To analyze the optimal decisions of platforms, sellers, and creators under both monetary and traffic incentive modes in content marketing, as well as the mechanisms through which key market factors exert their influence, this study develops profit models for sellers under both incentive strategies. By comparing the decisions and profits, we find that: ① The monetary amount and traffic support provided by sellers are negatively correlated with the creators’ basic traffic, the larger the basic traffic is, the lower the monetary incentive amount and traffic incentive quantity offered by sellers are. ② The creators’ effort is affected by the competition among creators, in specific, the optimal effort level of creators decreases as the number of participating creators increases, suggesting that creators should adjust their efforts based on market competition. ③ Sellers should choose an incentive strategy by considering both the number of creators and their own market scale. When the market scale is large and few creators are recruited, traffic incentives are preferred; As the market scale shrinks or the number of creators grows, monetary incentives become more suitable. This study offers theoretical insights and practical guidance for sellers, creators, and UGC platforms in content marketing.