If your are in the influencer marketing arena, you must have heard whispers about this mysterious document called an influencer marketing agreement. Or you might have tried casual collaborations with influencers and had your deals go south.
Worry no more for we come to your rescue with this time-honored tradition that brands have been using to protect their interests and that of influencers. Let’s unpack this mystery together…
What is an influencer contract?
An influencer contract, or influencer marketing agreement, is a binding document between a brand and an influencer that outlines the terms and conditions of their partnership.
Let’s say you and your influencers are like peanut butter and jelly, a match made in marketing heaven. To legalize your partnership, you draft a document listing out their deliverables, timelines, and your expectations. This, whether formal or informal, is your influencer marketing agreement.
Essentially, influencer contracts define the scope of work, the content creation process, right and exclusivity of content, influencer compensation, dispute resolution processes, and termination conditions.
What’s the difference between an influencer contract and an influencer agreement?
While the two are used interchangeably, an agreement primarily outline the responsibilities of both parties in the partnership while a contract outline the terms within which the partnership occurs.
Agreements are mostly verbal or written understandings – written is better – while contracts are more formal and legally binding – in most cases, signed before work commences.
Nonetheless, each of these elements work for the good of both parties, ensuring a smooth sailing.
Why does your influencer marketing campaign need an influencer agreement?
Having a solid influencer contract is like securing an insurance plan for your influencer marketing collaborations. While we’re not anticipating for your partnerships to go downhill, it’s safe to be prepared in the case of any arising disputes.
Here are several reasons why this document is invaluable:
- Clear Expectations: A contract sets clear expectations regarding obligations, compensation, and timelines among other agreed upon terms.
- Legal Protection: An influencer contract provides legal protection in case either party tanks their end of the deal.
- Content Control: An agreement or contract no only eliminates gray areas on content rights but also gives brands control to ensure content aligns to their values and marketing goals.
- Payment Terms: With an agreement in place, influencer compensation and payments, including mode of payment, schedule, and any other additional expenses to be reimbursed are clearly defined.
This reduces the burden on out-of-pocket costs influencers may incur throughout the campaign.
As defined above, it is imperative to these terms set on stone, you never know when the rain starts hitting you. Additionally, an influencer contract is not just a piece of paper – it’s your key to a successful influencer partnership.
Expert tips to consider when drafting an influencer agreement
Crafting a comprehensive influencer contract can be challenging but we’ve rounded up some expert tips to be your guiding star.
1. Be flexible yet firm
First, have a clear idea of your influencer marketing campaign goals. Only then can you set your expectations clear as day. Don’t hesitate to get down to every little detail that you deem important in your partnership but remain adaptable for any impending changes.
Flexibility in your agreement is important, but not at the expense of your values. While remaining open to influencer input and constructive criticism, be firm at protecting your brand reputation.
Find the sweet spot that balances free expression within your partnership and still prioritizes your brand’s interests.
2. Know your influencer inside and out
Before drafting your influencer agreement, invest time to know your influencers. Understand their content style, messaging, their audience, and values as well.
Evaluate whether your findings align with your brand values and messaging. Trust me, it’s easier to harmonize your partnership when both parties have the same principles.
3. Nail down compensation details
Ah, the elephant in the room – money. When outlining the terms of compensation, employ transparency and fairness. Your goal is for both parties to benefit from this partnership and when your influencer goes home happy, you go home happy. Simple!
4. Clarify content ownership and usage rights
Be sure to include this underestimated element in your content agreement/contract. Ownership and usage rights span from who retains the authority to own, use, modify, and even sell the content.
5. Include performance metrics
Numbers don’t lie, right? Consider including performance metrics in your influencer agreement to track the success of your campaigns.
Whether it’s engagement rates, click-throughs, or conversions, measurable results help gauge the effectiveness of your partnership.
6. Plan for contingencies
Contingency plans are set for unprecedented hiccups along the course of collaborations. They outline the backup procedures that should be implemented to prevent these hiccups from affecting campaign quality, budget, and timelines.
Whether it’s content disputes, missed deadlines, or any other form of unexpected circumstance, a plan B is effective in deliberating it’s solutions.
7. Seek legal advice whenever necessary
Let’s face it – legal jargon is not everyone’s cup of tea. For this reason, having a lawyer by your side to dot your i’s and cross your t’s can help ensure longevity in your brand-influencer partnerships.
Furthermore, a lawyer or attorney will help you articulate both parties’ expectations more clearly, leaving no room for ambiguity which could cause potential dispute and misalignment.
Legal representations also ensure that your influencer marketing strategy complies with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) content guidelines.
8. The art of negotiation
As the adage goes – in business, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. Negotiations are the road to a fair deal between you and your influencers. It must, therefore, encompass all elements within your influencer agreement checklist.
Champion open communication with them and table what’s most important for your influencer marketing campaign. In the same manner, encourage their input regarding campaign content structure, compensation, and performance targets.
Remember, this process is to bring a win-win for all parties involved.
9. Review before approving
Lastly, always review your influencer agreement. Before signing it into commitment, do a thorough sweep of all clauses, paragraphs, lines, and word. Encourage your influencers to follow suite and once they give a green light, you can both sign, or shake, on it.
Key elements of an influencer marketing agreement checklist
Now let’s get to the meaty part we’ve all been waiting for – the influencer agreement checklist. Below is the ultimate checklist for your influencer contract:
- Scope of work and deliverables.
- Content ownership and usage rights.
- Performance metrics.
- Compensation and payment terms.
- Exclusivity agreements.
- Termination conditions and dispute resolution.
- Legal and compliance regulations.
PS. Don’t sweat as you don’t have to start from scratch – there are plenty of influencer contract templates you can leverage for ease.
So take a deep breath and let’s get started!
1. Scope of work and deliverables
The scope of work details any relevant deliverable expected from the influencer within the time of the campaign or collaboration. Each deliverable should be specific.
That is, rather than saying “content creation” or “promotion of product A”, go for “2 posts on Instagram and Twitter made everyday on product A”. Or rather, “hit a 3% engagement rate by 1 month”.
When it comes to deadlines, set realistic timelines for content creation, submission, and publishing. Provide clarity on:
- The number of posts or content pieces deliverable within a specified timeline.
- The social media platforms for which the influencer marketing campaign should run.
- Key talking points or call-to-actions necessary during content creation.
- The process of content approval, from review to revisions, edits and final approval.
This is to prevent unprecedented delays and ensure it meets your brand standards.
Such specificity ensures each party is crystal clear on its responsibilities.
Establish content guidelines
Content guidelines refer to the textual and visual elements of your campaign content. Rather than have generic clauses, let your influencer agreement outline the nature of your campaign content.
This includes defining the tone of messaging, style of delivery, the guiding graphics, word or image requirements, and any restrictions your brand may have for its content.
Content guidelines are the secret recipe for your influencer marketing campaign. Additionally, they promote uniformity of content delivery in every platform.
While defining these, consider building a small portfolio of past campaign benchmarks to inspire your influencer’s input and creativity.
Address third-party content
Third-party content is content sourced from other persons or companies to be included in the campaign’s content. It can range from music, images, trademarks, etc.
In your influencer agreement, outline best practices for handling third-party content. From acquiring its copyright licenses to verifying its credibility, ensure explicit clauses on the handling of third-party data to avoid implicating your campaign, influencers, or brand reputation.
2. Content ownership and intellectual property rights
A comprehensive influencer marketing contract should outline who owns the copyright to the campaign content.
If the influencer retains all intellectual property (IP) to their content, then your brand should acquire the necessary licenses to use their content.
Clarify the procedure your brand should take when acquiring copyright for influencer content along with any other branding requirements involved. This helps protect the influencer’s work and ensure proper recognition.
Furthermore, all copyright acquisition should define how long the license should last and whether either party can use the content outside the campaign period or as part of their portfolio.
However, if all content created throughout the campaign by the influencer is surrendered to the brand, then the terms of contract should clearly state it.
Usage rights
Can the influencer reuse the campaign content on their pages? Can they publish it on other channels? Don’t forget to specify the grounds for which the campaign content should be used, including where and how to use it.
While at it, ensure the agreement leaves no room for ambiguity as generic statements could pause potential dispute in future.
3. Performance metrics
What does a successful influencer marketing campaign look like for your brand? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) you would use to measure your success?
Your influencer marketing contract should specify a quantifiable measure of success to know whether the campaign investment was worth it. As a result, it’s crucial to articulate your target reach and impression, engagement rates, click throughs, and conversions.
With such metrics informing the performance of your campaign you’ll be track what’s working for your brand and ultimately double down on it for maximum return on investment (ROI).
4. Compensation and Payment Terms
Well payed employees are productive employees. The same translates to influencers. Compensation is a form of recognition and appreciation for one’s efforts toward a campaign.
It is an indispensable element of your influencer agreement checklist. Ensure the agreement outlines the type of influencer compensation settled on throughout your influencer partnerships.
There are also particular elements under compensation and payment terms that shouldn’t miss your checklist. These are:
Determine the compensation structure
There are myriad of compensation models brands have adopted for their influencer partnerships. Some may be through product seeding, influencer gifting, affiliate commissions, pay per click, or even flat fees for the campaign.
Whichever model you agree on with your influencers, set workable payment schedules to ensure prompt payments within the completion of certain milestones.
In addition, articulate the grace period within which payment should be disbursed and the accepted payment platforms convenient to both parties.
Leveraging influencer search platforms can help automate payment processes for timely compensation.
Factor in production costs
Don’t be the boss who is sales driven but no longer cares how much the influencer invested during production. A fair compensation system accounts for all out-of-pocket costs by the influencers during the campaign.
As you keep track of your brand’s expenditure, acknowledge the reimbursement of out-of-pocket costs incurred by influencers within the contract and establish a means of invoicing for these extra expenses.
Address tax implications
Discuss the tax implications of the influencer’s compensation, including any applicable withholding taxes or reporting requirements.
Ensure both parties understand their tax obligations to avoid legal issues or financial penalties.
Plan for currency conversion
If working with international influencers, consider currency conversion rates and any associated fees when negotiating compensation.
Agree on a fair exchange rate and payment method to ensure the influencer receives their compensation without any currency-related discrepancies.
Include bonus incentives
Bonuses motivate influencers to tap into their creative forte and deliver exceptionally for your brand. If your brand is solid on incentivizing your influencer partnerships, put it on paper.
Ensure your influencer agreement specifies the types of incentives and the grounds for which they would be met by influencers. Whether its through complementary products or payment bonuses, outline it in black and white.
This ensures your brand commits to their word and assures influencers they would get compensated for their extra efforts.
5. Exclusivity agreements
Discuss whether the influencer will be exclusive to your brand during the campaign period and any restrictions on collaborating with competitors.
Exclusivity clauses in your influencer marketing agreement can help prevent conveying mixed messages to your target audience and thereby build on authenticity and credibility of your campaigns.
Consider the following points when defining exclusivity:
Protection of confidential information
Although exclusivity and confidentiality go hand in hand, they represent different aspects of protecting campaign content.
Confidentiality ensures that your campaign plans remain private from non-members to protect the authenticity of your campaign content and access to third-parties before your campaign is launched.
It is, therefore, advisable to include a confidential clause for this purpose and have influencers sign a non-discloser agreement (NDA) to ensure vital aspects of the campaign remain private.
Plan for content archiving
Content assets should be preserved in a manner that allows for easier retrieval for future references. This is a crucial step in content management and should be outlined in your influencer marketing agreement.
But why does content archiving matter? Well, most influencers opt to delete some of their old sponsored posts to balance out their saturation rate.
Therefore, if you intend that your posts remain live even after the campaign period, articulate this requirement in the influencer contract and if possible, put a cap for how long the content remains live after the campaign.
6. Dispute resolution and terminating conditions
Disagreements happen—this is a fact of life. It is, therefore, imperative to plan ahead on how to resolve these misunderstandings.
Your influencer contract should include provisions for dispute resolution. Whether it’s through mediation, arbitration, or a simple sit down chat, specify when each these methods can be used and the grounds for appeal.
It is also crucial to provide a legal basis to ensure the rights of each party are enforced during the feud resolution.
Terminating your influencer marketing agreement
In the event that misunderstandings escalate to either party opting out of the partnership, the terminating clause in the influencer marketing contract should cover matters IP licenses and ownership rights.
It should also outline the circumstances under which either party can terminate the contract. Care should be taken regarding any loses that may have been incurred during the process of termination.
This warrants for an indemnity clause that outlines each party’s liability and legal repercussions should they violate the terms of contract.
Once again, a legal representation would be instrumental when navigating these murky waters. Nonetheless, don’t be scare by all these legal jargons, a terminating contract only serves to protect both the influencer and the brand.
7. Legal and compliance regulations
Like any other industry, influencer marketing also has a regulatory authority known as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
They are the rule makers when it comes to endorsements and have the authority to fine companies that violate their guidelines.
To ensure your brand stays off their radar, it is imperative to comply with FTC guidelines regarding social media posts and endorsement procedures.
Consequently, influencer agreements should include social media policies that bind the influencers to these FTC guidelines.
Wrap-up
So there you have it, folks! Your ultimate influencer agreement checklist. You now have a new weapon in your influencer marketing arsenal and are ready to forge long-term collaborations that stand the test of time.
Your success story starts here!
