.
Create my founding creator account
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